EOS OF BISU (BES), AT
GEBEL-BARKAL]

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

The portico erected in front of the pylon had a central avenue of
pillars, against which stood monstrous and grinning statues of Bisu,
his hands on his hips, and his head crowned with a large bunch of
lotus-flowers and plumes. Two rows of columns with Hathor-headed
capitals flanked the central aisle, which led to a hall supported by
massive columns, also with Hathor capitals, and beyond it again lay
the actual shrine similarly excavated in the rocky hill; two statues of
Bisu, standing erect against their supporting columns, kept guard over
the entrance, and their fantastic forms, dimly discernible in the gloom,
must have appeared in ancient times to have prohibited the vulgar throng
from approaching the innermost sanctuary. Half of the roof has fallen
in since the building was deserted, and a broad beam of light falling
through the aperture thus made reveals the hideous grotesqueness of the
statues to all comers. The portraits of Taharqa represent him with
a strong, square-shaped head, with full cheeks, vigorous mouth, and
determined chin, such as belong to a man well suited to deal with that
troubled epoch, and the knowledge we as yet possess of his conflict with
Assyria fully confirms the character exhibited by his portrait statues.

[Illustration: 145.jpg TAHARQA]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a cast of the fragment
preserved at Gizeh

We may surmise that, when once absolute master of Egypt, he must have
cast his eyes beyond the isthmus, and considered how he might turn to
his own advantage the secret grudge borne by the Syrians against
their suzerain at Nineveh, but up to the present time we possess no
indications as to the policy he pursued in Palestine. We may safely
assume, however, that it gave umbrage to the Assyrians, and that
Esarhaddon resolved to put an end once for all to the uneasiness it
caused him. More than half a century had elapsed since the day when the
kings of Syria, alarmed at the earliest victories of Tiglath-pileser
III., had conceived the idea of pitting their former conquerors against
those of the day, and had solicited help from the Pharaohs against
Assyria.

None of the sovereigns to whom they turned had refused to listen to
their appeals, or failed to promise subsidies and reinforcements; but
these engagements, however definite, had for the most part been left
unfulfilled, an