THE AGE OF BRONZE IN EGYPT. 507 



eral of these objects the same inscription is seen, witli insignificant 

 changes " The gracions God Ila inen-Klieper (piieiiomen of Thoutiuos 

 III), the beloved of Amnion, when the cord was stretched at Amen- 

 saraku." It is snpposed that it relates to the foundation of a " pylon " 

 which Thontmos caused to be built at Karnak.* 



The fact that upon so many objects we meet with the name of this 

 kiug would indicate that this name is of frequent occurrence in Egyj) 

 tian inscriptions. This however may be the eft'ect of accident which 

 on a single day exposed an exceptional number of these objects; thus 

 in a tomb at Thebes were discovered several baskets filled with instru- 

 ments of this character.t 



It has been sujiposed that the arms and tools exhumed from the 

 tombs had been specially fixbricated of bronze to be emi)loyed at cere- 

 monies either solemn — for example, the foundation of a "pylone," as 

 we have just seen — or funereal. | 



The bronze from the considerations of religious orders would have 

 continued to be utilized long after industry might have manufactured 

 arms of iron and tools for ordinary use. But this supposition is contra- 

 dicted. Since a great number of these bronzes bear evident marks of 

 long use, they were not fabricated, conseciuently in order simply to be 

 deposited in the tombs.§ At the close of the second millenium b. C 

 arms of bronze were not yet entirely replaced by iron arms. The 

 mural paintings in the tomb of King Kamses III at Thebes, which date 

 from the twelfth century, prove this; here a great quantity of arms may 

 be seen, the major part blue, the remaiuiler red. Lance-barbs aiul 

 swords with two edges are sometimes red, at others blue.|l 



The arms represented in this tomb were those which were used in war 

 at the time of Ramses III. It cannot therefore be assumed that the 

 red arms were of bronze, because they were especially fabricated for 

 the tomb. They are painted red because bronze arms were then in 



* Sitzuiigsherichte der Jciinigl. Preitssichen Jcademie der jriisenchafteii zn Berlin, Irft^S, 

 vol. xxxiv, p. 770. 



t Brouzes with the name of Thoutincs III, or that of Hatschopsitu are deposited in 

 the Boulaq museum (au ax, a chisel, two blades of a saw, etc.); Maspero, Guide, etc., 

 pp. 297-29i») ; the British Museum (three axes and a couple of saws) ; a Guide to the 

 Egt/ptian rooms, p. 4'2 ; the museum at Leydeu (two axes, cue saw, etc., Leemaus 

 Mon. -Eyijjit da Mt(see de Leide, pi. 80, tig. 3 and pi. 90, figs. 157, 159, Chabas. Etudes 

 8ur Vantiquit^ historique, pp. 7(j-79; the collection of the Duke of Northumberland at 

 Alnwick Castle (ax, two chisels, a drill, a saw-blade) Birch, Catalogue of the Collec- 

 tion of Egyptian Antiquities at Alnwick Castle, p. 200, pi. B. 



t Birch, Catalogue, p. 200. The same inscriptions are dtiplicated also upon the 

 brouzes that belong to the collection at Alnwick Castle. 



^S The celebrated Swedish Egyptologist, M. Piehl, whose attention I called to the 

 importance of this question before one of his visits to Egypt, had the kindness to 

 write me that a considerable number of arms and bronze instruments, i)re.served in- 

 the Boulaq museum, had evidently been long in use, as is demonstrated by the fact 

 that they were used and re-sharpened again and again. 



II Cliampollion Monuments de I'Eggpt, pi. 2(i:?-2r)4. Rosclliui, Monumenti Civili, pi. 

 121; Lepaius Les Meteux, p. 117, and pi. 11, tig. 2-7. 



