Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/517

This page needs to be proofread.

REMARKABLE OBJECT OF THE REIGN OF AMENOPHIS III. 397 pointed out to the late Lord Northampton, he at once presented them to the British Museum, where they are publici juris. Apparently they must have been taken either from the actual sepulchre of the young queen, or else from that of some officer of the highest rank at the close of the reign of Amenophis III., since furniture' of so valuable a kind could only have been used by the royal family or court functionaries.² The stud, No. 5899", Egyptian-room, has the prenomen and name of Amenophis. Neter nefer Ra neb ma neb ta sa Ra Amenhetp hek neter... anch ta cha ra. "The good god, the sun, the lord of truth, the lord of the earth, Amenophis, lord of Upper Egypt, the living, like the sun." 5 On the plinth, No. 5899, is a perpendicular line reading Neter nefer neb ar chet sut cheb Ra neb ma Sa (en) Ra Amenhetp hek neter. . . sa suten hem t suten Amensat mes en hem.ûr. t Taiu anch ta snb cha ra geta. "The good god.3 the lord producing things, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the sun, the lord of truth, the son of the sun Amenophis, lord of Upper Egypt, the royal daughter and royal wife Amensat, born of the royal lady Taiu, living like the sun immortal." On both of these objects the name of Amenophis has been purposely erased at an ancient period; on the plinth the name of the King's daughter, which I have restored as Amensat, is also obliterated, part of the legs of a bird only remaining: the words " queen, royal," and "born of," are also erased. The reason of this violence it will be necessary to explain; but it is first requisite to take a survey of the reign of Amenophis III. This monarch was the son of Tetimes or Thothmes IV.,6 and his Ethiopian wife," 1 Ebony (haben) is often mentioned in the texts. Trans. R. Soc. Lit., vol. ii., p. 358. A few objects of it occur in the Museum collections. 2 The social condition of Egypt was a numerous priesthood, a bureaucracy ra- mifying into the most minute sections, and slavery. Functionaries often had upon their furniture the names of the monarch in whose reign they lived, either out of loyalty, flattery, or that the objects were gifts of the king. A similar plinth, No. 5899, Egyptian Room, has only the titles of Amenophis. 3 The teriu neter nefer, "good god." I regard as the Αγαθος δαίμων, a title of the Pharaohs. It occurs in the inscription from the sphinx. Letronne, Rech., p. 22. VOL. VIII. 7

Neb ar chet, literally, "the lord making

things." Rosellini. Mon. Stor., tom. iii., pt. i., p. 14, n. 2, reads, "doing other things;" but chet means a thing, Coptice chai. t. Dr. Hincks, Trans. Roy Ir. Acad, 1839, p. 193, reads Nebachth, comparing it with Neopaxos. Diodor., lib. i., s. 5 This word is, I believe, Peten. Bunsen, Egypts. Place, p. 566, No. 3, usually read Pen or Pooni. Champollion, Dict., p. 379. Gram. 147, n. 1. Dr. Hincks, Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad., 1846, on the erasure of divine names, p. 5. 6 Wilkinson's Mat. Hier., pl. ix., 13. Tablet of Abydos, 1. 2. Rosellini, Mon. Stor. i.. 236. 7 Wilkinson's Mann. and Cust.. i., 60. 3 11