Kneeling statue of Uah-ab-Ra, a prince, governor, and

commander-in-chief, about B.C. 600.

[Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 21, No. 818.]

XXVIth dynasty.

XLIII, XLIV). The reliefs and figures are carefully executed, and the hieroglyphics are well cut. In the Ptolemaic Period this sarcophagus was used for a royal scribe named Amenhetep, or Pi-Menth, his name being inserted in the cartouches and the feminine suffixes being changed to masculine. Ankhnes-neferȧb-Rā built a chapel at Thebes, from which came slabs Nos. 812, 813 (Bay 24). Worthy of note also are two fine bronze figures of Harpokrates-Amen and Menu, which were dedicated to Queen Ankhnes-neferȧb-Ra by priests in her temple (see Table-case H, Third Egyptian Room). Amāsis II had a daughter, Ta-Khart-Ast (for a portion of a statue of her see Bay 24, No. 814).

The last king of this dynasty was Psammetichus III. During his short reign, which lasted six months only, the Persians under their king Cambyses invaded Egypt, and, having defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium, marched on to Memphis and captured it. After a short time Cambyses put Psammetichus to death, and Egypt became a province, or satrapy, of Persia.

During the rule of the XXVIth dynasty over Egypt, it appears that several native Nubian kings ruled the Northern Sûdân from Napata, the modern Gebel Barkal. Among these were Aspelta and Heru-sa-ȧtef, the former of whom probably reigned about B.C. 625 and the latter about B.C. 580. For casts of stelae recording the Coronation of Aspelta and the Annals of Ḥeru-sa-ȧtef, see Bay 18, No. 815, and Bay 20, No. 816. A cast of a stele inscribed with an edict against the eaters of raw meat is in Bay 20, No. 817.

Under the XXVIth dynasty a great revival of art and learning took place, due partly to the settled condition of the country under a firm government, and partly to the material prosperity which obtained at that period. The painter and sculptor took for their models the reliefs and statues of the Early Empire, and the funerary masons and scribes cut or wrote on the stelae and tombs texts which were composed under the VIth dynasty, or earlier. The monuments of the period are more often made of dark limestone, dark green or grey schist, and basalt than granite, which was so commonly used for coffins, statues, stelae, etc., under the Middle Empire. These substances give to the large monuments of the Saïte Period a sad and sometimes heavy effect. Among the many fine. examples of the sculpture of the period may be mentioned: The black basalt kneeling statue of Uaḥab-Rā, a prince and general of the army (see Plate XLV; Bay 21, No. 818); the portion of the kneeling figure of Khnem-åb-Rā-Men, prefect

of Saïs, holding a shrine of Neith (Bay 23, No. 819); the portion of a figure of Ankh-p-khart, a priest who had ministered in the temple for eighty years (Bay 24, No. 820); and the libation bowl dedicated to the goddesses Mut and Hathor (Bay 22, Nos. 821, 822). The casts of the Cow of Hathor and the Hippopotamus of Smetsmet are also very instructive (Bay 25, No. 823; Bay 26, No. 824). Of the massive stone sarcophagi and coffins, Nos. 825-829 are very fine important examples. On the two granite sarcophagi of Nes-qetiu (No. 825) and Hap-men (No. 826) are cut the figures of all the gods who were believed to protect the dead; but the others (Nos. 827-29) are plainer. The sepulchral stelae are very numerous; interesting examples will be found in Bays 21, 22, etc.

Twenty-Seventh Dynasty. From Persia.

B.C. 527.

The rule of the Persians over Egypt lasted about one hundred and ten years. Cambyses, having established himself as king, set out on an expedition to the Sûdân. On his way thither he despatched an army of 50.000 men to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, now known as Sîwah, to secure the submission of the tribes; but, after reaching Khârgah, these troops were never more heard of. Cambyses continued his march into Nubia, where, it seems, he came in touch with a native army somewhere near the Third Cataract. According to the annals of Nastasenen, king of Nubia, his boats were captured on the river, and all his soldiers slain after a fierce fight. Greek tradition states that Cambyses committed many sacrilegious acts in Egypt; but the inscription of Utcha-her-resenet, the chancellor of Saïs, records that Cambyses cleared out the temple of Neith in that city, restored its revenues, and reinstated its priests. This done he went to the temple in person, and performed acts of worship, like the Pharaohs of old. The money which he gave the chancellor enabled him to provide with a coffin the man who was too poor to buy one, and he took care of the children.”

Darius I, Hystaspes, was a wise and enlightened king, and he tried to understand the religion and customs of the Egyptians. He established a coinage, encouraged trade, subscribed money for expenses

B.C. 521.

incurred in the discovery of a new Apis Bull, supported religious institutions, and commissioned the chancellor Utchaher-resenet to found a school for the training of scribes. He was tolerant; and built a temple to Amen-Ra in the Oasis of Al-Khârgah, on the walls of which is cut a remarkable hymn to Amen. He also completed the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, which Necho began, and so added greatly to the prosperity of the country. In the latter part of his reign the Egyptians, led by Khabbesha, revolted against the Persian rule with some success. Darius determined to set out from Persia to put down the rebellion, but died before he could do so. The triumph of Khabbesha was short-lived, for Xerxes the Great marched against him, defeated his forces, and reduced the B.C. 486. country to servitude worse than before. Xerxes did nothing for the gods or people of Egypt, and left few traces of his reign in the country. An alabaster vase inscribed with his name in four languages, Egyptian, Persian, Median and Babylonian, which was found at Halicarnassus, is exhibited in the Gold Room in the British Museum. For fragments of other vases, on which his

name appears in Egyptian letters, within a
cartouche, and with the additions "Pharaoh, the
Great," as here given, see Wall-cases Nos. 28
and 29, in the Babylonian Room. A cast of a
stele, dated in his fourth year, with a bilingual
inscription in Egyptian and
Egyptian and Aramean, is
exhibited in the Semitic Room (Second
Northern Gallery, Wall-case 29).

In the reign of Artaxerxes I another revolt,
B.C. 466.
headed by Inarôs, a Libyan, who
was assisted by the Athenians, broke
out, and at the battle of Papremis, the satrap of
Egypt, Akhaemenes, was killed and his forces
defeated. Subsequently the Persians defeated
the Egyptians, and Inarôs was captured and
taken to Persia, where a few years later he was
impaled and flayed alive.

B.C. 424.

Darius II, Nothus, repaired the temple of Amen-Ra at Al-Khârgah, and added his name to its walls. In his reign the Egyptians at length succeeded in throwing off the Persian yoke. Their leader,

Amyrtaios, has been thought to be Amen-rut-meri-Amen.