empire, and the mutilated pictures still visible on the façade show the
order and detail of the ceremony observed on this occasion. The king,
with the crown upon his head, stood before the centre gate, accompanied
by the queen and his minister Amenôthes, the son of Hâpi, who was better
acquainted than any other man of his time with the mysteries of the
ritual.*

* On Amenôthes, the son of Hâpi, see p. 56 of the present
volume; it will be seen in the following chapter, in
connection with the Egyptian accounts of the Exodus, what
tradition made of him.

The king then struck the door twelve times with his mace of white stone,
and when the approach to the first hall was opened, he repeated the
operation at the threshold of the sanctuary previous to entering and
placing his statue there. He deposited it on the painted and gilded
wooden platform on which the gods were exhibited on feast-days,
and enthroned beside it the other images which were thenceforth to
constitute the local Ennead, after which he kindled the sacred fire
before them. The queen, with the priests and nobles, all bearing
torches, then passed through the halls, stopping from time to time
to perform acts of purification, or to recite formulas to dispel evil
spirits and pernicious influences; finally, a triumphal procession was
formed, and the whole _cortege_ returned to the palace, where a banquet
brought the day's festivities to a close.* It was Amenôthes III.
himself, or rather one of his statues animated by his double, who
occupied the chief place in the new building. Indeed, wherever we come
across a temple in Nubia dedicated to a king, we find the homage of the
inhabitants always offered to the image of the founder, which spoke to
them in oracles. All the southern part of the country beyond the