built for eternity, an eternity which did not last longer than the lives of their builders.* Nothing could present a greater variety than the population of these ephemeral cities in the climax of their splendour. We have first the people who immediately surrounded the Pharaoh,** the retainers of the palace and of the harem, whose highly complex degrees of rank are revealed to us on the monuments.*** His person was, as it were, minutely subdivided into departments, each requiring its attendants and their appointed chiefs. * The song of the harp-player on the tomb of King Antûf contains an allusion to these ruined palaces: “The gods [kings] who were of yore, and who repose in their tombs, mummies and manes, all buried alike in their pyramids, when castles are built they no longer have a place in them; see, thus it is done with them! I have heard the poems in praise of Imhotpû and of Hardidif which are sung in the songs, and yet, see, where are their places to-day? their walls are destroyed, their places no more, as though they have never existed!” ** They are designated by the general terms of Shonîtiû, the “people of the circle,” and Qonbîtiû, the “people of the corner.” These words are found in religious inscriptions referring to the staff of the temples, and denote the attendants or court of each god; they are used to distinguish the notables of a town or borough, the sheikhs, who enjoyed the right to superintend local administration and dispense justice. *** The Egyptian scribes had endeavoured to draw up an hierarchical list of these offices. At present we possess the remains of two lists of this description. One of these, preserved in the “Hood Papyrus” in the British Museum, has been published and translated by Maspero, in _Études Égyptiennes,_ vol. ii. pp. 1-66; another and more complete copy, discovered in 1890, is in the possession of M. Golénischeff. The other list, also in the British Museum, was published by Prof. Petrie in a memoir of _The Egypt Exploration Fund _; in this latter the names and titles are intermingled with various other matter. To these two works may be added the lists of professions and trades to be found _passim_ on the monuments, and which have been commented on by Brugsch.