Benson, Margaret; Gourlay, Janet: The temple of Mut in Asher: an account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians (London, 1899)

PREFACE.

ix

The photographs for the most part have been
done by friends whose names are given, and the
vulture (Mut) on the cover has been traced from
Mr. Howard Carter's drawing of a scene in the
shrine of Anubis at Deir el Bahari.

Mr. Newberry's translations of the inscriptions—
the most essential part of the publication—speak for
themselves, but we desire here to thank him most
warmly for the generosity which has placed his
scholarship at our service, for advice, suggestions,
and correction, and for the unwearied kindness
which he has shown us throughout.

But even thanks would be ungrateful if we did
not first emphatically say that no responsibility for
mistakes and omissions in work, for error in fact, or
unfounded theory, can be laid at the door of those
who have helped us. All such failures must be set
down to ourselves, to our inexperience, and to certain
special difficulties of circumstance. Work was more
than once interrupted by illness, which made it im-
possible, above all in the plan of the temple, to
register details as fully as we could have wished.
Thus the positions of the pillars in the outer court are
taken from James Burton's plan, as our own measure-
ments were not complete. We should have wished
also if we had had more time to show the places of
the statues wherever they seemed to be in situ.