ia.*

* For the last thirty years Queen Tii has been the subject of many
hypotheses and of much confusion. The scarabasi engraved under Amenothes
III. say explicitly that she was the daughter of two personages, Iuia
and Tuia, but these names are not accompanied by any of the signs which
are characteristic of foreign names, and were considered Egyptian by
contemporaries. Hincks was the first who seems to have believed her
to be a Syrian; he compares her father's name with that of Levi, and
attributes the religious revolution which followed to the influence of
her foreign education. This theory has continued to predominate; some
prefer a Libyan origin to the Asiatic one, and latterly there has
been an attempt to recognise in Tii one of the princesses of Mitanni
mentioned in the correspondence of Tel el-Amarna. As long ago as 1877, I
showed that Tii was an Egyptian of middle rank, probably of Heliopolitan
origin.

Connexions of this kind had been frequently formed by his ancestors,
but the Egyptian women of inferior rank whom they had brought into their
harems had always remained in the background, and if the sons of these
concubines were ever fortunate enough to come to the throne, it was in
default of heirs of pure blood. Amenothes III. married Tii, gave her
for her dowry the town of Zalu in Lower Egypt, and raised her to the
position of queen, in spite of her low extraction. She busied herself
in the affairs of State, took precedence of the princesses of the solar
family, and appeared at her husband's side in public ceremonies, and was
so figured on the monuments. If, as there is reason to believe, she was
born near Heliopolis, it is easy to understand how her influence may
have led Amenothes to pay special honour to a Heliopolitan divinity.
He had built, at an early period of his reign, a sanctuary to Atonu at
Memphis, and in the Xth year he constructed for him a chapel at Thebes
itself,* to the south of the last pylon of ihutmosis III., and endowed
this deity with property at the expense of Anion.

* This temple seems to have been raised on the site of the
building which is usually attributed to Amenothes II. and
Amenothes III. The blocks bearing the name of Amenothes II.
had been used previously, like most of those which bear the
cartouches of Amenothes III. The temple of Atonu, which was
demolished by Harmhabi or one of the Ramses, was
subsequently rebuilt with the remains of ea