With Queen Tyi (or as her name is variously spelled, Ti, Tai, Tity, Tii, Teye, Tuaa, Thua) we again consider the story of a woman of unusual power, and though not leaving such indelible impression upon the page of history as did Queen Hatasu, her influence was strongly felt. Both as wife and mother we see the traces of her ideas and wishes on the actions of husband and son; both, evidently, turned to her for counsel and each in his own way showed her devoted affection. So potent was her sway over the latter that to it is largely attributed the religious and political revolution which occurred in the lifetime of Amenophis IV. Though its effects were comparatively temporary and passed away during the reign of his successors for the time being it convulsed Egypt to its centre and the records of it have not been obliterated by the lapse of centuries.

Amenophis III, son of Tahutmes IV and Maut-a-mua, was, we judge, an attractive youth. He had a fine presence, an agreeable expression and an amiable and generous disposition, while his love story holds more of romance than usually falls to the lot of kings or queens. He is credited with a number of wives or less reputable connections. Perhaps they included the errors of the “sowing of wild oats,” and at any rate seem to have been relegated to or kept in the background by a devoted affection for the lady who became pre-eminently his legal wife. These various wives are given as a sister and two daughters of Kalima-Sin, King of Karaduniyash, and a sister and daughter of Tushratta, King of Mittani, none of whom, it is said, were acknowledged queen of Egypt, while other records seem to imply that Queen Tyi was the daughter of Tushratta of Dushratta, King of Mittanni. A letter to Babylon seems to show that Amenophis III had married a Babylonish princess, and that her brother, Kali-masin, was not satisfied about her safety, but was reassured by Amenophis. A match between another princess of that country and the Egyptian sovereign seems to have failed for lack of sufficient gold on the lady’s part. Wars also interfered with connubial arrangements.

Another account says that Amenophis III haughtily refused when the King of Mesopotamia, Kalima-Sin, wished to marry one of the Egyptian princesses, saying that the daughter of the king of the Land of Egypt had never been given to a “nobody.” This, of course, occurred later, if at all, and it seems not quite reasonable that the king himself should take a princess as his wife from the same family to which he refused his daughter. The sovereign of great Egypt evidently viewed with contempt the claims of these petty princes to be considered in any way his equal. Yet one letter in the collection found at Tel-el-Amarna shows that Tahutmes III, Tahutmes IV and Amenophis IV all married Mitannian princesses. After such a lapse of time and among conflicting statements it is hard to arrive at the absolute facts, but as our present concern is chiefly with Queen Tyi it matters the less. She alone of these various ladies has a distinct personality and takes a prominent place.

Hunting was, with Amenophis III, a passion, the hunting of the lion a royal sport, for the sake of which he journeyed far and no doubt underwent many enforced privations. It must have been in the heyday of youth and manly vigor that, on one of his long expeditions, he encountered the foreign princess who at once won his heart and probably reciprocated to a more than ordinary degree the affection she inspired. Spite of the rather unattractive effigies which bear her name, we must believe that she was beautiful and winning, since for her sake he cast aside the so frequent custom of marriage with a sister or some home dignitary and invited her to share his throne.

Probably then, or later, the queen participated in the favorite amusement of her husband, not wanting in courage for the perils or hardships involved, nor did she shrink as a more sensitive female of later times might have done from what was painful, cruel or revolting in the death throes of the mighty beast.

Scarabs, so often used by the Egyptians to record events which they considered of importance, have been found, bearing such inscriptions as this: “Amenhotep, prince of Thebes, giver of life, and royal spouse Thi. In respect of lions, brought Majesty his from shooting his own, beginning from year first to year tenth, lions fierce 102.”

These scarabs, giving the names of gods, kings and singers are often most valuable in filling gaps in other records. The most frequently found are those of Tahutmes III, of which there are a number in the Metropolitan Museum in New York; Amenophis III, Seti I and Rameses II, and they are inscribed with the names of kings from Mena to the Roman Emperor Antoninus. Hence on those known to be of a particular period and found with the royal mummies, the name of much earlier kings are frequently traced. Scarabs were copied by the Phoenicians and are imitated in these modern times in Egypt. The work, at first very clumsy, has gradually become better executed, while the real ones have, of course, grown dearer as well as rarer.

