The great mass of the people were not honoured by such magnificent tombs, but were buried in subterranean vaults in the necropolis (Greek, “city of the dead”) attached to each great town. The largest are those of Saïs, Sakkarah near Memphis, Thebes, and Abydus. These underground galleries were reached by deep wells, and often contained several stories of small chambers in which the embalmed bodies were placed, together with vases, statuettes, and other votive offerings. There were also cemeteries in which the animals worshipped by the Egyptians were buried, containing thousands of embalmed birds and reptiles, particularly the ibis and crocodile. The Apis mausoleum at Sakkarah, where the sacred bulls were interred, is one of the most important, the chambers and galleries being excavated in the rock and covering an immense area. The mausoleum was connected with the Serapeum, a temple above ground, where the living bull was worshipped as a deity. _TEMPLES._ There are two classes of Egyptian temples—those hollowed out of the mountain rock, commonly called speos, and those built upon the open plain and distinguished by the term “hypæthral” (Greek, “under air”). The most important of the latter are the temples of Sethi I., at Abydus; Amun re, at Kooneh; the great and small temples of Medeenet Haboo, erected by Rameses III. and Thothmes II.; the Rameseum or Memnonium, of Rameses II.; Luxor and Karnak, at Thebes; and the temples of Denderah, Edfou, and Philæ, built by the Ptolemys. All of these are similar in general plan, consisting of a greater or less number of courts, halls, and sanctuaries, which in each case are placed “en suite,” that is, one opening into the other in a continuous line, the larger apartments being in about the centre of this line and gradually diminishing in size, the last chamber being the smallest. As the main characteristics of the largest temples apply in a modified form to the smallest, a description of a complete temple would seem to be the best way of explaining the usual arrangements. A wall of crude brick usually enclosed the whole structure, which was surrounded by a sacred grove, or temenos. This wall was entered by an outer gate, or pylon, built in the shape of a frustum of a pyramid, and surmounted by a coved cornice, the doorway having perpendicular or slanting jambs. From this an avenue, or dromos, bordered with sphinxes with human or rams’ heads, led up to the propylæa, or towers. The latter resembled the outer pylons, but were on a larger scale, containing staircases leading to upper terraces. They were spaced a short distance apart to admit of a passage between them, which was entered through a second gateway similar to the first. The sides of these buildings were usually elaborately painted, and rings were inserted in the masonry to hold the poles upon which the royal banners were hoisted. This second entrance was often flanked by two obelisks—long tapering monoliths with