ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9826, 20 March 1923, Page 5

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

is TUTANKHAMEN’S WIFE. \ HER APPEAL TO A HITTITE KING. While the world is awaiting eagerly a the opening of the inner chamber of x- the Luxor tomb, which is believed to ie contain the ancient monarch’s body, p archaeologists are , debating among '■ themselves the likelihood of finding 0 the remains of King Tutankhamen’s consort, Queen Ankhsamen, in the same chamber. More sanguine archaeologists, excavators in the valley of the kings, ventured on the prediction that the third chamber when unsealed would not reveal King Tutankhamen in all the magnificent panoply of death, but Queen Ankhsamen, and possibly her son. An ancient Hittite document which was recently found in Anatolia> appears, however, to make the finding or the Queen’s body, or that of a son, extremely remote. This amazing document, writes the Luxor correspondent , of the “Manchester Guardian,” which has been translated by Professor Sayce, shows\ that King Tutankhamen’s union with Queen Ankhsamen was childless. It also reveals the extrabrdinary and interesting fact that ■ while King Tutankhamen’s body was still upon the bier awaiting burial, his wife, who was then only 27 years of age, dispatched an ambassador to the King of the Hittites, who was then' besieging ?the ancient city of Garchemish, between Mosul and Damascus* to induce the, king to give her one of his sons in marriage. . il “Myi-husbandJ. is dead,” said the queen to the Hittite ruler through her ambassador, “and. I-have no children. Your sons are said to he grown up. If you; will giveome one of them, and if he will he my . husband, he will be a great helpmate. 1 send bridal gifts.’* , The King of the Hittites apparently doubted ’the good faith and the motives 'of the - Egyptian Queen. He replieds' “The son of your lord, where is he? Have you deceived me? The general of the ,-army has not nominated my son to ffehe kingship.” The Queen -thereupon replied:— “What is this you say? If I had a son and my people and country had a ruler I would not have written to another country. ■ No- one has had children by me. I have no son. Give me one of your sons as my husband and he shall be king of the land of Egypt.” The King of the Hittites finally gave the fair suiter one of his sons, but just as the manage was about to be consummated King Ay seized the throne of Egypt and the hapless Queen was banished. History and; archaeology show no trace of Queen Ankhsamen, and she seems, to have entirely disappeared from - view after King Ay usurped; the throne. It as g known only that she was the. real inheritor of the throne, and King Tutankhamen owes his kingship entirely to her rights of royal succession. It is presumed that King Ay’s motive for banishing her . was to prevent a foreigner fom ruling over Egypt, especially a hated Hittite. Archaeologists regard the foregoing circumstances as one of the mostaramatic revelations of present-day knowledge of Egyptian history. The Hittite document sheds a flood of light npon the hitherto obscure history of King Tutankhamen, making it clear that he did not have progeny to continue his flourishing reign—l3sß to 1530 B.L. It also makes is extremely unlikely, in the opinion of Egyptological authonties, that the body of Queen Ankh- - samen will be found in the great kingly sepulchre which is soon to be opened.