A brief enumeration of some of the scarabs relating to these periods to be seen in the New York Museum may not be without interest. One of Tahutmes or Thothmes III has the figure of the god Bes in the centre, flanked by cartouches of the king a winged scarab below and obscure ornamentation above. The color of the composition of which it is made a faded reddish brown. Another of soft blue stone or paste has the pre-nomen of the same king called “subduer of foreigners in all lands.” One of green porcelain, beautifully executed, shows a squatting figure with extended arms, upholding the divine boat, and above, the pre-nomen of King Thothmes. Inscriptions are “the good god” and “lord of both lands,” while the ankh, or life sign, is both behind the body and attached to the knees. On another of grey composition, above a horse, chariot and charioteer, is the pre-nomen of the king, in a cartouch, with the ends reversed. A bead or seal of hard, green stone has on the one side the pre-nomen of Thothmes III, with the Tet sign below, each flanked by uraei, and on the reverse a Hathor-headed sistrum also flanked by uraei. A cartouch of Amenophis III and the symbol of “truth” is on a scarab of green and brown pottery. Another has “Praise of Amenophis III.” His cartouch and “lord of might” is on one of green pottery, while a scarab in grey composition, beautifully executed bears the pre-nomen of the king on both sides, with a winged beetle and disk flanked by uraei and a human headed sphinx with the words, “Living god Tum.” Most interesting of all, however, in connection with the present chapter, is a green pottery scaraboid, symbolic eye, bearing the words “The royal wife Tii,” wife of Amenohotep III.

Melville has graphically described the setting forth of a royal hunt, in another ancient kingdom, which, in some particulars at least, may reproduce the Egyptian pageant. “A queen and all her glittering train defiled from the lofty porches of Babylon the Great, with tramp of horses and ring of bridle, with steady footfalls of warriors, curled, bearded, erect and formidable, with ponderous tread of stately elephants, gorgeous in trappings of scarlet, pearl and gold, with stealthy gait of meek-eyed camels, plodding patient with their burdens in the rear. Scouring into the waste before that jewelled troop of wild asses bruised and broke the shoots of wormwood beneath their flying hoofs, till the hot air was laden with an aromatic smell, the ostrich spread her scant and tufted wings to scud before the wind, tall, swift, ungainly, in a cloud of yellow dust; the fleet gazelle, with beating heart and head, tucked back, sprang forward like an arrow from the bow, never to pause nor stint in her terror-stricken flight, till man and horse, game and hunter were left hopelessly behind—far down beyond the unbroken level of the horizon. But the monarch of the desert, the grim and lordly lion, sought no refuge in flight, accepted no compromise of retreat. Driven from his covert he might move slowly and sullenly away, but it was to turn in savage wrath on the eager horseman who approached too near, or the daring archer who ventured to bend his bow within point-blank distance of such an enemy. Nevertheless, even the fiercest of their kind must yield before man, the conqueror of beasts, before woman, the conqueror of man, and on the shaft which drank his life blood and transfixed the lion from side to side was graven the royal tiara of a monarch’s mate.”

Amid such scenes sped the wooing, and no doubt in later years passed many exciting hours. Amenophis or Amenhotep III reared young lions as pets, and also presented live ones as gifts to the temples, estimating them as of great value, though we may wonder in what special manner they could be of profit, service or pleasure there.

