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Lot Essay
The nearly forty-year reign of Amenhotep III was one of the most artistically productive in the history of Egypt. The high level of achievement in all the arts is well documented, as evinced by the surviving corpus from his reign. According to L.M. Berman (pp. 67-69 in A.P. Kozloff and B.M. Bryan, eds., Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and His World), the invention of the large-scale commemorative scarab beetle is attributed to his reign. Most of them are made from glazed steatite, either blue or green, all with well-detailed beetles. Five varieties of the commemorative scarab are known. According to the inscriptions on their undersides, each type memorialized an important event in Amenhotep III’s life: the lion hunt, the wild bull hunt, his marriage to Queen Tiye, the creation of an artificial lake for Tiye, and the arrival of Princess Gilukhepa, daughter of the Mitannian King Shuttarna II.
The lion hunt scarabs record that Amenhotep III killed 102 lions from the first year of his reign through the tenth. The purpose of these scarabs was to celebrate his great achievement, informing the population of Egypt and beyond that he was a powerful ruler. Indeed, these scarabs have been found not only throughout Egypt proper, but also as far south as Soleb in Sudan and as far north as Ras Shamra in Syria.
More than 130 examples of commemorative lion-hunt scarabs are known. As P. Clayton noted, “A notable variant in these scarabs is the titulary of Queen Tiye” (see “Some More 'Fierce Lions', and a 'Marriage' Scarab: The Large Commemorative Scarabs of Amenophis III,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 82, p. 209). This example names her simply as “Royal Wife,” as on most lion-hunt scarabs surveyed by Clayton; a smaller number provide the fuller title of “Great Royal Wife.” The standard eight-line text reads: “May he live, the Horus, Mighty Bull Who Appears in Maat; the Two Ladies, Establisher of the Laws and Pacifier of the Two Lands, the Horus of Gold, Great of Strength Who Smites the Asiatics; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatre; the Son of Re, Amenhotep Ruler of Thebes, endowed with life; and the King’s Wife Tiye, may she live! The number of the lions from regnal year 1 down to regnal year 10, lions 102.”
The lion hunt scarabs record that Amenhotep III killed 102 lions from the first year of his reign through the tenth. The purpose of these scarabs was to celebrate his great achievement, informing the population of Egypt and beyond that he was a powerful ruler. Indeed, these scarabs have been found not only throughout Egypt proper, but also as far south as Soleb in Sudan and as far north as Ras Shamra in Syria.
More than 130 examples of commemorative lion-hunt scarabs are known. As P. Clayton noted, “A notable variant in these scarabs is the titulary of Queen Tiye” (see “Some More 'Fierce Lions', and a 'Marriage' Scarab: The Large Commemorative Scarabs of Amenophis III,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 82, p. 209). This example names her simply as “Royal Wife,” as on most lion-hunt scarabs surveyed by Clayton; a smaller number provide the fuller title of “Great Royal Wife.” The standard eight-line text reads: “May he live, the Horus, Mighty Bull Who Appears in Maat; the Two Ladies, Establisher of the Laws and Pacifier of the Two Lands, the Horus of Gold, Great of Strength Who Smites the Asiatics; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatre; the Son of Re, Amenhotep Ruler of Thebes, endowed with life; and the King’s Wife Tiye, may she live! The number of the lions from regnal year 1 down to regnal year 10, lions 102.”