UVRE]

They devoted all their efforts to beautifying the principal towns of
Egypt, and caused important works to be carried on in most of them--at
Karnak, in the great temple of Amon, at Luxor, at Bubastis, at Tanis,
at Tell-Mokhdam, and in the sanctuary of Abydos. At the latter
place, Khasoshushri Nofirhotpu restored to Khontamentit considerable
possessions which the god had lost; Nozirri sent thither one of his
officers to restore the edifice built by Usirtasen I.; Sovkumsauf
II. dedicated his own statue in this temple, and private individuals,
following the example set them by their sovereigns, vied with each other
in their gifts of votive stehe. The pyramids of this period were of
moderate size, and those princes who abandoned the custom of building
them were content like Autuabri I. Horu with a modest tomb, close to the
gigantic pyramids of their ancestors. In style the statues of this epoch
show a certain inferiority when compared with the beautiful work of the
XIIth dynasty: the proportions of the human figure are not so good, the
modelling of the limbs is not so vigorous, the rendering of the features
lacks individuality; the sculptors exhibit a tendency, which had been
growing since the time of the Usirtasens, to represent all their sitters
with the same smiling, commonplace type of countenance. There are,
however, among the statues of kings and private individuals which have
come down to us, a few examples of really fine treatment. The colossal
statue of Sovkhotpu IV., which is now in the Louvre side by side with an
ordinary-sized figure of the same Pharaoh, must have had a good effect
when placed at the entrance to the temple at Tanis: his chest is thrown
well forward, his head is erect, and we feel impressed by that noble
dignity which the Memphite sculptors knew how to give to the bearing
and features of the diorite Khephren enthroned at Gizeh. The sitting
Mirmashau of Tanis lacks neither energy nor majesty, and the Sovkumsauf
of Abydos, in spite of the roughness of its execution, decidedly holds
its own among the other Pharaohs.

[Illustration: 414.jpg STATUE OF HARSUF IN THE VIENNA MUSEUM]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Ernest de Bergmann.
From Dahshur, now at Gizeh; it has been published in
Morgan's Dahshur.

The statuettes found in the tombs, and the smaller objects discovered in
the ruins, are neither less carefully nor less successfully treated. The
little scribe at Gizeh,