[4] Nestor L'Hôte—a fine connoisseur, who often divined facts which were not finally demonstrated until after his visit to Egypt—also received this impression from his examination of the remains at Tell-el-Amarna: "Details no less interesting make us acquainted with the general arrangement ... of the king's palaces, the porticos and propylæa by which they were approached, the inner chambers, the store-houses and offices, the courts, gardens, and artificial lakes; everything, in fact, which went to make up the royal dwelling-place." Lettres écrites d'Égypte (in 1838-9; 8vo, 1840); pp. 64-65.
[5] Lettres écrites d'Égypte, p. 62. In some other plans from Tell-el-Amarna, given by Prisse, several of these altars are given upon a larger scale, showing the offerings with which they are heaped. One of them has a flight of steps leading up to it.
[6] In this we are supported by the opinions of Mariette (Itinéraire, p. 213) and Ebers (L'Égypte, du Caire à Philæ, p. 317).
[7] Itinéraire, p. 213.
[8] See the curious extracts from the Papyrus Anastasi III., given by Maspero, Histoire Ancienne, pp. 267-269.
[9] A careful examination of these tablets has yet to be made; at present we are without any information as to their probable uses. The authors of the Description thought it likely that they were meant to receive metal trophies of some kind. They might have been covered with a painted decoration, or they might have been intended to be cut into barred windows and left unfinished. In the photographs the stone of which they are made seems to be different in grain from the rest of the walls.
[10] Ebers, L'Égypte, du Caire à Philæ, pp. 317-318.
[11] Herodotus, ii. 148; Diodorus Siculus, i. 64; Strabo, xvii. 37.
[12] Description de l'Égypte, vol. iv. p. 478.
[13] Denkmæler, vol. i. plates 46-48. Briefe aus Ægypten, pp. 65-74.