domingo, 31 de enero de 2016

Faience ushabti of Potasimto. Bologna, MCA

Faience ushabti of Potasimto. Bologna, MCA
Ushabti of Padisemataui, better known with his hellenized name Potasimto. He was the commander of the Greek mercenaires in Egypt during the 593 BCE military expedition in Nubia ordered by Psamtik II. Faience from Horbeit, 26th dynasty, Late period. Archeological Museum of Bologna (Italy), Palagi coll., EG 2265.

Scarab with Hawk and Sun Disc

Scarab with Hawk and Sun Disc


This amazonite scarab is carved with an inscription on the bottom with horizontally arranged line writing of a divine motto, translating to "May Re live." The top is medium high and incised with a simple design. The workmanship is good and the piece is carefully made. The scarab functioned as a provider individualized amulet, and was originally mounted or threaded. The amulet should provide the support of Amun/Re and secure the life of its owner. There are many combinations of mottos, wishes, or just the name of the sun god. The addition of the sun disc verifies, in this case, that the sun god is represented and not Horus.

 website: art.thewalters.org

Scarab with Cat and Title of Shepenwepet

Scarab with Cat and Title of Shepenwepet
This scaraboid faience amulet is inscribed on the bottom with the name and title of the divine consort Shepenwepet. The top is carved with the three-dimensional representation of a cat facing the right with the head turned to the front. The workmanship is a little rough, but detailed. This piece functioned as an individualized amulet of the Divine Consort Shepenwepet II, and was originally mounted or threaded. The image of a cat with kittens conveys the idea of fertility, renewal, and protection, and the name of Shepenwepet the individualization. The amulet should secure the divine status, royal authority of the "Divine Consort," as well as her presence and renewal. It is possible that the amulet was created for the personal use of Shepenwepet, but it is also likely that it was given to a private person to guarantee her patronage. The identification of the lying animal as a cat is possible by posture, content and comparision, but the round shapes of the ears are a litttle uncommon
The Walters Art Museum
website: art.thewalters.org

Anubis

This statuette of Anubis, god of embalming, represents him striding, wearing a long wig that covers the transition between his human body and jackal head. As a son of Osiris, he wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.Walters Art Museum

viernes, 29 de enero de 2016

sarcophaugus lid of Ibi

The sarcophaugus lid of Ibi, the chief steward of the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Nitocris. (reign of Psamtik I) From the Egyptian Museum of Turin

Pedubast

Quick sketch of a relief depicting the ancient Egyptian high steward Padibast, or Pedubast, from tomb TT391 at Asasif, usurped by him. 26th Dynasty, Late Period

walters art Museum


The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes. The bottom this scarab functions as a private name seal, and contains the titles and name of a person, called Imeni. The text displays two, not very clear defined columns of left reading hieroglyphic inscription, without column dividers; an oval line frames the inscription. The hieroglyphs of the bottom fill the whole text field, but with some space in between; the layout is not very well balanced, and some of the signs collide with the borderline. The shape of the signs is simple, and then has the typical Middle Kingdom form. The highest point of the back is the partition between pronotum (dorsal plate of the prothorax) and elytron (wing cases), which is also defined by two side-notches, and a deeply incised partition line. A triple division line between the wing cases, and a deep borderline, which meet slightly asymmetrically at the rear, are also visible. The rectangular head is flanked by triangular eyes; the side plates are trapezoidal with curved outer edges, and clypeus has a deep central base notch.. The proportions of the top are slightly unbalanced, and the head section short in comparison to pronotum and elytron. The raised extremities have natural form and vertical hatch lines on the fore- and hindlegs for the tibial teeth and pilosity (hair); the background between the legs is hollowed out. The base has a symmetrical long-oval shape. The scarab is longitudinally pierced, was originally mounted or threaded, and functioned as a private name seal, and user (Imeni) individualized amulet, which should guarantee constancy of individual existence and social status. Imeni was a very popular name in the Middle Kingdom, and Detlef Franke alone identified twenty-one different individuals with this name. It is possible that it was the same Imeni, who left an inscription with his name and the titles on the Sinai Peninsula in the year 42 of the reign of king Amenemhet III.

lunes, 25 de enero de 2016

Inlay in the Form of a Winged Sphinx with Captive


Inlay in the Form of a Winged Sphinx with Captive
9th to 8th Century BC
Ivory, pigment, and gold
2006.21.1...
Gift of 2006 Veneralia Patrons in honor of Monique and Ferdinand Seefried

This rare and exquisite ivory carving was the work of a skilled Syrian or Phoenician craftsman and was produced in the Levant, although the motif is Egyptian. It was not only carved of rare ivory, but it was embellished with blue, red, and black pigment and adorned with gold leaf. It would have decorated a piece of furniture perhaps similar to the throne of King Solomon, as described in the Bible (I Kings 10:18-20). The Phoenicians were renowned as artisans and were employed in the decoration of Solomon's temple. A number of these ivories were found in the excavations at Nimrud by the archaeologist Max Mallowan and conserved by his famous wife, Agatha Christie. These may well have come, at least in part, from the sack of Jerusalem by the Assyrians. It is difficult, however, to place many of these in context having been found as faraway as Crete, Mesopotamia, Turkey, and Palestine. The theme is derived from Egyptian art– a winged sphinx dominating a Nubian captive, but by the first millennium BC these motif had been adopted as an international style signifying the cosmopolitan taste of the fabled Near Eastern civilizations.
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/

Head of Khaemwaset

Head of Khaemwaset
Dynasty 19, reign of Ramesses ii, ca. 1279–1213 BC
Black granite
2005.7.1...
Gift of Mr. Charles S. Ackerman and an anonymous donor
This commanding face from a colossal statue undoubtedly belongs to Crown Prince Khaemwaset, the son and heir of Ramesses II. The scale and fine carving of the piece identify it as someone of great importance and the broad face is characteristic of the long reign of Ramesses the Great. The elaborately curled wig flares out just slightly on the right side, indicating where a side lock would be rendered. That hairstyle would identify the owner as High Priest of the god Ptah, an important office occupied by Khaemwaset. He made many restorations to earlier monuments, and for that he is sometimes called the “first archaeologist.” Khaemwaset died before his father and did not accede to the throne. He was buried in a vast tomb complex at Saqqara. He became the hero of many later stories and legends, famous for his wisdom and accomplishments

