s,
Aramaeans, Cypriots, Carians, and Greeks from Ionia and the isles--came
to carve their names.*

* The position occupied by the graffiti on certain portions
of the walls show that in these places in the temple of Seti
there was already a layer of sand varying from one to three
metres in depth.

Amasis confided the work of general restoration to one of the principal
personages of his court, Pefzaaunit, Prince of Sais, who devoted his
attention chiefly to two buildings--the great sanctuary of Osiris, which
was put into good condition throughout, and the very ancient necropolis
of Omm-el-Graab, where lay hidden the _alquhah_, one of the sepulchres
of the god; he restored the naos, the table of offerings, the barques,
and the temple furniture, and provided for the sacred patrimony by an
endowment of fields, vineyards, palm groves, and revenues, so as to
ensure to the sanctuary offerings in perpetuity. It was a complete
architectural resurrection. The nomes of Middle Egypt, which had
suffered considerably during the Ethiopian and Assyrian wars, had
some chance of prosperity now that their lords were relieved from the
necessity of constantly fighting for some fresh pretender. Horu, son
of Psam-metichus, Prince of the Oleander nome, rebuilt the ancient
sanctuary of Harshafaitu at Heracleopolis, and endowed it with a
munificence which rivalled that of Pefzaaunifc at Abydos. The king
himself devoted his resources chiefly to works at Memphis and in the
Delta. He founded a temple of Isis at Memphis, which Herodotus
described as extending over an immense area and being well worth seeing;
unfortunately nothing now remains of it, nor of the recumbent colossus,
sixty feet in length, which the king placed before the court of Phtah,
nor of the two gigantic statues which he raised in front of the temple,
one on each side of the door.

[Illustration: 112.jpg THE TWO GODDESSES OF LAW; ANI ADORING OSIRIS] THE
TRIAL OF THE CONSCIENCE; TOTH AND THE FEATHER OF THE LAW.

Besides these architectural works, Amasis invested the funerary
ceremonies of the Apis-bulls with a magnificence rarely seen before
his time, and the official stelae which he carved to the memory of
the animals who died in his reign exhibit a perfection of style quite
unusual. His labours at Memphis, however, were eclipsed by the admirable
work which he accomplished at Sais. The propylae which he added to the
temple of Nit "surpassed most other buildi