The pictures of Queen Tyi, or Tai, in the tombs of the Queens, near Thebes, and in other places, copied by Champollion and Rosellini show her with blue eyes, a skin of pinkish hue, like a Northern maiden, and a pleasing expression. Many of the queens were buried in a valley behind the temple of Medinet Haboo at Thebes others were laid beside their lords. Tyi, as has been said, was considered by some to be the daughter of a Mesopotamian, Asiatic, Dashratta or Tushratta, king of Mitanni, Maten of the hieroglyphics. Other authorities, from cuneiform tablets found at Tel-el-amarna, give her paternity as that of a sister of or daughter of Kalimma Sin, king of Koraduniyash, probably a county northeast of Syria. Kings and queens of Babylon claimed Amenophis III as a new kinsman, perhaps as the result of this marriage.

Scarabs were engraved in honor of the union and part of a scarab gives the record “Amenhetep, prince of Thebes, giver of life and royal spouse mighty lady Thi, living one—the name of father her (was) Tuaa or Juaa, the name of mother her (was) Thuau, the wife to wit of the king powerful. Frontier his South is as far as Kerei, land of Nubia, frontier North is as far as Netharina (Mesopotamia).” Part of another reads, “A wonderful thing they brought to Majesty his, life, strength, health, the daughter of the prince of Mesopotamia, Sotharna. Kirkipa and the chiefs of women her 300 + 10 + 7.” The mummies of her parents have been recently found.

Many of these scarabs are preserved in the Museums of Gizeh, Berlin and other places. An enamelled vase in different colors in the Gizeh Museum also bears the name of Amenophis III and Tyi, a potsherd, in one of the older museums gives the coronation date of Amenophis III as “the 13th day of the month Epiphi,” said to correspond in part to our April and May, which, without this otherwise valueless fragment we might perhaps never have known.

Queen Tyi was attended as the scarab notes, by three hundred and seventeen women, which would of course imply a force of male protectors as well. A very precious bride. This may recall the story in the Talmud about Abraham, who on approaching Egypt locked Sarah in a chest to hide her dangerous beauty. The custom officers asked if he carried clothes. He answered, “I will pay for clothes.” Then they raised their demand, “Thou carriest gold?” To this he also agreed and further to the price of the finest silks and precious stones. Finding they could name nothing of greater value than he held his treasure they at last insisted that he should open the box and the tale ends “the whole of Egypt was illuminated with the lustre of Sarah’s beauty.” Whether Queen Tyi’s beauty thus surprised and delighted the people of her new home we can only surmise, but at least she was deemed precious enough to be well served and guarded.

So the bond was sealed between the royal lovers and away from her own land journeyed the newly elected queen. A woman with a fair face and figure, a heart keenly responsive to human affections, with a deep-seated faith in the religion of her fore-fathers, worshippers of the sun, and, perhaps even at that early period, a quiet determination that she would win her husband and his people from what she must have deemed the error of their ways, their worship of so many gods under the form of beasts and birds, introduce a purer, simpler religion among them. Something of the spirit of Joan of Arc may have animated her; something of the religious fervor of an Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins (or was it only eleven martyrs, the M being mistaken for a thousand?) as the one girded herself for battle and the other took up her pious pilgrimage.

We know less of the formalities necessary for the conclusion of a royal marriage among the Egyptians than we do of their funeral rites and ceremonies. The latter as ushering them into a new and higher existence were deemed the more important and of greater concern to both the present generation and to posterity, especially the latter, and its records and momentoes tell the story a thousand times, but we may take for granted that many observances, both civil and religious, marked the union of man and woman, in particular those of nobles and kings. Some authorities have questioned Queen Tyi’s claim to royal birth, but the retinue of attendants and servants that accompanied her leave little doubt that she was a princess of note.

This bridal train may recall another of later times, that of Henrietta Maria of France, as she journeyed to meet her future husband, Charles I of England. She, too, was attended by a large retinue: she, too, held strongly a different faith and more or less, on that account, awakened the prejudices of her new subjects, and she, too, was involved in a revolution, partly religious in character. But here the parallel ends, for the one remained in possession of her power, while the other was driven from her throne and became an exile.