Egypt. Dynasties 5–6, ca. 2300–2170 BC
Limestone
2005.5.1
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Teasley.
This commanding relief sculpture would have originally stood in the doorway to a tomb chapel. It depicts the tomb owner, identified by the hieroglyphic inscription above, as “Ny-ka-teti, overseer of the palace physicians and scribe of the magicians.” He is shown reborn, striding forth from the tomb, dressed in a kilt with a broad apron front, holding a handkerchief in one hand and a staff of office in the other. He has a beaded broad collar around his neck and wears the short beard and layered wig typical of the period.
The relief would have originally been brightly painted, and it would have greeted visitors coming to leave offerings at the chapel for the deceased. Even now the crisp carving has lost none of its dramatic impact, and it would have challenged all who came to the cemetery to pay their respects to the spirit of Ny-ka-teti.
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/

sábado, 23 de enero de 2016

The Westcar Papyrus

Merged photos depicting a copy of the Ancient Egyptian papyrus commonly known as "The Westcar Papyrus", sometimes also known by the longer name "Three Tales of Wonder from the Court of King Khufu", written in hieratic text. Photo(s) taken at the Altes Museum, Berlin
public domain

cat


Wooden cat coffin, acc. no. 9303. From Saqqara
Radiograph of cat coffin, acc. no. 9303, showing a complete cat mummy inside
https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com

Cache of bronze statues from Saqqara – courtesy of the EES

Cache of bronze statues from Saqqara – courtesy of the EES

The Memphite Tomb Chapel of Mose


The Memphite Tomb Chapel of Mose
by G. A. Gaballa
ISBN-13: 978-0856680885
...
ISBN-10: 0856680885

KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM

This spool-shaped stand was thrown on a potter's wheel and covered in red paint. Pot stands like these were used to support vessels, which had no or hardly any standing base.
KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM
TELL EL-DAB`A/AVARIS
15TH DYNASTY
globalegyptyanmuseum

Speos de Artemidos

Speos de Artemidos
James P. Allen, “The Speos Artemidos Inscription of Hatshepsut”, Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 16 (2002), pp.1-17, pls.1+2.

miércoles, 20 de enero de 2016

Wig

Wig
Period: Third Intermediate Period
Dynasty: Dynasty 21
Reign: reign of Psusennes I
Date: ca. 1040–992 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Meritamun (TT 358, MMA 65), inside coffin, MMA excavations, 1928–29
Medium: Human hair, beeswax
Dimensions: L. of longest braid: 25 cm (9 13/16 in)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1930
Accession Number: 30.3.35
This wig was found lying behind the head of Nany's mummy in her inner coffin. It is made of braids of human hair fastened at the top with a cord. The braids were treated with beeswax and a layer of animal fat covers the entire wig.
Met Museum
metmuseum.org

Mummy Board of Iineferty

Mummy Board of Iineferty

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside
Dynasty: Dynasty 19
Reign: reign of Ramesses II
Date: ca. 1279–1213 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Medina, Tomb of Sennedjem (TT 1), Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1885–86
Medium: Wood, gesso, paint, varnish
Dimensions: h. 181 cm (71 1/4 in)
Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 1886
Accession Number: 86.1.5c
 
Met Museum
 
metmuseum.org

Baboon

Baboon

Period: Middle Kingdom
Dynasty: Dynasty 12, late–13 to 1700 B.C.
Date: ca. 1850–1700 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt, Memphite Region, Lisht North, Tomb of Senwosret (758), inside, Pit 805, MMA excavations, 1907–08
Medium: Faience
Dimensions: H. 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1908
Accession Number: 08.200.33
 
Met Museum
 
metmuseum.org

martes, 19 de enero de 2016

Ankh-Hor Revisited: Study, Documentation and Publication of Forgotten Finds from the Asasif/Thebes

Ankh-Hor Revisited: Study, Documentation and Publication of Forgotten Finds from the Asasif/Thebes
Julia Budka
https://www.academia.edu/3413215/Ankh-Hor_Revisited_Study_Documentation_and_Publication_of_Forgotten_Finds_from_the_Asasif_Thebes

The funeral procession on water

The funeral procession on water
This fragment shows two scenes of funerary boats travelling to the right towards a booth under which are jars and a conical loaf. The boat in the upper register is propelled by four oarsmen; in the cabin at the front two persons are seen talking to each other. On top of the catafalque (?) five mourners are sitting, dressed in large white robes. In the lower register a person on the right takes hold of the prow of a boat rowed by four oarsmen. T...he boat is carrying several standing individuals: one man carrying papyrus bouquets, another holding a large stick, another with a fan, and two men carrying ritual vessels, a funerary figurine, and a shabti box. At the extreme right, beneath the upper booth, a servant is holding two jars on the ground.
Present location KMKG - MRAH [07/003] BRUSSELS
Inventory number E.2380
Dating 18TH DYNASTY
Archaeological Site UNKNOWN
Category WALL PAINTING
Material UNSPECIFIED MINERAL; PLASTER
Technique PAINTED
Height 74.5 cm
Width 38 cm
Bibliography•L. Speleers, Recueil des inscriptions égyptiennes des Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire à Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1923, 40 nº 154
•A. Mekhitarian, Fragments de peintures thébaines, Serapis 6 (1980) 88
•L. Manniche, Lost Tombs, Londres-New York 1988, 192-193
•J.-Ch. Balty, e.a., Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis, Brussel, Oudheid - Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, Antiquité - The Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Antiquity, Bruxelles 1988, 26-28
globalegyptianmuseum

tomb of Ipy

A detail of a painting in the tomb of Ipy depicting fishermen casting their net. Country of Origin: Egypt. Culture: Pharaonic. Date/Period: 19th dynasty/1295-1186BC. Place of Origin: Deir el-Medina, West Thebes. Credit Line: Werner Forman Archive/ E.Strouhal. Location: 102.

