Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Naville.
The inscriptions with which Hâtshopsîtû decorated her chapel relate how, on that fateful night, Amon descended upon Ahmasi in a flood of perfume and light. The queen received him favourably, and the divine spouse on leaving her announced to her the approaching birth of a daughter, in whom his valour and strength should be manifested once more here below. The sequel of the story is displayed in a series of pictures before our eyes.
The protecting divinities who preside over the birth of children conduct the queen to her couch, and the sorrowful resignation depicted on her face, together with the languid grace of her whole figure, display in this portrait of her a finished work of art. The child enters the world amid shouts of joy, and the propitious genii who nourish both her and her double constitute themselves her nurses. At the appointed time, her earthly father summons the great nobles to a solemn festival, and presents to them his daughter, who is to reign with him over Egypt and the world.*
* The association of Hâtshopsîtû with her father on the
throne, has now been placed beyond doubt by the inscriptions
discovered and commented on by Naville in 1895.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Naville.
From henceforth Hâtshopsîtû adopts every possible device to conceal her real sex. She changes the termination of her name, and calls herself Hâtshopsîû, the chief of the nobles, in lieu of Hâtshopsîtû, the chief of the favourites. She becomes the King Mâkerî, and on the occasion of all public ceremonies she appears in male costume. We see her represented on the Theban monuments with uncovered shoulders, devoid of breasts, wearing the short loin-cloth and the keffieh, while the diadem rests on her closely cut hair, and the false beard depends from her chin.
