“Leaving the temple of Amon the young couple and their splendid retinue passed through the avenue of sphinxes, to the pharaoh’s palace. Crowds of people and warriors greeted them with shouts, scattering flowers on their pathway.”
The experience of this same Khitan or Chetan princess, who adopted the name of Ur-maa-nofru-ra, or, as given in other places, Noferura-Urmda and Ra-maa-nofre, “Sun, Truth, Beautiful exceedingly,” reminds one of that of Maria Louisa of Austria, who became the wife of Napoleon First of France. The father of each had to bow the neck to the conqueror, the daughter became in a sense the hostage, she paid the penalty of defeat. There could not but have been a sense of bitterness at such a fate, in which love could have had no share. How far did ambition, the feeling of being the wife of the greatest monarch of the then known world, satisfy the empty heart?
Among Rameses II’s numerous children his favorites are known to have been his son, Khamus, and his daughter, Bint-Antha, both perhaps the children of Nofritari-Minimut, though one writer gives Isemofer, probably not a legal consort, as the mother of Khamus. We do not know the names of the children of the Khitan princess or even if she had any. A picture of a number of his sons and daughters, with names attached, the sons with fans, the daughters with sistra, is between Elephantine and Abou Simbel.
Among the pictures of his children are those of the Ramessium at Thebes, where Khamus, his favorite son, is represented in a battle. There are two processions of his children and in one, two princesses. The eldest son of the Pharaoh was called “Prince of Cush,” as the eldest son of the king of England is now called “Prince of Wales.”
“Sutem-hemt” was the royal wife, “Sutem-Mut,” the royal mother, as such in the prime of life we see Queen Nofritari-Minimut. Queen Urm-maa-nofru-ra appears only in her beautiful youth, as the bride; she herself, says one inscription, “knew not the impression her beauty made on the heart of the king.” In a novel founded on this part of Egyptian history a queen is thus described, “her eyes were the color of her hair, a rich sunny brown, like Syriac women of Damascus. On her head the double diadem of Thebes and Memphis, the inner crown a graceful conical bonnet of white silk, terminating in a knob like a pomegranite bud. Outside a rich band of gold and lined with red silk; red, the special color of Lower, as white was of Upper Egypt; this was open at the top and worn over the other. Then a necklace of precious stones, with a clasp of a vulture, his neck encircled by an asp, emblem of the goddess, Maut. She wore a white vestment of gauzy Persian silk, enriched with gold and blue needlework below the waist, and secured by a girdle blazing with diamonds. A long royal robe from the Damascus looms descended to her feet.” Some such outline perhaps conveys an idea of the new queen. Not an exact portrait, but a mere suggestion, helpful in filling in our mosaic.
Beautiful we may believe her to have been, and much the junior of the man she must needs accept for a husband. She was never allowed to forget the cost at which her honors were bought, however; on many walls of temples and perhaps palaces also, the painted record stared her in the face. Yet did the conqueror regard his adversary, Khitazar or Khitasar, king or prince of the Khitans (by some believed to be the Hittites of the Scriptures or, accord to others, the Aramaeans), as no mean foe and the compact of peace between them, which was engraved on a silver tablet, was honorable to both. King Khitazar seems to have inspired Rameses II with more respect than some of his adversaries, on whom he looked down with the utmost contempt. It is said that he refused an offer of marriage for one of his daughters from a Mesopotamian prince or king, stating that he would not give his daughter to a “nobody.”
The vanquished Kitazar offered his daughter to the victor, who accepted this marriage as a means of cementing the alliance between them. Rameses had married Nofritari-Minimut, who is spoken of as the “great princess, of every grace in her heart, the beloved palm, mistress of both lands, beloved of the king and united with the ruler,” before the death of his father, Seti I, Ur-maa-nofru-ra years after. The queen’s establishments were far apart, probably they seldom or never met, but doubtless Queen Nofritari-Minimut held proudly to her position as first consort. Both queens must have had some acquaintance with the king’s singular and dangerous pet, the lion, who fought with him in his battle against the Khita, one of which is named in the picture in which he accompanied the king, “Smaru-khef-tu-f,” “the tearer in pieces.”
According to most authorities the marriage of Rameses II and Ur-maa-nofru-ra took place in the fifth year of the king’s sole reign. Near the temple of Abou-Simbel there is a passage in the rocks, where there is a picture of Rameses II, sitting under a canopy, between two gods, while before him appears the Khitan princess, followed by her father, Kitazar, in the dress of his country. The princess’ name is enclosed with that of Rameses II in a royal cartouche, which shows her to have been his legal consort. The stele celebrating this event was probably put up in the 34th year of his reign, a number of years after the marriage.
Perhaps the most ancient international treaty in the world, which differs little from those of modern times, is this concordat established between Rameses II and Kitazar, which was intended to put an end to the wars between the Egyptians and Asiatics. On the side wall of the temple of Amon at Karnak it is given in an inscription. It is dated 21st Tybi, in 21st year of Rameses II Miamun, in the town of Tanis and was engraved on a silver tablet and brought by ambassadors of peace. After speaking of the fact that there had been peace between their ancestors at one time, it goes on to say, “Khetasar, prince of the Khita, unites with Rameses Miamun, the mighty king of Egypt, to cause to exist between them good peace and good alliance, from this time on forever. He shall be allied with me, he shall be at peace with me. And I, I shall be allied with him, and I, I shall be at peace with him forever.” Many pictures of the battles which preceded this agreement of peace are also to be seen on the temple walls.