The many wived Rameses II, if so he was, did not adopt Blue Beard’s plan of despatching one before he espoused another, but merely set up separate establishments for each, and so preserved the peace. The king could do no wrong in those days, his divine right never being questioned, and it may be doubted whether the first wife was surprised at, or even objected to, the arrangement. It was an early form of Mormonism and accepted without protest.
While Queen Nofritari-Minimut was, there is little question, first and chief wife, and probably had been so for many years, and also the mother of a number of children, the Keetan princess, and perhaps others, shared the honor of being legal consort.
We know little about the marriage ceremonials of the Egyptians, compared to our very full knowledge of their funeral rites, but a late writer thus describes a wedding which may in part resemble that used by the kings. “At the temple the people remained outside the walls, while the bride and groom, the pharaoh and dignitaries, entered the hall of columns. There Hebron (the[236] bride) burned incense before the veiled statue of Amon, priestesses performed a sacred dance and Tutmosis (the groom) read the following act from a papyrus:
“‘I, Tutmosis, commander of the guard of his holiness Rameses XIII, take thee, Hebron, daughter of Antefa, the monarch of Thebes, to wife, as wife—I give thee now the sum of ten talents, because thou hast consented to marry me. For thy robes I designate to thee three talents yearly, and for household expenses one talent a month. Of the children which we may have the eldest son will be heir to the property, which I possess now, and which I may acquire hereafter, if I should not live with thee, but divorce myself and take another wife, I shall be obliged to pay thee forty talents, which sum I secure with my property. Our son on receiving his estate is to pay thee fifteen talents yearly. Children of another wife are to have no right to the property of our first-born son.’
“The chief judge appeared now and read an act in which the bride promised to give good food and raiment to her husband, to care for his house, family, servants, slaves and cattle, and to entrust to that husband the management of the property which she had received, or would receive, from her father.
“After the facts were read Herhor gave Tutmosis a goblet of wine. The bridegroom drank half, the bride moistened her lips with it, and then both burned incense before the purple curtain.
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“Leaving the temple of Amon the young couple and their splendid retinue passed through the avenue of sphinxes, to the pharaoh’s palace. Crowds of people and warriors greeted them with shouts, scattering flowers on their pathway.”
The experience of this same Khitan or Chetan princess, who adopted the name of Ur-maa-nofru-ra, or, as given in other places, Noferura-Urmda and Ra-maa-nofre, “Sun, Truth, Beautiful exceedingly,” reminds one of that of Maria Louisa of Austria, who became the wife of Napoleon First of France. The father of each had to bow the neck to the conqueror, the daughter became in a sense the hostage, she paid the penalty of defeat. There could not but have been a sense of bitterness at such a fate, in which love could have had no share. How far did ambition, the feeling of being the wife of the greatest monarch of the then known world, satisfy the empty heart?
Among Rameses II’s numerous children his favorites are known to have been his son, Khamus, and his daughter, Bint-Antha, both perhaps the children of Nofritari-Minimut, though one writer gives Isemofer, probably not a legal consort, as the mother of Khamus. We do not know the names of the children of the Khitan princess or even if she had any. A picture of a number of his sons and daughters, with names attached, the sons with fans, the daughters with sistra, is between Elephantine and Abou Simbel.
Among the pictures of his children are those of the Ramessium at Thebes, where Khamus, his[238] favorite son, is represented in a battle. There are two processions of his children and in one, two princesses. The eldest son of the Pharaoh was called “Prince of Cush,” as the eldest son of the king of England is now called “Prince of Wales.”
“Sutem-hemt” was the royal wife, “Sutem-Mut,” the royal mother, as such in the prime of life we see Queen Nofritari-Minimut. Queen Urm-maa-nofru-ra appears only in her beautiful youth, as the bride; she herself, says one inscription, “knew not the impression her beauty made on the heart of the king.” In a novel founded on this part of Egyptian history a queen is thus described, “her eyes were the color of her hair, a rich sunny brown, like Syriac women of Damascus. On her head the double diadem of Thebes and Memphis, the inner crown a graceful conical bonnet of white silk, terminating in a knob like a pomegranite bud. Outside a rich band of gold and lined with red silk; red, the special color of Lower, as white was of Upper Egypt; this was open at the top and worn over the other. Then a necklace of precious stones, with a clasp of a vulture, his neck encircled by an asp, emblem of the goddess, Maut. She wore a white vestment of gauzy Persian silk, enriched with gold and blue needlework below the waist, and secured by a girdle blazing with diamonds. A long royal robe from the Damascus looms descended to her feet.” Some such outline perhaps conveys an idea of the new queen. Not an exact portrait, but a mere suggestion, helpful in filling in our mosaic.
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Beautiful we may believe her to have been, and much the junior of the man she must needs accept for a husband. She was never allowed to forget the cost at which her honors were bought, however; on many walls of temples and perhaps palaces also, the painted record stared her in the face. Yet did the conqueror regard his adversary, Khitazar or Khitasar, king or prince of the Khitans (by some believed to be the Hittites of the Scriptures or, accord to others, the Aramaeans), as no mean foe and the compact of peace between them, which was engraved on a silver tablet, was honorable to both. King Khitazar seems to have inspired Rameses II with more respect than some of his adversaries, on whom he looked down with the utmost contempt. It is said that he refused an offer of marriage for one of his daughters from a Mesopotamian prince or king, stating that he would not give his daughter to a “nobody.”