Perhaps the new queen was taken at once to her palace, the remains of which were discovered by Greaut at Malgata, and which, after being pillaged, were subsequently excavated by Newberry and Titus. Or she may have watched its erection with interest, after her arrival. The original edifice is thus described by those who have made a careful study of the fragmentary remains. “The plan of the palace seems to have been quite similar to that of the palace which Amenophis IV erected for himself in Tel-el-Amarna, and which was several years ago explored by Petrie. In the palace of Amenophis III the rooms were likewise adorned by beautifully decorated stucco floors, and the roof were supported by columns. The walls were embellished with stucco work, the representations, in part, setting forth every-day life. In addition to staterooms, working rooms, the kitchen with its storage closets, a faience factory, in which the different amulets and ornaments were made, can be distinguished. Not far from the palace was found an altar, built of tile, and at one time probably wainscotted with slabs of stone. It was quite similar to the one in the temple of Deir-el-Bahri, and this one was certainly dedicated to the sun-god. As the altars of ancient Israel most likely also had a similar form, these remains of the old Egyptian cultus have an especial Biblical interest.” The columns of the great temple and likely of the palace also, were sculptured to resemble the buds of the lotus, sometimes called the Egyptian immortelle, which might also be called the national flower, so highly was it regarded and so constantly was it used as a model for architectural designs.

That the foreign daughter-in-law was kindly received by Queen Maut-a-mua we may well believe from the harmony which seemed to exist between them later and the union of their two statues with that of Amenophis III; while in her turn Queen Tyi, when she occupied the same position, extended a like friendly affection to her son’s wife.

The influence of the new queen was soon perceived in the institution, by the king, of a religious festival in honor of the sun’s disk. Many of the people may have been charmed to have anything like another holiday, with its attendant pageants and observances, added to their list, but there can be little doubt that it awakened the suspicion of the priests, who jealously guarded the ancient faith and beheld with disfavor anything that might involve less devotion to the numerous gods which they worshipped and of whose interests they were the guardians, and any change that might minimize their influence or deplete the resources in the treasuries of the temples.

Queen Tyi seems not to have been popular. She was a foreigner, which in itself often awakens an antagonistic feeling, amusingly illustrated in the story of the English laborer who when told that a passer by was a stranger exclaimed, “Eave alf a brick at im’.” She held a different faith and in all probability the priests with a consciousness of her latent or expressed views and principles used their great influence quietly to set the people against her and this dislike was transferred to her son.

But to her husband she was ever a first consideration. The records give an account of an enterprise which he early undertook for her pleasure. This was the construction of a large artificial lake on which she might sail or row at will. Again the scarabs chronicle this tribute of connubial tenderness, and again we see the queen’s religious views considered. It begins as usual with an ascription to the gods. “Under the majesty of Horus the golden, mighty of valor, full power, diademed with law (lord of the North and South) establisher of laws, pacifier of the two lands. Horus, the golden, mighty of valor, smiter of foreign lands. Ordered majesty his the oaking of a lake for the royal spouse, mighty lady Thi. Length its (was) cubits 3000-6000, breadth its cubits 600. Made majesty his festival of the entrance of the waters on month third of sowing day sixteenth. Sailed majesty in his boat ‘Atenneferu’ ‘Disk of beauties’ or ‘the most beautiful disk.’” He sailed across to inaugurate the opening and perhaps to show her that all was safe and well and then doubtless the queen held sway over it, permitting only such as she chose to share the pleasure with her and perhaps making it a mark of special favor when she did so. The Egyptians held many of their religious festivals on the Nile and this lake may have been specially devoted to such religious observances as the queen wished to hold in honor of the celestial god whom she worshipped. The place selected for this feat of engineering skill was near the town of Tarucha.

The remains of a beautiful temple at Sideruga, built by Amenophis III to or for Queen Tyi, have also been found and an inscription says Amenhotep “made his monuments for the great and mighty heiress, the mistress of all lands, Tyi.” A group of the king and Tyi is in the Summa collection and an inscription reads: “Amen’nekht, princess, prays with her mother before Amenhotep III, because he praises her beautiful face and honors her beauty.” A Usheti box in the Berlin Museum bears the name of Tyi and the monuments of her are numerous. She is by the colossi of her husband and appears with him in official scenes at Saleb. The figure sculptured in the tomb of Huy at Tel-el-Amarna, on a scarab, etc., is shown seated; her name alone appears in a quarry at the same place, after her husband’s death. And her parents are named as Yoman and Thuaa.

