the famous Hall of Columns, the greatest in the world, had a length
of 334 feet, a width of 174 feet,[12] and was supported by 134
columns; twelve of these are over 65 feet high. Thebes was for 1,500
years the capital and sacred city, the residence of kings and the
dwelling-place of the priests.

=The Pharaoh.=--The king of Egypt, called Pharaoh, was esteemed as the
son of the Sun-god and his incarnation on earth; divinity was ascribed
to him also. We may see in a picture King Rameses II standing in
adoration before the divine Rameses who is sitting between two gods.
The king as man adores himself as god. Being god, the Pharaoh has
absolute power over men; as master, he gives his orders to his great
nobles at court, to his warriors, to all his subjects. But the
priests, though adoring him, surround and watch him; their head, the
high priest of the god Ammon, at last becomes more powerful than the
king; he often governs under the name of the king and in his stead.

=The Subjects of Pharaoh.=--The king, the priests, the warriors, the
nobles, are proprietors of all Egypt; all the other people are simply
their peasants who cultivate the land for them. Scribes in the service
of the king watch them and collect the farm-dues, often with blows of
the staff. One of these functionaries writes as follows to a friend,
"Have you ever pictured to yourself the existence of the peasant who
tills the soil. The tax-collector is on the platform busily seizing
the tithe of the harvest. He has his men with him armed with staves,
his negroes provided with strips of palm. All cry, 'Come, give us
grain,' If the peasant hasn't it, they throw him full length on the
earth, bind him, draw him to the canal, and hurl him in head
foremost."