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The statues of Amen-hetep III, B.C. 1450, commonly known as "The Colossi." The statue on the right is the famous

"Colossus of Memnon," from which a sound was said to issue at dawn.

of Amen-Ra at Thebes (Bay 10, No. 424); stele of Apni, a master of transport (Bay II, No. 425); painted statue of Pa-ser, an Erpā, from Dêr al-Bahari (Bay 13, No. 427); granite statue of Amen-hetep, an Erpā, from Bubastis (Bay 12, No. 428), etc. Of special interest are the two fine red granite lions, which were found in the ruins of a temple at Gebel Barkal, at the foot of the Fourth Cataract. No. 430 dates from the reign of Amen-hetep III, and appears to have been made by him for the temple of Sulb; No. 431 was, according to the inscription, made by Tut-ankh-Amen, a later king of the XVIIIth dynasty, who "repaired the monuments of his father Amen-hetep" (see Plate XXXVI). The name of a late Nubian king, Amen-Asru, is found on each lion, and it is

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possible that he may have brought both lions to Napata from Sulb, and placed them in his own temple. Stelae Nos. 432 (Bay 10) and 433 (Bay 9) are of a most unusual character. No. 432 is a late (Ptolemaic) copy, written in hieratic, of the deed of endowment of the funerary chapel of Amenhetep, the son of Hap, the famous architect who built the

Colossi, dated in the thirty-first year of the reign of Amenhetep III. No. 433 is inscribed with a series of addresses which can be read both perpendicularly and horizontally. Among smaller objects inscribed with the names of Amenhetep III and Queen Thi may be noted the bronze menȧt amulet, stamp, vase, brick, stibium pot, plaque, scarabs, etc., which are exhibited in the Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms.

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 Amen-hetep III and his son Âmen-hetep 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 Amen-hetep IV, in the city of Khut-Aten, near the modern Tell al-Amarna. Among the royal letters in the British Museum are: Draft of a letter from Amen-hetep III to Kadashman-Bel, king of Karaduniyash (No. 29,784); a letter from Kadashman-Bêl to Amen-hetep III (No. 29,787); letters from Tushratta, king of Mitani, to Amen-hetep III (Nos. 29,792, 29,791); letter from Burraburiyash to Amen-hetep IV (No. 29,785); letter from Tushratta to Thi, queen of Egypt (No. 29,794); etc.1 (see Plates XXXIV, XXXV). Amen-ḥetep IV was the son of Amen-hetep III and Queen Thi, and reigned about 20 years. youth he became a warm devotee of the god Aten, whose visible symbol was the solar disc, and rejected the cult of Amen, or Àmen-Rā, the king of the gods. During the first few years of his reign he lived at Thebes, and built there a Benben, or shrine, dedicated to Harmachis; and it seems that this was regarded by the priests with disfavour. The pretensions of the priests of Amen were unbearable to him, and he therefore decided to leave Thebes and build a royal capital elsewhere. The site chosen by him

B.C. 1400.

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In his

1 Full descriptions of all the tablets have been published by the Trustees of the British Museum, with summaries of the contents and the texts in The Tell alAmarna Tablets in the British Museum, Autotype plates, 1892, 8vo. Price 285.; and see the Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Collections, Second Edition, 1908, pp. 177–192.

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Letter from Åmen-hetep III, king of Egypt, to Kadashman-Bel, king of [No. 1, Table-case F, Babylonian and Assyrian Room.]

Karaduniyash.

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