Aahhotep was the wife of Kames, a king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and she was probably the mother of Ahmes I., first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty.  Her mummy had been stolen by one of the robber bands which infested the Theban necropolis towards the close of the Twentieth Dynasty.  They buried the royal corpse till such time as they might have leisure to despoil it in safety; and they were most likely seized and executed before they could carry that pretty little project into effect.  The secret of their hiding-place perished with them, till discovered in 1860 by some Arab diggers.  Most of the objects which this queen took with her into the next world were exclusively women’s gear; as a fan-handle plated with gold, a bronze-gilt mirror mounted upon an ebony handle enriched with a lotus in chased gold (fig. 298).  Her bracelets are of various types.  Some are anklets and armlets, and consist merely of plain gold rings, both solid and hollow, bordered with plaited chainwork in imitation of filigree.  Others are for wearing on the wrist, like the bracelets of modern ladies, and are made of small beads in gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and green felspar.  These are strung on gold wire in a chequer pattern, each square divided diagonally in halves of different colours.  Two gold plates, very lightly engraved with the cartouches of Ahmes I., are connected by means of a gold pin, and form the fastening.  A fine bracelet in the form of two semicircles joined by a hinge (fig. 299), also bears the name of Ahmes I. The make of this jewel reminds us of cloisonne enamels.  Ahmes kneels in the presence of the god Seb and his acolytes, the genii of Sop and Khonu.

[Illustration:  Fig. 298.—­Mirror of Queen Aahhotep.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 299.—­Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 300.—­Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 301.—­Diadem of Queen Aahhotep.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 302.—­Gold “Usekh” of Queen Aahhotep.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 303.—­Pectoral of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 304.—­Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 305.—­Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 306.—­Funerary battle-axe of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 307.—­Funerary bark of Queen Aahhotep.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 308.—­Ring of Rameses II.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 309.—­Bracelet of Prince Psar.]