Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

Chap. I.] TWO TEMPLE-PALACES OF AMUNOPH III. 31

at least to his knowledge." The successor of Re-
meses II. did indeed repair this palace of Amu-
noph III. with sandstone from Silsilis, but he was
not, as Monsieur Champollion evidently supposes,
its founder; and since he considered it the building
erected by him, it is singular that the existence of
this palace (his Menephtheion) did not strike him
in penning his letter from Thebes; and that the
remains of sandstone were not observed by him, as
well as the " calcareous" blocks used in its con-
struction. But the name of Amunoph might then
have hinted his claim to the title of founder; and
the palace erected by Thmeiothph would still have
been a desideratum.* If indeed the successor of
Remeses II. is mentioned at Silsilis as its founder,
we are still ignorant of its situation; but may not
the stones taken thence have been for the additions
he made to the original building?

About seven hundred feet to the south of these
ruins, is the Kom el Hettan, or the mound of sand-
stone, which marks the site of another palace and
templef of Amunoph III.; and, to judge from the
little that remains, it must have held a conspicuous
rank among the finest monuments of Thebes. All

* I know not M. Champollion's reasons for making Thmeiothph
and Menephtha from one and the same name. As I have not yet
found his name transposed, I read Pthahmen, and not Meneph-
tha. I mention this that the reader may not be confused by these
diverse appellations of the son of Remeses II.

t The temples of Thebes contained apartments for the kings as
well as the priests, and may therefore be considered palaces also.