may have worn in actual life, but which they would assuredly never be
depicted as wearing by the artists of their day. To the end of Egyptian
history, the kings, even the Roman emperors, were represented on the
monuments clothed in the official costume of their ancestors of the IVth
and Vth Dynasties, in the same manner as we see Khufu wearing his robe
in the little figure from Abydos, and Ne-user-Rà on the great
relief from Abusîr. There are one or two exceptions, such as the
representations of the original genius Akhunaten at Tell el-Amarna and
the beautiful statue of Ramses II at Turin, in which we see these kings
wearing the real costume of their time, but such exceptions are very
rare.

The art of Abusîr is therefore of great interest, since it marks the end
of the development of the priestly art. Secular art might develop as it
liked, though the crystallizing influence of the ecclesiastical canon is
always evident here also. But henceforward it was an impiety, which only
an Akhunaten could commit, to depict a king or a god on the walls of a
temple otherwise (except so far as, the portrait was concerned) than as
he had been depicted in the time of the Vth Dynasty.

Other buildings have been excavated by the Germans at Abusîr, notably
the usual town of mastaba-tombs belonging to the chief dignitaries of
the reign, which is always found at the foot of a royal pyramid of this
period. Another building of the highest interest, belonging to the same
age, was also excavated, and its true character was determined. This is
a building at a place called er-Rîgha or Abû Ghuraib, "Father of Crows,"
between Abusîr and Gîza. It was formerly supposed to be a pyramid, but
the German excavations have shown that it is really a temple of the
Sun-god Râ of Heliopolis, specially venerated by the kings of the Vth
Dynasty, who were of Heliopolitan origin. The great pyramid-builders of