hewers of stone and drawers of water, the sinew and muscle of the nation, were hardly of the same blood and language as the Copts who furnished the mind. They were a race more nearly allied to the Arabs. This want of unity in the population was a fatal cause of weakness. In the Delta, on the other hand, the races were less separated, the Coptic blood was less pure; and in the history of mankind it may be noticed that the pure races have usually been less open to improvement, and have sunk before the greater strength and energy of those that are more mixed. The power of Upper Egypt and its race of kings end in obscurity; we are unable to fix the date when Thebes ceased to be the capital of Egypt; but we must suppose that its fall, and the want of records, were caused and accompanied by civil war.

(52) The city of Thebes was at first wholly on the east bank of the river; but by this time it covered the rising ground on both sides, in the form of a horse-shoe, open to the south-west, and embracing a plain two miles wide (see Fig. 109). Through the middle of this the river flows, cutting the city in two, and distributing its blessings on all sides. This open space is in winter and spring covered with green herbage or golden corn; but in the parching season of the Dog-star, the water pours over from the brimming river, makes its way through countless channels, and at length the plain becomes an inland sea, which refreshes the city while it washes the very feet of the massive temples ranged around, and the husbandman in his painted barge sails over his own fields. Beginning at the south, at the river's edge, there stand the long walls of Amunothph's temple of Luxor, with its huge square towers and the obelisks before the entrance. Thence runs an avenue of sphinxes up to the large temple of Karnak, which forms quite a group of towers and obelisks. This was at the same time the cathedral and citadel of Thebes. Between and around these temples were the older dwelling-houses, partly hid by the rustling palm groves which gave them shade. From Karnak the eye follows the range of buildings across the Nile to the Libyan suburb, and to Oimenepthah's smaller temple of Rebek at Quorneh, at the foot of the hills which there press upon the river. Next is the Memnonium, the palace of Rameses II., and then the temple of Rameses III. at Medinet Abou,

each with its tall pyramidal towers, its numerous columns and statues, and surrounded by the dwelling-houses of this suburb. As a background to the buildings on this side rise the white Libyan hills, among which is seen the temple of

Queen Nitocris, now called El Assaseef, the most northerly building in the city; and as a foreground the two colossal statues of Amunothph, sitting side by side in the plain, in solemn quiet grandeur, as if they alone were unchanging, while generations of busy mortals who peopled the city

around were passing away. To the south, and opposite to this semicircle of temples and palaces, is the open plain, broken only by palm-groves and by the mounds of the sacred lake which was used in the ceremonies of burial. In the winding defiles of the Libyan hills behind the Memnonium are the Theban burial-places, between grand and most desolate rocks, where not a tree, nor a shrub, nor a blade of grass is to be seen. Here lie the remains of men whose

stern virtues and lofty aim made Thebes a wonder among cities. The vaulted tombs of the kings are in one silent valley of this limestone range, and those of the queens in another; while persons of a lower rank were buried in a third spot not quite so far from the river, where the softer rock will not remain so many centuries without crumbling over the embalmed mummies.

(53) The history of error is often little less valuable than the history of truth. So would it be with the history of the Egyptian mythology, if we had the means of tracing it. But the paintings and sculptures in the tombs, which teach us the names and figures of the gods, and the offerings which were laid upon their altars, tell us very little of the feelings with which they were worshipped. Gods of the several cities perhaps often differed in name rather than character. They were very much worshipped in groups of three, without, however, confounding their persons; but at other times two or even three characters or persons were united so as to make only one god. The chief god of Thebes was Amun-Ra, the Sun, the king of the gods (see Fig. 110). He wears a

crown more than half his own height. He forms a trinity with Maut, the Mother, and Chonso, their son, who both stand dutifully behind his throne (see Fig. 111). Chonso has a hawk's head and was one of the gods of the moon (sce Fig. 112). Every king of Egypt was styled Zera, or son of the Sun, and he was often sculptured as the third person of the trinity, in the place of Chonso. With the spread of the Theban power, we note the acknowledgment of that power in

the spread of the worship of Amun-Ra. In Nubia, and at Elephantine, to the south of Thebes, the chief god was Kneph, the Spirit, with a ram's head (see Fig. 113), who in imitation of the worship in the capital became Kneph-Ra. So Sebek, the crocodile, called also Seb (see Fig. 114), the father of the gods, became in due time Sebek-Ra. Chem, the god of generation, had his name from Chemi, Egypt. He is in form a mummy, with his right arm raised, and a whip in his hand (see Fig. 115). He also was sometimes joined to the gods

of Thebes and formed a trinity in unity, under the name of Amun-Ra-Chem. At Heliopolis and the neighbourhood this name of the god of the sun was pronounced Athom, and he gave his name to the city of Thoum. At Mendes in the Delta, and at Hermonthis near Thebes, the sun was called Mando, and became Mando-Ra. Pasht, goddess of chastity, was worshipped chiefly at Bubastis, and has a cat's head (see Fig. 116). Athor was the goddess of love and beauty (see Fig. 117); at Momemphis near Sais she was worshipped under the form of a cow. At Sais was worshipped Neith, the queen of heaven, the mother of the gods (see

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