[52] Professor Breasted’s translation.
[53] In the tomb of Huya the scene is dated in the twelfth year, as here recorded, and there are four daughters shown, which is the number one is led by other evidence to suppose were then alive. The scene in the tomb of Meryra II. has precisely the same date, but six daughters are shown, and there is evidence to show that that number is not to be looked for previous to the fifteenth year of the reign, the first daughter being born in about the fifth year, the second in the seventh, the third in the ninth, the fourth in the eleventh, the fifth in the thirteenth, and the sixth in the fifteenth year, in all probability. Thus the scene in Meryra II. may perhaps represent no particular reception of the tribute of any one year, but the artist may have had in mind the great tribute of the twelfth year while representing the occurrence in the fifteenth or sixteenth year, at which date his work was taking place. Or again the date in this latter tomb may be a misreading or miswriting. The scene described above is that represented in the tomb of Meryra, as it is more elaborate than the other; but the inscription is that found in the tomb of Huya.
[54] Her first child, it will be remembered, was born when she was about thirteen.
[55] It is probable, as has been stated on [p. 111], that she was married to Amonhotep III. in about her tenth year, and was thus about forty-six when he died. She could not have been much more, for her daughter Baketaton must have been born but a year or so before Amonhotep’s death, and it is improbable that she would bear children after forty-five, if as late as that.
[56] It is to be noticed that there are pomegranates amongst the fruit, which indicates that the visit was made during the summer, as do the light costumes also.
[57] Davies: Amarna, iii. 8, note 1.
[58] This is to be observed also in some other inscriptions of the period.
[59] Breasted: History of Egypt, p. 364.
[61] It is usual to date the tombs roughly by the number of daughters shown, presuming that the artist represented all the children living at the time. But though this gives us the lowest possible year, it does not always give us the highest, for daughters are obviously sometimes omitted when the available space was cramped.