As Nofrîtari had been metamorphosed into a form of Isis, Amenôthes was similarly represented as Osiris, the protector of the Necropolis, and he was depicted as such with the sombre colour of the funerary divinities; his image, moreover, together with those of the other gods, was used to decorate the interiors of coffins, and to protect the mummies of his devotees.*
* Wiedemann has collected several examples, to which it
would be easy to add others. The names of the king are in
this case constantly accompanied by unusual epithets, which
are enclosed in one or other of his cartouches: Mons.
Kevillout, deceived by these unfamiliar forms, has made out
of one of these variants, on a painted cloth in the Louvre,
a new Amenôthes, whom he styles Amenôthes V.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-
Bey.
One of his statues, now in the Turin Museum, represents him sitting on his throne in the posture of a king giving audience to his subjects, or in that of a god receiving the homage of his worshippers. The modelling of the bust betrays a flexibility of handling which is astonishing in a work of art so little removed from barbaric times; the head is a marvel of delicacy and natural grace. We feel that the sculptor has taken a delight in chiselling the features of his sovereign, and in reproducing the benevolent and almost dreamy expression which characterised them.* The cult of Amenôthes lasted for seven or eight centuries, until the time when his coffin was removed and placed with those of the other members of his family in the place where it remained concealed until our own times.**
* Another statue of very fine workmanship, but mutilated, is
preserved in the Gizeh Museum; this statue is of the time of
Seti I., and, as is customary, represents Amenôthes in the
likeness of the king then reigning.
** We know, from the Abbott Papyrus, that the pyramid of
Amenôthes I. was situated at Dr-ah Abou’l-Neggah, among
those of the Pharaohs of the XIth, XIIth, and XVIIth
dynasties. The remains of it have not yet been discovered.
It is shaped to correspond with the form of the human body and painted white; the face resembles that of his statue, and the eyes of enamel, touched with kohl, give it a wonderful appearance of animation. The body is swathed in orange-coloured linen, kept in place by bands of brownish linen, and is further covered by a mask of wood and cartonnage, painted to match the exterior of the coffin. Long garlands of faded flowers deck the mummy from head to foot. A wasp, attracted by their scent, must have settled upon them at the moment of burial, and become imprisoned by the lid; the insect has been completely preserved from corruption by the balsams of the embalmer, and its gauzy wings have passed un-crumpled through the long centuries.
Amenôthes had married Ahhotpû II, his sister by the same father and mother;* Ahmasi, the daughter born of this union, was given in marriage to Thûtmosis, one of her brothers, the son of a mere concubine, by name Sonisonbû.** Ahmasi, like her ancestor Nofrîtari, had therefore the right to exercise all the royal functions, and she might have claimed precedence of her husband. Whether from conjugal affection or from weakness of character, she yielded, however, the priority to Thûtmosis, and allowed him to assume the sole government.
* Ahhotpû II. may be seen beside her husband on several
monuments. The proof that she was full sister of Amenôthes
I. is furnished by the title of “hereditary princess” which
is given to her daughter Àhmasi; this princess would not
have taken precedence of her brother and husband Thûtmosis,
who was the son of an inferior wife, had she not been the
daughter of the only legitimate spouse of Amenôthes I. The
marriage had already taken place before the accession of
Thûtmosis I., as Ahmasi figures in a document dated the
first year of his reign.
** The absence of any cartouche shows that Sonisonbû did not
belong to the royal family, and the very form of the name
points her out to have been of the middle classes, and
merely a concubine. The accession of her son, however,
ennobled her, and he represents her as a queen on the walls
of the temple at Deîr el-Baharî; even then he merely styles
her “Royal Mother,” the only title she could really claim,
as her inferior position in the harem prevented her from
using that of “Royal Spouse.”