the state-god of all Egypt, they made him acceptable to the various provinces by identifying him with Ra, the sun-god, who, under one form or another, found a place in every temple and held high rank in every variety of mythology. As Amen-Ra, he was able to be appreciated by the sun-worshippers of Syria and by those of Nubia, for there were few races who would not bow the knee to the great giver of warmth and light. Those who were in opposition to the priesthood of Amen, therefore, attempted to strip that deity of his association with the sun, for that identity was really his single claim to acceptance by any but Thebans. The priesthood, on their part, it may be supposed, drew as much attention as possible to the connexion of their deity with Ra, for they knew that none but a sun-god could be advanced with success as a rival to Amen by those who desired to overthrow the Theban god."

The propounders of the new thought, however, met this move by bringing into prominence the claims of two other sun-gods, more worthy of solar honour than Ra. One of these deities was the Syrian Aton or Adonis, whose worship had already been introduced into Thebes some time previously. The other god was Ra-Harakhte, whose worship in lower Egypt and also in Nubia was very general. Both these gods were identified with Ra in the mythologies of these districts; and the priesthood of Amen had always checked their individual growth by regarding them merely as aspects of Amen-Ra. The essential feature of the new movement, and that which was the main cause of the overthrow of Amen, was the regarding of Ra as an aspect of Aton and Ra-Harakhte. Ra-Harakhte being more closely related to the old order than Aton, the latter god could more safely be pushed forward in opposition to Amen-Ra; and soon the name of Aton was heard with some frequency at Thebes and elsewhere. We read of a troop of soldiers named after this god; a royal barge was constructed for Queen Thiy called 'Aton-gleams'; Aton is invoked in a shrine at Wady Sebû'a, and so on. In character Aton combined the qualities of Ra-Harakhte, Tum, and Min; but the

* This revolution was briefly described in a previous number of this Review (July 1904).

essential feature which separated him from all other solar gods was this, that he was not the sun itself, but the motive power behind the sun. He was the energy, the life of the sun; and as the worship of this god developed, the intangible and abstract nature of this energy was the more carefully insisted upon.

That Queen Thiy assisted vigorously in the new development is generally regarded as beyond question; and it may be supposed that her father Yuaa was also active in the earlier stages of the movement. It must have been before the birth of Akhnaton, however, that both Yuaa and his wife died. It was perhaps not much beyond the thirteenth or fourteenth year of Amenhotep's reign, that is to say, about B.C. 1360, when Yuaa was gathered to his fathers after a lifetime of some 65 years; and Thuau, who was considerably younger, soon followed him to the tomb which had been made for them in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. If Yuaa and Thuau are not to be considered as royal, this must have been the first time that persons not of royal blood had been buried in a tomb of large size in this valley. The sepulchre was cut in the side of the hill, and was approached by a descending stairway of steep and narrow steps. At the bottom of this a sloping passage led down to a rectangular burial-chamber. A large quantity of funeral furniture was laid around the coffins, and amongst this were a few objects which evidently had been presented by the bereaved king and queen and by the young princesses. When Thuau had been laid to rest beside her husband the tomb was finally closed by a wall of stones and sealed with the seal of the priests of the Necropolis. But during the troubled times which followed, the sepulchre seems to have been entered by thieves, who tore off the lids of the coffins, seized the gold necklaces from the mummies, and a few other articles, and decamped. The tomb was found in this condition in January 1905 by Mr Theodore M. Davis and Mr J. E. Quibell; and the present writer had the good fortune to be a witness of the opening.

The sight which met the eyes of the explorers upon entering the burial-chamber was indeed amazing. In front stood the great coffin of Yuaa, to the left that of Thuau. Further to the left, in the half-light, were beds,

chairs, and a chariot heaped on top of a number of great white jars. To the right were boxes and figures, model vases, and toilet utensils. An alabaster jar was found, containing a honey-like matter which was still liquid after these thousands of years; and a down-pillow resting upon an armchair was so undecayed that one might have tossed it across the room without doing it damage. The body of Yuaa was found lying in a coffin covered with gold and richly inlaid with stones. The lid had been thrown off by the robbers, and the dead noble seemed to be lying peacefully asleep as the electric lamps were held above him. The mummy of Thuau lay in a somewhat similar coffin. Brushing the thick hair back, one observed that her ears were pierced for the wearing of large ear-rings; but these had been stolen.