The vanquished Kitazar offered his daughter to the victor, who accepted this marriage as a means of cementing the alliance between them. Rameses had married Nofritari-Minimut, who is spoken of as the “great princess, of every grace in her heart, the beloved palm, mistress of both lands, beloved of the king and united with the ruler,” before the death of his father, Seti I, Ur-maa-nofru-ra years after. The queen’s establishments were far apart, probably they seldom or never met, but doubtless Queen Nofritari-Minimut held proudly to her position as first consort. Both queens must have had some acquaintance[240] with the king’s singular and dangerous pet, the lion, who fought with him in his battle against the Khita, one of which is named in the picture in which he accompanied the king, “Smaru-khef-tu-f,” “the tearer in pieces.”
According to most authorities the marriage of Rameses II and Ur-maa-nofru-ra took place in the fifth year of the king’s sole reign. Near the temple of Abou-Simbel there is a passage in the rocks, where there is a picture of Rameses II, sitting under a canopy, between two gods, while before him appears the Khitan princess, followed by her father, Kitazar, in the dress of his country. The princess’ name is enclosed with that of Rameses II in a royal cartouche, which shows her to have been his legal consort. The stele celebrating this event was probably put up in the 34th year of his reign, a number of years after the marriage.
Perhaps the most ancient international treaty in the world, which differs little from those of modern times, is this concordat established between Rameses II and Kitazar, which was intended to put an end to the wars between the Egyptians and Asiatics. On the side wall of the temple of Amon at Karnak it is given in an inscription. It is dated 21st Tybi, in 21st year of Rameses II Miamun, in the town of Tanis and was engraved on a silver tablet and brought by ambassadors of peace. After speaking of the fact that there had been peace between their ancestors at one time, it goes on to say, “Khetasar, prince of the Khita, unites with Rameses Miamun,[241] the mighty king of Egypt, to cause to exist between them good peace and good alliance, from this time on forever. He shall be allied with me, he shall be at peace with me. And I, I shall be allied with him, and I, I shall be at peace with him forever.” Many pictures of the battles which preceded this agreement of peace are also to be seen on the temple walls.
Rameses II’s reign was also something of an Elizabethan age in Egyptian literature. A number of old works on papyrus have been found, left by a galaxy of Theban writers. History, divinity, practical philosophy, poetry and tales are among them. A list of temple scribes is given, naming Bek-en-tah, Qu-ge-bu, Hor Anna, Mer-Em-aput, Amen-em-api, Pan and Pentaur. The victorious campaign of Rameses II against the Ethiopians is described by Herodotus, who perhaps derived his authority from some of these sources. Pentaur, sometimes spoken of as the jovial poet, was easily laureate of this reign. In high, joyful, but martial strains, he celebrated, in heroic verse, the achievements of his master. He glorifies his every deed and makes him a demi-god rather than a man. Again and again Rameses II had Pentaur’s poem, the so-called Iliad of the Egyptians, inscribed on the temple walls. To the east of the southern door, near the great Hall of Columns at Karnak, the poem is to be found. At Abydos, Luxor, Karnak, the Ramessium, on the inner face of the pylon at the Ramessium, and at the Memnonium or tomb of Osymandeus and Abou-Simbel the same familiar[242] scene of Rameses fighting alone is pictured or described. The king is shown in a chariot with prancing horses, and again on a throne with the inscription, “Victory for Thebes.” Four of these copies of the poem are perfect, at Abydos, Luxor and Abou-Simbel, a fifth, without illustration, is on the wall of the temple of Karnak and a fragment at the temple of Deir in Nubia.
“Where art thou, O father Amon!” prays the king, “Does a father forsake his son? Not one of my generals, not one of my captains is with me.” “I hasten to thine aid, O Rameses, my son, beloved of Amon,” answers the god and singly and alone enables him to perform prodigies of valor. “My soldiers have abandoned me, my horsemen have fled,” cries the king. “I am more to thee than hundreds of thousands,” comes the response and again, “the youthful king with his bold hand has not his equal. His arms are powerful, his heart is firm. His courage is like that of the god of war.” Again the king speaks. “The diadem of the royal snake adorns my head. It spits fire and glowing flame in the face of my enemies. They cried out to one another, ‘Take care! Do not fall, for the powerful snake of royalty has placed itself on his horse.’” The great temple of Abou-Simbel is said by some to have been made in honor of his first victory over the Khitans, years before his marriage with the princess. “The freshness of the statues there,” says Curtis, “is startling. It is sublime.”
All these laudations gratified the king’s pride, for the little queen there must have been in it all[243] something of a trial. But it was not a time distinguished for consideration of the feelings of others. For her the old life was probably closed; there was not likely to have been much intercourse, merely for her pleasure, between her and her family. For purposes of war, and perhaps for hunting, they went far afield, but we can well believe that few trips to a distance, solely for the pleasure of the ladies, were undertaken.
Innumerable are the pictures and statues of Rameses II. Alone, with Queen Nofritare-Minimut and his sons and daughters, and in one or two places with his wife, the Khitan princess. At Gibel Silsileh, on a tablet, is a picture of the king, Queen Nofritari Minimut, Queen Tuaa or Ti, the king’s mother, and the princess Bint-antha, all appear in a bas-relief. Again the king appears before the gods Ptah and Nefertum. A stele in the third year of the reign of Rameses II gives the route to the gold mines which Rameses had worked. In the rock temple of Gerf Husen the king appears as a founder and god to be worshipped. In the half rock temple of Sebuah is a large statue of him. At the temple of Deir there is another picture of him. On the stele of a certain General Amenti, near Abou-Simbel appears Prince Seti, named, of course, for the father of Rameses II, the king’s mother and the Princess Bint Antha. There are, or were, enormous statues of the king at Karnak, Tanis, and elsewhere.
To the British Museum and ot............