RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS AT BUBASTIS. 145 
Unfortunately it is now so much ruined, having been so long 
used as a quarry, that it is difficult to obtain an exact 
idea of its form. It is nearly certain that the roof was 
supported by alternate rows of columns and square pillars, 
ending in a Hathor head. In the centre were four large 
columns of red granite, with capitals in the form of lotus buds, 
and with shafts representing a bundle of those plants. The 
inhabitants of Liverpool had the opportunity, a short time 
ago, of seeing on the quay two fragments of one of those 
columns, a perfect capital, and the piece of the shaft fitting 
immediately underneath, the whole having a length of about 
20 feet; and I dare say they will have been struck, not only 
by the size of the monuments, but also by the vigour of the 
work and the beautiful polish, which has lasted to the present 
day. Outside of those columns were square pillars sur- 
mounted by the head of the goddess Hathor, a woman’s face 
surrounded by great locks and having ears of a heifer. ‘The 
head was sculptured on two opposite sides of the pillars ; on 
the two others was seen the plant of Upper and Lower Egypt 
standing between two crowned asps. One specimen only of 
these fine pieces of art has been preserved complete; it is 
now in the Museum at Boston. Next to these pillars came 
again columns of polished red granite, with graceful capitals 
representing palm-leaves. One of them is in the British 
Museum; it is nearly complete. We read on it the names of 
Rameses IT. and Osorkon II., but the column is much older, 
for an inscription of Rameses is cut through an ornament of the 
shaft. These columns bear witness to the changes which took 
place in the gods towhomthe temple was dedicated. Rameses II. 
had the name of Set sculptured on the top; Osorkon changed 
the figure of the god, made him a lion’s head, and gave him 
the appearance ot Mahes, the son of the cat goddess Bast. 
‘To the palm columns belonged a second set of pillars with 
Hathor’s head, but neither so large nor so beautiful as the 
others. One of them has gone to the Museum at Sydney. 
At the end of the Twelfth dynasty the temple consisted of 
the first two halls and the hall of columns (some of them 
were gigantic monoliths). I shall only mention that the 
Thirteenth dynasty, a series of princes very little known, 
appears also at Bubastis. The first king, Sebekhotep I., has 
engraved his cartouche on some large architraves. It1is the first 
time that his name is met with ina temple. It is inscribed 
also on rocks in Nubia, showing that under his rule the 
power of Egypt was not diminished. In excavating buildings 
like the temple of Bubastis, it is impossible not to be struck 
by the facility with which the old Egyptians carried enormous 
VOL. XXIII. L 
