ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY

Otaki Mail, 14 March 1923, Page 3

ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY

KGYTI'LY-V Q 5 J'.K.V AS SUITOR. Further light is thrown upon th* mystery of Tutankhamen, tHe shadowy Kin; or Egypt in 1850 8.C.. by a scries of letters to lie published in

" Awaieiit Egypt," under tXe editorship of Prof. Flinders Petrle. .Tfhese letters were discovered at Boghaz and have past been piiblfshtd by the Berlin Museum. One of them is from Dakhamen (the wife of Amen), the widow of Tutankhamen, who was then 29, appeal. ing to the Hittite King: for a i-on of his to marry her and become King of Egypt. WANTED A HUSBAND.

As the professor says in a foot, note: " This shows that Dakhamen was not unreasonable in •wishing' to imitate the earlier alliances of the Egyptian royalties with the northern Powers."

Tlie reason for the widowed queen's appeal is set forth in the letter: " . . My husband is dead; 1 have no children; your sons are said to be grown up; if to me one Of your sons ycu give, and if he will be my husband, he will be a help; send him accordingly, and thereafter I will make him my bus. band. I send bridal gifts."

There was evidently some confusion or mistrust in the mind of the Hittite king, for he sent a secretary to Egypt, enjoining (him) "A true report do you bring back why she has written the letter to mo (arid) as *o ♦he son of their ruler what is become of him."

Dakhamen then repeated her re. quest, explaining that her husband was dead, and that, she had no son. and addingK " .... so to mo ore- of

your sons give, and he as my bus. band in t-he land of Egypt shall biking." The bargain was duly carried out. and the lady selected a son of the Hittite king as her mate. SUPPLIES A CLUE. " The bearing of tms little piece of documentary evidence on the recent finds at Luxor," said rrofrssor Petrie to a " Daily News " man. " is t« my mind that it supplies a clue to the mystery of the extraordinary 'richness and variety of the finds. What prob. ably happened was that when a. stran. per, a. Hittite. came to rule over the land, all royal treasures were pil»d into Tutankhamen's tomb, so that they migbt not fall in their entirety into the hands of tlie stranger." Another possibility is. of course, that, the tomb at Luxor, discovered by Lord Carnarvon, does not contain Tutankhamen's body at ali; it wiaj'have served merely as a hiding p'aee fdr th« royal treasures when the Hittite cam? to rule over the country. SOLUTION EXPECTED.

This would fit in with the theory advanced by the famous French Egyptologist, the Abbe Driotton. who"suggested that jealousy had caused Tut. ankhamen's successor to hide all the dead king's treasures in a secret place white he caused his own name- to Po written up owr Tutankhamen's real tomb.

Thr. opening of th" third chamber at Luxor will probably solve the my. stcrj- 0 f jjjig struj-n-ic. f or a <iead June's trCAßiijsyj over SfiOrt years .l-O. V7»5 it the T-or.'r,- of the second hur'-.-.r-* who was fea'ous of fhe fame of his doad r.val, o- iris it «,= , vork o£ the rov«l yi.-io-w. who adopted this ißetboiTto rtepriv© her s -cor.d huchand of *h» en. Joysaent of the relics of his" pre-res-SOr ? -'rrw