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. III.] TOMBS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 129

are invariably to be met with, while those of the infe-
rior classes are to be looked for, either in the plain
beneath, or in the less solid parts of the adjacent
hills.* The most remarkable, which date after this
epoch, are those in the Assaseef, and behind the
palace of Remeses II., executed during the period
of the twenty-sixth dynasty, in the seventh century
before our era. Their plans, very different from
those of the other Theban tombs, are not less
remarkable for their general resemblance to each
other, than for their extent, consistently according
with the profusion and detail of their ornamental
sculpture.

The smallest, which are those behind the palace
of Remeses, commence with an outer court, deco-
rated by a peristyle of pillars, f and to this succeeds
an arched entrance to the tomb itself, which con-
sists of a long hall, supported by a double row of
four pillars, and another of smaller dimensions
beyond it, with four pillars in the centre. The
largest of them, and indeed of all the sepulchres of
Thebes, are those in the Assaseef, one of which J far
exceeds in extent any one of the tombs of the kings.
Its outer court, or area, is one hundred and three

* For the position of these tomhs I must refer the reader to the
Survey. The right of making and selling them may have be-
longed to a certain college of the priesthood, who exclusively
farmed this immense revenue; and the reason of the priests hav-
ing the best catacombs will have been their greater pecuniary
means, and the consequent privilege of making their choice.

f " Pillars;' i. e. square. J Marked R in the Survey.

K.