Two beds were found in the tomb. One of these forms an example of the happy combination of the skill of the Egyptian craftsman and the taste of the artist. A person sleeping upon this bed would lie upon an elastic network of string, over which, no doubt, heavy rugs would have been thrown. This was raised from the ground on four legs; and at the head of the bed three gold panels were let into the woodwork, in each of which were curious representations of the merry god Bes, and other grotesque figures, bedecked with flowers and, in some cases, playing upon tambourines, as though to bring joy into the dreams of the sleeper. One of the armchairs was decorated with most graceful designs in fretwork, representing gazelles and lotus flowers, while another was ornamented with panels upon which figures of Bes were seen dancing. Some of these pieces show such delicacy of workmanship and grace of design that they must be ranked high among the specimens of artistic furniture from any period or place. These and other articles found in this tomb are now on view in the Cairo Museum. Mr Davis has recently published a beautifully illustrated account of most of the objects discovered, and has briefly described the finding of this marvellous treasure-house. His work, though it does not contain the archæological notes made by Mr Quibell, which will be published subsequently, is of great value to Egyptologists.

It was not long after the death of Yuaa that a son

and heir was born to Amenhotep and Thiy. This event seems to have occurred in about the twenty-fifth year of the king's reign, that is to say, when both he and Thiy were some 38 years of age. Several daughters had been born during these years, and it is possible that this was not their first son. The babe was named Amenhotep, which indicates that the power of Amen was still dominant at the court. He was a sickly child; and before long he showed a tendency towards epileptic fits, and developed those characteristics which Lombroso regards as essential to a religious reformer. His father, Amenhotep III, at about this time began also to show signs of mental irregularity; and it seems that in the last few years of his reign he did not take much part in the government of the country. During this period, which covers the first eleven years of the young prince's life, the court appears to have been entirely under the influence of Queen Thiy; and the development of the worship of Aton, in opposition to that of Amen, quickly advanced under her guidance. There were three great reasons for regarding the movement as advantageous to Egyptian interests. In the first place, the power of the Amen priesthood had become an incubus which weighed heavily upon the State. In the second place, there was the possibility of uniting, by the bonds of a common religion, the EgyptoSyrian Empire. And lastly, the worship of the intangible power of the sun, under the name of Aton, was calculated to give a great impulse to those tendencies towards religious speculation which were now becoming apparent all over the civilised world. This was the first age of man's philosophical thought; for the first time in history the gods were being endowed with abstract and ideal qualities. The eyes of the thinkers were strained upwards in the attempt to discern that which was 'behind the veil'; and in lighting on a motive power more remote than the sun, and acting through the sun, they had already penetrated almost as far behind the eternal barrier as living man may ever hope to penetrate.

When Amenhotep III died, after a reign of some thirtysix years, the throne passed to Amenhotep IV; but the power fell into the hands of Queen Thiy, now close on fifty years of age. Almost immediately open war declared on the Amen priesthood; and, though that god

was still worshipped together with the other deities, Aton, into whom Harakhte and Ra were now being absorbed, was quickly rising towards supreme power. A temple was erected to him at Karnak itself, the seat of the priests of Amen; and in representations of the king the rays of the sun, which were the channels of the Aton power, are shown streaming down over the royal figure. The city of Thebes clung to its old tribal god, Amen, and soon convinced the new party that the attempt at its conversion was useless; and therefore there must have been intense hostility between the court and the populace. Matters stood thus when, at the age of fifteen, that is to say, in the fourth year of his reign, Akhnaton began to take an active part beside his mother in the new movement. He was already married to a princess named Nefertiti, who was almost certainly of Asiatic birth; and, since he had but lately reached the age of manhood' as understood in Egypt, it is to be supposed that his queen was selected for him by his mother and advisers. Either on his own initiative-for a sickly youth is often precocious-or at the advice of the queens, he abandoned Thebes altogether and commenced the building of a new capital at Tell-el-Amarna, 160 miles south of Cairo, where Aton alone should be worshipped. He may have now issued orders that all other gods should be abandoned, their temples closed and their images destroyed. The true god, said the king, had no form or image; and throughout his life he held to this opinion. The royal name Amenhotep was now changed to Akhnaton, the glory of Aton'; and the city which soon sprang into existence was called Akhetaton, 'the horizon of Aton.'

The reign of Akhnaton in his new city of the sun stands out as the most interesting epoch in the long sequence of Egyptian history. We watch the endless line of dim Pharaohs go by, each lit up momentarily by the pale lamp of our present knowledge; and most of them leave little impression upon the mind. They are so misty and far off, they have been dead and gone for so many thousands of years, that they have almost entirely lost their individuality. With one there comes the muffled noise of battle; with another there is singing and the sound of music; with yet another the wailing of the