104 THE EARLY TEMPLE AND PYRAMID BUILDERS. 



writiug" by liis scribe Miri:* "Mou maitre m'euvoya eu mission pour 

 lui preparer line graude demeure eternelle. Les conloirs etla chambre 

 luterieure etaient en mayounerie et reuouvelaient les nierveilles de 

 coustructiou des dienx. II y eut eu elle des colounes, sculptees, belles 

 comnie le ciel, uu bassin creuse (pii cominuuiquait avec le Nil, des 

 portes, des obe]is(]ues, une fa§ade en pierre de Kouou." 



There was uotliiug pyramidal about this idea, but one hundred and 

 tifty years later we find Amenemhat III returning both to the gigantic 

 irrigation works and the pyramid building of the earlier dynasties. 



The scene of these labors was the Fayyum, where, to crown the 

 new work, two ornamental i^yramids were built, surmounted by statues, 

 and finally the king himself was buried in a pyramid near the Laby- 

 rinth. 



IV.— THE WORK OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 



The blank in Egyptian history between the twelfth and eighteenth 

 dynasties is known to have been associated with the intrusion of the 

 so-called Hyksos. It is supposed these made their way into Egypt 

 from the countries in and to the west of Mesopotamia. It is known 

 that they settled in the cities with east and west walls. They were 

 finally driven out by Aahmes, the king of solstitial solar Thebes, who 

 began the eighteenth dj'nasty. 



Ill {a) 1 have shown what happened after the first great break in 

 Egyptian history — a resuscitation of the solstitial worship at On, Aby- 

 dos, and Thebes. 



I have next to show that precisely the same thing happened after 

 the Hyksos period (Dyn. 13 (?).Mariette, 2233 Brngsch; Dyn. 18, 1703 

 B. c. Marietta) had disturbed history for some five hundred years. 



It is known from the ])apyrus Sellier (CI. Co 257) that Aahmes, the 

 first king of the eighteenth dynasty, who re-established the independ- 

 ence of Egypt, was in reality fighting the priests of Soutekh in favor 

 of the priests of Amen-Ra, the solstitial solar god, a modern rei^resent- 

 ative of Atmu of On. 



Amen-Ra, was the successor of Menthu, the successor of Atmu of On. 

 So close was the new worship to the oldest at On, that at the highest 

 point of Theban power the third priest of Amen took the same titles as 

 the Grand Priest of On, " who was the head of the first priesthood in 

 Egypt." t The "Grand Priest of On," who was also called the " Great 

 Observer of Ra and Atmu," had the privilege of entering at all times 

 into the Habeuben or Naos. The priest Padouamen, whose mummy 

 was found in 1891, bore these among his other titles. 



The assumption of the title was not only to associate the Theban 

 priesthood with their northern confreres, but surely to proclaim that 

 the old On worship was completely restored. 



* Maspero, op^ cit., p. 113. 



t Virey, " New Gizeh Catalogue," p. 263. 



