43 



-of the Queen Taia now in the Boulak Museum at Cairo, which I 

 exhibit on the screen. Mariette believes that she was neither Royal 

 nor even of Egyptian blood, she may have been Asiatic, as the 

 Empire of her husband extended to Mesopotamia, and she is 

 stated to be the chief author of those religious tragedies which so 

 greatly disturbed her epoch. 



Diorite was hardly ever used in any but the 4th dynasty. 

 Green basalt was used in the 18th. The latter takes the highest 

 place. Black granite comes next in quality, but has a coarser 

 grain. In diorite the best quality of workmanship appeared. 

 Statues of great delicacy were sculpture in limestone, a soft 

 material which hardened by the work of time. Alabaster has 

 similar properties. It is seldom seen except under Amenhotep II. 

 to IV. ; it was then often used. Another school of sculptors used 

 the quartzite sandstone of Gebal Ahmar, especially under the 12th 

 dynasty. Red granite is found at Assuan, where statues and 

 obelisks still lie unfinished in the, quarries. 



The great colossi of Abu Simbel and the long avenue of 

 sphinxes at Thebes are of Nubian red sandstone. 



Stone used in Sculpture. 



