Bubastis had no less occasion than Tanis to boast of the generosity of the Theban Pharaohs.  The temple of Bastit, which had been decorated by Kheops and Khephren, was still in existence:  Amenemhait I., Usirtasen I., and their immediate successors confined themselves to the restoration of several chambers, and to the erection of their own statues, but Usirtasen III. added to it a new structure which must have made it rival the finest monuments in Egypt.  He believed, no doubt, that he was under particular obligations to the lioness goddess of the city, and attributed to her aid, for unknown reasons, some of his successes in Nubia; it would appear that it was with the spoil of a campaign against the country of the Hua that he endowed a part of the new sanctuary.*

* The fragment found by Naville formed part of an inscription engraved on a wall:  the wars which it was customary to commemorate in a temple were always selected from those in which the whole or a part of the booty had been consecrated to the use of the local divinity.

Nothing now remains of it except fragments of the architraves and granite columns, which have been used over again by Pharaohs of a later period when restoring or altering the fabric.

[Illustration:  376.jpg ONE OF THE TANIS SPHINXES IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch- Bey, taken in 1881.  The sphinx bears on its breast the cartouche of Psiukhanu, a Tanite Pharaoh of the XXIst dynasty.

A few of the columns belong to the lotiform type.  The shaft is composed of eight triangular stalks rising from a bunch of leaves, symmetrically arranged, and bound together at the top by a riband, twisted thrice round the bundle; the capital is formed by the union of the eight lotus buds, surmounted by a square member on which rests the architrave.  Other columns have Hathor-headed capitals, the heads being set back to back, and bearing the flat head-dress ornamented with the urous.  The face of the goddess, which is somewhat flattened when seen closely on the eye-level, stands out and becomes more lifelike in proportion as the spectator recedes from it; the projection of the features has been calculated so as to produce the desired effect at the right height when seen from below.  The district lying between Tanis and Bubastis is thickly studded with monuments built or embellished by the Amenemhaits and Usirtasens:  wherever the pickaxe is applied, whether at Fakus or Tell-Nebesheh, remains of them are brought to light—­statues, stelae, tables of offerings, and fragments of dedicatory or historical inscriptions.  While carrying on works in the temple of Phtah at Memphis, the attention of these Pharaohs was attracted to Heliopolis.  The temple of Ra there was either insufficient for the exigencies of worship, or had been allowed to fall into decay.  Usirtasen III. resolved, in the third year of his reign, to undertake its restoration.