Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/388

 280 NOTES UPON A MUMMY. to the body of the iniiinm}^ ; at the same time, as it had stained a layer of two or three bandages, the probabihties are that it was at least placed upon the mummy when wet. It was, therefore, an approximate clue to the age of the body, and is highly valuable, as affording a fixed point for the criteria of the various peculiarities. As this queen is found with a jjrcenomen, it is evident that she must have had an independent rule ; and her epoch is placed, either at the end of the XXY. ^Ethiopian dynasty, or at the com- mencement of the XXVI. dynasty.^ As dynasties generally end with the reigns of women or children, it would ap- pear more probable that she belonged to the XXV. Her name exactly resembles that of AMMEPI2, with a feminine termination, and the gloss AWloxj/ " the -Ethiopian," to whom Syncellus gives a reign of twelve years, and places at the commencement of the XXVI. dynasty. On certain monuments she is called the daughter of the King Ka-shta.^ which adds to the difficulty ; for if she is to be received into the XXV. dynasty, that line must be increased by two reigns, and have five kings instead of three, — while, if she is assigned to the XXVI. dynasty, she must have been the second, and not the first queen. The only means of explaining it would be by supposing her father to have been an ^Ethiopian monarch. But both her name and that of her father are distinctly Egyptian, and do not, like those of the XXV. dynasty, exhibit any Ethiopian peculiarities, although the names of Psammetichus and Nekau, like those of Candace, offer the Ethiopian termination in ka. Her reign is placed about 700 B.C. I am well aware how defective these observations are in that portion of the science which it is the province of the surgeon and the chemist to illustrate with the important observations of their respective branches ; but as I am likely to have some assistance from specimens and fragments, which Mr. Arden has kindly placed at my disposal, that defect may possibly be supplied ; and perhaps, after all, the general facts of anatomy and the analysis of mate- rials are better known than the religious dogmas and mysteries. I have, however, deemed it my duty, while the facts are still fresh in my memory, to record the present imperfect notes. s. birch. ' Bunsen, /Egyptens Stelle, Book iii., p. T.'J.O— 40 ; Moti. Eg., PI. xxvii., p. G, s. 145, 141, Taf. xi.; I'l-kuiidbuch, s. 'Mi. is tlieroin accurately copied; Coffin, Brit. - Prisse, Revue ArcliJologicjuc, 184.7, Mus., No. 6CG8.