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)

256

THE TEMPLE OF MUT.

[part iv.

flowers, he ascended the staircase to the great
window to see Ra in the Hat Benben. The king
himself stood alone ; he put the key into the bolt,
he opened the double doors, and saw his father Ra
in the Hat Benben. He sanctified the Madet* boat
of Ra, and the Sektet * boat of Turn. The doors
were shut, clay was applied, and sealed with the
king's own seal, and the priests were charged: ' I, I
have examined the seal ; let none other enter therein
of all the kings who shall exist.' " After the capture
of Memphis, Piankhy advanced into the Delta, where
he met little opposition. The erpa-prlnce, Pediast,
prostrated himself, promising "gold unto the limit
of thy desire, malachite heaped before thy face,
horses many of the best of the stable, the leaders of
the stall." Tef-nekht of Sal's himself, the head and
front of the offending, fled to the marshes, and after
his troops had been defeated sent abject messages
of submission. " I am afraid of thy mighty spirit
on account of that saying, ' The flame is my enemy.'
Do not cut down the grove to its roots. A year
hath cleansed my Ka and purified thy servant from
his wickedness." He offered all his treasure to the
conqueror, and " the best of the horses accoutred
with everything."

The four kings, "two rulers of the north and two
rulers of the south," who claimed the right to wear
the uraeus, acknowledged his supremacy,"[and Pi-

* Here the morning and evening bark of the sun. Elsewhere
the Sektet is the morning boat.