g as son of Ammon; and on the western side of Thebes
the funerary temple of Amenophis was an immense pile, of which the two
colossi of the Theban plain still stand before the front of the site,
where yet lies a vast tablet of sandstone 30 ft. high. The other
principal buildings are the temples of Sedenga and of Solib in Nubia.
Akhenaton has been so consistently eclipsed by the later kings who
destroyed his work, that the painted pavement and the rock tablets of
Tell el Amarna are the only monuments of his still in position, beside a
few small inscriptions. Harmahib (Horemheb) resumed the work at Karnak,
erecting two great pylons and a long avenue of sphinxes. The rock temple
at Silsila and a shrine at Jebel Adda are also his.

In the XIXth Dynasty the great age of building continued, and the
remains are less destroyed than the earlier temples, because there were
subsequently fewer unscrupulous rulers to quarry them away. Seti I.
greatly extended the national temple of Karnak by his immense hall of
columns added in front of the pylon of Amenophis III. His funerary
temple at Kurna is also in a fairly complete condition. The temple of
Abydos is celebrated owing to its completeness, and the perfect
condition of its sculptures, which render it one of the most interesting
buildings as an artistic monument; and the variety of religious subjects
adds to its importance. The very long reign and vanity of Rameses II.
have combined to leave his name at over sixty sites, more widely spread
than that of any other king. Yet very few great monuments were
originated by him; even the Ramesseum, his funerary temple, was begun by
his father. Additions, appropriations of earlier works and scattered
inscriptions are what mark this reign. The principal remaining buildings
are part of a court at Memphis, the second temple at Abydos, and the six
Nubian temples of Bet el-Wali, Jerf Husein, Wadi es-Sebua, Derr, and the
grandest of all--the rock-cut temple of Abu Simbel, with its
neighbouring temple of Hathor. Mineptah has left few original works; the
Osireum at Abydos is the only one of which much remains, his funerary
temple having been destroyed as completely as he destroyed that of
Amenophis III. The celebrated Israel stele from this temple is his
principal inscription. The rock shrines at Silsila are of small
importance. There is no noticeable monument of the dozen troubled years
of the end of the dynasty.

The XXth Dynasty opened with the g