Predecessors of Cleopatra

by Leigh North

“What I swear is a true avowal of what my heart says to me. Never is there falsehood in what I say,” and he ends a long inscription, relative to the setting up of various memorial tablets with, “These memorial tablets which were placed in the midst had fallen down. I will have them raised up afresh and have them placed again in the situation in which they were (previously). This I swear to do in the 8th year, in the month Tybi, on the 9th day the king was in Khuaten and Pharaoh mounted on his court chariot of polished copper to behold the memorial tablets of the disk of the sun which are on the hills of the territory to the south-east of Khu-aten.” And perhaps the queen and the eldest daughters followed him to make this investigation. Brugsch says the inscriptions on these tablets were first found and published by Prisse d’Avennes.

The series of tablets discovered at Tel-el-Amarna in 1888 are chiefly in the museums of London, Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburgh, with a few at Gizeh. One letter is from a lady who styles herself “the handmaid” of the king and others relate to the exchange of presents and slaves, men and girls.

Another beloved member of this amiable family was the princess Notem-Mut, younger sister of the queen, who seems quite to have been counted in. She, too, had a special palace built for her, and married Horem-heb or Ho-rem-hib, not of royal birth, but who eventually became the last king of this, the Eighteenth Dynasty. He may have had two wives, or else Notem-mut changed her name, as we read also of a queen Ese as his spouse.

The temples and palaces were of a somewhat different style of architecture from the usual Egyptian form, but they were beautiful, with their open courts, and calculated for the needs of those who were to occupy them, as well as for the character of the country and climate. The names of the artists and architects are preserved, which is not usually the case, and their talent seems to have descended in the family, for we learn that a certain Bek, overseer, artist and teacher of the king, was a grandson of Hor-amoo, who had served in the same office under Amenophis III.

“The tombstone of the artist, Bek,” says Brugsch, “was put up for sale some years ago in the open market place in Cairo. My respected friend, Mr. L. Vassali, bought it, and was good enough to give me an exact drawing of the carving upon it and a paper impression of the inscription.”

The wall pictures that were found in the tombs present the king and queen seated on a balcony with their eldest children, the baby in the mother’s lap, enduring certain officials with the necklace of honor and casting down presents to the crowd. A pleasant sport, enjoyed in common by the whole family party. Queen Tyi, the chief of the women’s department, named Hai, the steward, the treasurer and other members of the court, also shared in the fun.

Another picture gives the king and queen worshipping the sun, accompanied by two of their daughters, showing clearly that all the duties and pleasures of life were shared in this amiable family. A touch of Nature makes us all kin, and this recalls the picture one often sees of domestic life among the Germans, where father, mother and children go off for a picnic or a frolic together, while the Frenchman perhaps is in the café alone.

The Egyptians were highly skilled in pottery and faience; fine glazing on pottery, stone and in enamels on goldsmith work is shown at the beginning of the New Empire. Tel-el-Amarna seems to have been quite celebrated for its pottery and the fabrication of delicate enamels, of which many specimens, in a great variety of colors, have been found. The vase of Queen Tyi, preserved in the Boulak Museum, is grey and blue. Olive-shaped amulets of the kings and princesses of this family show delicate blue hieroglyphics on a mauve ground, while the potters of the time of Amenophis III are said to have been particularly fond of violets and greys.

Less warlike than the majority of his predecessors, we still read of some fighting during Aten-aten’s or Khu-n-aten’s reign and victories over the Syrians and other nations, which the king, though probably not taking the field himself, celebrated with the customary festival. He appears in “the full Pharaonic attire, adorned with the insignia of his rank, on his lion throne, carried on the shoulders of his warriors. At his side walk servants, who, with long fans, wave the cool air upon their heated lord.” This was in the twelfth year of his reign, on the 18th day of the month Mekhir, December. The crook, whip, and sickle-shaped sword were emblems of royalty, while of the New Empire was a canopy raised on wooden pillars, colored and ornamented, with a thick carpet on seat, footstool and floor. On ordinary occasions the king was probably carried in a sort of Sedan chair of splendid appearance.

Later occurred the marriages of some of the daughters, and as no son was born, two at least of the sons-in-law seem to have ruled in succession, and it is pleasant to be able to believe that this was peacefully accomplished, without the family jars and broils so often coincident with the dividing of a heritage. In modern parlance the ladies do not seem to have made very brilliant matches. No foreign prince or monarch is recorded as being an accepted suitor. “Home talent” was strictly patronized, and the sons of high officials were deemed suitable parties, who by right of their wives it would seem, succeeded each other as king. Their reigns were short enough for each to have a turn as the pleasant task of ruling.