To these were added a large variety of toilette articles, vases and jars of various sorts for spices, unguents, etc. Alabaster jars in tombs are as ancient as the Fourth Dynasty, and examples are also known inscribed with the name of Unas, Pepi I, Men-tu-em-saf, Amasis I, Tahutimes II, Amenophis II, Rameses II, and Queen Amen-eritis.
The god Bes, said to be introduced from Punt, presided over the toilette. He had a squat, hideous figure, and a face which was doubtless chiefly appreciated from its contrast to that of his fair votaries. He bore a double character, one side being military or martial in aspect, the other a sort of Bacchus or god of Pleasure, and it was in this last, probably, that he was regarded as a suitable guardian for the preparations for feasts and revels. Toilette articles, of which a number were found with the body of the queen, were mirrors, tweezers, hairpins of wood, bone, ivory and metal, and occasionally combs of wood and ivory, though these last are believed by some authorities not to have been introduced till later. There were also kohl pots and little tubes and jars of various forms. Tiny hands of ivory on a stick for scratching the back were sometimes found.
The mirrors, from three to twelve inches in diameter, had handles ornamented with flowers, particularly the well-beloved lotus, and heads of the goddess Hathor and the god Bes. Vases and jars found in the tombs were of various shapes, for wine, oils, spices, unguents, scents, etc., but transparent glass ones are not found earlier than the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The kohl pots were to hold stibium and antimony of copper to stain the eyelids and eyebrows and give the eyes a wide-open appearance; also for such purposes were little hollow tubes of wood, glass, ivory and alabaster, a column with a palm leaf and figures of Bes. Sometimes the tubes were double, with movable covers on a pivot and accompanied by a stick of bronze wood to apply the unguent. The wicked Jezabel in the Bible is said to have “set her eyes in stibium,” which was, however, a common Eastern practice.
Fine examples of such articles, with the pre-nomen of Amenophis III and his wife Tyi, and of Tut-arch-Amen and his wife Anknes-Amen, have been found. Hematite pillows or head rests, generally uninscribed, and papyrus sceptres mounted in mother-of-emerald and faience, may perhaps be added to this list and not exhaust it. Thus was the queen, surrounded by all the paraphernalia of life, laid in her last resting place. The Egyptian, as has been before said, spent much of his time in preparing and providing for a future existence, and it is through his death, as it were, and on tombs and monuments that we attain to any realistic knowledge of his living days.
The queen is believed to have had a number of children besides Aahmes and Nefertari, whose personality stands out pre-eminent among them. Of these are Birpu, who appears on a statuette, Amenmes and Uazrmes. Of Nebt’ta, one of the daughters, a scarab is known. And Mut’nefert, subsequently queen, may also have been of this family.
Queen Mertytefs’ name calls up this active, capable ruling spirit of the household and the court. Queen Nitocris comes before us as the beauty of her time—the Mary Stuart of an early age, lovely, captivating and admired, but not blameless in her life story. Queen Sebek-nefru-ra is associated with father and husband in works of public usefulness and benefit. But Queen Aah-hotep seems to bear with her an atmosphere of femininity and tenderness. A devout worshipper of the gods, we can picture her as a frequent attendant upon the services and offerings in the temples. At home, a woman perchance with some foibles and weaknesses and a truly feminine love for ornamentation, and yet a mother who won an undying affection. Lamentations and mourning doubtless followed her to the tomb, and upon her inanimate form was lavished a wealth of adornment which bespoke the clinging tenderness of the royal son whose name is found so often inscribed upon her ornaments.
CHAPTER SEVENTH.
AAHMES-NEFERTARI.
Aahmes, also called Amosis, son of Queen Aah-hotep and an Egyptian father (whose history is as yet unknown), was one of the greatest warriors and most noted kings of Egypt, and regarded as the savior of his country, since he freed it from the long thrall of an alien race. Ambition was evidently a ruling passion with him, but he appears to have been devoted and even tender to those he loved. His wife, the Princess Nefertari-Aahmes, or Aahmes-Nefertari, was long supposed to be the daughter of an Ethiopian king, and therefore not of kin to him, since her pictures on the monuments show a black skin, though Caucasian features.