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The lion hunts of Amenhotep III during the first ten years of his reign

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The lion hunts of Amenhotep III during the first ten years of his reign

The Lion-Hunts of Amenhotep III During the First Ten Years of his Reign is one of a group of five historical and commemorative scarabs made during the reign of Amenhotep III. The set of five scarabs were presumably used to validate, and proclaim his choice of Tiye as his wife. (Both were extremely young, not yet teenagers.)

Contents

Each of the five scarabs begin with the identical name pronunciation of Amenhotep, and then the addressing of his wife, Tiye.

Scarab specifics

Because the five memorial scarabs were for public dissemination, multiple copies were made and circulated. Kerrigan's book has a photo of the scarab from the Oriental Institute, Chicago. Budge's reference translates a British Museum scarab-(B.M. 4096), of 8 lines of text. The Oriental Institute scarab is also a text of 8 lines, but has minor variations from the British Museum scarab; the scarab is pictured in the section for Tiy's Wedding Scarab, but there is no photo of Tiy's Wedding scarab. Instead they use the photo of Amenhotep's Lion Hunts.

Since copies of the five scarabs were made for dissemination, they have been claimed to be a form of 'public information reading', much like a "news release" from a newspaper.

The lion hunt story, line-by-line

The translation of the lion-hunt story in the first 10 years of Amenhotep's reign is:

(following introduction): Amenhotep's name and Tiye's name; List of the lions brought in His Majesty by his own shooting, beginning with year 1-(="renpet") up to year X. Lions fierce 102 (!)

List of the 5 scarabs

  1. The Wild-Cattle Hunt by Amenhotep III in the IInd Year of his Reign-(2nd year)
  2. Scarab Giving the Names of the Father and Mother of Queen Ti
  3. The Lion-Hunts of Amenhotep III During the First Ten Years of his Reign
  4. The Arrival in Egypt of Gilukhipa, the Mitannian Bride of Amenhotep III, in the Tenth Year of his Reign
  5. The Construction of a Lake in Western Thebes for Queen Ti by Amenhotep III in the Eleventh Year of his Reign

Complete scarab BM 4096

Introduction with wife Tiye, and entire 8 lines of scarab BM 4096:

"Horus the living one, bull mighty diademed(crowned) with Maat(Truth), Nebty-(Two Ladies), Stablisher of laws, pacifier of the Two Lands, Horus of Gold, Mighty of Thigh, Smiter of the Nomads, King of the South and the North, Neb-Maat-Ra, Son of Amenhotep, Governor of Thebes, Given Life, King's Woman, Tiye, Living One-("Living One, Like Ra", Ra not on this scarab); (in Tut's reign for Ankhesenamun, "May She Live") List of the lions brought in His Majesty by his own shooting, beginning with year 1 up to year X. Lions fierce 102 (!)"

Other scarabs with this title have variations of what hieroglyphs are added or omitted because of the multiple copies made of this scarab series. (The Two Ladies are goddesses/gods of the South and North.)

References

The lion hunts of Amenhotep III during the first ten years of his reign Wikipedia