Predecessors of Cleopatra

by Leigh North

Queen Tyi was attended as the scarab notes, by three hundred and seventeen women, which would of course imply a force of male protectors as well. A very precious bride. This may recall the story in the Talmud about Abraham, who on approaching Egypt locked Sarah in a chest to hide her dangerous beauty. The custom officers asked if he carried clothes. He answered, “I will pay for clothes.” Then they raised their demand, “Thou carriest gold?” To this he also agreed and further to the price of the finest silks and precious stones. Finding they could name nothing of greater value than he held his treasure they at last insisted that he should open the box and the tale ends “the whole of Egypt was illuminated with the lustre of Sarah’s beauty.” Whether Queen Tyi’s beauty thus surprised and delighted the people of her new home we can only surmise, but at least she was deemed precious enough to be well served and guarded.

So the bond was sealed between the royal lovers and away from her own land journeyed the newly elected queen. A woman with a fair face and figure, a heart keenly responsive to human affections, with a deep-seated faith in the religion of her fore-fathers, worshippers of the sun, and, perhaps even at that early period, a quiet determination that she would win her husband and his people from what she must have deemed the error of their ways, their worship of so many gods under the form of beasts and birds, introduce a purer, simpler religion among them. Something of the spirit of Joan of Arc may have animated her; something of the religious fervor of an Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins (or was it only eleven martyrs, the M being mistaken for a thousand?) as the one girded herself for battle and the other took up her pious pilgrimage.

We know less of the formalities necessary for the conclusion of a royal marriage among the Egyptians than we do of their funeral rites and ceremonies. The latter as ushering them into a new and higher existence were deemed the more important and of greater concern to both the present generation and to posterity, especially the latter, and its records and momentoes tell the story a thousand times, but we may take for granted that many observances, both civil and religious, marked the union of man and woman, in particular those of nobles and kings. Some authorities have questioned Queen Tyi’s claim to royal birth, but the retinue of attendants and servants that accompanied her leave little doubt that she was a princess of note.

This bridal train may recall another of later times, that of Henrietta Maria of France, as she journeyed to meet her future husband, Charles I of England. She, too, was attended by a large retinue: she, too, held strongly a different faith and more or less, on that account, awakened the prejudices of her new subjects, and she, too, was involved in a revolution, partly religious in character. But here the parallel ends, for the one remained in possession of her power, while the other was driven from her throne and became an exile.

Perhaps the new queen was taken at once to her palace, the remains of which were discovered by Greaut at Malgata, and which, after being pillaged, were subsequently excavated by Newberry and Titus. Or she may have watched its erection with interest, after her arrival. The original edifice is thus described by those who have made a careful study of the fragmentary remains. “The plan of the palace seems to have been quite similar to that of the palace which Amenophis IV erected for himself in Tel-el-Amarna, and which was several years ago explored by Petrie. In the palace of Amenophis III the rooms were likewise adorned by beautifully decorated stucco floors, and the roof were supported by columns. The walls were embellished with stucco work, the representations, in part, setting forth every-day life. In addition to staterooms, working rooms, the kitchen with its storage closets, a faience factory, in which the different amulets and ornaments were made, can be distinguished. Not far from the palace was found an altar, built of tile, and at one time probably wainscotted with slabs of stone. It was quite similar to the one in the temple of Deir-el-Bahri, and this one was certainly dedicated to the sun-god. As the altars of ancient Israel most likely also had a similar form, these remains of the old Egyptian cultus have an especial Biblical interest.” The columns of the great temple and likely of the palace also, were sculptured to resemble the buds of the lotus, sometimes called the Egyptian immortelle, which might also be called the national flower, so highly was it regarded and so constantly was it used as a model for architectural designs.

That the foreign daughter-in-law was kindly received by Queen Maut-a-mua we may well believe from the harmony which seemed to exist between them later and the union of their two statues with that of Amenophis III; while in her turn Queen Tyi, when she occupied the same position, extended a like friendly affection to her son’s wife.

The influence of the new queen was soon perceived in the institution, by the king, of a religious festival in honor of the sun’s disk. Many of the people may have been charmed to have anything like another holiday, with its attendant pageants and observances, added to their list, but there can be little doubt that it awakened the suspicion of the priests, who jealously guarded the ancient faith and beheld with disfavor anything that might involve less devotion to the numerous gods which they worshipped and of whose interests they were the guardians, and any change that might minimize their influence or deplete the resources in the treasuries of the temples.

Queen Tyi seems not to have been popular. She was a foreigner, which in itself often awakens an antagonistic feeling, amusingly illustrated in the story of the English laborer who when told that a passer by was a stranger exclaimed, “Eave alf a brick at im’.” She held a different faith and in all probability the priests with a consciousness of her latent or expressed views and principles used their great influence quietly to set the people against her and this dislike was transferred to her son.

But to her husband she was ever a first consideration. The records give an account of an enterprise which he early undertook for her pleasure. This was the construction of a large artificial lake on which she might sail or row at will. Again the scarabs chronicle this tribute of connubial tenderness, and again we see the queen’s religious views considered. It begins as usual with an ascription to the gods. “Under the majesty of Horus the golden, mighty of valor, full power, diademed with law (lord of the North and South) establisher of laws, pacifier of the two lands. Horus, the golden, mighty of valor, smiter of foreign lands. Ordered majesty his the oaking of a lake for the royal spouse, mighty lady Thi. Length its (was) cubits 3000-6000, breadth its cubits 600. Made majesty his festival of the entrance of the waters on month third of sowing day sixteenth. Sailed majesty in his boat ‘Atenneferu’ ‘Disk of beauties’ or ‘the most beautiful disk.’” He sailed across to inaugurate the opening and perhaps to show her that all was safe and well and then doubtless the queen held sway over it, permitting only such as she chose to share the pleasure with her and perhaps making it a mark of special favor when she did so. The Egyptians held many of their religious festivals on the Nile and this lake may have been specially devoted to such religious observances as the queen wished to hold in honor of the celestial god whom she worshipped. The place selected for this feat of engineering skill was near the town of Tarucha.