“All cattle rest upon their herbage, all trees and plants flourish. 
   The birds flutter in their marshes, their wings uplifted in
       adoration to thee. 
   All the sheep dance upon their feet,
   All winged things fly; they live when thou hast shone upon them.”

  “The barques sail up-stream and down-stream alike,... 
   The fish in the river leap up before thee,
   And thy rays are in the midst of the great sea.”

  “Thou art he who createst the man-child in woman ... 
   Who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother;
   Who soothest him that he may not weep,
   A nurse even in the womb.”

  “When the chick crieth in the egg-shell,
   Thou givest him breath therein to preserve him alive ... 
   He cometh forth from the egg, to chirp with all his might. 
   He runneth about upon his two feet.”

  “How manifold are all thy works! 
   They are hidden from before us.”

There are several verses of this hymn which are almost identical with Psalm civ., and those who study it closely will be forced to one of two conclusions:  either that Psalm civ. is derived from this hymn of the young Pharaoh, or that both are derived from some early Syrian hymn to the sun.  Akhnaton may have only adapted this early psalm to local conditions; though, on the other hand, a man capable of bringing to pass so great a religious revolution in Egypt may well be credited with the authorship of this splendid song.  There is no evidence to show that it was written before the King had reached manhood.

Queen Tiy probably did not now take any further part in a movement which had got so far out of her hands.  She was now nearly sixty years old, and this, to one who had been a mother so early in life, was a considerable age.  It seems that she sometimes paid visits to her son at El Amarna, but her interest lay in Thebes, where she had once held so brilliant a Court.  When at last she died, therefore, it is not surprising to find that she was buried in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings.  The tomb which has been described above is most probably her original sepulchre, and here her body was placed in the golden shrine made for her by Akhnaton, surrounded by the usual funeral furniture.  She thus lay no more than a stone’s throw from her parents, whose tomb was discovered two years ago, and which was of very similar size and shape.

After her death, although preaching this gentle creed of love and simple truth, Akhnaton waged a bitter and stern war against the priesthoods of the old gods.  It may be that the priesthoods of Amon had again attempted to overthrow the new doctrines, or had in some manner called down the particular wrath of the Pharaoh.  He issued an order that the name of Amon was to be erased and obliterated wherever it was found, and his agents proceeded to hack it out on all the temple walls.  The names also of other gods were erased; and it is noticeable in this tomb that the word mut, meaning “mother,” was carefully spelt in hieroglyphs which would have no similarity to those used in the word Mut, the goddess-consort of Amon.  The name of Amenhotep III., his own father, did not escape the King’s wrath, and the first syllables were everywhere erased.