lunes, 18 de enero de 2016

UC 7723

UC 7723
Gurob
fragment of a pottery coffin
http://www.ucl.ac.uk

pottery coffins found at Tell el Yahudiyeh






descriptions of pottery coffins found at Tell el Yahudiyeh:
Petrie 1906: 42-43: 'the head-piece was clearly sliced out of the coffin, after it had been formed , and then fitted exactly'
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/

Iby-ref

Tomb figure of Iby-ref, a 12th dynasty provincial administrator. Made of wood with inlaid eyes, circa 1800 BC. Elbow and foot have been restored.

domingo, 17 de enero de 2016

Vase


Vase
Faience
New Kingdom
E.2246
This blue-coloured vase has a very specific form: It is part of the type of receptacle designated by the term "nemset"-vase. One used it to carry out water libations.
KMKG - MRAH
globalegyptianmuseum

Doll


A pottery figurine of a female figure, in a stylised pose and carrying a monkey on her right arm. The head is hollow and the whole figure is crudely modelled. There are still traces of red and black paint.
NEW KINGDOM ?
LIVERPOOL MUSEUM
Globalegyptianmuseum

Sex Morals and the Law in Ancient Egypt and Babylon

Sex Morals and the Law in Ancient Egypt and
Babylon
James Bronson Reynolds
http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&context=jclc

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -7-

] 

TELL DEFENNEH.(EL KASR EL BINT EL YAHUDI. ).
TELL DEFENNEH.("EL KASR EL BINT EL YAHUDI." )

strange to say, were found absolutely uninjured. The kitchen was intact–a big room with recesses in the walls which served for dressers, in which fourteen large jars and two large flat dishes were yet standing in their places. Here also were found weights for weighing the meat, spits, knives, plates, cups, and saucers in abundance. Another room contained hundreds of amphora lids and plaster jar-sealings, some stamped with the royal ovals of Psammetichus; some with those of Neko, his son; and some with those of Apries. This was the room in which the wine-jars were opened; in other words, the butler's pantry. In an adjoining chamber were found a vast number of empty wine-jars, some perfect, some broken; while in others of the ground-floor rooms were piled large numbers of early Greek vases ranging in date from 550 B.C. to 600 B.C., some finely painted with scenes of [Page 66]  gigantomachia, chimeras, harpies, sphinxes, processions of damsels, dancers, chariots, and the like–all broken, it is true, but many in a mendable condition. Most curious of all, however, was a little room containing a bench, recesses, and a sink formed of one huge jar with the bottom knocked out. This was the scullery! The bench was to stand the things on while being washed; the recesses were to receive them when washed; and the jar sink, which opened into a drain formed of a succession of bottomless jars going down to the clean sand below the foundation, was found to be filled with potsherds placed on edge–these potsherds being coated with organic matter and clogged with fish-bones. All this is doubtless very prosaic; but to have discovered Pharoah's kitchen, scullery, and butler's pantry is really more curious and far more novel, than would have been the discovery of his throne-room.
A great variety of objects from the royal apartments were found in the fallen rubbish above the level of the servants' offices–such as bronze and silver rings, amulets, beads, seals, small brass vessels, draughtsmen, a grand sword-handle with a curved guard, and a quantity of burned and rusted scale-armour. The great camp, in the midst of which the palace-fort was built, also yielded a harvest of military relics. This camp (the camp founded by Psammetichus for the Carian and Ionian troops to whose valour he owed his crown) measured 2000 feet in length by 1000 feet in breadth; and though Mr. Petrie excavated but a corner of it, he found hundreds of objects belonging to these ancient Greek soldiers–arrow-heads in bronze and iron, horses' bits, fragments of chain-work, iron bars, blacksmith's tools, and the like. He also excavated part of the Greek town in the plain, where large quantities of beautiful carnelian, onyx, garnet, and other beads were found; scraps of gold-work, indicating a large trade in articles of personal adornment; and an immense number of very small weights, such as could only be used by jewellers and dealers in precious stones.
A massive gold handle, apparently the handle of a tray, [Page 67]  was also found buried in a corner of the camp, where doubtless it had been hidden by some plunderer when the place was sacked and burned. This undoubtedly formed part of Hophra's service of gold plate (that service of gold plate which he would, of course, have placed at the disposal of his royal Jewish guests), and it is, with one exception, the only piece of gold plate ever found in Egypt.
To return, however, to Jeremiah and his famous prophecy–to that day when he took "great stones in his hand, and placed them with mortar in the brick-work which was at the entry of the Pharoah's House in Tahpahnes." In illustration of this passage, I may here quote a few lines from Mr. Petrie's private report addressed to the Honorary Secretary and Executive Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, during the month of April, 1886:
"This 'brickwork, or pavement' at the entry of Pharoah's House has always been a puzzle to translators; but as soon as we began to uncover the plan of the palace, the exactness of the description was manifest; for here, outside the buildings adjoining the central tower, I found by repeated trenchings an area of continuous brickwork resting on sand, and measuring about 100 feet by 60 feet, facing the entrance to the buildings of the east corner.
"The roadway ran up a recess between the buildings, and this platform, which has no traces of superstructures, was evidently an open-air place for loading and unloading goods, or sitting out in the air, or transacting business or conversing–just such a place, in fact, as is made by the Egyptians to this day in front of their houses, where they drink coffee, and smoke in the cool of the afternoon, and receive their visitors.
"Such seems to have been the object of this large platform, which was evidently a place to meet persons who would not be admitted into the palace or fort; to assemble guards; to hold large levees; to receive tribute and stores; to unlade goods; and to transact the multifarious business which, in so hot a climate, is done in the open air. This [Page 68]  platform is therefore, unmistakably, the brickwork, or pavement, which is at the 'entry of Pharaoh's House in Tahpanhes.' The rains have washed away this area and denuded the surface, so that, although it is two or three feet thick near the palace, it is reduced in greater part to a few inches, and is altogether gone at the north-west corner."
Now, the Arabic name for a platform of this kind is "Balât;" and that we have in this "Balât" the brickwork referred to in the Bible is scarcely to be doubted by the most determined sceptic. And it is to be noted that in the alternative reading above mentioned, "the brickwork which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house" is rendered as "the pavement or square."
Here, therefore, the ceremony described by Jeremiah must have been performed, and it was upon this spot that Nebuchadnezzar was to spread his royal pavilion. It will be asked, perhaps, if Mr. Petrie actually found the stones which Jeremiah laid with mortar in the thickness of that pavement. He looked for them, of course, turning up the brickwork in every part; and he did find some large stones lying loosely on the surface. But these had probably rolled down from the wreck of the palace. At all events, it was impossible to identify them.
Meanwhile, we turn in vain to the pages of sacred and secular history for some record of the fate of those hapless princesses–the last, the very last–of the ancient and noble royal line of Judah, who were recognized as royal. What fate befell them and their followers ? Did the Assyrian pursue them with fire and sword? And was the conqueror's pavilion actually spread upon the spot marked out by the prophet ? The Bible tells us no more; but certain Egyptian inscriptions state that Nebuchadnezzar again invaded Egypt, and was defeated by Apries–Pharaoh Hophra; while on the other hand, certain Babylonian inscriptions give the victory to Nebuchadnezzar. Which are we to believe? For my own part, I unhesitatingly accept the impartial evidence of that burned and blackened pile, "the Castle of the Jew's [Page 69]  Daughters:" and I do not doubt that the invincible Assyrian wrought his uttermost vengeance upon the "remnant of Judah."
Nor must we forget the additional testimony of three clay cylinders of Nebuchadnezzar, inscribed in cuneiform characters, and now in the National Egyptian Museum. Some seven or eight years ago these cylinders were sold to Professor Maspero by an Arab who found them, as we have every reason to believe, upon this very spot; and such cylinders were precisely the memorials which Nebuchadnezzar would have left buried beneath the spot where he spread his pavilion, and planted his royal standard, in the hour of victory.





