This northern colonnade was never completed, but the existing part is of as exquisite proportions as anything that Greek art has ever produced.  At length we reach the upper platform, a nearly square courtyard, cutting on one side into the mountain slope, the opposite side being enclosed by a wall pierced by a single door, while to right and left ran two lines of buildings destined for purposes connected with the daily worship of the temple.  The sanctuary was cut out of the solid rock, but the walls were faced with white limestone; some of the chambers are vaulted, and all of them decorated with bas-reliefs of exquisite workmanship, perhaps the finest examples of this period.  Thutmosis I. scarcely did more than lay the foundations of this magnificent building, but his mummy was buried in it with great pomp, to remain there until a period of disturbance and general insecurity obliged those in charge of the necropolis to remove the body, together with those of his family, to some securer hiding-place.* The king was already advanced in age at the time of his death, being over fifty years old, to judge by the incisor teeth, which are worn and corroded by the impurities of which the Egyptian bread was full.

* Both E. de Rouge and Mariette were opposed to the view that the temple was founded by Thutmosis I., and Naville agrees with them.  Judging from the many new texts discovered by Naville, I am inclined to think that Thutmosis I. began the structure, but from plans, it would appear, which had not been so fully developed as they afterwards became.  Prom indications to be found here and there in the inscriptions of the Ramesside period, I am not, moreover, inclined to regard Deir el-Bahari as the funerary chapel of tombs which were situated in some unknown place elsewhere, but I believe that it included the burial-places of Thutmosis I., Thutmosis II., Queen Hatshopsitu, and of numerous representatives of their family; indeed, it is probable that Thutmosis III. and his children found here also their last resting-place.

[Illustration:  353.jpg HEAD OF THE MUMMY OF THUTMOSIS I.]

     Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken by Emil Brugsch-Bey.

The body, though small and emaciated, shows evidence of unusual muscular strength; the head is bald, the features are refined, and the mouth still bears an expression characteristic of shrewdness and cunning.*

* The coffin of Thutmosis I. was usurped by the priest-king Pinozmu I., son of Pionkhi, and the mummy was lost.  I fancy I have discovered it in mummy No. 5283, of which the head presents a striking resemblance to those of Thutmosis II. and III.

Thutmosis II. carried on the works begun by his father, but did not long survive him.* The mask on his coffin represents him with a smiling and amiable countenance, and with the fine pathetic eyes which show his descent from the Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty.