The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-28
LETTERS FROM
EGYPT|AN KING
WIFE ARE FOUND
Tutankhamen's Widow Wrote
to Hittite Monarch Ask
ina His Son for New Mate
SENT RICH BRIDAL GIFTS
Treasures Found in Kings
Tomb Believed Hidden While
Alien Was Ruling His Land
BY Universal Service.

LONDON, Jan. 27.-Further light
Tutankhamen. the shadowy king OF
Egypt In 1850 B. c.. by a series OF
letters published recently In IAN
Gent Egypt" under the editorshir
Of Prof. Flinders Petrie.
These letters were discovered al
Boghaz, and have just been pub
lished by the Berlin Museum.
One Of them is from Dakhamen
the widow Of Tutankhamsn. who
was then Twenty-Five, appealing tc
the Hittite King for a son of his
to marry her and become King Of
Egypt.
AS the professor says in a foot
note: This shows that Dakhamen
was not unreasonable in wishing
to initiate the earlier alliances OF
the Egyptian royalties with the
modern Powers"
The reason for the widowed
queens appeal h set forth in the
letter:
BRIDAL GIFTS.
"a" My husband is dead;
have no children; your sons are
said to be grown UP; IL to me one OF
your sons you give, and If he will be
my husband he will be a help; send
him accordingly, and thereafter I
will make him my husband. 1 send
bridal gifts
There was evidently some confu-
sion or mistrust in the mind of the
Hittite king, for he sent SECRETARY
to Egypt, enjoining (him) "a true
report do you bring back why she
has written the letter to me (and) as
to the son of their ruler what Is be-
come of him.
Dakhamen then repeated her re-
quest, explaining that her husband
was dead and that she had no son,
and adding, SO to me one
of your sons give. and he as my hus-
band in the land of Egypt shall be
king.
The bargain was duly carried out,
and the lady selected a son of the
Hittite king as her mate.
'sThe bearing of this little piece of
documentary evidence on the recent
finds at Luxor" said Professor Petrie
20 a Daily News reporter, els to- my
mind that is supplies clue to the
mystery of the extraordinary rich
mess and variety of the finds. What
eprobably happened was that when a
stranger, a Hittite, came to rule over
the land, all the royal treasures were
piled into Tutankhamen's tomb, so
that they might not fall in their
entirety into the hands Of the
stranger"
A HIDING PLACE.
Another possibility is, Of course,
that the tomb at Luxor, discovered
by Lord Carnarvon, does not contain
Tutankhamen's body at all; 1t may
have served merely as hiding place
for the royal treasures when the
Hittite came over to rule over the
country.
This would fit in with the theory
advanced by the famous French
Egyptologist, the Able D9otton,
who suggested that jealousy had
caused Tutankhamen's successor to
hide all the dead kings treasures in
q secret place while he caused his
own name to be written UP over Tu-
tankhamen's real tomb.
The opening Of the third chamber
ut Luxor probably will solve the mys
terry of this struggle for dead king
treasures over 5000 years ago
Was it the work Of the second hus
band who was jealous Of the fame
of his dead rival. or was 1t the work
Of the royal widow, who adopted this
method to deprive the second hus
band Of the enjoyment Of the relics
of his predecessor?