 The Buried Cities of Ancient Egypt." by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892)

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -6-

,

THE RUINS OF THE SANCTUARY (GREAT TEMPLE OF TANIS.)
THE RUINS OF THE SANCTUARY (GREAT TEMPLE OF TANIS.)
[Page 62] 

conveyed them for safety to Egypt. Their flight may be described as a later Exodus–an Exodus from Syria to Egypt, instead of from Egypt to Syria; for with them went "all the remnant of Judah, and all the captains of the forces;" a mixed multitude, in fact, consisting mainly of old men, women, and children, and such of the citizens as the sword and chains of the conqueror had spared. Convinced of the impolicy of rousing the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah vehemently opposed the project of Johanan, and prophesied against it, saying:
"And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
"Then shall it come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
"So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them." *
Johanan refused, however, to listen to Jeremiah, who, sorely against his will, threw in his lot with that of his brethren, and went across the frontier. Meanwhile Apries, with royal hospitality, placed his palace of Daphnæ at the disposal of the fugitive princesses, and granted a large tract of land to their followers. But Jeremiah continued to prophesy the pursuit of the Babylonian host, and lifted up his warning voice upon the very threshold of the palace of Pharaoh. The whole scene is thus related in the forty-third chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses:
"So they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed [Page 63]  not the voice of the Lord. Thus came they, even unto Tahpanhes. "Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
"Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in mortar, in the brickwork which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
"And say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the King of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
"And he shall come, and shall smite the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be given to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword."
I quote from the Revised Version; and it must be particularly noted that there is an alternative reading given in the margin, where the "brick-work" which is at the entry of Pharaoh's House is rendered as the "pavement" or "square."
Upon what happened after this, the Bible is silent; and beyond the scant record of this brief chronicle, we only know that Tahpanhes and Daphnæ were one and the same, and that Tell Defenneh marks this interesting meeting-point of Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, and Hebrew history. Mr. Petrie went therefore to Tell Defenneh to prove or disprove an accepted identification. There, in the midst of an arid waste, half marsh, half desert–far from roads, villages, or cultivated soil–in view of an horizon bounded by the heron-haunted lagoons of Lake Menzaleh and the mud-swamps of the plain of Pelusium–he found three groups of mounds. These groups lay from half a mile to a mile apart, the intermediate flat being covered with stone chips, potsherds, and the remains of brick foundations. These chips, potsherds, and foundations marked the site of an important city, in which the lines of the streets and the boundaries of two or three large enclosures were yet visible. Two of the mounds were apparently mere [Page 64]  rubbish-heaps of the ordinary type; the third being entirely composed of the burned and blackened ruins of a huge pile of brick buildings, visible, like a lesser Birs Nimroud, for a great distance across the plain. Arriving at his destination towards evening, foot-sore and weary, Mr. Petrie beheld this singular object standing high against a lurid sky, and reddened by a fiery sunset. His Arabs hastened to tell him its local name; and he may be envied the delightful surprise with which he learned that it was known far and near as "El Kasr el Bint el Yahudi''–the "Castle of the Jew's Daughter."
Setting to work with some forty or fifty laborers, he soon discovered that he had to do with the calcined ruins of a structure which was both a fort and a palace. It consisted of one enormous square tower containing sixteen rooms on each floor; while, built up against its outer walls, were a variety of later structures, such as might have been added for guard-rooms, offices, and the accommodation of a court. There was every evidence that the place had been taken by assault, plundered, and burned, the upper stories of the tower having fallen in and buried the basements. Layer by layer, Mr. Petrie cleared away these masses of burned rubbish–each layer a chapter in the history of the place. The royal apartments had once been lined with fine limestone slabs exquisitely sculptured and painted; but these had been literally mashed to pieces before the place was fired, and lay in splintered heaps among the débris of charred beams and blackened bricks. That this stronghold was actually built, as Herodotus states, by Psammetichus I. was proved by the discovery of that king's foundation deposits under the four corners of the building. These deposits consisted of libation vessels, corn-rubbers, specimens of ores, model bricks, the bones of a sacrificial ox and of a small bird, and a series of little tablets in gold, silver, lapis lazuli, porcelain, carnelian, and jasper, engraved with the names and titles of the royal founder. Under this mountain of rubbish, the basement chambers, [Page 65] 

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -5-

complete.

OUTLINE OF TOES OF COLOSSUS.
OUTLINE OF TOES OF COLOSSUS.

