The Recent Discovery At Thebes.

coffin of Rameses I . has disappeared ; that of Seti has been opened and rifled , though the body is unharmed . The transfer of these various sarcophagi has been made at different times , not far apart as to date ; and evidently ( the excavation having come to be regarded as a safe place of concealment ) contemporary mummies continued to

be deposited there for a considerable time . Doubtless , the later Ramessides and the Priest-Kings of Amen were sufficiently wealthy to make vast sepulchres for themselves ; but the revolts in the north of E gypt and the establishment of the contemporary Twenty-first Dynasty at Tanis , kept the country unsafe and unsettled , and caused thefamily of Her-Hor to make this hiding-place

their own provisional sepulchre—at all events , until such time as Egypt should again be united under their own rule . From the time of Queen Notemit , the whole Royal family of Priest-Kings would seem to have been buried in this place , The last so buried was probably the last before Sheshonk . Pinotem III . laid his family there , but has not been found there himself . Either he died in exile among his relatives at Fapata , or the Arabs have stolen his mummy . The facts that emerge most conspicuously from this discovery are the links in

the history and genealogy of the Priest-Kings of Amen . With only our present resources it is easy to reinstate their pedigree : — King Her-Hor Notemit . High Priest Piankhi . High Priest | Pinotem I . TKing Pinotem II .

i Princess Isi-m-Kheb—King Menkheperra —High Priest Masahirti . I 1 King Pmotem III . Princess Isi-m-Kheb , ( probably husband of Makeri , daughter of wife of Menkheperra . Psiounkha , King of Tanis ) . Six generations and seven men here succeed each other with no appreciable break in the line , all High Priests of Amen . One now sees how this fact

coincides Avith the facts related by Manetho , and how they accord with De Rouge ' s hypothesis as to Smendes having been the successor of Her-Hor . The following is a probable table of the contemporary dynasties : — Her-Hor Smendes . . Piankhi Psousennis . Pinotem I Nephercheres . Pinotem II hthys

Amenoopy . Menkheperra-Masahirti Psiounkha . Pinotem III . ( husband of a daughter of Psiounkha ) Psonsenness . _ At the very moment when Queen Makera died , the Bubastite Dynasty , originating from a Semitic family long settled in lower Egypt , began to come to the front ; and the head of that family , Sheshonk , was alread y not far from the throne .

It Avill be noticed b y those Egyptologists who advocate Brugsch ' s theory of an early Assyrian invasion of Egypt that M . Maspero ' s summing up excludes any such possibility , and places this much-disputed point in an entirel y new historical li ght . THE following are extracts from a letter just received from Mr . Alexander

Peake , who holds the office of Inspector of Proidnces in Upper Egypt under the " Controle Generale . " The description he gives of a personal examination of the antiquities tabulated in M . Maspero ' s memoir , published in The Times a little time back , will be read with interest : —