[95] “The remains were apparently those of a large hall paved with white alabaster slabs. The walls were covered with a variety of bricks and encaustic tiles; many of the bricks were of most beautiful workmanship, the hieroglyphs in some being inlaid in glass. The capitals of the columns were inlaid with brilliant colored mosaics, and a pattern in mosaics ran round the cornice. Some of the bricks are inlaid with the oval of Rameses III.” See “Murray’s Hand-book for Egypt,” route 7, p. 217.
Case D, in the second Egyptian room at the British Museum, contains several of these tiles and terra-cottas, some of which are painted with figures of Asiatic and negro captives, birds serpents, etc.; and are extremely beautiful both as regards design and execution. Murray is wrong, however, in attibuting the building to Rameses II. The cartouches are those of Rameses III. The discovery was made by some laborers in 1870.
Note to Second Edition.—This mound was excavated last year (1887) by M. Naville, acting as before for the Egypt Exploration Fund. See supplementary sheet to The Illustrated London News, 17th September, 1887, containing a complete account of the excavations at Tel-el-Yahoodeh, etc., with illustrations.
[96] This tablet is votive, and contains in fact a long Pharisaic prayer offered to Osiris by Rameses IV in the fourth year of his reign. The king enumerates his own virtues and deeds of piety, and implores the god to grant him length of days. See “Sur une Stèle inédite d’Abydos,” par P. Pierret. “Revue Archéologique, vol. xix, p. 273.
[97] M. Mariette, in his great work on Abydos, has argued that Rameses II was designated during the lifetime of his father by a cartouche signifying only Ra-User-Ma; and that he did not take the additional Setp-en-Ra till after the death of Seti I. The Louvre, however, contains a fragment of bas-relief representing the infant Rameses with the full title of his later years. This important fragment is thus described by M. Paul Pierret: “Ramesés II enfant, représenté assis sur le signe des montagnes du: c’est une assimilation au soleil levant lorsqu’il émerge à l’horizon céleste. Il porte la main gauche à sa bouche, en signe d’enfance. La main droite pend sur les genoux. Il est vétu d’une longue robe. La tresse de l’enfance pend sur son épaule. Un diadème relie ses cheveux, et un uræus se dresse sur son front. Voici la traduction de la courte légende qui accompagne cette représentation. ‘Le roi de la Haute et de la Basse Égypte, maitre des deux pays, Ra-User-Ma Setp-en-Ra, vivificateur, éternel comme le soleil.’”—“Catalogue de la Salle Historique.” P. Pierret. Paris, 1873, p. 8.
M. Maspero is of opinion that this one fragment establishes the disputed fact of his actual sovereignty from early childhood, and so disposes of the entire question. See “L’Inscription dédicatoire du Temple d’Abydos, suivi d’un Essai Sur la jeunesse de Sesostris.” G. Maspero. 4º Paris, 1867. See also chap. viii (foot note), p. 126.
[98] “Le métier d’architecte se trouvait confié aux plus hauts dignitaires de la cour Pharaonique. Les architectes du roi, les Murket, se recrutaient assez souvent parmi le nombre des princes.”—“Histoire d’Egypte:” Brugsch, second edition, 1875, chap. v, p. 34.
[99] See “L’Inscription dédicatoire du Temple d’Abydos,” etc., by G. Maspero.
[100] See Rosellini, Monumenti Storici, pl. lxxi.
[101] “A la nouvelle de la mort de son père, Ramsès II désormais seul roi, quitta l’Éthiopie et ceignit la couronne à Thebes. Il était alors dans la plénitude de ses forces, et avait autour de lui un grand nombre d’enfants, dont quelques-uns étaient assez âgés pour combattre sous ses ordres.”—“Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l’Orient,” par G. Maspero, chap. v, p. 220. 4th edition, 1886.