ent world
appeared to be entered. There Amon reigned, ever increasingly supreme,
and the steady advance of his influence had transformed his whole domain
into a regular theocracy, where the women occupied the highest position
and could alone transmit authority. At first, as we have seen, it
was passed on to their husbands and their children, but latterly the
rapidity with which the valley had changed masters had modified this law
of succession in a remarkable way. Each time the principality shifted
its allegiance from one king to another, the new sovereign naturally
hastened to install beside the _divine female worshipper_ a man devoted
to his interests, who should administer the fief to the best advantage
of the suzerain. It is impossible to say whether he actually imposed
this minister on her as a husband, or whether the time came when she was
obliged to submit to as many espousals as there occurred revolutions
in the destinies of Egypt.* However this may be, we know that from
the first half of the seventh century B.C. the custom arose of placing
beside "the divine worshipper" a princess of the dominant family, whom
she adopted, and who thus became her heiress-designate. Taharqa had in
this way associated one of his sisters, Shapenuapit II., with the
queen Amenertas when the latter had lost her husband, Pionkhi; and
Shapenuapit, succeeding her adopted mother, had reigned over Thebes in
the Ethiopian interest during many years. There is nothing to show
that she was married, and perhaps she was compensated for her official
celibacy by being authorised to live the free life of an ordinary
Pallacide;** her minister Montumihait directed her affairs for her so
completely that the Assyrian conquerors looked upon him as petty king
of Thebes. Tanuatamanu confirmed him in his office when the Assyrians
evacuated the Said, and the few years which had elapsed since that event
had in no way modified the _regime_ established immediately on their
departure.

* They would have been, in fact, in the same condition as
the Hova queens of our century, who married the ministers
who reigned in their names.

** It is perhaps these last female descendants of the high
priests that are intended in a passage where Strabo speaks
of the Pallacides who were chosen from among the most noble
families of the city. Diodorus mentions their tombs, quoting
from Hecatous of Abdera, but he does not appear to know th