We have here an outline of the toes drawn to scale. They have been cut across the ends of the nails, and shaved up the sides by the saw of the mason. The great toe measured fourteen inches and seven-eighths, the second toe twelve inches and five-eighths, the third toe ten inches and four-eighths, the fourth toe eleven inches and two-eighths, and the little toe eight inches and four-eighths. The whole foot, when perfect, was fifty-seven inches and two-eighths in length. Although it is impossible now to prove that this gigantic statue was cut from a single block, there cannot be any reasonable doubt of the fact. Every known colossal statue in Egypt is monolithic, and it is inconceivable that the great Tanis colossus should have been an exception to this universal rule. [Page 55] 
GROUP OF OBJECTS DISCOVERED IN A PRIVATE HOUSE AT TANIS (PERIOD, THIRTIETH DYNASTY).
Desert Hare. Piece of Porcelain Sceptre. Isis and Infant Horus. Shu;
Kohi Pot. Alabaster Capital. Ram; Knum. Ta-ur.–(Pottery.)
Apis Amulet–(Pottery.) Bowl.–(Greenstone-war.)
Infant Horus.–(Bronze.) Calyx Capital.–(Bronze.) Ceramic Jar. Calyx Capital.–(Bronze.) Tahuti (Thoth).–(Greenstone-ware.)
GROUP OF OBJECTS DISCOVERED IN A PRIVATE HOUSE AT TANIS (PERIOD, THIRTIETH DYNASTY).
[Page 56]  [Page 57] 

Many very precious things were found by Mr. Petrie in the course of his work at Tanis. In the cellars of some large private mansions which perished in the great conflagration by which the city was destroyed in the time of the Emperor Diocletian, were discovered a mass of very interesting domestic relics, such as small household deities in bronze, alabaster, and glazed ware; mortars, moulds, works of art in sculpture and terra-cotta, and a great abundance of pottery, both coarse and fine. The house of one Bakakhiu contained a remarkable portrait statuette of himself; and in that of his next-door neighbor was found a zodiac painted in gold and colors upon a sheet of thin glass, this being the only known example of ancient glass-painting. From this house came the most important discovery of all; namely, seven ancient waste-paper baskets full of letters, deeds, memoranda, and other MSS. Some were on papyrus, and some on parchment; some were written in Greek, and some in the old Egyptian language, these last being penned in the hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts. These priceless documents were alone worth the whole cost of the expedition. One proves to be a mathematical treatise; another is an almanac; and another is a syllabary. The first is in the hands of Professor Revillout, of the Louvre, who has offered to translate it. The second has been translated by Mr. Petrie, and the third by Mr. Frank Llewellyn Griffith. The two latter have been quite recently published as an extra volume by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund; and the society hopes in time to publish fac-similes and translations of the entire collection.
Some very interesting work was done by M. Naville in the course of the same season in the Eastern Delta, where, at a place called Saft el-Henneh, he excavated the ruins of a black basalt temple of Rameses II., and discovered the remains of a beautiful monolithic shrine erected by Nectanebo II., the last of the native Pharaohs. What the inscription of Heliodorus was to Mr. Petrie at Naukratis, these fragments of the granite shrine were to M. Naville at Saft el- [Page 58]  Henneh. For centuries they had lain neglected in an open field, where for half the year they were covered by the waters of the inundation; yet all this time they held a secret as precious in its way as that of Naukratis–the secret of the ancient city buried in the neighboring mound. That city was none other than Goshen, the capital town of that Land of Goshen which was the special home of Israel in Egypt. I may add that, although M. Naville hesitates to positively identify the site of the ancient city of "Kes," or Goshen, with that of "Raamses," there is very strong reason for believing that Rameses II. rebuilt the place, and gave it his own name, and that in "Kes," "Goshen" (now Saft el-Henneh), we have the site of that other "treasure-city" built by the Hebrews at the time of the Great Oppression. (16)
The traveller who should turn his back upon Saft el-Hen-neh and journey northward as far as the shores of Lake Menzaleh, would there find himself upon the scene of Mr. Petrie's work in 1886 and at the foot of Tell Defenneh. Now, Tell Defenneh is a large mound, or group of mounds, situate close to Lake Menzaleh, at the extreme north-eastern corner of the Delta; and the name of this group of mounds, "Defenneh," is a corrupt Arab version of "Daphnæ," the "Daphnæ of Pelusium" of the Greek historians. The identity of Defenneh and Daphnæ has never been questioned by scholars, and the identity of both with the Biblical Tahpanhes has also been admitted by the majority of Bible commentators.
The history of Daphnæ begins with Psammetichus I., Prince of Saïs and Memphis, who fought his way to the throne by the aid of Carian and Ionian mercenary troops, and founded the Twenty-sixth Egyptian Dynasty. This event dates from about 665 B.C. Here Psammetichus constructed two large camps for the permanent accommodation of his foreign soldiers, one on each bank of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and here they founded a large military colony. In course of time, a Greek town sprang up in the neighboring plain. This was the earliest legalized [Page 59] 

GROUP OF OBJECTS CHIEFLY FOUND IN THE HOUSE OF BAKAKHUI.
GROUP OF OBJECTS CHIEFLY FOUND IN THE HOUSE OF BAKAKHUI.
Portrait-statuette of Bakakhui in Roman costume; large statuette of Thoth; group of four smaller gods; basalt mortar, cups, stone mould, grotesque jar, three Apis tablets, bas-relief sculpture of winged sphinx with mural crown, emblematic of the city of Tantis, statuete of an unnamed king in Pharaonic costume, etc., etc.
[Page 60]  [Page 61] 

settlement of Greeks in Egypt–a settlement ninety years earlier than that of Naukratis. The foreigners continued to occupy Daphnæ for nearly a century, till King Amasis, the fourth successor of Psammetichus, removed them to Memphis. Now, the immediate predecessor of Amasis was Uabra, called by the Greek "Apries," and in the Bible "Hophra." It was during the reign of Apries, about 585 B.C., that Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, who took King Zedekiah captive, put out his eyes, and bore him away, with the bulk of the Jewish citizens, to Babylon. But Zedekiah's daughters were left behind in Jerusalem, then occupied by a Chaldean garrison under a Chaldean governor. It was a time of plot and strife and disorder; and finally Johanan, the son of Kareah, acting as the guardian and adviser of the forlorn princesses,

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -4-



PLAN OF THE RUINS OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF TANIS.
PLAN OF THE RUINS OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF TANIS.
The above is reduced from Mr. Petrie's large plan in "Tanis," Part I., showing the position of the ruins within the enclosure wall, the obelisks being figured as they lie. The private houses of Roman date are marked in thicker lines than the ruins of the temple; and the dotted lines show the course of Mr. Petrie's trenches which were thirty-five in number, from seven to twenty-four feet in depth, and from fifty to four hundred feet in length. The main entrance-pylon, where a few blocks yet stand in situ, is at the west end of the great enclosure wall, the north gate being a later opening cut in Roman times. The length of the temple was one thousand feet, by seven hundred feet in breadth; and the great enclosure wall added by Pisebkhanu, an obscure king of the Twenty-first Dynasty, is no less than eighty feet thick on the south side. The avenue (necessarily omitted in our illustration) was three hundred and seventy-five feet in length.

