We might, then, amuse ourselves by making out a long list of Egyptian builders, a list which would extend over several thousands of years, from Nefer, of Boulak (Fig. 171),[164] who may have built one of the Pyramids, to the days of the Ptolemies or of the Roman emperors. In the glyptothek at Munich there is a beautiful sepulchral statue of Bakenkhonsou, who was chief prophet of Amen and principal architect of Thebes, in the time of Seti I. and Rameses II. From certain phrases in the inscription, Devéria believes that Bakenkhonsou built the temple of Gournah.[165] In his epitaph he boasts of the great offices which he had filled and of the favour which had been shown to him by his sovereign. Every Egyptian museum contains some statue and inscription of the same kind. Brugsch has proved that under the Memphite dynasties the architects to the king were sometimes recruited among the princes of the blood royal, and the texts upon their tombs show that they all, or nearly all, married daughters or grand-daughters of Pharaoh, and that such a marriage was not looked upon as _mesalliance_.[166] [164] See _Notice des Principaux Monuments exposés dans le Musée de Boulak_, 1876, No. 458. [165] DEVÉRIA, _Bakenkhonsou_ (_Revue Archéologique_, new series, vi. p. 101). [166] BRUGSCH, _History of Egypt_ (English edition), vol. i. p. 47. Ti, whose splendid tomb has been so often mentioned, was "First Commissioner of Works" for the whole of Egypt, as well as "Secretary of State" to Pharaoh. [Illustration: FIG. 171.--Limestone statue of the architect Nefer, in the Boulak Museum. Drawn by Bourgoin.] Similar evidence is forthcoming in connection with the first Theban Empire, but it was chiefly under the three great dynasties that the post of architect to Pharaoh became one of great responsibility, and carried with it great influence and authority. For the building and keeping in repair of the sumptuous monuments then erected a great system of administration must have been devised, and Thebes, like modern London, must have had its "district-surveyors."[167] [167] We have here ventured to take a slight liberty with M. Perrot's local tints.--ED. PAUL PIERRET ("_Stèle de Suti et de Har, architectes de Thèbes_," in the _Recueil de Travaux_, vol. i. p. 70), says, "This is said by him who has charge of the works of Amen in Southern Ap." Suti-Har says in his turn: "I have the direction of the west, he of the east. We are the directors of the great monuments in Ap, in the centre of Thebes, the city of Amen." So far as we can tell there was a chief architect, or superintendent general of buildings, for the whole kingdom; his title was _Overseer of the buildings of Upper and Lower Egypt_.[168] For how many scribes and draughtsmen must the offices of Bakenkhonsou or of Semnat, the favourite architect of the great regent Hatasu, have found employment?[169]