Predecessors of Cleopatra

by Leigh North

The Book of the Dead, of which sections belonging to different periods have been found, was a sort of Bible, for which the Egyptians entertained the most profound respect and whose maxims they seem to have used, both as a guide in life and in their preparation of the dead for the tomb. The papyrus containing the tale of “The Two Brothers,” in which the younger was unjustly accused of wrongdoing towards his elder brother’s wife, bears some resemblance to the Bible story of Joseph’s experiences, and belongs to the period of Seti II.

Diodorus speaks of a sacred library which he said was inscribed “Dispensary of the Mind,” and belonged to the period of Rameses III; some ruins believed to have been this building have been found. There was a great hall and several smaller rooms, supported by columns. “On the jamb of one of the smaller rooms,” says Kendrick, “was sculptured Thoth, the inventor of Letters, and the goddess Saf, his companion, with the title of ‘Lady of Letters and President of the Hall of Books,’ accompanied, the former with an emblem of the sense of sight, the latter with that of hearing.”

Treaties with foreign nations were often inscribed, like that of Rameses II and the father of Queen Urma-nofrura, on tablets of silver or other metal, while accounts, letters and more trivial matters, were written on pottery, fragments of which have come down to our own day. In these times, or even earlier, the Greeks made their way into Egypt, and through them, as well as from the monuments, we have derived much of our knowledge of the Egyptians.

A late writer on Egypt, Isaac Meyer, draws a parallel between Christianity and the old Egyptian religion, and advances a theory, more ingenious than reliable, that Christ may have been in Egypt later than in his infancy. The “Book of the Dead,” said to be the great storehouse of Egyptian theology, shows refined and ethical ideas. Horus, the sun-god, the victorious of the resurrection from the dead to eternal life, is found chief among the deities there represented, wearing the Osirian crown, and with an endless serpent, symbolic of eternity. Chapters of this book were found in isolated places, and at different times, “a collection of preceptus and maxims on the conduct of life.” Many had fragments of the revered volume buried beside them or engraved on scarabeii as ornaments and decorations. In later times than those which we are now considering the mummy of a young girl was found, with part of Homer in her coffin, having in life probably been devoted to his poetry.

Some archeologists and students see traces of original monotheism in the religion of the Egyptians, one central idea of deity perhaps under many forms, but the idea is not supported by general testimony. “Deities,” says one writer, “were merged into one another, qualities of one were attributed to another till the pantheon resembled the shifting pictures of the kaleidoscope.”

Some of the Egyptian precepts and maxims are not without their value in modern times, such as “If thou humblest thyself in obeying a superior, thy conduct is wholly good before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, lift not thy heart against the latter.” And again, “If thou desirest thy conduct to be good and preserved from evil, keep thyself from attacks of bad temper. It is wrong to fly in a passion with one’s neighbor to the point of not knowing how to manage one’s words.”

Siptah is sometimes spoken of as an anti-king, regarded as an usurper, rather than a rightful heir, and his name is occasionally omitted from the list of kings. His Horus name is said to mean Horus rising in Khebit; he added nothing important to the temples and, though depicted in relief in Silsila and other places, it is probably only commemorative of small repairs. Buried in his wife’s tomb, he was removed, in the troublous times of the Twentieth Dynasty, to the tomb of Amenhetep II. The original tomb has three or four corridors and several chambers. A picture of the queen, offering gifts to the gods, was plastered over by Sek-nebta, who usurped the tomb. The remains of the funeral temple of the king and queen were excavated by Professor Petrie in 1896. Her temple was between those of Meren-Ptah and Thothmes IV, and his north of the temple of Amenhetep II.

Another suggestion as regards Siptah is that he may have ruled over one part of Egypt—the rightful king over another. But, whatever the ambiguity of his earlier history, it is known that he was buried with his wife in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, Queen Tausert taking her place with her husband, and not among the Tombs of the Queens where so many of the royal ladies were laid.

There were probably revolutions and counter revolutions, till the reins of government were once more finally in the hands of Rameses III. Whether from the ambition of an usurper to be laid with the true line of kings, or from a deep affection, Siptah and Tausert shared their tomb, the queen probably having died first, and the king subsequently, no doubt by special order being laid beside her. The tomb was elaborately painted and inscribed, but much is faded by time and the light and air admitted by explorers. Champoleon believed, we are told, that he had discovered a cartouch of Seti-Nekht, engraved above that of Seti II, and the latter above that of Tausert and Siptah; but “there is no visible trace of this superposition which would assign to Siptah a date anterior to Seti II.”

One writer says of Tausert that who the queen was is unknown; she may have been a queen dowager, with special rights as daughter of a Pharaoh, and may have been the widow of Seti I and mother of the Prince of Cush, if so Siptah was her husband’s brother and child’s uncle. She is also spoken of as “hereditary daughter—exalted.”