Now, it is a very curious and interesting fact that the Pithom bricks are of three qualities. In the lower courses of these massive cellar walls they are mixed with chopped straw; higher up, when the straw may be supposed to have [Page 50]  run short, the clay is found to be mixed with reeds–the same kind of reeds which grow to this day in the bed of the old Pharaonic canal, and which are translated as "stubble" in the Bible. Finally, when the last reeds were used up, the bricks of the uppermost courses consist of mere Nile mud, with no binding substance whatever.
So here we have the whole pathetic Bible narrative surviving in solid evidence to the present time. We go down to the bottom of one of these cellars. We see the good bricks for which the straw was provided. Some few feet higher we see those for which the wretched Hebrews had to seek reeds, or stubble. We hear them cry aloud, "Can we make bricks without straw ?"
Lastly, we see the bricks which they had to make, and did make, without straw, while their hands were bleeding and their hearts were breaking. Shakespeare, in one of his most familiar passages, tells us of "sermons in stones;" but here we have a sermon in bricks, and not only a sermon, but a practical historical commentary of the highest importance and interest.
The discovery of Pithom in 1883 was followed in 1884 by Mr. Petrie's excavations at Tanis; again by his discovery of Naukratis in 1885, and of the palace-fort of Daphnæ in 1886. Then followed, in 1887, M. Naville's discovery of the Jewish cemetery in which were interred the followers of the high-priest Onias, who fled from Syria, according to Josephus, during the reign of Ptolemy Philometer; (14) and, at the latter end of the same season, came the discovery of the great temple of Bubastis.
It was, then, in 1884 that Mr. Petrie worked for the Egypt Exploration Fund on the site of that famous city called in Egyptian Ta-an, or Tsàn; transcribed as "Tanis" by the Greeks, and rendered in the Hebrew as "Zoan." It yet preserves an echo of these ancient names as the Arab village of "Sàn." This site, historically and Biblically the most interesting in Egypt, is the least known to visitors. It enjoys an evil reputation for rain, east winds, and fever; it is very diffi- [Page 51] 

SHRINE OF RAMESES II.  IN THE RUINS OF TANIS. (SANDSTONE.).
SHRINE OF RAMESES II. IN THE RUINS OF TANIS. (SANDSTONE.)
The shrine shown in this illustration is one of a pair placed on opposite sides of the great avenue of statues, sphinxes, and obelisks which led to the Temple. These shrines are of quartzite sandstone, each being cut in a single block. The surface is most delicately sculptured with groups of figures and hieroglyphic texts; while inside, enthroned at the upper end, is a triad of deities. The companion shrine to the above has been smashed to pieces.

cult of access; and it is entirely without resources for the accommodation of travellers. Not many tourists care to encounter a dreary railway trip followed by eight or ten hours in a small row-boat, with no inn and no prospect of anything but salt fish to eat at the end of the journey. The daring few take tents and provisions with them; and those few are mostly sportsmen, attracted less by the antiquities of Sân-el-Hagar than by the aquatic birds which frequent the adjacent lake. Mr. Petrie went to this desolate spot provided not only with a sufficient store of canned soups, meats, and vegetables, jam, biscuits, and the like, but also with scientific instru- [Page 52]  ments, carpenters' tools, and a large quantity of iron roofing for the mud-brick dwelling which he had to build for himself and his overseer. The great temple of Tanis-Zoan was one of the largest and most splendid in Egypt. It dated apparently from the Pyramid Period, the earliest royal name found in the ruins being that of Pepi Merira of the Sixth Dynasty. It was, however, rebuilt by Amenemhat I. and his successors of the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties, many of whom have left evidences of their work in the shape of colossal statues, obelisks, and the like. Next came Rameses II., who seems to have pulled the whole temple to pieces, in order to reconstruct it according to the style of the Nineteenth Dynasty; covering its architraves with huge hieroglyphic inscriptions, and adorning it with a forest of obelisks and an army of colossal portrait statues of himself. It now strews the ground, an utter wreck, covering a space of one thousand feet from end to end. Mr. Petrie turned, cleaned, and planned every stone in this immense ruin, and copied every hieroglyphic inscription sculptured upon the surfaces of those fallen blocks, obelisks, cornices, and statues. In the course of this laborious task he brought to light an extraordinary number of reworked stones of all periods, each stone a fragment torn from a page of history. Obelisks, statues, and historical tablets prove to have been cut up into lengths, dressed down, and built in with as little ceremony as though they were blocks fresh from the quarry. Some of these destroyed obelisks are palimpsests in stone. They date from the important times of the Eleventh and Twelfth dynasties, and were originally covered from top to bottom on all four sides with inscriptions elaborately engraved in small hieroglyphs about one inch in length. These inscriptions prove to have been effaced by Rameses II., who re-engraved the surfaces with his own titles and cartouches cut on a large scale. Finally, some three centuries later, a Sheshonk, or an Osorkon, with a sacrilegious recklessness worthy of a Turkish pasha, hewed them in pieces to build a wall and a gate-way. The historical stelæ, apparently a uniform [Page 53]  series of large size, were found in halves, none of which match, but their legends seem to have been already corroded and illegible when they were thus utilized. The other halves must either have been destroyed or are yet imbedded in the structure.
Here also Mr. Petrie discovered the remains of the largest colossus ever sculptured by the hand of man. This huge figure represented Rameses II. in that position known as "the hieratic attitude;" that is to say, with the arms straightened to the sides, and the left foot advanced in the act of walking. It had been cut up by Osorkon II., of the Twenty-second Dynasty, to build a pylon gate-way; and it was from the fallen blocks of this gate-way that Mr. Petrie recognized what it had originally been. Among these fragments were found an ear, part of a foot, pieces of an arm, part of the pilaster which supported the statue up the back, and part of the breast, on which are carved the royal ovals. Ex pede Herculem. These fragments (mere chips of a few tons each), although they represent but a very small portion of the whole, enabled Mr. Petrie to measure, describe, and weigh the shattered giant with absolute certainty. He proved to have been the most stupendous colossus known. Those statues which approach nearest to him in size are the colossi of Abû-Simbel, the torso of the Ramesseum, and the colossi of the Plain. These, however, are all seated figures, and, with the exception of the torso, are executed in comparatively soft materials. But the Rameses of Tanis was not only sculptured in the obdurate red granite of Assûan, and designed upon a larger scale than any of these, but he stood erect and crowned, ninety-two feet high from top to toe, or one hundred and twenty-five feet high, including his pedestal. This is nearly fifty feet higher than the obelisk in Central Park, New York, or than its fellow, the British obelisk on the Thames embankment. The minimum weight of the whole mass is calculated by Mr. Petrie at twelve hundred tons, this being three hundred and thirteen tons more than the estimated height of the colossus of the Ramesseum, when entire. We ask ourselves with amazement how so huge a [Page 54]  monolith was extracted unbroken from the quarry; how it was floated from Assûan to Tanis; how it was raised into its place when it reached its destination. "The effect," wrote Mr. Flinders Petrie, "when there were no high mounds here, must have been astounding. The temple was probably not more than fifty feet high, and the tallest Tanis obelisks were less than fifty feet high. The statue must, therefore, have towered some sixty-five feet above all its surroundings, and have been visible for many miles across the plain." (15) These measurements are calculated from the foot, one large block having the toes of the right foot nearly complete.

