Nefertari.1 The mummy of Hatshepsut had disappeared, and, so far as at present known, has never been found.

Mr. Davis, in his introduction to "The Tomb of Hâtshopsîtû," suggests that one of the unidentified mummies found with those of the Pharaohs in the Deir el-Bahari cachette, may be that of the queen.

There are many portraits extant from which we may gain an idea of Hatshepsut's features (see frontispiece); they are to be seen at Deir el-Bahari and at Karnak, also in the heads of sphinxes that once lined the approach to the great temple. The Berlin and Leyden Museums possess two of these heads, as well as fragments of portrait statues. Part of a magnificent colossal statue of alabaster was found at Karnak and is now exhibited in the Cairo Museum.2 The dress and crown had been of gilt metal, and it is thought that this fine figure may be a portrait statue of the queen.

Many small objects connected with the memory of Hatshepsut still remain: glazed pottery bowls, bricks, scarabs, beads and plaques, models of tools, and alabaster vases engraved with her cartouches. The inlaid throne, with the draught board and pieces, which were discovered a few years ago, and are now in the British Museum, are probably also hers.3

Several cartouches of Thotmes II. and Thotmes III. appear on the walls of Deir el-Bahari. Some of these were undoubtedly placed there by the queen's own order; others have been later substitutes for her name. Wanton hands have ruthlessly cut out her cartouches and chiselled away the features of many of her portraits. It has been thought that this destruction was wrought by the impatient hand of her nephew, and that Thotmes III. had reason for so hating his aunt, that he took immediate advantage of his power to deface her temple and insult the memory of its

1 CARTER," The Antiquities," etc., in Tomb Hâtshopsîtî, 106-112. * LEGRAIN, 1904, Room P, No. 562.

3 Rec., X, 126.

dead builder; but it is possible that the blame rests with a later generation of rulers, who for reasons of their own, vainly sought to erase the name of Hatshepsut from the list of Egypt's monarchs. The judgment of recent writers on this subject is, that Thotmes III. was responsible for very little of the destruction of the queen's temple. Much of the defacement seems due to Amen-hetep IV., and to Seti I. and Ramses II., who in repairing the devastations of the "heretic king," took that opportunity to erase the figures and cartouches of Hatshepsut, replacing them with their own or with those of the Thotmes kings.

There is room for many interpretations of the story of Hatshepsut and her domestic relations, but no proof that any one of these readings is the literal truth. What we can at least be sure of is, that the reign, having been a peaceful one, was a blessing indeed to a nation long burdened with the wars of ambitious kings.

It is evident from the fine spirited sculptures and the admirably handled portraits which decorate the walls of the Deir el-Bahari temple, that art had reached a high standard; Egyptian architecture never received more noble contributions; the craft of the marble worker was faultlessly displayed in the dressing of great masses of stone such as the obelisks of Karnak; while the trained skill that was necessary to rear these monoliths in seven months' time, is proof of the well-organized forces which the architect Senmut had at his command.

The most important testimony to the vigour of Hatshepsut's reign, the strength of her position and the force of her character, is to be found in the history of her successor. Thotmes III. was one of the most aggressive and brilliant monarchs who ever ascended the throne of Egypt; and yet their joint reign, of at least twenty years, was so dominated by the queen, that Thotmes does not seem to have asserted himself or to have shown any independence of action until the death of Hatshepsut left

him sole master of the throne. Thus his early years were completely shadowed by his aunt's strong personality, and he was over thirty before he became a sovereign in anything but the name.

Any attempt which may have been made to dim the memory of the great queen was futile; her records have no uncertain pitch, but ring triumphantly from one end of Egypt to the other. Throughout the Nile Valley, from Buto in the Delta, by way of Beni Hasan, Karnak and Thebes, el Kab and Kom Ombo; to Aswan at the first cataract, and from the far rock cliffs of Sinai, sculptured stone and inscribed stela record the reign of Hatshepsut, fulfilling the wish voiced on her obelisk that her name may remain and live on in temple and land "for ever and ever."

1 For histories of the reign, Temple inscriptions, etc., see NAVIlle, Temple Deir el-Bahari; Tomb Hâtshopsîtû; MASPERO, Struggle of the Nations, 236–254; BRUGSCH, E.P., 142–151.

CHAPTER VIII.

QUEEN HATSHEPSUT TO QUEEN THÏY.

NEFERURA, the eldest daughter of Hatshepsut, seems from the large number of existing records concerning her,1 to have been a person of more importance than was at first supposed. She was certainly Hatshepsut's heiress, as appears from her titles, which name her, " Royal Daughter, Royal Sister, Sovereign of Both Lands, Divine Wife, "Princess of the North and South."

A relief at Karnak shows the princess wearing the uræus and vulture crown of the queens, while her name is enclosed in a royal oval. She stands between the two divinities, Amen and Hathor, who embrace her as though in blessing. At Sinai a stela was found by Petrie, who states that it was dated in the eleventh year of Queen Neferura, a fact which suggests that she was already associated with the crown as its legal heiress, in the same way that her mother had been associated by Thotmes I.

The great official of Hatshepsut's reign, Senmut, was the guardian of Neferura, and is often represented holding the infant princess between his knees. Three such statues, in grey, black, and rose granite, are in the Cairo Museum, and a similar one is in Berlin. Other instances of Neferura's appearance as Hatshepsut's heiress are found in the queen's

1 CHAMPOLLION, M. de PE. cxcii, 3, cxciv, I, 3; ROSELLINI, Mon. Stor., II, 8; LEPSIUS; WIEDEMANN; DARESSY; LEGRAIN; PETRIE; NEWBERRY.

2 PETRIE, Arch. Rep., E.E.F., 1904-5.

3 Room M, 333, 341 bis.

temple at Deir el-Bahari, and in inscriptions at Aswan.1 Several scarabs and funeral cones, stamped with her cartouche, are known, and are published by Wiedemann, Daressy, Petrie and Newberry.

From the great prominence thus given her in contemporary monuments, it seems clear that this princess from the time of her birth, was looked upon as the future queen, and had she lived would certainly have succeeded to her mother's throne. Her death must have occurred before she had arrived at a marriageable age; otherwise we should find Neferura, instead of her younger sister Meryt-ra, united to the heir as royal consort.

MERYT-RA-HATSHEPSET. This princess is but an uncertain figure in the history of the epoch. It is not precisely stated anywhere that Meryt-ra was the daughter of Hatshepsut, but it does not follow that she was not of the queen's family on that account. Hatshepsut and Thotmes had certainly more than one daughter, and yet only one is mentioned. The princess Neferura is called not only "Royal Sister," but is referred to by one of her mother's officials as "the eldest daughter." There was necessarily then, one other daughter at least, although this second princess never appears in any of the queen's records.

The successor of Hatshepsut, Thotmes III., would have strengthened his claim to the crown through its heiress, according to Egyptian custom; but as Neferura is never mentioned as Thotmes' queen, it is probable that her early death prevented her marriage to her mother's co-regent. The princess who became Thotmes' wife, was that royal daughter who bore the name of the great queen, and there seems to be no reasonable doubt that she was a younger sister of Neferura.

In glancing at the records, few and formal, which remain of Queen Meryt-ra, one is tempted to regard her as having

1 de MORGAN, M.I., I, 41 ; L., D., iii, 20 bis 9.

2 Aswan Stela of Pen-nekheb, NAVILLE, T.H., 19.