www.explorations.ph/p/triangulations-ii-across-a-galaxy
1 correction found
The Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten procured 317 concubines and "droves" of consorts.
The 317 women were not Akhenaten’s concubines. They are recorded as the entourage of the Mitanni princess Gilukhepa when she was sent to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten’s father.
Full reasoning
This sentence misattributes a well-known Egyptian record.
The figure 317 comes from commemorative scarabs issued for Amenhotep III, not Akhenaten. Those scarabs describe the arrival of the Mitanni princess Gilukhepa with 317 women in her entourage/harem. National Geographic’s summary of Amenhotep III’s reign quotes the scarab directly: Gilukhepa arrived with “317 women.” A BODO (Bibel+Orient) entry for the same commemorative scarab likewise identifies it as a scarab of Amenophis III and explains that the inscription mentions “the 317 women of her entourage.”
So the article’s claim is incorrect in two ways:
- it assigns the episode to Akhenaten rather than Amenhotep III; and
- it turns the 317 women into concubines procured by Akhenaten, whereas the sources describe them as the entourage/harem accompanying Gilukhepa to Amenhotep III’s court.
2 sources
- Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III shared power to rule Egypt | National Geographic
By the 10th year of his reign, Amenhotep had repeatedly requested a daughter from the king of Mitanni... one of [the scarabs] read: ... Giluk(h)epa and the chief ladies of her harem: 317 women.
- Suchresultate | Objektdetails | BODO | Bibel & Orient Datenbank Online
The entry identifies the object as a commemorative scarab of Amenophis III and explains that the inscription mentions the arrival of Kirgipa/Gilukhepa; 'Den Tributcharakter dieser Ankunft unterstreicht die Erwähnung der 317 Frauen ihrer Begleitung' ('the tribute character of this arrival is underscored by the mention of the 317 women accompanying her').