AMEN-HETEP III.

chambers of unequal size, the smaller containing eight round pillars on square bases, and the larger twice this number. About the sanctuary nothing can be said, for no remains of it exist. The temple was built, as we learn from an inscription found on the spot, by Amen-hetep III. in honour of his wife Thi,' the daughter of luaa and Thuaa, whose tomb at Thebes was opened in 1905 by Mr. Theodore N. Davis." Thi was not of roj'al birth, but it is perfectly certain that she was accorded the highest rank and honour which a woman could attain in Egypt, and the king gave her name prominence everywhere equal to that of his own.

In the winter of 1904-5 some natives dug up near the Fayyum one or two beautifully executed statues of Thi, which were evidently intended to be portraits of this remarkable woman, and it was interesting to see that her face possessed all the physical characteristics with which we are familiar in exaggerated forms in the sculptures and pictures which represent her son Amen-hetep IV.

Her influence over Amen-hetep III. must have been very great, for her name appears wdth his own on the large green glazed steatite scarabs which he made to commemorate historical events, and even on that whereon he declares that the northern boundary of his land is Neharina, and the southern boundary Karei.* The temple built for Thi was a comparatively small edifice, but it is of interest as being, perhaps, the only building which was dedicated by a king of Egypt to his wife. Why the site now known by the name of Saddenga was chosen for the purpose it is impossible to say, but it was no more remarkable for Amen-hetep III. to build a temple in the Sudan to please Queen Thi, than for him to dig a lake in the city of Tcharukha three thousand six hundred cubits long, and six hundred cubits wide, whereon she might sail when she felt disposed. The decorations and inscriptions on the temple - For the account of the discovery, see the narrative by Mr. Davis in his T/ie Tomb 0/ Hdtshopsitu, London, 1906, 4to.

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