ese steps are either
destroyed or buried in sand; but recent excavations have brought to light a
well-preserved example leading up to a tomb at Asuan.[32]

[Illustration: Fig. 150.--Tombs in cliff opposite Asuan.]

[Illustration: Fig. 151.--Facade of tomb of Khnumhotep, at Beni Hasan,
Twelfth Dynasty.]

[Illustration: Fig. 152.--Facade of tomb, Asuan.]

The funeral procession, having slowly scaled the cliff-side, halted for a
moment at the entrance to the chapel. The plan was not necessarily uniform
throughout any one group of tombs. Several of the Beni Hasan tombs have
porticoes, the pillars, bases, and entablatures being all cut in the rock;
those of Ameni and Khnumhotep have porticoes supported on two polygonal
columns (fig. 151). At Asuan (fig. 152), the doorway forms a high and
narrow recess cut in the rock wall, but is divided, at about one-third of
its height, by a rectangular lintel, thus making a smaller doorway in the
doorway itself. At Siut, the tomb of Hapizefa was entered by a true porch
about twenty-four feet in height, with a "vaulted" roof elegantly
sculptured and painted. More frequently the side of the mountain was merely
cut away, and the stone dressed over a more or less extent of surface,
according to the intended dimensions of the tomb. This method ensured the
twofold advantage of clearing a little platform closed in on three sides in
front of the tomb, and also of forming an upright facade which could be
decorated or left plain, according to the taste of the proprietor. The
door, sunk in the middle of this facade, has sometimes no framework;
sometimes, however, it has two jambs and a lintel, all slightly projecting.
The inscriptions, when any occur, are very simple, consisting of one or two
horizontal lines above, and one or two vertical lines down each side, with
the addition perhaps of a sitting or standing figure. These inscriptions
contain a prayer, as well as the name, titles, and parentage of the
deceased. The chapel generally consists of a single chamber, either square
or oblong, with a flat or a slightly vaulted ceiling. Light is admitted
only through the doorway. Sometimes a few pillars, left standing in the
rock at the time of excavation, give this chamber the aspect of a little
hypostyle hall. Four such pillars decorate the chapels of Ameni and
Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan (fig. 153). Other chapels there contain six or
eight, and are very irregular in plan. One tomb, unfinished, was in th