[51]His name is also found in the tomb near Solib, and on the rocks at Toumbos.
[52]Since I wrote the above, I have seen the two beautiful granite lions which were brought from Gibel el Birkel, and presented to the British Museum, by Lord Prudhoe. The sculpture is most beautiful. They appear to be of the same period, as their attitude is similar; otherwise, their forms are different. The one which is the most defaced, and has been apparently the most symmetrical, bears the name of Amunoph III., in deep intaglio. As the name of this king does not exist on any edifice at Gibel el Birkel, I think the circumstance of the lion bearing his name being found there, no decisive proof of his having penetrated so far south. The sculpture is too good to be Ethiopian, and the granite is not of a description I met with near there. Gibel el Birkel, whatever might be its ancient name, was evidently the capital and favoured city of Tirhaka, who might, on his abdication of the throne of Egypt, have brought away these splendid specimens of Egyptian art. The nomen and prænomen on the other are not Egyptian, but seem to be of a king called Amnasre, or Amun Asre.
[53]Lib. ii. cap. 110.
[54]Odys. Δ′. 184.
[55]Odys. Λ′. 522.
[56]Pausanias correctly states the vocal statue of Memnon at Thebes was by the natives called Phamenoph (that is, Amunoph III.), the name it actually bears; and it certainly is curious, that this is the very king whose name we find in Ethiopia at Solib, and on the lion, as I have stated, brought from Gibel el Birkel. That king may possibly have been master of a portion of Ethiopia, and styled himself, as was often the custom, king of the Upper and Lower Countries; but he could not have been the Ethiopian Memnon, who marched to the succour of Troy: for the king who reigned in Egypt at the time of the Trojan war was Osirei, or Menephtah II.; and Amunoph III. died more than a century and a half before that event. As no edifices remain bearing the name of this king south of Solib, which is not a hundred miles above the second cataract, I see no just reason, as I have said before, for supposing that he carried his arms to Gibel el Birkel, much less to Meroe.
[57]2 Chronicles, xii. 2, 3.
[58]2 Chronicles, xvi. 8.
[59]2 Chronicles, chap. xiv. l. 8-11.
[60]2 Chronicles, xiv. 12, 13.