the cultivated land to the Ramesseum, behind which rises Shekh Abd el-Kurna, with its countless tombs, ranged in serried rows along the scarred and scarped face of the hill.  This hill, which is geologically a fragment of the plateau behind which some gigantic landslip was sent sliding in the direction of the river, leaving the picturesque gorge and cliffs of Der el-Bahari to mark the place from which it was riven, was evidently the seat of the oldest Theban necropolis.  Here were the tombs of the Theban chiefs in the period of the Old Kingdom, two of which have been found by Mr. Newberry.  In later times, it would seem, these tombs were largely occupied and remodelled by the great nobles of the XVIIIth Dynasty, so that now nearly all the tombs extant on Shekh Abd el-Kurna belong to that dynasty.

Of the Thebes of the IXth and Xth Dynasties, when the Herakleopolites ruled, we have in the British Museum two very remarkable statues—­one of which is here illustrated—­of the steward of the palace, Mera.  The tomb from which they came is not known.  Both are very beautiful examples of the Egyptian sculptor’s art, and are executed in a style eminently characteristic of the transition period between the work of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.  As specimens of the art of the Hierakonpolite period, of which we have hardly any examples, they are of the greatest interest.  Mera is represented wearing a different head-dress in each figure; in one he has a short wig, in the other a skullcap.

[Illustration:  320.jpg STATUE OF MERA]

When the Herakleopolite dominion was finally overthrown, in spite of the valiant resistance of the princes of Asyut, and the Thebans assumed the Pharaonic dignity, thus founding the XIth Dynasty, the Theban necropolis was situated in the great bay in the cliffs, immediately north of Shekh Abd el-Kurna, which is known as Der el-Bahari.  In this picturesque part of Western Thebes, in many respects perhaps the most picturesque place in Egypt, the greatest king of the XIth Dynasty, Neb-hapet-Ra Mentuhetep, excavated his tomb and built for the worship of his ghost a funerary temple, which he called Akh-aset, “Glorious-is-its-Situation,” a name fully justified by its surroundings.  This temple is an entirely new discovery, made by Prof.  Naville and Mr. Hall in 1903.  The results obtained up to date have been of very great importance, especially with regard to the history of Egyptian art and architecture, for our sources of information were few and we were previously not very well informed as to the condition of art in the time of the XIth Dynasty.