The Life and Times of Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt

by Arthur E. P. Brome Weigall

Around this happy family group there stand graceful tables upon which food of all kinds is heaped. Here are joints of meat, dishes of confectionery, vegetables, fruit,[56] bread, cakes of various kinds, and so on. The tables are massed with lotus-flowers, according to the charming custom of the ancient Egyptians of all periods. Beside the tables stand jars of wine and other drinkables, festooned with ribbons. At the moment selected by the artist for reproduction, Akhnaton is seen placing his teeth in the neatly trimmed meat adhering to a large bone which he holds in his hand. To this day it is the custom in Egypt thus to eat with the hands. Nefertiti has a small roast duck in her hands at which she daintily nibbles. Tiy’s morsel cannot now be seen, but as she places it to her mouth with one hand she presents a portion to her daughter, Baketaton, with the other. The two little princesses feed by Nefertiti’s side, and appear to be sharing the meal. Meanwhile Huya hurries to and fro superintending the banquet, carefully tasting each dish before it is presented to the royal party. Two string bands play alternately, the one Egyptian and the other apparently Syrian. The former consists of four female performers, the first playing on a harp, the second and third on lutes, and the fourth on a lyre. The main instrument in the foreign band is a large standing lyre, about six feet in height, having eight strings, and being played with both hands. Courtiers clad in elaborate dresses, and holding ostrich-plume standards, are grouped around the hall in which the banquet takes place.

Another set of reliefs in the tomb of Huya shows us an evening entertainment in honour of Queen Tiy. Again the same members of the royal family are represented, but against the cool night air more clothes are worn by each person, and the upper part of the king’s body is now seen to be covered by a mantle of soft linen. The king, queen, and queen-dowager are all shown drinking from delicate bowls, probably made of gold. This being an evening festival, little solid food appears to have been eaten, but there are three flower-decked tables piled high with fruit. From these the little princesses, now wearing light garments, help themselves liberally; and the small Ankhsenpaaton stands upon the footstool of her mother’s chair, holding on to her skirts with one hand, while with the other she crams an apricot or some similar fruit into her mouth. Two string bands make music as before, and again the groups of courtiers stand about the hall; while Huya hastens to and fro directing the waiters, who, with napkins thrown over their arms, replenish the drinking-bowls from the wine-jars. The hall is lit by several flaming lamps set upon tall stands, near each of which these jars have been placed.

8. TIY VISITS HER TEMPLE.

One more scene from this state visit is shown. Here we observe Akhnaton leading his mother affectionately by the hand to a temple which had been built in her honour, as her private place of worship, and which was called the “Shade of the Sun.” This temple appears to have been a building of great beauty and considerable size. One passed through two great swinging doors fixed between the usual two pylons, and so entered the main court, which stood open to the sunlight. A pillared gallery passed along either side of this court, and between each of the columns there stood statues of Akhnaton, Amonhotep III., and Queen Tiy. In the middle of the court rose the altar, to which one mounted by a flight of low steps. At the far end of the court another set of pylons and swinging doors led into the inner chambers. Passing through these doors one entered a small gallery, on either side of which there were again statues of the Pharaoh and his mother. Beyond stood the sanctuary, closed by swinging doors; and inside this was the second altar, flanked by statues of the king and queen-dowager. To right and left of the sanctuary there were small chapels; and a passage led round behind the sanctuary to the usual shrines, where more royal statues were to be seen.

The building seems to have been brilliant with colours; and on this particular occasion the altars were heaped up with offerings. Great jars of wine, decked with garlands of flowers and ribbons, stood in the shadow of the colonnades; and meat, bread, fruit, and vegetables were piled on delicate stands, ornamented with flowers.

