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

254

TWO CELEBRATED ARTISTS

CH. XI.

the dead, Osiris and Hathor, besides Amen and his
company. The death of Seti took place while the
temple was in course of building. We are told by the
inscription which Eamses II. put up :—

King Ramses II. executed this work, as his monument to his
father Amen-Ra, the king of the gods, the lord of heaven, the ruler
of Thebes ; and he finished the house.of his father King Meneptah
(Seti). For he died, and entered the realm' of heaven, and he
united himself with the sun-god in heaven, when this his house was
being built. The gates showed a vacant space, and all the walls of
stone and brick were yet to be raised ; all the work in it of writing
or painting was unfinished.

Seti dedicated a special document to the memory of
his royal ancestors in the temple of Abydos, namely, the
celebrated Tablet of the Kings, called that of Abydos,
containing the names of seventy-six kings, up to the
founder of the empire, Mena.

In Memphis and Heliopolis, Seti I. raised temples,
or added new parts to temples already existing, which
are likewise designated as ' splendid buildings.' Al-
though their last remains have disappeared, without
leaving a trace, their former existence is most surely
proved by the testimony of inscriptions. In the same
way we know that at the foot of the mountain behind
the old town of El-Kab he erected a temple to the
goddess Nekheb and another in the form of a rock-
grotto to Hathor in her lioness form.

Among the sculptors of the time the name of a
certain Hi has been preserved; and among the painters
Amen-uah-su is expressly celebrated as the ' first
painter.' Both worked by the king's order in the
decoration of the tomb which was destined for Pauer,
the reigning governor of Thebes, the son of the chief
priest of Amen, Neb-neteru, surnamed Thera, and of the
oldest among the sacred priestesses of the god Mer-
Amen-Ba, and also for her brother Tathao.