THE GREAT ATEN

p. 63



is here referred to, similar to that in the old story where the king marries a shepherdess for love.

What Ti's religious views were, or what gods she worshipped, we have no means of knowing, but
the inscription which is found repeated on several large steatite scarabs suggests that she favour-
ed the cult of Aten, and that in the later years of her life she was a zealous and devoted follower
of that god.

To please her, Amenhetep caused a great lake to be made on her estate called Tcharukha in West-
ern Thebes. This lake was about 1 1/8 mile (3,700 cubits) long and more than 5/8th of a mile (700 cubits) wide, and its modern representative is probably Birkat Habu.

On the sixteenth day of the third month of the season Akhet (October), in the 11th year of his reign, His Majesty sailed over the lake in the barge called ATHEN-TEHEN i.e.

                                                            "Aten sparkles."

And in following years this day was celebrated as a festival. Both lake and barge were made to
give the Queen pleasure, and the fact that the name of Aten formed part of the name of the latter, instead of Amen, has been taken to show that both the King and Queen wished to pay honour to
this solar god. In fact, it was definitely stated by Maspero that this water procession of the King marked the inauguration of the cult of Aten at Thebes, and he is probably correct.

Amenhetep's children by Ti consisted of four daughters and one son; his daughters were called Ast, Henttaneb, Satamen and Baktenaten, and her son was Amenhetep IV, the famous Aakhunaten. Ti lived in Western Thebes during her husband's lifetime, and she continued to do so after his death.

She visited Tall al-'Amarnah from time to time, and was present there in the twelfth year of