The additions made by Amenophis III to the long list of Egyptian temples are among the most noted. He built the oldest part of the Serapeum at Sakkarah, the temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak and also at Luxor a sanctuary with surrounding chambers, a pro-naos or hall with four columns, and another large court (which was evidently used afterwards as a place of worship by the early Christians), and a noble hypostycle court with four rows of lofty columns bearing the lotus capital. At the end nearest the sanctuary on either side are double rows of the same columns, then a huge pilon, and in front of all, a noble avenue of fourteen still more massive and lofty columns bearing the lotus-flower capital. This avenue with the usual pylon appears to have completed the Temple of Amenophis III. About 1600 B. C. is the date sometimes set for this work. An avenue of Sphinxes connected the two temples. The temple of Mut at Karnak was Amenophis’ special work. At el Kab there is also a beautiful little temple or chapel built by him containing various pictures of the king making offerings to the gods, etc. Other works might be named as well as the grand statues already referred to.

As devoted as was Amenophis III to the god Amen, on whose temples he lavished gifts and to whom he paid special honors, so antagonistic was his son and successor to the same deity. May it chance that as the mother taught and impressed upon the youthful minds of her children her own religious ideas, so the father especially in the case of this son, forced them to acts of worship to the many gods of Egypt which revolted them and in the end served only to drive them the further from the old faith. Such is the perversity of human nature that the very means taken to win assent to any proposition or principle are often those which have most influence in causing the pendulum of thought and opinion to swing to the opposite extreme.

It is said that the striking change in the physiognomy and ideal type of the upper classes in the latter part of the Eighteenth Dynasty points to strong foreign infusion. The bold, active faces of earlier times are replaced by sweetness and delicacy, a gentle smile and small, gracefully curved nose, this is characteristic of the time of Amenophis III.

The life of King Amenophis was an active one, less warlike than most of his predecessors, but leaving behind many memorials. It is possible that his long and doubtless exposing hunting expeditions may have had a bad effect upon him, for it was still in his prime probably that his life ended and his wife seems long to have survived him. His reign, however, covers a lengthy period, thirty-six years, but he, owing to his father’s early death, ascended the throne in youth. So, in the quaint and beautiful language of Scripture, Amenophis III “slept with his fathers,” and Amenophis IV reigned in his stead.

The tomb of Amenophis III, discovered by the French Expedition, is in the West Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Here also his father and many other Egyptian sovereigns were buried. On the rocky walls are representations of the king and the gods, some of which were only partially completed. Amenophis III stands out an attractive personality among the long list of Egyptian kings. We cannot doubt that he was mourned by many, especially by the love of his youth and later years, Queen Tyi. Henceforth her life was bound up with that of her eldest son. She and Amenophis III had, some say two, some say four sons, and four or five daughters. The eldest son, who changed his name, was first called Amenophis IV and his next brother, Tahutmes, after the grandfather or other ancestor of that name. The daughters were Isis, Heot-mi-hib Satamon, of whom some memorials remain, and some say Beckaten, youngest and favorite, but who is elsewhere termed grand-daughter, rather than daughter, of Tyi.

That Queen Tyi was a faithful mother whose affectionate heart clung to her children as she had been a loving and devoted wife we cannot doubt. But her eldest son, the champion of her faith, the earnest disciple of her teachings, which had sunk into his heart and borne abundant fruit, must have been especially beloved. With him her after history is closely associated, and her influence is shown even more strongly than during the life of her husband and there is little question that to it is largely due the subsequent course of events. Amenophis III had deferred to her wishes and shown special marks of favor to her religious views, but her son accepted them with his whole heart and spent his life in trying to make them the religion of his native land.