
 
 The tomb is one of the most beautiful from the New Kingdom. It is a rock-hewn discovered in 1996 by French Egyptologist Alain Zivie in the well-known necropolis of Saqqara, 30 km (20 miles) south of Cairo . 
 
 The tomb consists of the cult chambers with three decorated rooms and the underground, mostly undecorated, burial chambers. The first room of the cult chapel of her tomb is dedicated to the life of Maia. 
 
 She was the wet nurse of the king, educator of the god's body and the great one of the hareem. Nothing is known about her parents. Tutankhamun is depicted on one of the tomb's reliefs featuring the boy king sitting on Maia's lap and the king is mentioned several times in the tomb's inscriptions. 
 
 There is also a badly damaged scene showing Maia in front of the king. The second room is dedicated to the burial rites associated with Maia. Maia is shown in front of offering bearers. She is depicted as a mummy in relation to the opening of the mouth ritual and she is standing before the underworld god Osiris. 
 
 
 
 The third room is the biggest and has four pillars decorated with the image of Maia. 
 
 The back of the room shows a stelae carved into the rock with Maia in front of Osiris. In this room there is also a staircase leading down to the burial chamber. Most other walls of this room are undecorated. The tomb was in later times heavily reused. 
 
 Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty describes the opening of the tomb of King Tutankhamun's wet nurse at that time "as very important" because it coincides with the recent surveys and exploration work carried out in the boy king's tomb at the Valley of the Kings. 
 
 During the opening ceremony Eldamaty said that Maia could be Tutankhamun's elder sister Mirette Atun because a relief uncovered on the royal tomb in Tel Al-Amarna shows the burying process of Meket Atun, the elder daughter of the monotheistic king Akhenaten. In the relief, Princess Meritte Atun is shown holding a young child breast feeding him. 
 
 "This child could be king Tutankhamun," Eldamaty pointed out, as well as adding that: "Through a survey on the Maia tomb, which would take place immediately, and comparing its results with the survey carried out on the boy king tomb, would definitely contribute to uncovering more of Tutankhamun's secrets.” 
 
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 CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's antiquities minister has opened the tomb of King Tutankhamun's wet nurse to the public for the first time since it was discovered in 1996. 
 
 Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said Sunday the tomb included scenes of the wet nurse, Maya, nursing the young King Tut. 
 
 French archaeologist Alain Zivie found the tomb in Saqqara, a necropolis 21 kilometers (13 miles) south of Cairo. Saqqara was the burial site for courtiers and high-ranking officials of ancient Egypt's New Kingdom, which prevailed over three thousand years ago. 
 
 Most of the pharaohs, Tutankhamen included, were buried in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, about 480 kilometers (300 miles) south of Cairo. 
 
 British archaeologist Howard Carter found the riches-filled tomb of the boy king Tut in 1922, sparking a worldwide craze for Egyptology. 

 Egyptian authorities on Sunday opened the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun's wet nurse to the public for the first time since it was discovered in 1996. 
 
 Egypt's Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty described the tomb as one of the most beautiful from the New Kingdom era, reported Egypt's state-run al-Ahram news agency. 
 
 The enigmatic tomb contains several scenes of the wet nurse, including one in which she is nursing the boy king. 
 
 Another scene shows Maya before the underworld god Osiris. 
 
 It was discovered by French archaeologist Alain Zivie in 1996 in Saqqara, a necropolis around 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) away from Cairo, which also contains one of the world's oldest complete stone structures. 
 
 El-Damaty described the discovery of Maya's tomb as "very important." 
 
 Mystery surrounds the identity of King Tutankhamun's wet nurse 
 
 During the opening ceremony, the antiquities minister said that the wet nurse was likely to be Tutankhamun's sister Princess Mirette Atun. 
 
 Evidence from a relief uncovered in Amarna, an extensive Egyptian archaeological site, shows the princess breastfeeding a child. 
 
 "This could be king Tutankhamun," said el-Damaty, reported al-Ahram. 
 
 "Through a survey of the Maya tomb, which would take place immediately, and comparing its results with the survey carried out on the boy king tomb, would definitely contribute to uncovering more of Tutankhamun's secrets," el-Damaty added. 
 
