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First of all the visitor will remark, in the first division of the first case, a sandstone figure, seven inches high, seated upon a throne with lotus sceptres, and attendant deities; this is Amenra, the Jupiter of the Egyptians; and in the same case Phtah, the Vulcan of the Egyptians, with a gour, or animal-headed sceptre in both hands, and an oskh, or semi-circular collar, about his neck; the Egyptian Saturn, Sabak, with the head of a crocodile, with the shenti about his loins; and Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, with an ibis head surmounted by a crescent moon.
Although his features were marked by the delicacy characteristic of the Egyptian face, there was none of the Oriental affability to be found thereon. One might expect deeds of him, but never words or wit. He wore the Egyptian smock, or kamis of dark linen, open in front from belt to hem, disclosing a kilt or shenti of clouded enamel.
The blasphemy comforted him strangely, and he persisted till his heated brain was cooled. At dawn the next day he laid aside his fillet of gold, his trappings and noble dress, and donning the kilt or shenti of the prisoners, was handcuffed to another malefactor and taken forth to the sun-white plain between Thebes Diospolis and the Arabian, hills, to labor in the canals of the nome.
On the head was generally worn a cap of one kind or another, sometimes round, more often conical, occasionally shaped like a helmet. The conical head-dresses seem to have often ended in a sort of top-knot or button, which recalls the head-dress of a Chinese Mandarin. Where the men were of higher rank, the shenti was ornamented.
In the last compartment we come again upon a group that we have already met with in one of the cups from Idalium. . . . A beardless individual, clothed in the shenti, has put his foot upon the body of a griffin, which, in struggling against the pressure, flings its hind quarters into the air in a sort of wild caper; the conqueror, however, holds it fast by the plume of feathers which rises from its head, and plunges his sword into its half-open beak.
Sometimes there is added to this a close-fitting shirt, like a modern "jersey," which has short sleeves and clings to the figure, so that it requires careful observation to distinguish between a statue thus draped and one which has the shenti only.
In addition to the shenti, it was common among the upper classes to wear over the bust and shoulders a close-fitting tunic with short sleeves, like a modern "jersey;" and sometimes two garments were worn, an inner robe descending to the feet, and an outer blouse or shirt, with sleeves reaching to the elbow.
He wore a helmet of polished metal, equipped with a visor, which, when raised, finished the front with a flat plate. The top of the head-piece was ornamented with a spike. His armor was complete shirt of mail, shenti extending half-way to the knees, greaves of brass and mailed shoes. He was as tall as the Egyptian and as lean, but his structure was heavy, stalwart and powerful.
A small rosette occupies the centre; round it is, apparently, a pond or lake, in which fish are disporting themselves; but the fish are intermixed with animal and human forms a naked female stretches out her arms after a cow; a man clothed in a shenti endeavours to seize a horse. The pond is edged by papyrus plants, which are alternately in blossom and in bud.
In front of the prisoner, occupying the centre of the medallion, is the main figure of the upper compartment, a warrior, armed with a spear, who pursues the third figure, a fugitive, and seems to be thrusting his spear into the man's back. Both have long hair, but are beardless; and wear the shenti for their sole garment.
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