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -3-

Page 45] 

THE STORE-CELLARS OF PITHOM.
THE STORE-CELLARS OF PITHOM.

Now, "Pa-Tum" means the House, or Abode, of Tum; "Pa" being the Egyptian word for house, or abode. Thus, the temple gave its name to the city, just as "Pa-Bast "–the Abode of Bast–gave its name to the city which the Greeks called Bubastis. But as the Greeks, according to the Greek method of transcription, rendered "Pa" by "Bu," and "Bast" by "Bastis," so the Hebrews, according to the Hebrew method of transcription, rendered "Pa" by "Pi," and "Bast" by "Beseth." thus it is as "Pi-Beseth" that we read of Bubastis in the Bible. And so, in like manner, the Hebrews changed "Pa" into "Pi," and "Tum" into "Thom," when dealing with "Pa-Tum," of which they made "Pi-Thom." Accordingly, it is of this very store-fort, "Pa-Tum," that we read in the passage which I have already quoted from the first chapter of Exodus "And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pi-Thom and Raamses." [Page 46]  So, although Lepsius was mistaken in identifying Tell-el-Maskhûtah with "Raamses," he was not so very far wrong after all. The place was not "Raamses," but it was "Pithom."
But this town had also a secular name–Sukut. Now "Pa-Tum of Sukut" had been known to Egyptologists for many years in certain geographical lists of temples and local festivals sculptured on the walls of various temples in Upper Egypt; and Dr. Brugsch, our greatest authority on ancient Egyptian topography, had long ago identified it with "Pithom of Succoth." But till M. Naville excavated Tell-el-Maskhûtah, Pithom of Succoth was but a name and a theory. Now Pithom is a fact, and Sukut is a fact; and when it is remembered that the departing Hebrews "journeyed from Raamses to Succoth" on their way to Etham and Pihahiroth, it at once becomes evident that we have not only found one of the "treasure-cities" built by their hands, but that we have identified the district in which that great mixed multitude first halted to rest by the way. Identifying this district, we also identify the route of the Exodus. We know, in fact, that they went out by way of Wady Tûmilât in the direction of the modern town of Ismaïlia, a few miles north of the old Bitter Lakes which, according to the majority of geologists, now occupy what was originally the head of the Gulf of Suez. They crossed, in all probability, near Shalûf; but for clearer insight into this matter we must wait for further explorations and "more light."
But our "treasure-city" had yet another name–a name by which it was known in later times, under the Ptolemies and under the Romans; and this more recent name was Heroöpolis. A rude graffito, scratched apparently by a Roman soldier, on one of the uprights of a limestone door-way, when the place had been converted into a Roman camp, gives us this name under the form of "Ero Castra"; and it is as "Heroöpolis" that we read of Pithom in the Septuagint translation, where it is said, in the forty-sixth chapter of Genesis, that Joseph "made ready his chariot, and went up to [Page 47] 

FALLEN COLOSSUS OF MERMASHIU (THIRTEENTH DYNASTY.).
FALLEN COLOSSUS OF MERMASHIU (THIRTEENTH DYNASTY.)
This magnificent colossal statue is one of a pair which yet lie prostrate in the ruins of the great Temple of Tanis. It represents a king of whom history has preserved no record, and who would be unknown but for these twin memorials. The statues, if raised from the ground, would sit twelve feet high without counting the plinths. The modelling and anatomy are admirable, and the polished surfaces are as lustrous to this day as when first executed.

