crio-sphinxes led to the gates of old Thebes. At present most of these
creatures are buried under the ruins of the modern town, or covered by
the earth which overlies the ancient road; but a few are still visible,
broken and shapeless from barbarous usage, and hardly retaining any
traces of the inscriptions in which Amenôthes claimed them boastingly as
his work.

[Illustration: 069.jpg THE PYLONS OF THÛTMOSIS III. AND HARMHABÎ AT
KAKNAK]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato.

Triumphal processions passing along this route from Luxor to Karnak
would at length reach the great court before the temple of Amon, or, by
turning a little to the right after passing the temple of Maût, would
arrive in front of the southern façade, near the two gilded obelisks
whose splendour once rejoiced the heart of the famous Hâtshopsîtû.
Thûtmosis III. was also determined on his part to spare no expense to
make the temple of his god of proportions suitable to the patron of
so vast an empire. Not only did he complete those portions which his
predecessors had merely sketched out, but on the south side towards
Ashîrû he also built a long row of pylons, now half ruined, on which he
engraved, according to custom, the list of nations and cities which he
had subdued in Asia and Africa. To the east of the temple he rebuilt
some ancient structures, the largest of which served as a halting-place
for processions, and he enclosed the whole with a stone rampart. The
outline of the sacred lake, on which the mystic boats were launched on
the nights of festivals, was also made more symmetrical, and its margin
edged with masonry.