4. THE SECOND FOUNDATION INSCRIPTION.
The inscription recording these events was probably not written until some months after they had occurred. Just when the engravers had made an end of their work a second daughter was born to the king and queen, whom they named Meketaton; and orders were given that her figure should be added upon the boundary tablet beside that of her sister, which already appeared there with Akhnaton and Nefertiti. The king was somewhat distressed that a son had not been granted to him; for the thought was bitter that, in the event of his death, all his projects would fall to the ground. He therefore altered the wording of the inscriptions about to be written on the other boundary tablets; and, by including his oath in the text, he added an even greater integrity to the decree. The name of the second daughter was now inserted in this inscription, which reads:—
Year six, fourth month of the second season, thirteenth day.
On this day the King was in the City of the Horizon of Aton, in the parti-coloured tent made for his Majesty in the City of the Horizon, the name of which is “The Aton is well pleased.” And his Majesty ascended a great chariot of electrum, drawn by a span of horses, and [he appeared] like Aton when he rises from the horizon and fills the two lands with his love. And he started a goodly course to the City of the Horizon, on this the first occasion, ... to dedicate it as a monument to the Aton, even as his father Ra-Horakhti Aton had given command.... And he caused a great sacrifice to be offered.
And his Majesty went southward, and halted on his chariot before his father Ra-Horakhti Aton, at the [foot of the] south-east hills, and Aton shone upon him in life and length of days, invigorating his body every day.
Now this is the oath pronounced by the King:—
“As my father Ra-Horakhti Aton liveth, as my heart is happy in the Queen and her children—as to whom may it be granted that the Chief Wife of the King, Nefertiti, living for ever and ever, grow aged after a multitude of years, in the care of the Pharaoh, and may it be granted that the King’s daughter Merytaton and the King’s daughter Meketaton, her children, grow old in the care of the Chief Wife of the King, their mother....
“This is my oath of truth which it is my desire to pronounce, and of which I will not say ‘It is false’ eternally for ever.
“The southern boundary-stone which is on the eastern hills. It is the boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon, namely this one by which I have made halt. I will not pass beyond it southwards for ever and ever. Make the south-west boundary-stone opposite it on the western hills of the City of the Horizon exactly.
“The middle boundary-stone which is on the eastern hills. It is the boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon by which I have made halt on the eastern hills of the City of the Horizon. I will not pass beyond it eastwards for ever and ever. Make the middle boundary-stone which is to be on the western hills opposite it exactly.
“The north-eastern boundary-stone by which I have made halt. It is the northern boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon. I will not pass beyond it down-stream for ever and ever. Make the north boundary-stone which is to be on the western hills opposite it exactly.
“And the City of the Horizon of Aton extends from the south boundary-stone as far as the north boundary-stone, measured between boundary-stone and boundary-stone on the eastern, hills [which measurement] amounts to 6 ater,[44] ¾ khe, and 4 cubits. Likewise from the south-west boundary-stone to the north-west boundary-stone on the western hills [the measurement] amounts to 6 ater, ¾ khe, and 4 cubits likewise exactly.
“And the area within these four boundary-stones from the eastern hills to the western hills is the City of the Horizon of Aton in its proper self. It belongs to my father Ra-Horakhti Aton: mountains, deserts, meadows, islands, high-ground, low-ground, land, water, villages, embankments, men, beasts, groves, and all things which the Aton my father shall bring into existence for ever and ever.
“I will not neglect this oath which I have made to the Aton my father for ever and ever; nay, but it shall be set on a tablet of stone as the south-east boundary, likewise as the north-east boundary of the City of the Horizon; and it shall be set likewise on a tablet of stone as the south-west boundary, likewise as the north-west boundary of the City of the Horizon. It shall not be erased, it shall not be washed out, it shall not be kicked, it shall not be struck with stones, its spoiling shall not be brought about. If it be missing, if it be spoilt, if the tablet on which it is shall fall, I will renew it again afresh in the place in which it was.”