14.4. HDOUARD NAVILLE. 
The Twelfth dynasty is certainly one of the most powerful 
in Heyptian history. Let us consider its political action—its 
conquests carried far on the Upper Nile—and we _ shall 
form a high opinion of the character of its kings; but our 
admiration will be increased if we look at the immense con- 
structions raised by them all over the country. Manetho calls 
them Diospolites, giving them Thebes as birth-place. They 
were the founders of the great temple of Amon, and they 
worked most actively in the province called the Fayoom. I 
need only mention the Labyrinth and Lake Moeris. The recent 
excavations made by Mr. Flinders Petrie and myself have 
shown that they gave a great importance to the Delta, espe- 
cially to its eastern part. ‘T'anis was already known as a 
locality where their monuments were abundant; but we have 
added three more: Amem, a dependency of the nome of ‘l'anis 
excavated by Mr. I'linders Petrie,and some monuments of which 
are at the British Museum ; Khataanah, of which we do not 
know the old name; and lastly, Bubastis. It is probable 
that further explorations will reveal more monuments of the 
T'welfth dynasty in the Delta, either by actual discoveries or 
by showing that usurpation has been practised on their work 
by later sovereigns, who attributed to themselves the work of 
their glorious predecessors. 
Amenemha I, is the first king of the Twelfth dynasty whose 
name occurs at Bubastis. It is engraved on a stone removed 
from its original place, and employed by Nectanebo I. in the 
construction of the western part of the temple. ‘The name is 
not complete; we have only the standard and the beginning 
of an inscription saying that “he erected a statue to his 
mother Bast; he made the hall, . . .” Evidently he 
enlarged in some way the sanctuary of the Old Hmpire. 
After him Usertesen [., well known by the obelisk of Helio- 
polis, did not go on building; his name occurs on what was 
very likely part of the temple of Cheops and Pepi. 
The most important transformation of the temple seems to 
have been made by Usertesen III., whose cartouche occurs 
several times and in very large proportions. Not only did he 
enlarge the two halls, of which this temple consisted, but he 
added to it what must have given to the whole building that 
tharacter of beauty which struck Herodotus so vividly, for 
the Greck traveller says that ‘though other temples may be 
grander, and may have cost more in the building, there is none 
SO eae to the eye as this of Bubastis” (Rawlinson, 
Herod., 11. ch. 137). In my opinion, Usertesen III. added to 
the on the hypostyle hall, the magnificent building of which 
remains are now in the British Museum and at Boston. 