Heroöpolis to meet Jacob his father." this, however, was a verbal anachronism on the part of the Septuagint; for there was neither a Pithom nor a Heroöpolis in the time of Joseph, but only a "Land of Goshen," as correctly given in the Hebrew original. The anachronism is, however, valuable, since it shows that Pithom was already known as Heroöpolis in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus. (13) As for the historical tablet of Ptolemy Philadelphus, it is of great importance. [Page 48]  It records how this king "rebuilt the Abode of Tum," and how one of his generals "captured elephants for his Majesty" on the east coast of Africa, and brought them hither in transport ships by way of the canal. That canal was the ancient Pharaonic canal, the bed of which is yet distinctly traceable, following the same direction as the present Sweet-water Canal in the Wady Tûmilât. This tablet also mentions a place called "Pikerehet," beyond Pithom and nearer to the Red Sea, which seems to be identical with Pihahiroth, where the Israelites encamped between Migdol and the sea. The mounds of Maskhûtah, as shown in our illustration, may be described as a series of undulating sand hillocks. In the distance is seen the little railway station, now disused; and here and there a dark pit excavated in the middle distance marks one of the store-chambers, or cellars, opened by M. Naville. Not only these cellars, but also the great wall of circuit twenty-four feet in thickness, were probably the work of the oppressed Hebrews.
These subterraneous store-chambers, magazines, granaries, or whatever it may please us to call them, are solidly built square chambers of various sizes, divided by massive partition walls about ten feet in thickness, without doors or any kind of communication, evidently destined to be filled and emptied from the top by means of trap-doors and ladders. Except the corner occupied by the temple, the whole area of the great walled enclosure is honey-combed with these cellars.
They are, as I have said, well and solidly built. The bricks are large, and are made of Nile mud pressed in a wooden mould and dried in the sun. Also they are bedded in with mortar, which is not common, the ordinary method being to bed them with mud, which dries immediately, and holds almost as tenaciously as mortar. And this reminds us that Pharaoh's overseers "made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick." We remember all the details of that pitiful story–how the straw became exhausted; how the [Page 49]  poor souls were driven forth to gather in stubble for mixing with their clay; and yet how they were required to give in as large a tale of bricks at the end of each day's work as if the straw had been duly provided.

THE BURIED CITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. -2-

Now, the South-eastern Delta was for some five hundred years as much the father-land of the descendants of Jacob as modern Egypt is now the father-land of the descendants of Amr's Arab hordes. The pleasant pastures of Goshen were theirs by right of gift and settlement. There they increased and multiplied, and there for centuries they dwelt, a favored and a [Page 42]  prosperous race. All this time, while they were happy, they had no history. It was only when much fighting and building had drained Egypt of men and treasure that the Hebrews began to be oppressed; and it is with their oppression that their history as a nation may be said to commence. No part of the Bible is more dramatically interesting, or more circumstantially related, than those chapters which tell of their sufferings, their flight and their escape. Egyptologists, Hebraists, geographers, and travellers have exhausted speculation as to the road by which they went out, the places at which they halted, and the point at which they forded the great water. That they must have started by way of Wady Tûmilât is admitted by the majority of Exodus theorists. Then, as now, that famous valley was by far the shortest and most direct route from the old Land of Goshen to the desert. Then, as now, it was watered by a navigable canal, which in all probability the Hebrew settlers themselves helped to keep in repair, or possibly to excavate, and which may yet be traced for a considerable distance. Forty years ago Lepsius identified Tell Abû Suleiman at the westward mouth of the valley, and Tell-el-Maskhûtah near the eastward end, with the twin treasure-cities built for Pharaoh by the persecuted Israelites; and so unhesitatingly were his identifications accepted that these two places have ever since been entered in maps and guide-books as "Pithom" and "Raamses." Even the little railway station erected by the French engineers on the line of the Fresh-water Canal in 1860 was called " Ramses," and is so called to this day. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the argument upon which Lepsius based his identification; but it was, at all events, universally accepted. M. Naville went, therefore, to prove the correctness of this argument: and it was very much to his own surprise, and to the surprise of all concerned in his expedition, that he discovered it to be erroneous.
What M. Naville actually found under the mounds of Maskhûtah was a peribolos wall, the site of a temple, a dromos, a camp, some ruins of a city, and a series of most [Page 43] 

TELL-EL-MASKUTAH.
TELL-EL-MASKUTAH.

curious subterraneous structures, entirely unlike any architectural remains ever discovered in Egypt or elsewhere. The peribolos wall, twenty-four feet in thickness, enclosed a quadrangular space of about fifty-five thousand square yards. The temple, which occupied one corner, though small, was originally surrounded by an outer wall of brickwork, the inner walls being of fine Tûrah limestone. Both temple and city proved to have been founded by Rameses II., the names and titles of that Pharaoh being the earliest recorded in the inscriptions discovered. Statues, bas-relief sculptures, and hieroglyphic texts of various kings, priests, and officials of subsequent periods were also found upon the spot. Among these must be especially noted part of a dedicatory tablet of Sheshonk I., the Biblical Shishak, and a broken colossus of Osorkon II., both of the Twenty-second Dynasty; two statues of functionaries, engraved with [Page 44]  important inscriptions; some remains of an admirably sculptured and fully gilt wall-screen and pillar of Nectanebo I. (Thirtieth Dynasty,); and a magnificent granite stela of Ptolemy Philadelphus, which is not only the largest Ptolemaic tablet known, but is also historically the most interesting. All the foregoing kings appear to have embellished the temple. Besides readable inscriptions of various periods, an immense quantity of minute fragments, some yet showing a hieroglyph or two, were found built into walls or reduced to gravel chips. This barbarism was the work of the Romans, who, being the last occupants of the site, appear to have smashed up any available material in order to level the ground for their camp. Thus the history of the place begins with Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the Great Oppression, about 1400 B.C., and ends with a Roman milestone of Galerius Maximian and Severus, about A.D. 306 or 307. The temple was dedicated to Tum, (11) the god of the setting sun; Tum being the patron deity of the town and the surrounding district. Now, as this place was not only a store-fort but a sanctuary, so also it had a secular name and a sacred name; like our own venerable English abbey-town of Verulam, which is also called St. Albans. Its secular name proved to be "Thukut" or "Sukut," (12) and its sacred name "Pa-Tum." These particulars we learn from inscriptions found upon the spot.
Engraved, for instance, on a black granite statue of a deceased prince and high-priest named Aak, we find a prayer in which he implores "all the priests who go into the sacred abode of Tum, the great god of Sukut," to pronounce a certain funerary formula for his benefit; while a fragment of another statue is inscribed with the names and titles of one Pames Isis, who was an "official of Tum of Sukut and governor of the storehouse." In these two inscriptions (to say nothing of several others) three important facts are recorded: namely, that the place was a "storehouse," that its sacred name was Pa-Tum; and that its secular name, also the name of the surrounding district, was Sukut. [Page 45]