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chiefs whom he had slain in Syria to be sent to Napata (Gebel Barkal), and hung upon the city walls to strike terror into the Nubians. Of monuments of his reign may be noted: The royal ushabti figure in diorite (Wall-case 84, Second Egyptian Room, No. 7); the glass and alabaster vessels (Table-case H in the Third Egyptian Room), and the axe-head in Table-case B in the Fourth Egyptian Room; the stele of Athu, second priest of the king (Bay 4, No. 375); and the portion of the bowl dedicated by the scribe Tehutimes (Bay 12, No. 376).

The reign of Thothmes IV was short and unimportant. He made one or more raids into Nubia, an expedition into Syria; and in the first year of his reign he set up a tablet between the paws of the Sphinx stating that the god of the Sphinx, Herukhuti-Kheperȧ-Ra-Temu, appeared to him one day before he was king, and bade him remove the sand which had closed him in on all sides, and promised him that he should become king if he obeyed. Thothmes undertook the work, and in due course became king. His inscription mentions king Khāf-Rā (Chephren) in connexion with some work (probably a clearing of the sand) performed for the Sphinx. Among the monuments of his reign may be noted the stele of Amen-hetep, an officer who accompanied the king into Western Asia and the Sûdân (Bay 11, No. 377); and the stele of Nefer-ḥāt, overseer of the works in the Temple of Abydos (Bay 8, No. 378). Thothmes IV married a lady named Mut-em-uȧa, who became the mother of Amen-hetep III. The granite boat which was dedicated to the queen as the counterpart of the goddess Mut, is exhibited in the Northern Gallery (Bay 7, No. 379). For a portion of the head of her seated figure from the boat see Bay 7, No. 380. Some think that Mut-em-uaa is to be identified with the daughter of Artatama, king of Mitani.1

Amen-hetep III, the Memnon of the Greeks, declared himself to be an incarnation of the god Àmen-Ra; he reigned about 36 years. In the fifth year of his reign he marched into the Sûdân and crushed a rebellion at Abhat, taking 750 prisoners. He subsequently travelled B.C. 1450. in many parts of that country, and built a magnificent temple there, near the modern village of Sulb (Soleb), which he dedicated to himself as the god of the Sûdân. He made many expeditions into Western Asia, and whilst there he enjoyed lion-hunting on a large scale; on the

1 Tell al-Amarna Tablet at Berlin, No. 24.

large scarabs exhibited in Table-case D (Fourth Egyptian Room) he states that he shot with his own hand one hundred and two fierce lions during the first ten years of his reign. His frequent visits to Western Asia enabled him to continue the friendly personal relations with the kings and rulers which his father inaugurated; and he married several of their daughters, e.g., a daughter of Kadashman-Bêl, king of Karaduniyash; a daughter of Shutarna, king of Mitani; and a daughter of Tushratta, king of Mitani. He also married a sister of Tushratta called Gilukhipa, who arrived in Egypt with three hundred and seventeen of her principal women. The greatest and best beloved of his wives, however, was Thi,

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The Temple of Luxor, built by Amen-hetep III, B.C. 1450.

who must also have been of foreign extraction. Judging by the appearance of the mummies of her father, Iuáa and her mother Thuȧa, which have recently been found, it seems that the former was not an Egyptian, but a native of some part of the Eastern Desert or Southern Syria, while the latter was a native Egyptian woman. Their daughter Thi was a very remarkable woman in every way, and it seems beyond question that her son Amen-hetep IV derived from her the monotheistic views which he held.

The building operations of Amen-hetep III were on a very large scale, and extended from one end of Egypt and

Nubia to the other. He built the Apis chapels at Sakkarah; at Thebes he built a pylon; at Karnak the temple dedicated to the Theban triad, Amen-Ra, Mut and Khensu; in the Southern Apt (ie., Luxor), a temple to Menthu, and a temple to the goddess Mut, from which come the series of statues of Sekhet, a fire-goddess, exhibited in the Northern Egyptian Gallery, Nos. 381-410. All these buildings were on the east bank of the Nile. On the west bank he erected a great temple, the Memnonium, and in front of it set up two huge statues of himself which are generally known as the Colossi of Memnon (see Plate XXXIII). The northern statue was said to emit a sweet, sad note daily at sunrise, and for this reason was known as the "vocal statue of Memnon"; the sound was never heard after the statue was repaired by the Emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211). Amen-hetep III also built a temple at Al-Kâb, and another to the god Khnemu at Elephantine, and at Saddênga in the Sûdân he built a temple in honour of his wife Thi, who was also probably worshipped there, as the king himself was worshipped in his temple at Sulb, which has already been mentioned.

The reign of Amen-hetep III was long and prosperous, and his kingdom extended from the city of Nî, on the Euphrates, to Karei, in the Sûdân. He developed the gold mines of the Sûdân to an unprecedented extent, and exported gold to the countries of Western Asia. The monuments of this reign are numerous; among them may be specially mentioned: 1. A tablet inscribed with an account of the crushing of the revolt in Nubia in the fifth year of his reign, set up by Meri-mes, governor of the Sûdân (Bay 6, No. 411). 2. Two colossal seated statues of Amenhetep III (see Plate XXXII), from the Memnonium (Bay 8, No. 412; Bay 9, No. 413). 3. Upper portion of a colossal statue (Bay 6, No. 415), and two heads from colossal sandstone statues of the king (Bay 4, No. 416; Bay 5, No. 417). 4. Head from the granite sarcophagus of the king (Central Saloon, No. 418). 5. Grey granite column from a temple built by him at Memphis (?) It was repaired by Menephthah I under the XIXth dynasty, and about 100 years later Set-nekht inscribed his cartouches upon it (Bay 7, No. 419). The monuments of his officials are also numerous. The most interesting are: Granite coffin of Meri-mes, governor of the Sûdân (Bay 12, No. 420); stele of Sururu, a high official (Bay 7, No. 422), seated figure of Kames, a king's messenger (Bay 5, No. 423); a slab, with cornice, from the tomb of Pa-àri, an overseer of the granaries

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Colossal seated statue of Amen-hetep III, B.C. 1450. [Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 8, No. 412.]

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