and the exterior wall was
now too wide for the pylon at the entrance. Amenothes III. remedied this
defect by erecting in front a fourth pylon, which was loftier, larger,
and in all respects more worthy to stand before the enlarged temple.
Its walls were partially covered with battle-scenes, which informed all
beholders of the glory of the conqueror.*

* Portions of the military bas-reliefs which covered the
exterior face of the pylon are still to be seen through the
gaps in the wall at the end of the great Hall of Pillars
built by Seti I. and Ramses II.

Progress had been no less marked on the left bank of the river. As long
as Thebes had been merely a small provincial town, its cemeteries had
covered but a moderate area, including the sandy plain and low mounds
opposite Karnak and the valley of Deir el-Bahari beyond; but now that
the city had more than doubled its extent, the space required for the
dead was proportionately greater. The tombs of private persons began to
spread towards the south, and soon reached the slopes of the Assassif,
the hill of Sheikh-Abd-el-Qurnah and the district of Qurnet-Murrai--in
fact, all that part which the people of the country called the "Brow"
of Thebes. On the borders of the cultivated land a row of chapels and
mastabas with pyramidal roofs sheltered the remains of the princes and
princesses of the royal family. The Pharaohs themselves were buried
either separately under their respective brick pyramids or in groups in
a temple, as was the case with the first three Thutmosis and Hatshopsitu
at Deir el-Bahari. Amenothes II. and Thutmosis IV. could doubtless have
found room in this crowded necropolis,* although the space was becoming
limited, but the pride of the Pharaohs began to rebel against this
promiscuous burial side by side with their subjects. Amenothes III.
sought for a site, therefore, where he would have ample room to display
his magnificence, far from the vulgar crowd, and found what he desired
at the farther end of the valley which opens out behind the village of
Qurnah. Here, an hour's journey from the bank of the Nile, he cut for
himself a magnificent rock-tomb with galleries, halls, and deep pits,
the walls being decorated with representations of the Voyage of the Sun
through the regions which he traverses during the twelve hours of his
nocturnal course.

* The generally received opinion is that these sovereigns of
the XVIIIth dynasty wer