Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

64 THE WELL AT ABYDOS ch. iv.

When he arrived, the great personages bowed down before him
at the outer door of the royal palace.

The panegyric, which occupies twenty-two lines,,
finishes with a remark relating to certain buildings.
Those referred to are the temple of Osiris and the
construction of a well at Abydos, both entrusted to>
him by the special order of the king. He says on this
subject:—

I it was who carried out the work for the building of the
temple . . . and made the well according to the order of the Majesty
of the royal lord.

The well is probably the same about which the
Greek geographer Strabo relates that in the Mem-
nonium of Abydos there was a well, to the bottom of
which was an arched passage constructed of single
stones, admirable for size and workmanship. An over-
seer of the temple of Abydos, by name Ameni-seneb,
who lived in the days of the sovereign just mentioned,
says:—

This prince gave me the order, saying thus: ' Thou art com-
missioned to cleanse the temple of Abydos. Workmen shall be given
thee for this purpose, and temple-servants of the district of the holy
workplace.' And I cleansed it from bottom to top, and its walls
which surrounded the interior. And the writings were filled up
with colours, emblems, and other ornamental work ; and thus what
King Usertsen I. had built was restored.

Long after, under Seti I., the temple, which had
suffered much, was re-built.

Among the number of other servants of the king
must be named Meri, the son of Menkhtu. From an
inscription in the Louvre, dated the ninth year of the
reign of Usertsen I., it seems clear that Meri received
orders to construct for his royal master ' the sublime
place of long duration,' or, in other words, the sepulchre
on a grand scale, with columns, gates, and a great front