History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 5 (eBook)

While none of these ephemeral Pharaohs left behind them a, either legitimate or illegitimate, son there was no lack of princesses, any of which, having on her accession to the throne to choose a consort after her own heart, might thus become the founder of a new dynasty. By such a chance alliance Harmhabî, who was himself descended from Thûtmosis III., was raised to the kingly office.* His mother, Mûtnozmît, was of the royal line, and one of the most beautiful statues in the Gîzeh Museum probably represents her. The body is mutilated, but the head is charming in its intelligent and animated expression, in its full eyes and somewhat large, but finely modelled, mouth. The material of the statue is a finegrained limestone, and its milky whiteness tends to soften the malign character of her look and smile. It is possible that Mûtnozmît was the daughter of Amenôthes III. by his marriage with one of his sisters: it was from her, at any rate, and not from his great-grandfather, that Harmhabî derived his indisputable claims to royalty.**

      * A fragment of an inscription at Karnak calls Thûtmosis
     III. "the father of his fathers." Champollion called him
     Hornemnob, Rosellini, Hôr-hemheb, Hôr-em-hbai, and both
     identified him with the Hôros of Manetho, hence the custom
     among Egyptologists for a long time to designate him by the
     name Horus. Dévéria was the first to show that the name
     corresponded with the Armais of the lists of Manetho, and,
     in fact, Armais is the Greek transcription of the group
     Harmhabî in the bilingual texts of the Ptolemaic period.
 
     ** Mûtnozmît was at first considered the daughter and
     successor of Harmhabî, or his wife. Birch showed that the
     monuments did not confirm these hypotheses, and he was
     inclined to think that she was Harmhabî's mother. As far as
     I can see for the present, it is the only solution which
     agrees with the evidence on the principal monument which has
     made known her existence.
 

He was born, probably, in the last years of Amenôthes, when Tîi was the exclusive favourite of the sovereign; but it was alleged later on, when Harmhabî had emerged from obscurity, that Amon, destining him for the throne, had condescended to become his father by Mûtnozmît—a customary procedure with the god when his race on earth threatened to become debased.* It was he who had rocked the newly born infant to sleep, and, while Harsiesis was strengthening his limbs with protective amulets, had spread over the child's skin the freshness and brilliance which are the peculiar privilege of the immortals. While still in the nursery, the great and the insignificant alike prostrated themselves before Harmhabî, making him liberal offerings. Every one recognised in him, even when still a lad and incapable of reflection, the carriage and complexion of a god, and Horus of Cynopolis was accustomed to follow his steps, knowing that the time of his advancement was near. After having called the attention of the Egyptians to Harmhabî, Amon was anxious, in fact, to hasten the coming of the day when he might confer upon him supreme rank, and for this purpose inclined the heart of the reigning Pharaoh towards him. Aï proclaimed him his heir over the whole land.**

      * All that we know of the youth of Harmhabî is contained in
     the texts on a group preserved in the Turin Museum, and
     pointed out by Champollion, translated and published
     subsequently by Birch and by Brugsch. The first lines of the
     inscription seem to me to contain an account of the union of
     Amon with the queen, analogous to those at Deîr el-Baharî
     treating of the birth of Hâtshopsîtû, and to those at Luxor
     bearing upon Amenôthes III. (cf. vol. iv. pp. 342, 343; and
     p. 51 of the present volume), and to prove for certain that
     Harmhabî's mother was a princess of the royal line by right.
 
     ** The king is not named in the inscription. It cannot have
     been Amenôthes IV., for an individual of the importance of
     Harmhabî, living alongside this king, would at least have
     had a tomb begun for him at. Tel el-Amarna. We may hesitate
     between Aï and Tûtankhamon; but the inscription seems to say
     definitely that Harmhabî succeeded directly to the king
     under whom he had held important offices for many years, and
     this compels us to fix upon Aï, who, as we have said at p.
     108, et seq., of the present volume, was, to all
     appearances, the last of the so-called heretical sovereigns.
 

He never gave cause for any dissatisfaction when called to court, and when he was asked questions by the monarch he replied always in fit terms, in such words as were calculated to produce serenity, and thus gained for himself a reputation as the incarnation of wisdom, all his plans and intentions appearing to have been conceived by Thot the Ibis himself. For many years he held a place of confidence with the sovereign. The nobles, from the moment he appeared at the gate of the palace, bowed their backs before him; the barbaric chiefs from the north or south stretched out their arms as soon as they approached him, and gave him the adoration they would bestow upon a god. His favourite residence was Memphis, his preference for it arising from his having possibly been born there, or from its having been assigned to him for his abode. Here he constructed for himself a magnificent tomb, the bas-reliefs of which exhibit him as already king, with the sceptre in his hand and the uraaus on his brow, while the adjoining cartouche does not as yet contain his name.*

      * This part of the account is based upon, a study of a
     certain number of texts and representations all coming from
     Harmhabî's tomb at Saqqârah, and now scattered among the
     various museums—at Gîzeh, Leyden, London, and Alexandria.
     Birch was the first to assign those monuments to the Pharaoh
     Harmhabî, supposing at the same time that he had been
     dethroned by Ramses I., and had lived at Memphis in an
     intermediate position between that of a prince and that of a
     private individual; this opinion was adopted by Ed. Meyer,
     rejected by Wiedemann and by myself. After full examination,
     I think the Harmhabî of the tomb at Saqqârah and the Pharaoh
     Harmhabî are one and the same person; Harmhabî, sufficiently
     high placed to warrant his wearing the uraius, but not high
     enough to have his name inscribed in a cartouche, must have
     had his tomb constructed at Saqqârah, as Aï and possibly
     Ramses I. had theirs built for them at Tel el-Amarna.
 

He was the mighty of the mighty, the great among the great, the general of generals, the messenger who ran to convey orders to the people of Asia and Ethiopia, the indispensable companion in council or on the field of battle,* at the time when Horus of Cynopolis resolved to seat him upon his eternal throne. Aï no longer occupied it. Horus took Harmhabî with him to Thebes, escorted him thither amid expressions of general joy, and led him to Amon in order that the god might bestow upon him the right to reign. The reception took place in the temple of Luxor, which served as a kind of private chapel for the descendants of Amenôthes. Amon rejoiced to see Harmhabî, the heir of the two worlds; he took him with him to the royal palace, introduced him into the apartments of his august daughter, Mûtnozmît; then, after she had recognised her child and had pressed him to her bosom, all the gods broke out into acclamations, and their cries ascended up to heaven.**

      * The fragments of the tomb preserved at Leyden show him
     leading to the Pharaoh Asiatics and Ethiopians, burthened
     with tribute. The expressions and titles given above are
     borrowed from the fragments at Gîzeh.
 
     ** Owing to a gap, the text cannot be accurately translated
     at this point. The reading can be made out that Amon "betook
     himself to the palace, placing the prince before him, as far
     as the sanctuary of his (Amon's) daughter, the very
     august...; she poured water on his hands, she embraced the
     beauties (of the prince), she placed herself before him."...