 Watch video 01:13 Share The secret of King Tutankhamun's tomb Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink http://p.dw.com/p/1HF2w The secret of King Tut's tomb | DW News 
 
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 A relief inside the tomb of Maia, the wet-nurse of legendary Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun, in Saqqara, about 35 kms south of Cairo on December 20, 2015 An archaeologist said Sunday that Maia, Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's wet nurse, may have actually been his sister Meritaten, reviving speculation about the identity of the mother of the boy king. 
 
 DNA tests have proved that the pharaoh Akhenaten was the father of Tutankhamun, but the identity of his mother has long been a mystery. 
 
 On Sunday, Egyptian officials and French archaeologist Alain Zivie unveiled Maia's tomb to journalists ahead of its opening to the public next month. 
 
 The tomb was discovered by Egyptologist Zivie in 1996 in Saqqara, a necropolis about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Cairo. 
 
 Maia was the wet nurse of Tutankhamun, whose mummy was found in 1922 by renowned British Egyptologist Howard Carter in the Valley of Kings in Luxor along with a treasure trove of thousands of objects. 
 
 "Maia is none other than princess Meritaten, the sister or half-sister of Tutankhamun and the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti," Zivie told AFP. 
 
 He said his conclusion was based on the carvings of Tutankhamun and Maia on the walls of Maia's tomb. 
 
 "The extraordinary thing is that they are very similar. They have the same chin, the eyes, the family traits," he said. 
 
 "The carvings show Maia sitting on the royal throne and he is sitting on her" lap, said Zivie, director of the French Archaeological Mission of Bubasteion. 
 
 The sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun, known as the 'Child Pharaoh' remains empty in its burial chamber after the mummy was placed in a glass urn designed to protect the remains 
 
 Similar carvings were in Akhenaten's tomb at the Tel el-Amarna archaeological site in modern-day Minya province where the pharaoh had his capital city, he said. 
 
 A DNA analysis in 2010 revealed that Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten, who temporarily converted ancient Egypt to monotheism by imposing the cult of sun god Aton. 
 
 The tomb of Akhenaten has carvings showing the death of princess Maketaten—the second daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Zivie said. 
 
 "In these scenes there is a woman who is breast-feeding a baby, and this woman shown as a wet nurse is princess Meritaten, the eldest daughter of Akhenaten," he said. 
 
 The mummy of Meritaten has not been found, but Antiquities Minister Mamduh al-Damati said on Sunday it could be in a secret chamber in Tutankhamun's tomb. 
 
 Archaeologists are currently scanning Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of Kings after British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves claimed that it has a secret chamber. 
 
 Reeves says the chamber could be the burial site of Nefertiti, whose mummy also has not been found. 
 
 "All these possibilities exist. Step by step we will be able to better understand the time of king Tutankhamun," Damati said. 
 
 Tutankhamun died more than 3,000 years ago aged 19 in 1324 BC after reigning for nine years. 
 
 Explore further: Egypt panel approves using radar to find Nefertiti tomb
– Some 300 miles south of Cairo sits the Valley of the Kings, the location where Tutankhamen was laid to rest. But just 13 miles south of Egypt's capital is the necropolis of Saqqara, where officials, courtiers, and, apparently, King Tut's wet nurse, Maia, were buried. Her tomb was found in 1996 by the French archaeologist Alain Zivie, and the AP reports it's just been opened to those outside the scientific community for the first time. But what Zivie had to say Sunday on the occasion of its opening to the media (the public gains access in January) is fascinating: He believes Maia (also reported as Maya) "is none other than princess Meritaten, the sister or half-sister of Tutankhamun and the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti." Antiquities Minister Mamduh al-Damati said Sunday the tomb featured carvings of the wet nurse breastfeeding the young King Tut, and Zivie says he arrived at his conclusion after studying these carvings. The AFP points out that DNA established in 2010 that Tut is the son of Akhenaten; his mother has yet to be identified. Akhenaten's tomb has carvings showing the death of another daughter, princess Maketaten; Ahram Online reports Meritaten is shown in that scene nursing a child. As for Nefertiti, archaeologists currently working on Tut's tomb think it holds a hidden chamber—and that she could be inside it. She might not be alone. Al-Damati says Meritaten's mummy has not been located and could possibly be in that chamber, if it exists. As for what we know about Maia, Deutsche Welle calls her "enigmatic," and Ahram Online recalls her as "educator of the god's body and the great one of the hareem." Read more on the hunt for Nefertiti's tomb.