CHESSBOARD (=men=) is by many thought to be a battlemented wall, but it is probably a chessboard; for at Thebes a picture represents Rameses III. playing a game at chess, or some kindred game. What appears to be a battlement is really the chessmen on the board. MEN, as part of the divine name of Thothmes, may be the shortened form of Amen, the supreme god of Thebes, just as Tum is the shortened form of Atum. Ptah was the supreme god of Memphis, and Ra the supreme god of Heliopolis. Amen literally means "the concealed one," and was the name applied to the sun after it had sunk below the horizon. He was reputed to be the oldest and most venerable of deities, called the "dweller in eternity," and the source of light and life. Before the creation he dwelt alone in the lower world, but on his saying "come," the sun appeared, and drove away the darkness of night. Sometimes he is called Amen-Ra, and his principal temple was at Thebes. He is generally represented by the figure of a man with his face concealed under the head of a horned ram. The figure is coloured blue, the sacred colour of the source of life. SACRED BEETLE (=kheper=) usually called _scarabeus_ or _scarabee_. It was thought that the beetle hid its eggs in the sand, where they remained until the young beetles broke forth to life. Thus the scarabeus became the symbol of the resurrection and a future life. According to Cooper, the sacred beetle was in the habit of laying its eggs in a ball of clay, which it kept rolling until the eggs were vivified by the heat of the sun. The beetle thus became the emblem of the sun, the vivifier, and was therefore consecrated to Ra, who is on that account called Ra-Kheper. When dedicated to Ra, the beetle holds the cosmic ball between its front legs. Sometimes it is an emblem of the world, and is then consecrated to Ptah, the creator of heaven and earth. The divine name, or prenomen, of Thothmes is thus _Ra-Men-Kheper_, frequently read _Men-Khepera-Ra_, and is made up of three hieroglyphs, which stand for Ra, Amen, and Ptah, the supreme gods respectively worshipped at Heliopolis, Thebes, and Memphis. From these three great deities Thothmes thus claims his descent. The cartouche with the divine name of Thothmes occurs four times on the obelisk, once on each side at the top of the central column of hieroglyphs. The sacred beetle occurs in two other places in the central columns of Thothmes, but never appears in the eight lateral columns of Rameses. [Illustration: "He has made as it were monuments to his father Haremakhu."] EYE (=ar=) _made_. As a verb _ar_ signifies to make. ZIGZAG (=en=) _has_. After verbs the zigzag means _has_, and is therefore a sign of perfect. HORNED SNAKE (=ef=) _he_. The usual personal pronoun. OWL (=mu=) _as it were_. CHESSBOARD (=men=) _monument_.