in the presence of the god great, lord of the underworld. How Scarabs worn for ornament. Historical scarabs of Ameno phis III. The second class of scarabs, i.e., those worn for ornament, exists in many thousands. By an easy transition, the custom of placing scarabs on the bodies of the dead passed to the living, and men and women perhaps wore the scarab as a silent act of homage to the creator of the world, who was not only the god of the dead but of the living also. To attempt to describe this class of scarabs would be impossible in anything but a special work on the subject. The devices and inscriptions are very varied, but at present it is not possible to explain one half of them satisfactorily. The third class of scarabs, i.e., the historical, appears to be confined to a series of four, extant in many copies, which were made during the reign of Amenophis III., to commemorate certain historical events. They are of considerable interest, and the texts inscribed upon them refer to : I. The slaughter of 102 lions by Amenophis III., during the first ten years of his reign; the text reads: Horus the golden, mighty of valour, smiler of foreign lands, Amenḥetep, prince of Thebes, giver of life, [and] royal spouse Thi II. The limits of the Egyptian Empire, and the names of the parents of Thi, wife of Amenophis III.; the text reads: Horus the golden, mighty of valour, smiter of foreign lands, se Rā Åmen-hetep heq Uast {King of the North "and South, Neb-maāt-Rã, son of the Sun, Amen-hetep prince of Thebes, giver of life, [and] royal spouse, mighty lady, Thi, ληχθ living one of III. The arrival of the bride of Amenophis III. in Egypt from Mesopotamia, with three hundred and seventeen of her women; the text reads:- 8 Year tenth under the majesty of Horus, bull powerful, diademed phis III. 1 The land south of Nubia. 2 I.c., ou ▲ Mesopotamia. Published by Brugsch, Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1880, p. 82. majesty his, life, strength, health, the daughter of the prince of IV. The construction of the lake of Queen Thi in the eleventh year of the reign of Amenophis. The text of this scarab was first published in Rosellini, Monumenti Storici, tav. xliv. No. 2. It was partly translated by Rosellini, then by Hinks (in Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxi. Dublin, 1848, Sec. "Polite Literature," On the age of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Manetho, p. 7), and by Birch, Records of the Past, Vol. XII. p. 41. The text printed below is corrected from Stern's copy in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1887, p. 87, note 2. The scarab is dated in the first day, the third month of sowing 1 Hathor. 1 |