Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/517

 REMAKKA15LH 015JECT OF THE ItKION OK AMRNOl'IIIS III. .".'.l? pointed out to the lute Lord Noitliamptou, he at once presented them to the Britisli AFuseuni, wlicre they arc puhlici juris. Ai)i)ai-eiitly they must have been taken either from the actual sepulchre of the young cpicen, or else from that of some officer of the highest rank at the close of tlie reign of Amenophis III., since furniture' of so valuahlea kind could only have been used by the royal family or court functionaries.^ The stud, No. 5899'', Egyptian-room, has the prenomcn and n^ime of Amenophis. Ncter iiefa- lla vrh ma neb ta ^a lla Anioihdp hek netcr . . . anch fa 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." On the plinth, No. 5899, is a perpendicular line readino- Neter m^fcr neb ar diet sut cheb Ra neb ma Sa {en) Ra Amenhetp hek neter . . . sa mten hem t suten Amensat ines vn hem . nr . t Taiu anch ta snb cha ra geta. " The good god, 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 pHntli 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 I'cquisite to take a survey of the reign of Amenophis III. This monarch was the son of Tetimes or Thothmes IV.,^ and his -(Ethiopian wife,' ' Ebony (haben) is ofteu mentioned in * Neb archef,itvrtiU, " the h>riln:ikiii'^ the texts. Trans. R. Soc. Lit., vol. ii., things." Rosellini. Mon. Stor., toni. iii.. p. 358. A few ol)jeets of it occur in the pt. i., p. 14, n. 2, re.-ids, " tloinj; othi-r Museum collections. things ;" but cfiet means a thing, Cojitice - The social condition of Egypt was a chai.t. Dr. llincks, Ti-:ins. Roy Jr. .Vcid. numerous priesthood, a bureaucracy ra- j'iO, p. 193, reads Alinifit/i, comparing niit'ying into the most minute sections, and it «ith N((paxdus. Diodor., lib. i., s. slavery. Functionaries often had upon s 'piiis word is, I lielievc, A /t-n. Bunsen, their furniture the names of the monarch Egypts. Place, ji. 5(i, No. 3, usually rc-jid in whose reign they lived, either out of Pen or Pooni. Champollion, Diet., p. 3?!'. loyalty, flattery, or that the objects were Gram. 147, n. 1. Dr. llincks, Tran.s. Koy. gifts of the king. A similar plinth, Ir. Acad., 1846, on the era.sure of divine No. 589!), Egyptian Room, has only the names, p. 5. titles of Amenophis. * Wilkinson's Mat. Hier, pi. ix., 13. 3 The ttii-m netcr ncfer, "good god," I 'I'ablet of Abydos, 1. 2. Rostlhni, Mon. regard as the Ayadus Saifj.(i)v, a title of the Stor. i.. 23G. Pharaohs. It occurs in the in.scription ? VMlkinsou's Mann, and Cust, i., 60. from the sphinx. Letronue, Recli., p. 2 "2. VOL. VIII. 3 H