midnight
On his road from the shore kolchytes had run before him , in accordance with ancient custom , strewing sand in his path . In the course of an hour the procession once more emerged into the open air , and turning to the south , rested first in the enormous temple of Anienophis III. , in front of which the two giant statues stood as sentinels -- they still remain , the colossi of the Nile valley . Farther to the south it reached the temple of Thotmes the Great , then , turning round , it clung to the eastern face of the Libyan hills -- pierced with tombs and catacombs ; it mounted the terraces of the temple of Hatasu , and paused by the tombs of the oldest kings which are in the immediate neighborhood ; thus by sunset it had reached the scene of the festival itself , at the entrance of the valley in which the tomb of Setitt had been made , and in whose westernmost recesses were some of the graves of the Pharaohs of the deposed race . This part of the Necropolis was usually visited by lamp-light , and under the flare of torches , before the return of the God to his own temple and the mystery-play on the sacred lake , which did not begin till midnight . Behind the God , in a vase of transparent crystal , and borne high on a pole that all the multitude might see it , was the heart of the sacred ram . Our friends , after they had laid their wreaths on the magnificent altars of their royal ancestors without being recognized , late in the afternoon joined the throng who followed the procession . They mounted the eastern cliff of the hills close by the tomb of Mena 's forefathers , which a prophet of Amon , named Neferhotep -- Mena 's great-grandfather -- had constructed .