88 Assyro-Pseudo- Sesostris. [No. 2, 



the figures, four cubits and a spathamus high, held a bow in one hand 

 and a lance in the other. . 



The words of Herodotus are : — 



" The pillars which Sesostris erected in the conquered countries, 

 have for the most part disappeared, but in the part of Syria called 

 Palestine, I myself saw them still standing, with the writing above- 

 mentioned, and the emblem distinctly visible. In Ionia also, there 

 are two representations of this prince engraved upon rocks, one on the 

 road from Ephesus to Phocaea, the other between Sardis and Smyrna. 

 In each case the figure is that of a man, four cubits and a span high, 

 with a spear in his right hand and a bow in his left, the rest of his 

 costume being likewise half Egyptian, half Ethiopian. There is an 

 inscription across the breast from shoulder to shoulder, in the sacred 

 character of Egypt, which says, " With my own shoulders I conquered 

 this land." The conqueror does not tell who he is, or whence he 

 comes, though elsewhere Sesostris records these facts. Hence it has 

 been imagined by some of those who have seen these forms, that they 

 are figures of Memnon, but such, as I think so, err very widely from 

 the truth." 



Diodorus Siculus repeats the like, and says there was an inscription 

 ill hieroglyphics on the monument,, of which he gives the trans- 

 lation. 



As the monument near Ninfi agrees with the description of Hero- 

 dotus, it is generally believed to be Egyptian, to bear a hieroglyphic 

 inscription, and to be the Sesostris. As will be seen, there arer traces of 

 characters on the right hand corner, though what, cannot be made out. 

 They are exceedingly unlike any hieroglyphic inscription, which will 

 carry the meaning of Diodorus, and the rock is too soft for the minute 

 characters of the hieroglyphic ever to have been carved upon it. It 

 would not bear even the ring of the cartouche. 



Who first doubted its Egyptian character, we have not the means 

 here of knowing, but at any rate the geographers Kiepert and Carl 

 Bitter have done so, and in their works the monument is figured as 

 " Pseudo-Sesostris," and is placed with the Assyrian class. 



Unaware of this, some years ago, I visited the monument and 

 arrived at the same conclusions, and I have since endeavoured to 

 obtain the opinions of competent authorities in Europe. This corre- 



