It is shaped to correspond with the form of the human body and painted white; the face resembles that of his statue, and the eyes of enamel, touched with kohl, give it a wonderful appearance of animation.  The body is swathed in orange-coloured linen, kept in place by bands of brownish linen, and is further covered by a mask of wood and cartonnage, painted to match the exterior of the coffin.  Long garlands of faded flowers deck the mummy from head to foot.  A wasp, attracted by their scent, must have settled upon them at the moment of burial, and become imprisoned by the lid; the insect has been completely preserved from corruption by the balsams of the embalmer, and its gauzy wings have passed un-crumpled through the long centuries.

Amenothes had married Ahhotpu II, his sister by the same father and mother;* Ahmasi, the daughter born of this union, was given in marriage to Thutmosis, one of her brothers, the son of a mere concubine, by name Sonisonbu.** Ahmasi, like her ancestor Nofritari, had therefore the right to exercise all the royal functions, and she might have claimed precedence of her husband.  Whether from conjugal affection or from weakness of character, she yielded, however, the priority to Thutmosis, and allowed him to assume the sole government.

* Ahhotpu II. may be seen beside her husband on several monuments.  The proof that she was full sister of Amenothes I. is furnished by the title of “hereditary princess” which is given to her daughter Ahmasi; this princess would not have taken precedence of her brother and husband Thutmosis, who was the son of an inferior wife, had she not been the daughter of the only legitimate spouse of Amenothes I. The marriage had already taken place before the accession of Thutmosis I., as Ahmasi figures in a document dated the first year of his reign.

** The absence of any cartouche shows that Sonisonbu did not belong to the royal family, and the very form of the name points her out to have been of the middle classes, and merely a concubine.  The accession of her son, however, ennobled her, and he represents her as a queen on the walls of the temple at Deir el-Bahari; even then he merely styles her “Royal Mother,” the only title she could really claim, as her inferior position in the harem prevented her from using that of “Royal Spouse.”

[Illustration:  150.jpg THUTMOSIS I., FROM A STATUE IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph taken by Emil
     Brugsch-Bey.