the famous "Botanical Room", with its
representations of exotic flora and fauna encountered
during Tuthmosis III's
foreign military campaigns. we find birds going toward the west. Two of
the birds include the lapwing (Vanellus cristatus) and
the red casarca (Asarka rutila). Another bird is
almost certainly an ibis, while two others are not
identified. Pomegranates surmount the depictions of
the birds.
On the northern corner of the east wall is an inscription that states:
On the west wall, various birds have been identified as probably the jackdaw (Monedula turrium), the ash-colored crane (Grus cinera), an anhinga (Plotus levaillantii), a Rock dove (colomba livia), a turtledove (turtur), a Frigate eagle or "sea-eagle" (Tachypetes aquilus), a Greek partridge (Perdrix graeca), a spiny hoplopterous or "lapwing" (Hoplopterus), a gull, and Egyptian cuckoo (Centropus aegyptus), a wild good, an ordinary plover and a white egret (Herodias alba).
Various calves and a few plants are depicted on the south
wall, while on the western section of the north wall, we find Blue lotus (Nymphea caerulea), sycamore
seedpods, pomegranates and perhaps a desert raven. On the
right are the last lines of the text concerning the plants
brought back from the "Divine Land", which reads:
"All plants that grow, all flowers that are in God's Land (which were found by) his majesty when his majesty proceeded to Upper Retenu, to subdue (all) the countrie(s), according to the command of his father, Amun, who put them beneath his sandals from (the year 1) to myriads of years.
His majesty said; 'I swear, as Ra (loves me) as my father, Amun, favors me, all these things happened in truth - I have not written fiction as that which really ahppened to my majesty. [The spirits of my majesty have caused their birth and growth to glorify his foods].
My majesty hath done this from desire to put them before my father Amun, in this great temple of Amun [Akhmenu], (as) a memorial forever and ever'."
"Year 25, under the majesty of the king
of Upper and Lowwer Egypt, Menkheperre, forever
living, plants that His Majesty has found in the
land of Retenu (Syria).
Here, various plants are depicted in various stages. They
include Dracunculus vulg (Arum dracunculus), a type of
calenchoe, probably Calenchoe deficiens Forsk or Calenchoe
aegyptiaca, probably a chrysanthemum, an Arum italicum, a
Dipsacus, a flower from an iris, fruites of the Punica
granatum (pomegranates), Vitis vinifera (grapevines), a
female gazelle, a goose, a migrating grasshopper and a
raven or crow among others.On the west wall, various birds have been identified as probably the jackdaw (Monedula turrium), the ash-colored crane (Grus cinera), an anhinga (Plotus levaillantii), a Rock dove (colomba livia), a turtledove (turtur), a Frigate eagle or "sea-eagle" (Tachypetes aquilus), a Greek partridge (Perdrix graeca), a spiny hoplopterous or "lapwing" (Hoplopterus), a gull, and Egyptian cuckoo (Centropus aegyptus), a wild good, an ordinary plover and a white egret (Herodias alba).
"All plants that grow, all flowers that are in God's Land (which were found by) his majesty when his majesty proceeded to Upper Retenu, to subdue (all) the countrie(s), according to the command of his father, Amun, who put them beneath his sandals from (the year 1) to myriads of years.
His majesty said; 'I swear, as Ra (loves me) as my father, Amun, favors me, all these things happened in truth - I have not written fiction as that which really ahppened to my majesty. [The spirits of my majesty have caused their birth and growth to glorify his foods].
My majesty hath done this from desire to put them before my father Amun, in this great temple of Amun [Akhmenu], (as) a memorial forever and ever'."
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