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)

CHAP. X.]

BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.

171

limestone, like the temple of Deir el Bahari, and the
shrine of Mut was also of the merchandise of Punt.

The only limestone wall which remains is that of
the chamber (h). This, then, is probably part of
the actual building which Hatshepsut commanded,
Sen-mut designed, and Pu-am-ra saw built.

But although this chamber is all that is left, we
can, to a great extent, realise what appearance
the temple of Mut would present at this time.

We cannot say how far the plan of the temple
was ultimately altered by the later builders and
restorers. But later restoration was probably more
or less on the same lines as Sen-mut's design. The
Sekhet statues wrere certainly not standing, for all
these are dedicated by later kings ; but the lake
was already dug out, and the ground on which the
temple was built must have descended more sharply
to the water.

Looking at the temple of Mut from the other side
of the lake, then, we should have seen standing on
the promontory, some twenty to thirty feet above
the encompassing lake, the white limestone colon-
nades and courts. The shrine of ebonv and elec-
trum, black and golden, would stand where we lately
found the crypt, not seen except from inside the
holy place. In the courts or colonnades there
would be already some of the votive statues—Sen-
mut in red crystalline sandstone, with his ugly
complacent face, would have knelt holding his
Hathor altar—the statue placed there perhaps on