interior face of the second pylon are sculptured scenes in the war of Rameses II. against the Cheta, which took place in the fifth year of his reign; in them he is represented slaying the personal attendants of the prince of the Cheta. Elsewhere is the famous scene in which Rameses, having been forsaken by his army, is seen cutting his way through the enemy, and hurling them one after the other into the Orontes near Kadesh. The walls of the temple are ornamented with small battle scenes and reliefs representing the king making offerings to the gods of Thebes. On the ceiling of one of the chambers is an interesting astronomical piece on which the twelve Egyptian months are mentioned. III. The Colossi.-These two interesting statues were set up in honour of Amenophis III., whom they represent; they stood in front of the pylon of a calcareous stone temple which was built by this king; this has now entirely disappeared. They were hewn out of a hard grit-stone, and the top of each was about sixty feet above the ground; originally each was monolithic. The statue on the north is the famous Colossus of Memnon, from which a sound was said to issue every morning when the sun rose. The upper part of it was thrown down by an earthquake, it is said, about B.C. 27; the damage was partially repaired during the reign of Septimius Severus, who restored the head and shoulders of the figure by adding to it five layers of stone. When Strabo was at Thebes with Ælius Gallus he heard "a noise at the first hour of the day, but whether proceeding from the base or from the colossus, or produced on purpose by some of those standing round the base, I cannot confidently assert." It is said that after the colossus was repaired no sound issued from it. Some think that the noise was caused by the sun's rays striking upon the stone, while others believe that a priest hidden in the colossus produced it by striking a stone. The inscriptions show that many distinguished Romans visited the "vocal Memnon" and heard the sound; one Petronianus, of a poetical turn of mind, stated that it made a sighing sound in complaining to its mother, the dawn, of the injuries inflicted upon it by Cambyses. The inscriptions on the back of the colossi give the names of Amenophis III. IV. Medinet Habû.-This village lies to the south of the colossi, and its foundation dates from Coptic times. The early Christians established themselves around the ancient Egyptian temple there, and having carefully plastered over the wall sculptures in one of its chambers, they used it as a chapel. Round and about this temple many Greek and Coptic inscriptions have been found, which prove that the Coptic community here was one of the largest and most important in Upper Egypt. The temple here is actually composed of two temples; the older was built by Thothmes III., and the later by Rameses III. The first court of the temple of Thothmes III. was built during the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt, and the names of Titus, Hadrian, Antoninus, etc., are found on various parts of its walls. The half-built pylon at the end of this court is of the same period, although the door between them bears the names of Ptolemy X. Soter II. (Lathyrus) and Ptolemy XIII., Neos Dionysos (Auletes). The little court and pylon beyond are inscribed with the names of Tirhakah, B.C. 693, and Nectanebus II., B.C. 358. Passing through this last court and its pylon, the temple proper is reached. The oldest name found here is that of Thothmes II. work begun by this king was completed by Thothmes III., and several subsequent kings restored or added new parts to it. The Before the Temple of Rameses III. there stood originally a building consisting of two square towers, the four sides of which were symmetrically inclined to a common centre. The interior chambers were ornamented with sculptures, on which were depicted scenes in the domestic (?) life of the king, and from this it has been concluded that the building formed the PALACE OF RAMESES III. Elsewhere the king is shown smiting his enemies, and from the features and dress of many of them it is possible to tell generally what nations they represent; it is quite clear that the sculptor intended his figures to be typical portraits. It is a noticeable fact that the cartouches of Rameses III. are the only ones found in this building. V. The Temple of Rameses III. is entered by passing through the first pylon, the front of which is ornamented with scenes from the wars of this king against the people of Arabia and Phoenicia. The weapons of the king are presented to him by Amen-Ra the Sun-god. In the first court is a row of seven pillars, to which are attached figures of the king in the form of Osiris; M. Mariette was of opinion that these declared the funereal nature of the building. The second pylon is built of red granite, and the front is ornamented with scenes in which Rameses III. is leading before the gods Amen and Mut a number of prisoners, whom he has captured in Syria and along the coasts of the Mediterranean; from these scenes it is evident that he was able to wage war by sea as well as by land. The second court, which, according to M. Mariette, is one of the most precious which Egyptian antiquity has bequeathed to us, has a portico running round its four sides; it is supported on the north and south sides by eight Osiris columns, and on the east and west by five circular columns. The Copts disgraced this splendid court by building a sandstone colonnade in the middle, and destroyed here, as elsewhere, much that would have been of priceless value. Beyond the second court was a hall of columns, on each side of which were several small chambers, and beyond that were other chambers and corridors and the sanctuary. The scenes sculptured on the inside of the second court represent the wars of Rameses III. against the Libyans, in |