The majority of the tombs--those which were distributed over the plain
or on the nearest spurs of the hill--were constructed on the lines of
those brick-built pyramids erected on mastabas which were very common
during the early Theban dynasties. The relative proportions of the parts
alone were modified: the mastaba, which had gradually been reduced to
an insignificant base, had now recovered its original height, while the
pyramid had correspondingly decreased, and was much reduced in size. The
chapel was constructed within the building, and the mummy-pit was sunk
to a varying depth below. The tombs ranged along the mountain-side were,
on the other hand, rock-cut, and similar to those at el-Bersheh and
Beni-Hasan.

[Illustration: 018.jpg PAINTING IN THE FIFTH TOMB OF THE KINGS TO THE
RIGHT]

The heads of wealthy families or the nobility naturally did not leave to
the last moment the construction of a sepulchre worthy of their rank and
fortune. They prided themselves on having "finished their house which is
in the funeral valley when the morning for the hiding away of their body
should come." Access to these tombs was by too steep and difficult a
path to allow of oxen being employed for the transport of the mummy: the
friends or slaves of the deceased were, therefore, obliged to raise the
sarcophagus on their shoulders and bear it as best they could to the
door of the tomb.

[Illustration: 019.jpg THE FAREWELL TO THE MUMMY, AND THE DOUBLE
RECEIVED BY THE GODDESS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the paintings in the Theban