ed at the hands of Taharqa, and who, in changing her family, had
assumed the name of Amenertas in honour of the queen who had preceded
Shapenuapit: Psammetichus forced her to replace the Ethiopian princess
by one of his own daughters, who was henceforth called Shapenuapit,
after her new mother. A deputation of the nobles and priests of Thebes
came to escort the princess from Memphis, in the month of Tybi, in the
ninth year of the reign: Psammetichus formally presented her to them,
and the ambassadors, having listened to his address, expatiated in the
customary eulogies on his splendour and generosity. "They shall endure
as long as the world lasteth; all that thou ordainest shall endure. How
beautiful is that which God hath done for thee, how glorious that which
thy divine father hath done for thee? He is pleased that thy double
should be commemorated, he rejoices in the pronouncing of thy name, for
our lord Psammetichus has made a gift to his father Amon, he has given
him his eldest daughter, his beloved Mtauqrit Shapenuapit, to be his
divine spouse, that she may shake the sistrum before him!" On the 28th
of Tybi the princess left the harem, clothed in fine linen and adorned
with ornaments of malachite, and descended to the quay, accompanied by
an immense throng, to set out for her new home. Relays stationed along
the river at intervals made the voyage so expeditious that at the end
of sixteen days the princess came in sight of Thebes. She disembarked on
the 14th of Khoiak, amid the acclamations of the people: "She comes, the
daughter of the King of the South, Nitauqrit, to the dwelling of
Amon, that he may possess her and unite her to himself; she comes, the
daughter of the King of the North, Shapenuapit, to the temple of
Karnak, that the gods may there chant her praises." As soon as the
aged Shapenuapit had seen her coadjutor, "she loved her more than
all things," and assigned her a dowry, the same as that which she had
received from her own parents, and which she had granted to her
first adopted daughter Amenertas. The magnates of Thebes--the aged
Montumihait, his son Nsiphtah, and the prophets of Amon--vied with each
other in their gifts of welcome: Psammetichus, on his side, had acted
most generously, and the temples of Egypt assigned to the princess an
annual income out of their revenues, or bestowed upon her grants of
houses and lands, in all constituting a considerable inheritance,
which somewhat consoled the Theb