there is still to be seen distinctly
the picture of a rectangular piece of water containing fish and
lotus-flowers in full bloom; the edge is adorned with water-plants and
flowering shrubs, among which birds fly and calves graze and gambol; on
the right and left were depicted rows of stands laden with fruit, while
at each end of the room were seen the grinning faces of a gang of negro
and Syrian prisoners, separated from each other by gigantic arches. The
tone of colouring is bright and cheerful, and the animals are treated
with great freedom and facility. The Pharaoh, had collected about him
several of the best artists then to be found at Thebes, placing
them under the direction of Bauki, the chief of the corporation
of sculptors,* and probably others subsequently joined these from
provincial studios.

* Bauki belonged to a family of artists, and his father Mani
had filled before him the post of chief of the sculptors.
The part played by these personages was first defined by
Brugsch, with perhaps some exaggeration of their artistic
merit and originality of talent.

Work for them was not lacking, for houses had to be built for all the
courtiers and government officials who had been obliged to follow the
king, and in a few years a large town had sprung up, which was called
Khuitatonu, or the "Horizon of the Disk." It was built on a regular
plan, with straight streets and open spaces, and divided into two
separate quarters, interspersed with orchards and shady trellises.
Workmen soon began to flock to the new city--metal-founders,
glass-founders, weavers; in fine, all who followed any trade
indispensable to the luxury of a capital. The king appropriated a
territory for it from the ancient nome of the Hare, thus compelling the
god Thot to contribute to the fortune of Atonu; he fixed its limits by
means of stelae placed in the mountains, from Gebel-Tunah to Deshluit on
the west, and from Sheikh-Said to El-Hauata on the eastern bank;* it was
a new nome improvised for the divine _parvenu_.

* We know at present of fourteen of these stelae. A certain
number must still remain to be discovered on both banks of
the Nile.

[Illustration: 082.jpg THE DECORATED PAVEMENT OF THE PALACE]

Atonu was one of the forms of the Sun, and perhaps the most material one
of all those devised by the Egyptians. He was defined as "the good god
who rejoices in truth, the lord of the solar course, the lord