has the double inscription, "The good god, Lord of the Two Lands, Antef, giving life," "The Great Royal Wife who is united to the Beautiful White Crown, Sebek-em-saes."l There were, however, five kings who bore the name Antef, and there is nothing to designate which one of them was the husband of Queen Sebek-em-saes.

Egyptologists have lately seen reason for transferring several of the Antef princes from the XIth dynasty, where they were originally placed, to the XVIIth. It is doubtless one of these later Antefs who was the husband of this queen. Further light is thrown on her by a mention in a XVIIth dynasty record, when the restoration of her tomb was ordered by Aah-hetep I.

This stela2 states on the part of a priest, Au-ef, son of Art-na, that he was ordered by the queen to restore the tomb of “The Royal Daughter, Sebek-em-saes," which had fallen into ruin. On the stela the figures of the two queens are represented side by side, a fact which suggests some relationship between them. Sebek-em-saes was the older of the two queens, as the stela refers to the "restoration of her tomb, which had fallen into ruin." Queen Aah-hetep would scarcely have concerned herself about the restoration of Sebek-em-saes' tomb, nor have appeared with her on Au-ef's stela, unless the elder queen had been her ancestress.

With the XVIIth dynasty the power of the Hyksos kings in Egypt began to wane, and the arms of the native princes to wax stronger. One of these warriors, to whose prowess the kingdom owed its final restoration, was Sequenen-Ra III., whose mummy, now in the Cairo Museum, proves that he was slain in battle. His last fight had been a furious one, and it had apparently taken two axe blows and a dagger thrust in the head to crush out his brave spirit. The records of this king bring us back again to the legitimate queens of Egypt, and open the page at the beginning of the most brilliant period in their history.

1 NEWBERRY in P.S.B.A., 1902.

2 Ibid.

"Divine Wife of Amen; Royal Mother;
"Great Royal Wife, joined to

Beautiful White Crown."

to the

The title "Divine Wife," was assumed by an XIth dynasty queen, Neferu; but no other instance of its use is known prior to the time of Aah-hetep, after whom it was generally included in the preamble of the queens, and implied the rank of chief high-priestess of Amen.

The full sovereign rights seem to have been conveyed to the XVIIIth dynasty, in the person of this famous queen, whose descent may reasonably be supposed to trace from that royal heiress, the daughter, sister and wife of kings, Sebek-em-saes. It was probably through her that Aahhetep was the heiress of the royal line of Hierakonpolis, the principality of those ancient Chiefs who first assumed the white crown as kings of Upper Egypt. The stela of Au-ef1 proves that Queen Aah-hetep owned estates near Edfu, and that the tomb of her ancestress Sebek-em-saes was in that vicinity.

In reference to the transmission by women of the hereditary right to the Pharaoh's throne, M. Maspero says: "The question presents itself whether during those " centuries of perpetual warfare (ie., that of the Hyksos "occupation) there had not been a moment when all the "males of the family having perished, the women alone were left to perpetuate the solar race on earth, and to keep the succession unbroken. As soon as the veil over "this period of history begins to be lifted, we distinguish

1 M.'s M.R., 625-628.

among the personages emerging from the obscurity as many queens as kings presiding over the destinies of Egypt."

Aah-hetep was probably born during the latter troubled days of the Hyksos usurpation, when her own royal house was at war with the foreigner, for the re-establishment of the Pharaoh's lost throne. Her early years passed within sound of the clash of arms, and the alternating hopes and fears attending the victories or defeats of her warlike people. Her husband was the warrior prince, Se-quenenRa III., whom she seems to have married when very young. Many children of this family are figured on the stelæ of two Theban officials of a later time, in such connection as to lead Egyptologists to think they were all children of Queen Aah-hetep and of Se-quenen-Ra.

From these lists, the queen appears as the mother not only of the conqueror Aahmes, the two kings Kames and Skhent-neb-Ra, and the heiress Nefertari, but of seven other sons and daughters. The names of these princes are given as Binpu, Uazmes, Rames, and Kenaru; and the princesses as Kames, Satirbau, and Takhedka.

Se-quenen-Ra, fighting for the freedom of his country, was slain on some distant battlefield, and his body, rescued by faithful followers, was carried home to be laid in a Theban tomb. After her husband's death, Aah-hetep saw her son Aahmes go forth to fight the hereditary foe, and to wrest from its grasp the crown of her forefathers. She must have proudly regarded him, when, returning the victorious deliverer of his Nation, he gave to his mother the royal state and rights of her inheritance; and after her stormy youth, assured to her a life of peace at last. She saw three of her sons in turn wear the crown: Kames, Skent-neb-Ra, and Aahmes. She lived through the reign of

1 M.'s S.N., 77.

2 BOURIANT, Maspero, PetrIE and others hold this view, while WIEDEMANN, and BRUGSCH think she was the wife of Kames.