Il6 ANCIENT EGYPT. 



temple differs from all others in Egypt in the entire absence 

 of inscriptions or reliefs of any kind. Perhaps its most note- 

 worthy feature is the immense blocks of alabaster and rose 

 granite, laid together with marvellous accuracy and precision, 

 putting the best Roman masonry to shame. Such work as 

 ^his would indicate an apprenticeship of many ages to the 

 builder's craft. The building presents some of the conditions 

 of a mastaba, and there are niches for the reception of 

 sarcophagi. 



Until recently but very little was known of Menes, the 

 founder of the first historic dynasty of ancient Egypt, beyond 

 the mention of him by Manetho, and of his name heading all 

 the lists of ancestors, with the exception of the one taken from 

 Karnak, which begins with Seneferoo; but he now steps forth 

 from the obscurity of tradition into an historic personage. 

 Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, in a letter to the Times written 

 comparatively recently, states that an excavation at Abydos, 

 going down to a depth of 20 feet, has brought to light no less 

 than ten successive temples, ranging from B.C. 5,000 to B.C. 500; 

 and he remarks that for the first time it is possible to see the 

 change from age to age through the whole of Egyptian 

 history, and that the most striking change is seen about the 

 time of the IVth dynasty, when the temple, as an institution, 

 was abohshed, and only a great hearth of burnt offerings is 

 found, full of votive clay substitutes for sacrifices. This 

 exactly agrees with the statement of Herodotus that Cheops 

 had closed the temples and forbidden sacrifices ; and it also 

 accounts for the long break in temple building as far as we 

 can judge from the absence of remains. An ivory statuette 

 of Cheops was found, which is now in the Cairo Museum. 

 Among the discoveries of the first dynasty, and of Menes 

 its founder, we have part of a large globular vase, of green 

 glaze, with the king's name in purple; thus polychromic 

 glazing is taken back thousands of years before it was 

 previously known to exist. In the highest art of delicate 

 ivory carving are several pieces of this age, especially the 

 figure of an aged king, which for its subtilty and character 



