CHAPTER II.

The temple where, in the fore-court, Paaker was waiting, and where the
priest had disappeared to call the leech, was called the "House of Seti"
--[It is still standing and known as the temple of Qurnah.]--and was one
of the largest in the City of the Dead. Only that magnificent building
of the time of the deposed royal race of the reigning king's grandfather
--that temple which had been founded by Thotmes III., and whose gate-way
Amenophis III. had adorned with immense colossal statues--[That which
stands to the north is the famous musical statue, or Pillar of Memmon]--
exceeded it in the extent of its plan; in every other respect it held the
pre-eminence among the sanctuaries of the Necropolis. Rameses I. had
founded it shortly after he succeeded in seizing the Egyptian throne; and
his yet greater son Seti carried on the erection, in which the service of
the dead for the Manes of the members of the new royal family was
conducted, and the high festivals held in honor of the Gods of the under-
world. Great sums had been expended for its establishment, for the
maintenance of the priesthood of its sanctuary, and the support of the
institutions connected with it. These were intended to be equal to the
great original foundations of priestly learning at Heliopolis and
Memphis; they were regulated on the same pattern, and with the object of
raising the new royal residence of Upper Egypt, namely Thebes, above the
capitals of Lower Egypt in regard to philosophical distinction.

One of the most important of these foundations was a very celebrated
school of learning.