THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN pyramid was built for a royal personage, as the cartouche shows ; the only signs, unfortunately, which Lepsius was able to read are {ZZ$Mi\ Q' ) 1 • t° Meroitic inscriptions which were traced on the walls were also copied by him. At the west end of nearly every pyramid chapel, either cut in outline on the wall, or sculptured in very high relief on a separate slab of sandstone, were the figures of three deities, usually Osiris (in the centre), Isis (on the left), and the deceased in the form of some god or goddess. Such a group Cailliaud says he found at the end of the chapel, but detached from its place, where it had formed part of a " false door " to the pyramid.

The Seventh Pyramid of the group, R, was, according to Hoskins, about 33 ft. square at the base, and he describes it as a " mass of ruins;" Cailliaud does not even mention it, but its position is worthy of note.

The Eighth Pyramid of the group, S, is in reality a step-pyramid, and is the largest of all the pyramids at Gebel Barkal ; it measures about 66 ft. at the base, but the platform upon which it rests covers a I'arge area. The angle stones are entirely without ornament, and even in Cailliaud's time no traces of the chapel, if it ever had one, were visible ; he says that about one-third of it was in a ruined state, and that the bottom " step " had suffered considerably.

From what has been said in the descriptions of the eight pyramids given above it is possible to arrive at some general conclusions about the decoration of the chapels at Gebel Barkal. At the west end of the chapel was a " false door," the cornice of which was ornamented with winged disks with uraei, and large uraei in relief. Above the " false door" was the boat of Amen-Ra in relief, and the deceased was represented as one of the occupants. Within the " false door," either cut in outline or sculptured in high relief, were figures of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, and Isis, and a third deity, who was usually the deceased, who was assumed to be a god. On the north and south walls were figures, sometimes painted, of the king or queen who was buried under the pyramid, and in these the ornaments of the neck, arms, wrists, &c., were represented with most elaborate detail. The 164 i