Predecessors of Cleopatra

by Leigh North

In the latter part of his reign Tahutmes I associated his daughter with him in the imperial power, as he had probably taken her into his counsel previously in matters of state policy and shared with her all the pleasures of his daily life. Their mutual devotion and his high appreciation of her great abilities is evident, even after the lapse of centuries.

The two half-brothers of Hatshepsut were Tahutmes II and Tahutmes III, or as later authorities say Tahutmes III was son of Tahutmes II, the latter proved to be a ruler of great ability, but neither seemed to hold the place in the father’s regard that she did, and being much younger were naturally not equally companionable to him. The limestone statue of Queen Mut-nefert, mother of Tahutmes II, before referred to, was found at Thebes in 1886 and is now at Gizeh. Her son had it carved and it was in the ruins of a little temple. She is seated, in a long white robe, which shows the form and the flesh is colored yellow. The whole is refined and well proportioned, and despite the mutilation of the nose one notices the sweetness of expression, lightened by large eyes. To this day one sees the type near Thebes. The mother of Tahutmes III was more truly a concubine and was called the Lady As’t, she was a royal mother but not a royal wife.

Shortly before her father’s death, according to the Egyptian custom, Hatshepsut married her brother Tahutmes II, who shared the throne with her or she with him, but it is evident she was the ruling spirit. There is little doubt that she was the elder of the two; it is estimated that at this time she was about twenty-four and Tahutmes seventeen. A somewhat similar instance to this is narrated by the African traveller, Captain A. St. H. Gibbons, who describes an ancient custom which he found prevailing at Nalolo, whereby the eldest surviving sister of the ruling king was invested with the prerogatives of a queen, without whose advice and consent her brother could not arrange matters of state. She was absolute in her own district, held the power of life and death over her subjects and wedded or deposed a husband at will.

A statue of Tahutmes II exists at Gizeh, which bears some resemblance to the ancient King Chafre. He is not of large size, has fine pathetic eyes, a gentle expression and perhaps resembles his mother. That no love was lost between the consorts is evident from the fact that Hatsheput conferred such special marks of favor upon her architect Semut, and after the death of Tahutmes II (in which old historians, some of them, though perhaps unfairly, were disposed to implicate her) she erased his name from many of the monuments, giving all honor, where possible, to her father or keeping it for herself, to the great bewilderment of later day students. She is said to have detained Tahutmes II, in his younger days, in Buto, away from her palace and the seat of power, and doubtless relegated him to the background wherever she could. No more than Queen Elizabeth perhaps had custom and conventionality permitted her to stand quite alone, would she have accepted a consort.

Dress, which had for many reigns and centuries remained unchanged, began somewhat to alter at the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty and more rapidly later. The highest orders of women wore petticoats or gowns secured at the waist by a colored sash, or a strap over the shoulder and over this a large loose robe of the finest linen and tied in front and under the breast, the right arm was left exposed at religious ceremonies and funerals. Another description says that the long tunic, called a basui, was suspended by straps or bracers over the shoulders or a short petticoat with the body strapped over the shoulder and a loose upper garment, which exposed the breast and which could be easily laid aside. There also came changes in the patterns of beads, mode of glazing, hair dressing, furniture and the painting of tombs. The net work of beads was of course largely used for the decoration of mummies. The admixture of blood with Syrian and other captives, as wives and concubines, seemed to introduce a new ideal type, with small features and fascinating, graceful figures. The ends of the braided hair were fringed during the Middle Empire, and during the New the face was framed with wonderful plaits and short tresses, which were secured with combs. Or, more naturally, it hung loose or was bound with a fillet. Female servants wore their hair fastened at the back of the head with loops or plaits. They had a plain garment with short sleeves, but threw off the upper part when working. In the earliest times, as has before been said, men seemed to care for dress more than women. From the queen to the peasant female attire was similar, and from the Fourth to the Eighteenth Dynasty there was little change. About the time of Hatshepsut it assumed a new character, and the upper part of the body was also clothed. At one period color and pattern had been almost excluded and the higher classes wore linen so fine that the figure showed through. Bands woven or embroidered were later added, but their neighbors, the Syrians, always wore more elaborate embroidery than the Egyptians. Shend’ot was the name of the royal dress under the Old Empire. Men wore a short skirt round the hips, and a second was added during the Middle Empire; in one century this was short and narrow, in another wide and shapeless, and in a third, peculiarly folded; the breast was also covered, and the apron, now chiefly a female appanage, was then exclusively the property of men.

Costumes differed with classes, yet, as with us, a fashion initiated by uppertendom would sometimes descend and spread. The lords and the priests and priestesses in offering sacrifices bore a panther skin thrown over the shoulder, the small head and forepaws hanging down. To the hindpaws long ribbons were attached, which were drawn forward, and it was the fashion to play with them when sitting idle. Perhaps it was an aid to conversation thus to trifle, as with Madame de Stael’s well-known sprig of poplar. Soldiers and merchants wore white garments bordered with colored fringes. Policemen carried staves, and priests went about in long white robes with aprons and jewelled collars.

The woman’s short petticoat under the tunic, called a basni, was white, red, yellow and sometimes, in the Middle Empire, green. The higher orders sometimes secured the petticoat at the waist with a colored sash. Occasionally there was only one sleeve for the left arm. The cloak of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties fell over the arms with a short sleeve added and at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty there was a thick underdress. The bare foot of the earliest times, as has been shown, was later sandalled and shod.

As time went on the tendency seemed to be more and more to vary from the fashions of the Garden of Eden and to add to the amount of clothing. The more civilized the nation the more elaborate the covering. The primitive Egyptian thought more of painting and rouging the face and oiling the limbs, of both living and dead, than he did of dress. Two colors were chiefly used, green, with which under the Old Empire they put a line below the eye, and black for brows and lids, to make the eyes look larger and more brilliant. The eyelids were dyed with mestem, the finger nails made red with henna. For this, of course, many kohl pots and mirrors were needed. The latter were of burnished metal, chiefly of copper, round, with wooden or ivory handles and ornamented with carved lotus buds. Necklaces and bracelets on the upper arm and wrist were worn by both men and women, but the latter only used anklets. Earrings were round, single loops of gold, and rings, especially on the third finder and thumb, were numerous.

Of the daily life of a queen we have no detailed account, but various pictures and inscriptions make a sort of outline which study and imagination may fill up and not be utterly astray. One writer has sketched some such programme as this, of course that of a queen who was herself regent, or ruled in her own right. After the first meal of the day the queen would go to the throne room and listen to reports, petitions, etc., doubtless attended by scribes, who were more ubiquitous than even the modern reporter, to note down everything and extol her majesty’s power, clemency and charm. Before the heat grew excessive she might walk in the garden or among the colonnades of the palace or ride out to take the air and view the public works which were in process of building.

Neither horses nor camels are represented on the monuments in the earliest times. Persons of distinction were borne in chariots or chairs carried by bands of slaves, and the ass or mule was the beast of burden. A royal chariot was sometimes adorned by a burnished shield rising above the back, carved with open work and lined with silk. It had two wheels, and a pair of horses were attached to the car by a single trace, their heads held up by a bridle made fast to a hook in front of the saddle. The long reins passed through a loop at the side; the horses’ heads were adorned with plumes, and the harness and housings ornamented with the royal devices in gold, silver and brass. Sometimes for ladies there was a seat, one in each chariot, but the usual rule was not to have any, a man stood. Says one writer, “When the queen rides she stands on a dais borne at speed by six horses abreast, and looks like a flying goddess.” Thus perhaps our fancy may paint Queen Hatshepsut.