Meritaton
Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) back in the XIV century BC. e. tried to introduce monotheism in the country, the worship of the only god - Aton.
Akhenaten and his wife, the beautiful Nefertiti, had six daughters. The youngest, Ankhesenpaaton, was married to Pharaoh Tutankhamun, and the eldest, Meritaton, to a certain Semenkhar, who was declared his co-ruler at the end of Akhenaten's reign. After the death of Pharaoh, Semenkhar ruled for less than two years, ceding the throne to Tutankhamun. And soon after that he died.
The fate of Scott, daughter of Nefertiti There is a version that Semenkhar was the illegitimate son of Akhenaten and he died a violent death, and the fact of his marriage to Meritaton is questioned.
But it is known that before the death of Akhenaten, an epidemic of some kind of disease hit Egypt, which claimed many, many lives. Former priests of the "retired" gods, who lost their influence and income along with their positions, began to spread rumors that the true gods, rejected by the heretic pharaoh, had sent death to him, and to the country - a cruel punishment. Most people who retained their old beliefs took the rumors seriously. Trouble was brewing.
There is a hypothesis that at this moment Meritaton fled the country with her husband (apparently, it was not Semenkhar).
How is that known
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There is no information about this in Egyptian sources, but the story about the daughter of "some pharaoh" who left her native country is in the medieval books: History Brittonum (IX century) and Book of Leinster (XII century). True, in these sources, events concerning the fate of the royal Egyptian are mentioned as secondary.
But detailed information about them is given by the Scotichrononicon ("Chronicles of the History of Scotland"), compiled in the 15th century in Latin by Walter Bauer. And most importantly, the name of the pharaoh is indicated here, whose eldest daughter left her homeland. This name is Achenkresem. But this is exactly what the Greeks called Akhenaten!
This is what the Chronicle says:
“In ancient times, Scott, the daughter of Pharaoh, left Egypt with her husband Gayutelos and a large group of supporters. They heard about the troubles that were to befall Egypt, so they heeded the instructions of the gods and fled the country."
True, doubts may arise here that the mentioned Scott and Princess Meritaton are one and the same person. After all, the names of Scott and Gayutelos are clearly not Egyptian. However, doubts are dispelled if we take into account that the "Chronicles" used information from the "World Chronicle", which has not come down to us, compiled in the 4th century by the Roman writer and historian, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea.
It is known that Meritaton held a high position at the court of her father, that she was sent on diplomatic missions to Babylon. She was also very beautiful. Therefore, it is not surprising that she made a strong impression on the king of the city-state of Tire during one of her trips to Phenicia.
During excavations in Amarna, where Akhetaton, the capital of Egypt, built by Akhenaten, was once located, letters addressed to him were found. In one of them, the ruler of Tire calls Meritaton his mistress, himself her servant, and Tyr her possession. After such words, it is hard to believe that they were connected by purely diplomatic relations …
Odyssey begins
It is logical to assume that the fugitives went to sea on ships and reached Tire. But at that time an epidemic was raging there, and in addition, fighting with the Syrians did not stop. It was not safe to remain in Tire, and Meritaton's fleet was on its way again.
There is an opinion that the ships of the ancient Egyptians were unsuitable for sailing on the high seas. But this is not difficult to refute. It turns out that already in the time of the Old Kingdom (IV-III millennium BC), the Egyptians built large seagoing ships. The proof of this fact is the funeral boat of Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu), who ruled in the XXVI century. BC e. This boat was found in 1954 at the southern wall of his Great Pyramid at Giza. The structure of the vessel indicates that it is quite suitable for sailing at sea.
There is also a lot of physical evidence that the exchange of goods between Egypt and the coastal countries of the Mediterranean basin has occurred since time immemorial.
On the way, we looked into Africa …
So Meritaton's fleet went to sea again. Bauer writes that the Egyptians penetrated deep into Africa on their ships, passing up the Ampaga River, and stopped for a while in the province of Numidia. But Numidia is the eastern part of modern Algeria, and Ampsaga is the city of Constantine, through which the river flows; obviously, its name became the name of the city.
No trace of Scott's stay in Constantine has yet been found. But on the other hand, evidence of Egyptian visits during the reign of Akhenaten was found in neighboring Morocco - among the rock reliefs there are images of Egyptian chariots of those times. And in the Atlas Mountains, a two-meter image of a solar disk was found, clearly symbolizing the god Aton.
… and "stayed" in Spain
“In the end, they left Africa, - we read further in the Chronicles, - and went to the area of the island of Cadiz in Spain”.
There is no such island, but there is the city of Cadiz - on a promontory jutting out into the sea, so the essence of what is written above is not fiction.
Many items from Egypt are found in the ancient burials of Cadiz. These are figurines of sacred scarab beetles with the names of the Pharaohs of the Third Dynasty (III millennium BC), statuettes in the form of mummies with Egyptian symbols, amulets with the names of the gods - Osiris, Amun. The finds date back to the Bronze Age.
According to Bauer, the locals - the Iberians - attacked the aliens. The Egyptians, led by Gayutelos, repulsed the attack, passed almost the entire country from the southwest to the northeast and reached the Ebro River, where they built a camp. A tower was erected in the center of the camp and surrounded by a deep moat, filling the moat with water.
The ruins of this tower were discovered in our time, it was located in the center of the settlement. Various bronze objects were found on the territory of the settlement, many of them dated to around 1340 BC. e. That is, it is very likely that Scott and her squad spent some time here.
End of wanderings and death of Meritaton
The description of the further fate of the Egyptian traveler and her companions falls into two versions.
Bauer claims that they landed in what is now Scotland, where they lived relatively peacefully with the natives for some time. But then strife and clashes began, and as a result, the Egyptians moved to Ireland. But there, too, he soon had to fight with local clans.
According to other sources, Scott and her squad went from Spain directly to Ireland. Subsequent events are described in the same way.
The enmity intensified, and one day a fierce battle took place. Scott died in her, but her people won. And this people - the tribe Mil, or Scots - got its second name in honor of the princess.
Bauer further writes that the aliens (Egyptians) gained strength and eventually took possession of all of Ireland. And after many centuries, their descendants crossed into the territory of present-day Scotland, conquered the natives - the Picts - and settled in the north of Great Britain.
Artifacts support the hypothesis
In 1956, during excavations of burials on the Hill of Tara in Ireland, it turned out that one of the buried was a young man who lived in the second half of the 14th century. BC e. Its skeleton was adorned with faience beads and a bronze necklace with amber and black jasper inserts, between which were placed small conical turquoise beads.
Such decorations were widespread in those days, but not in Ireland, but in Sumer and Egypt! Such technologies were not available to the then Irish. You should also pay attention to the dating of the find.
And finally, there is a reliable way to confirm (or refute) the hypothesis of the origin of the Egyptian colonies in the British Isles more than 3300 years ago. To do this, you just need to compare the DNA of one of the members of the royal house of Egypt from the XVIII dynasty (to which Meritaton-Scott belonged) with the genetic code of the remains found in the Hill of Tara burial ground, or any other remains from the Bronze Age.
But is it known where Scott is buried?
To this question, Walter Bauer gives an affirmative, although not entirely specific, answer: in Glenscott.
If you look at the modern map of Ireland, then in its southwestern part you can find a valley with that name. In all likelihood, it was here that that bloody battle took place in which the Egyptian princess died. So, another way to establish the truth is to start excavations in the valley.
Vadim Ilyin