which are exhibited in the Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms. [Illustration: Scarab of Ȧmen-ḥetep III, recording the names of the parents of Queen Thi. [No. 29,437.] Scarab of Ȧmen-ḥetep III, recording the slaughter of 102 lions by the king in the first ten years of his reign. [No. 12,520.]] Of the greatest importance for the history of this reign are the =Tell al-Amarna Tablets=, a fine collection of which is exhibited in Table-case =F= in the Babylonian Room. They consist of a series of letters and despatches, etc., written chiefly to Ȧmen-ḥetep III and his son Ȧmen-ḥetep IV, by kings and governors of countries, provinces, and towns in Western Asia. Nearly all are written in a Semitic dialect, and in the cuneiform character. They were found in a chamber to the east of the palace of Ȧmen-ḥetep IV, in the city of Khut-Ȧten, near the modern Tell al-Amarna. Among the =royal letters= in the British Museum are: =Draft= of a letter from =Ȧmen-ḥetep III to Kadashman-Bêl=, king of Karaduniyash (No. 29,784); a letter from =Kadashman-Bêl to Ȧmen-ḥetep III= (No. 29,787); letters from =Tushratta=, king of Mitani, to Ȧmen-ḥetep III (Nos. 29,792, 29,791); letter from =Burraburiyash= to Ȧmen-ḥetep IV (No. 29,785); letter from =Tushratta to Thi=, queen of Egypt (No. 29,794); etc.[37] (see =Plates XXXIV=, =XXXV=). [Sidenote: B.C. 1400.] =Ȧmen-ḥetep IV= was the son of Ȧmen-ḥetep III and Queen Thi, and reigned about 20 years. In his youth he became a warm devotee of the god =Ȧten=, whose visible symbol was the solar disc, and rejected the cult of Ȧmen, or Ȧmen-Rā, the king of the gods. During the first few years of his reign he lived at Thebes, and built there a Benben 𓃀𓐰𓈖𓃀𓐰𓈖𓉐, or shrine, dedicated to Harmachis; and it seems that this was regarded by the priests with disfavour. The pretensions of the priests of Ȧmen were unbearable to him, and he therefore decided to leave Thebes and build a royal capital elsewhere. The site chosen by him was on the east bank of the Nile, near the modern villages of Ḥaggi Ḳandîl and Tell al-Amarna. There he built a temple to Ȧten, a palace for himself, and houses for his officials. As the new capital grew, so the enmity between the king and the priests of Ȧmen increased. This can hardly be wondered at, for he caused the name and representations of the god to be obliterated from the monuments. Having moved to his new city, which he called =Khut-Ȧten=, he abandoned his name of Ȧmen-ḥetep, because it contained the name of the god he despised, and adopted the new name of =Khu-en-Ȧten=, _i.e._, the “Spirit of Ȧten.” In his new capital he established a new form of the ancient =cult of Ȧten=, as he understood it, in the temple Ḥet-Benben; and the new worship was carried on with the forms and ceremonies which had been in use in Heliopolis for some two thousand years. Incense was burnt on the altars, offerings of all kinds were made, but no bloody sacrifices were offered up; on certain occasions the king himself officiated.