Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/97

Rh in the utterances of his mouth, and the learning of the wise Thoth was on his tongue. Very skilful in artistic work, with his own hand he carried out his designs as they ought to be done.'

The beautiful rock-hewn caves of Beni-Hassan bear witness to the rare excellence attained by architecture and sculpture. These tombs and memorial chambers were excavated in a limestone cliff on the east bank of the Nile, 160 miles south of Cairo. They were for generations the burial-place of the illustrious family of the Khnumhoteps, descendants of Ameni (p. 66), and hereditary governors of the district. The roofs of these rock tombs are vaulted; at the entrance to the northernmost, where Ameni, head of the family lay, are columns of great beauty, so closely resembling those called Doric 2000 years later that it is difficult not to believe that they served as prototypes. At the entrance to another tomb are columns still more graceful in design; these are purely