es of Nubia,
Even to the land of Shut, which thou holdest in thy grasp;
I made them behold thy Holiness like thy pair of brothers,
Whose hands I have united to give thee power.[19]

It is impossible to conclude this sketch of Thothmes III. without some
notice of his buildings. He was the greatest of Egyptian conquerors, but
he was also one of the greatest of Egyptian builders and patrons of art.
The grand temple of Ammon at Thebes was the especial object of his
fostering care; and he began his career of builder and restorer by
repairs and restorations, which much improved and beautified that
edifice. Before the southern propylaea he re-erected, in the first year
of his independent reign, colossal statues of his father, Thothmes I.,
and his grandfather, Amenhotep, which had been thrown down in the
troublous time succeeding Thothmes the First's death. He then proceeded
to rebuild the central sanctuary, the work of Usurtasen I., which had
probably begun to decay, and, recognizing its importance as the very
_penetrale_ of the temple, he resolved to reconstruct it in granite,
instead of common stone, that he might render it, practically,
imperishable. With a reverence and a self-restraint that it might be
wished restorers possessed more commonly, he preserved all the lines and
dimensions of the ancient building, merely reproducing in a better
material the work of his great predecessor. Having accomplished this
pious task, he gave a vent to his constructive ambition by a grand
addition to the temple on its eastern side. Behind the cell, at the
distance of about a hundred and fifty feet, he erected a magnificent
hall, or pillared chamber, of dimensions previously unknown in Egypt, or
elsewhere in the world at the time--an oblong square, one hundred and
forty-three feet long by fifty-three feet wide, or nearly half as large
again as the nave of Canterbury Cathedral. The whole of the apartment
was roofed in with slabs of solid stone; it was divided in its longest
direction into five avenues or vistas by means of rows of pillars and
piers, the former being towards the centre, and attaining a height of
thirty feet, with bell capitals, and the latter towards the sides, with
a height of twenty feet. This arrangement enabled the building to be
lighted by means of a clerestory, in the manner shown by the
accompanying woodcut. In connection with this noble hall, on three sides
of it, northwards, eastwards, and southwards, T