TEMPLE OF SENKA AMEN-SEKEN represented slaughtering members of the prominent tribes of the country which he had conquered, in the presence of the god Amen of the Holy Mountain. This scene was, of course, copied from Egyptian temples, and probably is rather the outcome of the desire of the king's courtiers to please him than an illustration of an historical fact. On the north side of the pylon were also elaborate sculptures and many columns of hieroglyphics, which clearly refer to the offerings made by the king to the god. As the text here mentions only the name of Senka-Amen-seken, and as figures of this king occupied the most prominent place on the walls, we are justified in assuming that he was the builder of this temple. Its small size seems to indicate that he was not a great or wealthy king, and the characteristics of the reliefs, judging by what still remain, suggest that he reigned towards the end ot the period of which the probable limits have been given above. Why an altar bearing his cartouches should be found among the ruins of the temple of another king cannot be said, it may have been carried there from the place in which it originally stood, or it may have been made by a later king, and set up in his own temple to commemorate his predecessor's reign. An examination of the ruins at Gebel Barkal shows that no attempt was ever made to repair the temples, and that most of them perished prematurely owing to poor work and the exceeding softness of the sandstone employed in their construction. Two or three appear to have been pulled down wilfully, probably because their stones were required for new buildings. In the case of the temple now under consideration, it is clear that the sanctuary was wrecked through a fall of stones from the end of the mountain, and it is difficult to understand how any architect could have been bold enough to build a temple so close to its foot. The shrine of the temple was undoubtedly hollowed out of the rock, and pieces of stone above it would be loosened in the process ; as time went on cracks would develop, and at length the day came when a rush of stones ruined one end of the temple.

VI. Close to the remains of the temple of Senka-Amen-seken are those of another small temple (J), which consists of a small court with four pillars, and a sanctuary ; it also was built close in under the mountain, and was destoyed by a fall of stones. There is 143