Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/67

Military Architecture. 45 the water now rushes impetuously. Navigation is only possible among these rapids during the inundation. This point in the river's course was therefore well fitted to be the gate of Egypt and to be fortified against the incursions of the southern tribes. During the first Theban Empire, the Pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty drew the national frontier at this point, and resolved to establish themselves there in force. The Third Ousourtesen seems to have built the two fortresses of which substantial remains exist even now. Each fortress contained a temple and numerous houses. Lepsius gives the name of Kumme/i to that on the right bank and reserves the name Semneh, w^hich has usually been applied to the whole group, to the building on the left bank only. For our restoration (Fig. 30) we have had to depend very little upon conjecture.^ The only flight of fancy in which we have indulged is seen in the extra height which we have given to the tower at the north-eastern angle of the building It seemed to us probable that at some point upon such a lofty terrace there would be a belvedere or watch-tower to facilitate the proper surveillance of the country round about. For the rest we have merely re-established the upper part of the works and restored its depth to the ditch, which had been filled in by the falling of the parapets. The line of walls and bastions can be easily followed except at one point upon the southern face, where a wide breach exists. The destruction of this part of the wall alone and the clearing of the ground upon which it stood, suggests that it was broken down by man rather than by time. It is probable that the fortress was taken by some Ethiopian conqueror, by Sabaco or Tahraka, and that he took care to render its forti- fications useless in a way that could not be easily repaired. Our viev/ of the fort shows it as it must have appeared from a hill in the Libyan Chain, to the south-west. The engineer lavished all his skill on rendering the castle impregnable from ^ We have been able to make use, for this reconstruction, of two plans which only differ in details, and otherwise mutually corroborate each other. One is given by Lepsius, Plate in, vol. ii. of his Denhticeler the plans of the tAvo fortresses are in the middle of his map of the valley where they occur. In plate 112 we have a pictorial view of the ruins and the ground about them. In the Bidletin archeologique de T Athenceum Francois (1855, pp. 80-84, and plate 5), M. Vogue also published a plan of the two forts, accompanied by a section and a description giving valuable details, details which Lepsius, in his Briefe aus yEg_vf>fe>t, passed over in silence.