Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/35

 Egyptian Civilization 15 Had the tombs continued to be constructed of sun-dried mud bricks and roofed with wood, as they were originally built, they would have disappeared long ago, but shortly after the time of Menes, the kings and princes began to construct tombs of hewn RELIEF SCENE FROM THE CHAPEL OF A NOBLE'S TOMB IN THE The tall figure of the noble stands at the right. He is inspecting three lines of cattle and a line of fowl brought before him. Note the two scribes who head the two middle rows. Each is writing with pen on a sheet of papyrus, and one carries two pens behind his ear. Such reliefs after being carved were colored in bright hues by the painter stone. These have proved to be very massive and enduring. Later, the burial chambers of the tombs were hewn in the rock many feet below the surface in the desert beyond the cultivated fields. Many of the tombs have been explored in modern times, and so dry is the climate that the articles found in them, as well as the painting and statuary, are as fresh and wonderful as they were thousands of years ago when their owner went to his long rest ( 25-29).