1. My thanks to Richard A. Fazzini, friend and colleague, who made a number of valuable suggestions which have much improved this article.

2. Margaret Benson and Janet Gourlay; The Temple of Mut in Asher: An account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians, London, John Murray, 1899

3. Temple of Mut, p.v

4. Arthur Christopher Benson: The Life and Letters of Maggie Benson, London, John Murray, 1917

5. Life and Letters: p.52

6. Life and Letters, p. 87

7. Life and Letters. p.169, Margaret to her Mother, Luxor, Feb. 1, 1894

8. E. F. Benson, Our Family Affairs, George H. Doran, New York, 1921, pp.312, 313.

9. Life and Letters, pp. 291, 192

10. It was Mrs. Lea's brother who was Margaret's tutor for her studies at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

11. Presumably the husband of Margaret's paternal cousin, Kitty McDowall Esdaile.

12. Among the professionals who are credited with aiding Margaret Benson, D. G. Hogarth is seldom mentioned. At that time, according to T. G. H. James, Hogarth had been sent by the Egypt Exploration Fund to assist Naville at Dier el Bahri, but also to observe and report on his methods which were under some criticism. David George Hogarth (1862-1927) was a distinguished archaeologist who worked in Cyprus, Ephesus, Carchemish, Crete and at Asyut in Egypt. During his career he was keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, director of the British School in Athens, director of the Cretan Exploration Fund, and president of the Royal Geographical Society. In W. W. I. he organized the Arab Bureau in Cairo which employed, among others, T. E. Lawrence, Hogarth's protege.

13. There is some confusion in biographical reference books concerning E. F. Benson. He is sometimes credited with excavating in Egypt for the Hellenic Society, probably resulting from a confusion of his Greek and Egyptian experience. He is better know today as the prolific author of popular novels.

14. The title of Margaret Benson's publication, The Temple of Mut in Asher, refers to the Sacred Lake or "Isheru" (Asheru, Ascheru), a word of uncertain origin which refers to semicircular bodies of water where leonine goddesses such as Sakhmet are appeased. See also E. Otto's entry on "Ascheru" in Lexicon der Agyptologie I, cols. 460-62.

15. Temple of Mut, p.9

16. The map probably to be attributed to G. Erbkam, a member of Lepsius' party, is one of the most accurate and useful early maps preserved.

17. In a section beginning on page 288 in The Temple of Mut she discussed the notes of James Burton (1840) and manuscript maps of Burton and Hay (all preserved in the British Museum and called to her attention by Newberry). She also mentions the work of the Lepsius expedition of the 1840s, The Monuments of Upper Egypt by Mariette and notes made by Bouriant.

18. Life and Letters, p. 190

19. Cairo CG No. 566

20. Life and Letters, p. 192, Letter from Margaret to her father, February 13, 1895.

21. Cairo JE Nos. 2172, 29245

22. Life and Letters, p. 200

23. As noted by Charles van Sicklen in Varia Aegyptiaca 3, 1987, this piece has been reattributed in the Kimbell Museum to Dynasty XVIII and is probably a representation of Amenhotep II or Tuthmosis IV.

24. This statue is presently the subject of a study by the author. It is clearly not a representation of Tutankhamun. The correct identification is confused by some recutting of the face. A complete discussion of this art historical problem will be forthcoming.

25. Cairo JE No. 31886

26. Temple of Mut, p.54

27. Life and Letters, p.202

28. Life and Letters, p.201

29. Cairo CG No. 568

30. Cairo CG No. 579

31. Cairo CG No. 581

32. Life and Letters, p.205

33. In Margaret's personal copy of The Temple of Mut in Asher, which came into the hands of Richard Fazzini, Margaret methodically annotated the table of contents and many of the chapters to show that she wrote chapters I-IV,VI-VIII, X, XII, and XIV alone; V and XVIII with Janet Gourlay, and aided Janet on chapter XIII; Janet wrote IX, XI, XV and XVI alone. It should be noted that Janet wrote the chapter relating to Mentuemhat, whose bust she later published with Newberry. On page ix Margaret lined out the words "the most essential part of the publication" which refered to Newberry's translations of the inscriptions. Perhaps she changed her mind about their importance in relation to the work of excavation.

34. E. F. Benson: Mother, George H. Doran, New York, 1925, pp. 41, 42.

35. CG 646. The inscriptions on this statue tell us that Mentuemhat was a prince who organized the construction work at the temple of Mut and one who had restored the temple of "the mistress of the sky" in beautiful stone to last for eternity. The current excavations have identified much more work of Dynasty XXV in the Mut temple than had been previously thought, suggesting that this was not boasting on the part of Mentuemhat. See J. Leclant, Montouemhat, quatrieme prophete d'Amon, 'prince de la ville', Cairo, 1961, and Richard Fazzini and William Peck, The Precinct of Mut During Dynasty XXV and Early Dynasty XXVI, A Growing Picture, Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, Vol. XI, No. 3, May, 1981.

36. CG 647. The bald pate may have some religious significance, see J. Quaegebeur, A. Rammant-Peeters, "Le pyramidion d'un danseur en chef de Bastet", Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 13, 1982, p. 186.

37. Temple of Mut, p.66.

38. Gourlay and Newberry in Recueil de Travaux, XX (1898), pp. 188-92

39. The contents of the three trenches are listed in detail in Porter-Moss, II,2, pp. 260,261.

40. Life and Letters, p. 409.

41. Life and Letters, p. 410

42. Gerhard Haeny in BABA 9, 1970, p.95, note 94