28 PROF. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., ON RESEARCHES IN SINAI. 



to south, and is bounded by the Wady Serabit on the east and 

 that of Bateh on the west. This locality is remarkable, not 

 only for the turquoise mines, but also for numerous stelic and 

 memorial stones or " Bethels "* Avhich it contains, and especially 

 for the temple containing- the shrines of the goddess Hat-hor, 

 " Mistress of Turquoise," of whom we have a bust representation 

 in Figs. 130 and 132. A much later head, represented in Fig. 140, 

 is said by the author truly to be one of the most baffling of faces ! 



Amongst the monumental treasures of Serabit is the statuette 

 of Queen Thyi, the consort of the magnificent monarch Amen- 

 hotep III. of the XVIIIth Dynasty (1414-1383 B.c.)t. Petrie 

 pays a high tribute to the noble character of the features and the 

 beauty of execution of the statuette itself, and says that it is one 

 of the most striking portraits ever carved by an Egyptian (p. 126) 

 She is shown wearing a crown of gold, carrying in its centre her 

 cartouclie, by which she has been unmistakably identified. 



The restoration in plan of the temple of Serabit el Khadem is 

 one of the most remarkable achievements of this expedition. 

 We have this restoration presented to us in three distinct 

 pictures (Figs, models 93, 94 and Map 4), the last being an 

 architectural plan on a scale of 20 feet to the inch. Here we 

 have the earliest shrine, consisting of the sacred cave of Hat-Hor 

 in the highest point of the platform, of an age apparently as 

 early as Sneferu, 4750 B.C. From this the temple grew out- 

 wards until it reached a total length of 230 feet, and ultimately 

 consisted of a sanctuary, two chambers ("greater and smaller 

 Hanafiyeh "), the court, pylon, shrine of the Kings and cubicles 

 for sleepers. The walls are frequently covered by inscriptions, 

 and the whole surrounded by enclosures of broken rock and 

 rubble. Tlie shrine of tlie Kings lay outside the walls of the 

 temple on the north side, and on this side was a line of stela^ 

 or sacred upright stones, so-called " Bethels," to which we shall 

 refer again. At the entrance there formerly stood two tall 

 stelie, the northern one of liamessu II. (1300-1234 B.C.), the 

 southern one of Set-Nekht (1203 B.C.) ; the former was complete, 

 thougli cracked from top to base, when tlie Expedition of the 

 Palestine Exploi-ation Fund took their photographs.t 



* Referring to the pillar set up by Jacob, Gen. xxviii, 19. 

 t Ficr. 1.33. 



I This was tlie first expedition under the late Sir Charles W. Wilson. 

 Those acquainted with the tenipk's of tlie Valley of tlie Nile will recognise 

 the resemljlance of the ])lan of the Tenij)le of Luxor to that of Serabit el 

 Khadeni. See Dr. Budge's handbook of T/ie iXilc, p. 28-j, in which the 

 |)Un of the Luxor Tenijile is given. 



