top of the hill round to the left and overlooking Dêr el-Bahari,
an appropriate place for it, by the way. In some ways Senmut's
representations are more interesting than Rekhmarâ's. They are more
easily seen, since they are now in the open air, the fore hall of the
tomb having been ruined; and they are better preserved, since they have
not been subjected to a century of inspection with naked candles and
pawing with greasy hands, as have Rekhmarâ's frescoes. Further, there
is no possibility of mistaking what they represent. From right to
left, walking in procession, we see the Minoan gift-bearers from Crete,
carrying in their hands and on their shoulders great cups of gold and
silver, in shape like the famous gold cups found at Vaphio in Lakonia,
but much larger, also a ewer of gold and silver exactly like one of
bronze discovered by Mr. Evans two years ago at Knossos, and a huge
copper jug with four ring-handles round the sides. All these vases are
specifically and definitely Mycenaean, or rather, following the new
terminology, Minoan. They are of Greek manufacture and are carried on
the shoulders of Pelasgian Greeks. The bearers wear the usual Mycenaean
costume, high boots and a gaily ornamented kilt, and little else, just
as we see it depicted in the fresco of the Cupbearer at Knossos and
in other Greek representations. The coiffure, possibly the most
characteristic thing about the Mycenaean Greeks, is faithfully
represented by the Egyptians both here and in Rekhmarâ's tomb. The
Mycenaean men allowed their hair to grow to its full natural length,
like women, and wore it partly hanging down the back, partly tied up
in a knot or plait (the _kepas_ of the dandy Paris in the Iliad) on the
crown of the head. This was the universal fashion, and the Keftiu are
consistently depicted by the XVIIIth Dynasty Egyptians as following it.
The faces in the Senmut fresco are not so well portrayed as those in the
Rekhmarâ fresco. There it is evident that the first three ambassadors
are faithfully depicted, as the portraits are marked. The procession