Akhnaton and Tiy were accompanied by the little Princess Baketaton, Akhnaton’s sister, and her two ladies-in-waiting. Before them walked the queen’s major-domo, Huya, accompanied by a foreign official wearing what appears to be Cretan costume.[57] Behind them walked a noble group of courtiers bearing ostrich-plume fans and standards; and outside the temple precincts waited a crowd of policemen, servants, charioteers and grooms in charge of the royal chariots, fan-bearers, porters, and temple attendants. These people shout and cheer loyally as the royal party arrives. “The ruler of the Aton!” they cry. “He shall exist for ever and ever!” “She who rises in beauty!” “To him on whom the Aton rises!” “She who is patron of this temple of Aton!” The old queen must have felt as though she were back once more in the days of her glory; and yet how different the simplicity of the religious ceremonies to those of the old priests of Amon-Ra. There was now but a prayer or two at the altar, a little burning of incense, a little bowing of the head, and then the procession back to the palace, and the silent closing of the holy gates.

9. THE DEATH OF QUEEN TIY.

It is possible that Queen Tiy took up her residence at the City of the Horizon in recognition of the lavish arrangements which her son had made for her. But whether this is so or not, it does not seem that she lived very long to enjoy such renewals of the pomps which she had known in her younger days. Her death appears to have taken place shortly after these celebrations, and, probably by her express commands, she was embalmed at Thebes and carried from her palace up the winding valley to the royal burying-ground amongst the rugged Theban hills. Akhnaton showed his affection for her by presenting the furniture for the tomb, and in the inscriptions on the outer coffin one reads that “he made it for his mother.” The queen-dowager had evidently expressed a wish to be buried near her father and mother, Yuaa and Tuau; for the tomb, which is situated on the east side of the valley, is within a stone’s-throw of the sepulchre where they lay. It was entered by a steep flight of steps leading down to a sloping passage, at the end of which was the large burial chamber, the walls of which were carefully whitewashed. On passing into this chamber a great box-like shrine, or outer coffin, was to be found, occupying the greater part of the room. The door to the shrine was made of costly cedar of Lebanon covered with gold, and was fitted with an ornamental bolt. Many of the nails which held the woodwork together were made of pure gold,—a fact which plainly shows us the wealth of the royal treasuries at this time. Scenes were embossed on the panels showing the queen standing under the rays of the Aton. The shrine itself was also made of cedar, covered with gold, and on all sides were scenes of the Aton worship. Here Akhnaton was shown with Tiy, and the life-giving rays of the sun streamed around their naturally drawn figures. Inside this outer box the coffin containing the great queen’s mummy was laid. The usual funeral furniture was placed at the sides of the room: gaily coloured boxes, alabaster vases, faience toilet-pots, statuettes, &c. Some of the toilet utensils were made in the form of little figures of the grotesque god Bes, which indicates that Akhnaton still tolerated the recognition by other persons of some of the old gods. In the inscriptions upon the outer coffin he had been careful to call his father, Amonhotep III., by his second name, Nebmaara, as often as possible, in order to avoid the writing of the word Amon, his dislike of everything to do with that god being profound. He allowed it to be written, however, here and there, as it seemed right to him that it should appear. Akhnaton’s prejudice against the old state god is also shown in another manner. Amon’s consort was the goddess Mut “the Mother,” whose name is written in hieroglyphs by a sign representing a vulture. Now when the inscription mentioned the king’s mother, Tiy, the word mut, “mother,” had to be written; but in order to avoid a similarity—even in spelling—to the name of the goddess, Akhnaton had the word written out phonetically, letter by letter, and thus dispensed with the use of the vulture sign.[58] Again, in the name Nebmaara, the meaning of which is “Ra, Lord of Truth,” the sign maa, “truth,” represented the goddess of that name. Akhnaton’s religion was much concerned with the quality of truth, which he regarded as one of the greatest necessities to happiness and well-being; and the fallacy of supposing that there was an actual deity of truth was particularly apparent to him. He was, therefore, careful to write the sign maa in letters instead of with the hieroglyph of the goddess.

When the funeral ceremonies came to an end, when the last prayer was said and the last cloud of incense had floated to the roof, the golden door of the shrine was shut and bolted, the outer doorways were walled up, and an avalanche of stones, let down from the chippings heaped near by, obliterated all traces of the entrance. Thus Akhnaton paid his last tribute to his mother and to the originator, it may be, of the schemes which he had carried into effect; and his last link with the past was severed. With the death of this good woman a restraining influence, as kindly as it was powerful, slipped from his arm, and a new and fiercer chapter of his short life began.