the gods. The figures are
outlined in _cloisons_ of gold, and these were filled in with little
plaques of precious stones and enamel, many of which have fallen out. The
effect of this piece is somewhat heavy, and if considered apart from the
rest of the _parure_, its purpose might seem somewhat obscure. In order to
form a correct judgment, we have, however, to remember in what fashion the
women of ancient Egypt were clad. They wore a kind of smock of semi-
transparent material, which came very little higher than the waist. The
chest and bosom, neck and shoulders, were bare; and the one garment was
kept in place by only a slender pair of braces. The rich clothed these
uncovered parts with jewellery. The Usekh collar half hid the shoulders and
chest. The pectoral masked the hollow between the breasts. Sometimes even
the breasts were covered with two golden cups, either painted or enamelled.
Besides the jewels found upon the mummy of Queen Aahhotep, a number of arms
and amulets were heaped inside her coffin; namely, three massive gold flies
hanging from a slender chain; nine small hatchets, three of gold and six of
silver; a golden lion's head of very minute workmanship; a wooden sceptre
set in gold spirals; two anklets; and two poignards. One of these poignards
(fig. 304) has a golden sheath and a wooden hilt inlaid with triangular
mosaics of carnelian, lapis lazuli, felspar, and gold. Four female heads in
gold _repousse_ form the pommel; and a bull's head reversed covers the
junction of blade and hilt. The edges of the blade are of massive gold; the
centre of black bronze damascened with gold. On one side is the solar
cartouche of Ahmes, below which a lion pursues a bull, the remaining space
being filled in with four grasshoppers in a row. On the other side we have
the family name of Ahmes and a series of full-blown flowers issuing one
from another and diminishing towards the point. A poignard found at Mycenae
by Dr. Schliemann is similarly decorated; the Phoenicians, who were
industrious copyists of Egyptian models, probably introduced this pattern
into Greece. The second poignard is of a make not uncommon to this day in
Persia and India (fig. 305). The blade is of yellowish bronze fixed into a
disk-shaped hilt of silver. When wielded, this lenticular[79] disk fits to
the hollow of the hand, the blade coming between the first and second
fingers. Of what use, it may be asked, were all these weapons to a woman--
and a dead