| Lion Hunt Scarab from the Royal Pump Room, Harrogate | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Base with inscription | Top of the scarab |
The Lion-Hunts of Amenhotep III During the First Ten Years of his Reign is one of a group of five historical and commemorative scarabs made during the reign of Amenhotep III. The set of five scarabs were presumably used to validate, and proclaim his choice of Tiye as his wife.[1] (Both were extremely young, not yet teenagers.)
Each of the five scarabs begin with the identical name pronunciation of Amenhotep, and then the addressing of his wife, Tiye.[2]
Because the five memorial scarabs were for public dissemination, multiple copies were made and circulated. Kerrigan's book has a photo of the scarab from the Oriental Institute, Chicago. Budge's reference translates a British Museum scarab-(B.M. 4096), of eight lines of text. The Oriental Institute scarab is also a text of eight lines, but has minor variations from the British Museum scarab; the scarab is pictured in the section for Tiy's Wedding Scarab, but there is no photo of Tiy's Wedding scarab. Instead they use the photo of Amenhotep's Lion Hunts.
Since copies of the five scarabs were made for dissemination, they have been claimed to be a form of "public information reading", much like a news release from a newspaper.
The translation of the lion-hunt story in the first ten years of Amenhotep's reign is:
| line.5.5 |
list-of lions | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| line.6 |
brought-in majesty-his by | |||||||||||||||||||
| line.6.5 |
his-shooting his-own beginning | |||||||||||||||||||
| line.7 |
with year1 up to year10 lions | |||||||||||||||||||
| line.8 |
fierce 102 |
Introduction with wife Tiye, and entire 8 lines of scarab BM 4096:
| line.1 |
Living-Horus bull-mighty with crowned Maat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| line.2 |
Two Ladies eStablisher laws pacifier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.3 |
two-lands Horus-of-Gold mighty-of-thigh smiter of-Nomads King-South-North | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.4 |
son-of governor-Thebes given-life Kings-Wife | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.5 |
Living-Tiye Tiye-may-She-Be-Forever-Living-(Youthful) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.5.5 |
list-of lions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.6 |
Brought-In majesty-his by | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.6.5 |
his-shooting his-own beginning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.7 |
with year1 up to year10 lions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| line.8 |
fierce 102 |
Other scarabs with this title have variations of what hieroglyphs are added or omitted because of the multiple copies made of this scarab series. (The Two Ladies are goddesses/gods of the South and North.)
