.. How do I open the inner sarcophagus?

You've probably figured out that the first thing you need to do here is decode the coded hieroglyphics on the top of the coffin here.

This passage gives you a complicated riddle that Nancy says "could be about the queen's children." And since the lower part of the coffin has spaces for glyphs representing seven names --

-- it's pretty clear that you need to figure out the cartouches representing the names of Nefertari's seven children in order from oldest to youngest. This is going to be quite complicated and require both tons of research and some intuitive leaps, which makes it the toughest puzzle in the game. Read to the end of this hint for a picture of the finished puzzle.

Your first reference in this case is Professor Hotchkiss, who will give you the names of all seven children in order, including what each of the names means.

How do I answer Professor Hotchkiss's question?

Okay, let's take this a bit at a time. Your first and most important reference in this is Jon's notes.

The order of the names is the same as given to you by the professor, which is the order they're listed in your journal. So the four on the top are the sons, and the three on the bottom are the daughters.

As Jon says, the males' names all end with the glyph of a man sitting on a chair and the females with a kneeling female figure, so move those glyphs into place.

The second name from the top is Pareherwenemef, and Jon has drawn that one in his notes, so all you have to do is copy it. If you're playing as an amateur, Nancy will tell you when you get a complete name right and lock it in place; if you're playing as a master, you won't know if you got it right until you finish all seven names.

As you might have figured out, these name hieroglyphs aren't phonetic -- that is, we don't have one picture for each letter spelling out the name as in English. Instead, each picture represents an idea. That's why you need to know what each name means.

With that in mind, let's tackle the last two names next. They are Henuttawy, the mistress of two lands, and Nebettawi, the lady of two lands. You can find a hint for this in the journal page you found in the upper room.

What is there to find in the upper room?

That page shows that the glyph that looks like two bowls means mistress. It's not too far of a leap to figure that the one that looks like a square and a cup means lady.

And I'll give you one: the glyph with two horizontal lines like an equal sign (=) means two lands. So the two on the bottom are --

-- two bowls, two lines, woman, and two square bowls, two lines, woman.

The journal also shows you that when you want to call someone "beloved of" a god, you first put the symbol of the god, then a glyph that looks like a slanted A, and then a glyph of two feathers.

You can find the symbols of the gods in question -- Amun and Atum -- from the "Pantheon" page. Amun can be shown as a single feather followed by what looks like a Lego brick over a zigzag, and the Atum symbol looks like a sled.

So that gives us Meritamun -- a single feather, a Lego brick over a zigzag, slanted A, two feathers, woman -- and Meriatum -- a sled, slanted A, two feathers, man. Phew! -- but we're making progress.

Meryre is also comparatively simple. Jon's notes show that Re can be a circle with a dot in the center, so Meryre is --

-- bull's eye, slanted A, two feathers, man.

That leaves only the oldest male: Amunherkhepeshef, or Amun is with his strong arm. Do you know enough to solve this one on your own?

First is the name of the god Amun -- one feather, then a Lego brick over zigzags.

Next, from Jon's notes we get the symbols for "with his right arm" -- a man's head over what looks like a frog's leg, then a snake.

And finally, the seated man symbol. And with that, my friend, we are finished!

Well, maybe. If you get this far and nothing seems to be happening, or if you're totally lost, here's a picture of the completed names. Pay close attention to the order of the glyphs in each name; it matters.

And as the coffin opens, you see --

-- nothing but some scraps of paper. ARGH!!

How do I reassemble these parchment scraps?