l,
or perhaps an arm of the Nile. Low stone walls divide the garden into
symmetrical compartments, like those which are seen to this day in the
great gardens of Ekhmim or Girgeh.

[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Plan of a Theban house with garden, from
Eighteenth Dynasty tomb-painting.]

In the centre is a large trellis supported on four rows of slender pillars.
Four small ponds, two to the right and two to the left, are stocked with
ducks and geese. Two nurseries, two summer-houses, and various avenues of
sycamores, date-palms, and dom-palms fill up the intermediate space; while
at the end, facing the entrance, stands a small three-storied house
surmounted by a painted cornice.

[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Perspective view of the Theban house, from
Eighteenth Dynasty tomb-painting.]

[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Part of the palace of Ai, from tomb-painting,
Eighteenth Dynasty, El Amarna.]

The second plan is copied from one of the rock-cut tombs of Tell el Amarna
(figs. 16, 17). Here we see a house situate at the end of the gardens of
the great lord Ai, son-in-law of the Pharaoh Khuenaten, and himself
afterwards king of Egypt. An oblong stone tank with sloping sides, and two
descending flights of steps, faces the entrance. The building is
rectangular, the width being somewhat greater than the depth. A large
doorway opens in the middle of the front, and gives access to a court
planted with trees and flanked by store-houses fully stocked with
provisions. Two small courts, placed symmetrically in the two farthest
corners, contain the staircases which lead up to the roof terrace. This
first building, however, is but the frame which surrounds the owner's
dwelling. The two frontages are each adorned with a pillared portico and a
pylon. Passing the outer door, we enter a sort of long central passage,
divided by two walls pierced with doorways, so as to form three successive
courts. The inside court is bordered by chambers; the two others open to
right and left upon two smaller courts, whence flights of steps lead up to
the terraced roof. This central building is called the _Akhonuti_, or
private dwelling of kings or nobles, to which only the family and intimate
friends had access. The number of storeys and the arrangement of the facade
varied according to the taste of the owner. The frontage was generally a
straight wall. Sometimes it was divided into three parts, with the middle
division projecting, in which case the two wings were o