style of the kiosk at Philae and the small hypothral temple
on the roof of Denderah." I am of opinion that the architect
intended to make a hypostyle hall, but that when the columns
were erected, he perceived that the great width of the aisle
they formed would render the strength of the roof very
doubtful, and so renounced the execution of his first
design.

[Illustration: 142.jpg THE COLUMN OF TAHARQA, AT KARNAK]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato.

The columns of the central aisle were disposed in two lines of six
pillars each, but only one of these now remains standing in its original
place; its height, which is the same as that of Seti's columns, is
nearly sixty-nine feet. The columns of the side aisles, like those which
should have flanked the immense colonnade at Luxor, were never even
begun, and the hall of Taharqa, like that of Seti I., remains unfinished
to this day. He bestowed his favour on Nubia and Ethiopia, as well as
on Egypt proper; even Napata owed to his munificence the most beautiful
portions of its temples. The temple of Amon, and subsequently that of
Mut, were enlarged by him; and he decorated their ancient halls with
bas-reliefs, representing himself, accompanied by his mother and his
wife, in attitudes of adoration before the deity. The style of the
carving is very good, and the hieroglyphics would not disgrace the walls
of the Theban temples. The Ethiopian sculptors and painters scrupulously
followed the traditions of the mother-country, and only a few
insignificant details of ethnic type or costume enable us to detect a
slight difference between their works and those of pure Egyptian art. At
the other extremity of Napata, on the western side of the Holy Mountain,
Taharqa excavated in the cliff a rock-hewn shrine, which he dedicated to
Hathor and Bisu (Bes), the patron of jollity and happiness, and the god
of music and of war.

[Illustration: 143.jpg THE HEMISPEOS OP HATHOR AND BISU, AT
GEBEL-BARKAL]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a lithograph in Caillaud.

Bisu, who was at first relegated to the lowest rank among the crowd of
genii adored by the people, had gradually risen to the highest place
in the hierarchy of the gods, and his images predominated in chapels
destined to represent the cradle of the infant gods, and the sacred
spots where goddesses gave birth to their divine offspring.

[Illustration: 144.jpg ENTRANCE TO THE HEMISP