148 .-- Theban tomb with pyramidion, from wall-painting.] The necropolis quarter of Abydos, in which were interred the earlier generations of the Theban Empire, furnishes the most ancient examples of the first system.

The tombs are built of large, black, unbaked bricks, made without any mixture of straw or grit.

The lower part is a mastaba with a square or oblong rectangular base, the greatest length of the latter being sometimes forty or fifty feet.

The walls are perpendicular, and are seldom high enough for a man to stand upright inside the tomb.

On this kind of pedestal was erected a pointed pyramid of from 12 to 30 feet in height, covered externally with a smooth coat of clay painted white.