emple did Ramses
XIII drive forth from the palace in a golden chariot drawn by a pair of
splendid horses. The people standing along the avenue, who during the
time of the procession had held themselves quietly, burst out at sight
of the beloved sovereign into a shout so immense that the thunders and
sounds from the summits of all the temples were lost in it.

There was a moment when that mighty throng, borne away by excitement,
would have rushed to the middle of the avenue and surrounded their
sovereign. But Ramses, with one motion of his hand, restrained the
living deluge and prevented the sacrilege.

In the course of some minutes the pharaoh passed over the road and
halted before the immense pylons of the noblest temple in Egypt.

As Luxor was the quarter of palaces in the south, so Karnak was the
quarter of divinities on the northern side of the city. The temple of
Amon-Ra formed the main centre of Karnak.

This building alone occupied two hectares of space, and the gardens and
ponds around it about twenty. Before the temple stood two pylons forty
meters high. The forecourt, surrounded by a corridor resting on
columns, occupied nearly one hectare, the hall of columns in which were
assembled the privileged classes was half a hectare in extent. This was
not the edifice yet, but the approach to it.

That hall, or hypostyle, was more than a hundred and fifty yards long
and seventy-five yards in width, its ceiling rested on one hundred and
thirty-four columns. Among these the twelve central ones were fifteen
yards in circumference and from twenty to twenty-four meters high.

The statues disposed in the temple near the pylons, and at the sacred
lakes accorded in size with all other parts of Karnak.

In the immense gate the worthy Herhor, the high priest of that temple,
was waiting for Ramses. Surrounded by a whole staff of priests Herhor
greeted the pharaoh almost haughtily, and while burning a censer before
the sovereign he did not look at him. Then he conducted Ramses to the
hypostyle and gave the order to admit deputations within the wall of
the temple.

In the midst of the hypostyle stood the boat with the mummy of the
departed sovereign, and on both sides of it, two thrones of equal
height stood opposed to each other. On one of these Ramses took his
place surrounded by nomarchs and generals, on the other sat Herhor
surrounded by the priesthood. Then the high priest Mefres gave Herhor
the miter of Amenhotep an