the reign of Ramses IX of the XXth Dynasty. Then, as we
learn from the report of the inspectors sent to examine the royal tombs,
which is preserved in the Abbott Papyrus, they found the _pyramid-tomb_
of King Xeb-hapet-Ra which is in Tjesret (the ancient Egyptian name for
Der el-Bahari); it was intact. We know, therefore, that it was intact
about 1000 B.C. The description of it as a pyramid-tomb is interesting,
for in the inscription of Tetu, the priest of Akh-aset, who was buried
at Abydos, Akh-aset is said to have been a pyramid. That the newly
discovered temple was called Akh-aset we know from several inscriptions
found in it. And the most remarkable thing about this temple is that in
its centre there was a pyramid. This must be the pyramid-tomb which was
found intact by the inspectors, so that the tomb itself must be close
by. But it does not seem to have been beneath the pyramid, below which
is only solid rock. It is perhaps a gallery cut in the cliffs at the
back of the temple.

The pyramid was then a dummy, made of rubble within a revetment of heavy
flint nodules, which was faced with fine limestone. It was erected on a
pyloni-form base with heavy cornice of the usual Egyptian pattern. This
central pyramid was surrounded by a roofed hall or ambulatory of small
octagonal pillars, the outside wall of which was decorated with coloured
reliefs, depicting various scenes connected with the _sed-heb_ or
jubilee-festival of the king, processions of the warriors and magnates
of the realm, scenes of husbandry, boat-building, and so forth, all of
which were considered appropriate to the chapel of a royal tomb at that
period. Outside this wall was an open colonnade of square pillars.
The whole of this was built upon an artificially squared rectangular
platform of natural rock, about fifteen feet high. To north and south of
this were open courts. The southern is bounded by the hill; the northern
is now bounded by the Great Temple of Hat-shepsu, but, before this was
built, there was evidently a very large open court here. The face of the
rock platform is masked by a wall of large rectangular blocks of fine
white limestone, some of which measure six feet by three feet six
inches. They are beautifully squared and laid in bonded courses of
alternate sizes, and the walls generally may be said to be among the
finest yet found in Egypt. We have already remarked that the architects
of the Middle Kingdom appear to have been specially f