Ay died and left no children, and was succeeded by Horem-heb, or Horem-hib, who then was, or subsequently became, his uncle by a marriage with the Princess Notem-Mut, or Nezem-Mut, sister of Queen Nefertiti. The history of this time is, as yet, far from clear, and dates which fit in approximately to one set of theories, refuse to combine with others; some hold that Queen Nefertiti had been originally sent to Egypt to be the bride of Amenophis III, and that his death occurring before her arrival, she then became the wife of his son. This last arrangement, judging by the probable years of the parties, was more natural, and the union seemed to have proved a most happy one, as all the pictures show complete concord of interest and sentiment between the two. Defaced pictures of both Queen Tyi and Queen Nefertiti are found in the tombs, and the mummy of King Khu-n-aten was found in the tomb of Amenophis II, where it had, probably been removed to avoid spoliation, his tomb having been originally elsewhere.
King Horem-heb seems first to have been a renowned general in the army, and though not of royal birth, his horoscope foretold for him great success. The earlier histories of him say that he was a special favorite of King Khu-n-aten, who made him guardian of the kingdom, which position, so near the throne, suggests opportunities to win the heart of the princess. The god Amon, it is said, brought her to him, “the crown prince Horem-hib,” and the inscription adds, “she bowed herself and embraced his pleasant form, and placed herself before him.” Was it perchance on account of this kind service of the god that they both espoused his religion so fervently, or did the priests tamper with the princess and she inspire her lover with enthusiasm for the old beliefs?
This romantic history, however, loses somewhat of its glamour under the realistic touches and conclusions of later students. The princess was a priestess of Amon, and the marriage of the two, it is claimed, was merely a political one, both king and queen being between fifty and sixty at the time of their union. The kind offices of the god may be, so to speak, mythologically considered. The long account which gives an exultant story of his coronation, prejudges the fact that both the king and queen were zealous supporters of the ancient religion, and again Thebes became the royal city. The work of Khu-n-aten there was destroyed and a new temple built. At Karnak, as was frequently the wont of the kings, Horem-hib built with materials taken from a ruined temple of Amenophis II. He also built a rock temple at Silsilis, where inscriptions certify to his victories.
The pictures of this king and his mother Sonit, at a banquet, where some of the company were of the living, some of the dead, has been described in an earlier chapter, as also the statues of himself and his wife, he with a handsome, melancholy face, she also handsome, but with a touch of sarcasm in her smile. Her likeness has been ascribed to other queens.
The group of Horem-hib and the god Amon, in the Turin Museum, is pronounced to be “dry in treatment,” while the colossi in red granite, against his pylon at Karnak, the bas-reliefs at Silsilis, and the portrait statue just referred to are deemed by the same critic “faultless.” Other wall decorations show the king conferring the insignia of the Golden Collar upon a certain Nefer-hotep of Thebes. He is sometimes improperly called Horus, while Manetho by this name refers to Khu-n-aten.
Of Queen Nezem-mut there are not many remains, and these may be briefly enumerated. She figures in the tomb of Ay in a family group; there is the statue of her with the King at Turin; she appears as a female sphinx as given by Rosellini, there is a scarab at Berlin, and a frog with her name at Abydos. Since, with the reign of Horem-hib the eighteenth dynasty concludes, and so little is to be found as regards his wife, we have included her brief history with that of her sister, Queen Nefertiti, in the present chapter. A new dynasty, the nineteenth, succeeded, while some authorities maintain that the early members of the Ramesside family were contemporary with Horem-hib.
CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.
TUAA.
Probably years after Queen Tyi, or Tuaa, wife of Amenophis III and mother of the heretic King Khu-n-aten, was laid in her grave, her grand-daughter and namesake became the consort of the reigning monarch. The Eighteenth Dynasty had passed away and a new race held sway. They seem to have had no hereditary title to the crown, but may have claimed Hyksos ancestry. Might, however, often makes right, and they were a noted and powerful succession of monarchs. After King Horem-hib and Queen Notem-Mut came in Rameses I, of the Nineteenth Dynasty, of whose wife we at present know nothing, though future discoveries may reveal her identity. After a short reign the king was succeeded by his son Seti, or Sety I, called Merenptah or Mereptah, “Son of Ptah,” who strengthened his position by marrying a descendant of the preceding royal line. She brought him as her dower, in addition to whatever else she might have been mistress of, the valuable possession of the true “blue blood,” which she conferred upon her son, Rameses II, “born of Ra,” and thus made his claim to the crown indisputable.