THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN These interesting inscriptions prove clearly that the king who had the ram made was Amen-hetep III., and that it came from a mennu which he built in honour of Amen and of his own Image. We have already seen that the ancient Egyptian name for the temple of Sulb was Mennu-Kha-em-Maat, and because tnennii is mentioned in the inscription translated above it has been boldly declared that the ram was made for the temple of Sulb, and that it was taken to Gebel Barkal by one of Amen-hetep's successors.

This evidence does not appear conclusive, for the king may quite well have built one in nnu, to which he gave the name of " Khaem-Maat," at Sulb, and another at Gebel Barkal, or at Napata. He built the temple of Luxor at Thebes, the capital of Egypt, with the express purpose of informing the Egyptians that he was a god sprung from the actual seed of Amen, and, as we have seen that he determined to establish himself as the equal and counterpart of Amen in the Siidan, and that he built a temple at Sulb in honour of his living Image upon earth, the probabilities are that he also founded at Napata, which city was certainly regarded by Amen-hetep II. as the capital of the Sudan, another memiu, or temple, with the view of spreading the doctrines which he held about his divine origin and nature.

The two granite lions and the hawk already mentioned do not help us out of the difficulty. The inscription on one of the lions ' repeats the words with which we are already familiar, viz., ** He made his monument to his Image living upon earth, " ( Neb-Maat-Ra |, the lord of Ta-Kenset, the dweller in the mennu " of Het-kha-em-Maat," * and goes on to say that the king is a These, with the variant texts from other rams, are given by Lepsius, Denkmh/er, Abth. iii., Bl. 89.

1 British Museum, No. i.

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