30 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



or tomb about three miles above Girgeh and eastward of the Nile ; 

 near some mounds of rubbish that mark the site of an ancient city, 

 possibly of the lost Lepidotum. 



The tomb of Meneptha III., the fifth and last king of the Nine- 

 teenth Dynasty, has been found at Bab-el- Meluk ; and his name 

 occurs also on some of the temples at Thebes. 



The reign of Merrira, the first king of the Twentieth Dynasty, 

 appears to have been brief. He is chiefly known from having appro- 

 priated the tomb of one of his ancestors at Bab-el-Meluk : but according 

 to Gliddon, his name occurs also in the Queens Valley at Thebes, and 

 on a column now in the Museum at London. 



Kamses III., the second king of the Twentieth Dynasty, built the 

 great hall of the temple at Medinet-Habu : but notwithstanding its 

 vast dimensions, the walls barely afford room to record his battles. 

 In one of them, the number of the enemy left dead upon the field, 

 is set down at twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-five. And 

 nations not previously figured, now make their appearance. 



A naval combat is also represented ; and from Manetho and the 

 statement of the Theban priests to Germanicus (Tacitus ii. 60), the two 

 foreign nations fighting the Egyptians should be the Phoenicians and 

 the Greeks of Cyprus. The timber of at least the foreign vessels, 

 was doubtless procured in Syria, Asia Minor, or European Greece. 



In another part of the temple at Medinet-Habu, Ramses III. is re- 

 presented playing games, like draughts or chequers, with his daughters. 

 According to Manetho (Josephus, C. Apion i. 15), this king or his 

 brother, would seem to be the Danaus of the Greeks. 



I did not find the pigeon distinctly represented on the Egyptian 

 monuments : the figure at Medinet-Habu bears little outward resem- 

 blance, but from some attendant circumstances is referred by Wilkinson 

 to the carrier pigeon. — The common domestic pigeon is mentioned by 

 Homer and Herodotus ; and carrier pigeons, by Pherecrates, Athengeus, 

 and the Pseudo-Anacreon. 



Ornamental wood-work appears to have been carried to great per- 

 fection at Thebes during the reign of Ramses III. Cushioned chairs 

 are figured in his tomb ; together with other cabinet furniture, richly 

 carved, and presenting some unexpected coincidences with the most 

 approved patterns of the present day. 



The Cucurbitaceous plant figured in this tomb, having serrated cor- 

 date leaves, but devoid of fruit, is perhaps the gourd (Lagenaria). — 



