journeyed southwards, and acclaimed him as the Conqueror of Egypt. They also invoked blessings on his father and mother, and wished him long life. When he returned to Gebel Barkal (Napata) he had the account of his invasion and conquest of Egypt cut upon a large grey granite stele about 6 feet high and 4 feet 8 inches wide, and set up in his temple, among the ruins of which it was discovered accidentally by an Egyptian officer who was serving in the Egyptian Sūdān in 1862. [Footnote 1: The war-god of Ombos in Upper Egypt.] [Footnote 2: The war-god of Hermonthis in Upper Epypt.] [Footnote 3: The chief goddess of Saïs, the city of Tafnekht.] CHAPTER IX AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE Attention has already been called to the very great importance of the autobiographies of the military and administrative officials of the Pharaohs, and a selection of them must now be given. They are, in many cases, the only sources of information which we possess about certain wars and about the social conditions of the periods during which they were composed, and they often describe events about which official Egyptian history is altogether silent. Most of these autobiographies are found cut upon the walls of tombs, and, though according to modern notions their writers may seem to have been very conceited, and their language exaggerated and bombastic, the inscriptions bear throughout the impress of truth, and the facts recorded in them have therefore especial value. The narratives are usually simple and clear, and as long as they deal with matters of fact they are easily understood, but when the writers describe their own personal characters and their moral excellences their meaning is sometimes not plain. Such autobiographies are sometimes very useful in settling the chronology of a doubtful period of history, and as an example of such may be quoted the autobiography of Ptah-shepses, preserved in the British Museum. This distinguished man was born in the reign of Menkaurā, the builder of the Third Pyramid at Gīzah, and he was educated with the king's children, being a great favourite of the king himself. The next king, Shepseskaf, gave him to wife Maātkhā, his eldest daughter, in order to keep him about the Court. Under the succeeding kings Userkaf and Sahurā he was advanced to great honour, and he became so great a favourite of the next king, Neferari-karā, that he was allowed to kiss the king's foot instead of the ground on which it rested when he did homage. He was promoted to further honours by the next king, Neferefrā, and he lived to see Userenrā ascend the throne. Thus Ptah-shepses lived under eight kings, and his inscription makes it possible to arrange their reigns in correct chronological order. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF UNA