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Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia, by Richard Lepsius. Volume I, Lower Egypt and Memphis. (Translated from the 1897 German edition, edited by Kurt Sethe).
(part 1)
Alexandria: 18-30 Sept. 1842 (p.1)
In
the courtyard of the Greek consulate (across the street at the end of
Frankenplatz) there is a large black square stone, which was cut
differently for later use, with the second cartouche of King Hakoris.
(fig.1-1.) [a]
On either side of the French consul's
courtyard (south side of Frankenplatz) there are pieces of 2 columns,
one with the second cartouche of Ptolemy (fig.1-2a), the other with the gold Horus
name of Nectanebo (fig.1-2b). [b]
50 paces north of the Duane
on the quay are two seated granite statues of Ramesses II [c] on his back,
one made of red granite which has no head, but is otherwise in good
condition. (fig.2). It is now 1 1/2 m high. The other,
made of black granite with a pschent over the cap, is now 2.05 m, but
the feet above the ankles are missing. The face is not well preserved.
Not
far from there lies another colossal group made of one piece, a king
and behind him a goddess, the heads are missing: (fig.1-3)
On
the east side of the substructure of the Pompey Column, the first
cartouche of Psametich I [1] [ d] stands upside down on the middle block at
head
height (fig.1-4). The block is made of hard yellowish sandstone, while
the lowest layer of the blocks is made of red granite.
In the
work, "Aegyptiaca or observations on certain antiquities of Egypt. Part
I The History of Pompey's Pillar elucidated", pl. 3, the column (p.2)
is shown with the substructure, and in the latter a block with an
inscription of the same king, which is now, if I remember correctly, in
the British Museum.
Only one of the royal cartouches has been
preserved here (fig.2-1). The block could have been removed from the north or
east side, which is completely glued with lime. Both blocks prove that
the king had built there nearby.
I have corrected the inscriptions on the two obelisks of Alexandria published by Burton (Excerpta hierogl.pl.51,52)
in my copy. On the outermost pages next to the lines of Ramesses II's
inscription there is a previously unknown king [Smendes] [1] [e], whose
first shield can be read thus: (fig.2-2).
The same names appear to have appeared
on all 8 edges and each row appears to have had 2 double cartouches,
but it remains uncertain whether the cartouches of the same king were
repeated or whether another was named. From the 2nd cartouche, which is
everywhere very indestructible, it seems to be seen as: (fig.2-3)
Fig.3: Illustrations on p.2 of text.
Of the
other two cartouches, the upper one is also indelible,[3] and one still
seems to be able to recognize the second cartouche: (fig.2-4) The
inscriptions begin approximately 10 feet above the base. - The west
side of the fallen obelisk appears to be on top.
Rosetta (pp.2-3)
Half
an hour's walk from Rosettathor, to the right of the road to Rosette
and Abukir, about 100 steps to the left of Ibrahim Pasha's irrigation
channel, there are 2 colossal statues in black granite, a Roman
emperor, it seems, or one very late Ptolemy, and his wife, both of
equally colossal proportions. The back had no inscription, the noses
are unfortunately mutilated. In the case of the emperor, who wore the
diadem (fig.2-5) over the cap, the locks of hair under the cap are visible in
Egyptian style. (See Supplementary volume Table I a b).
(p.3) In
front of Mr. Briggs' old house lies a well-crafted elephant made of red
granite, but whose trunk and legs are missing. (Supplementary volume
Table Ic).
In the possession of the Austrian Consul General
Laurin is a sandstone pyramid from the Rammesside period. The
deceased's name is (fig.3-2a). He is depicted praying on two opposite
sides, Osiris (fig.3-1a) on the other two and (fig.3-1b) with a ram's head and
discus. Below the deceased has the title etc. (fig.3-2b). On the one
hand, his name Miamun-Ramses is only written as such (fig.3-1c) because there was
no more space for it.
The same Mr. Laurin also owns a Greek mortuary
monument, which was sold in Constantinople: (fig.3-3).
A
head in white marble of Greek or Roman work, which I received from Dr.
Schrieber received as a gift is now in Berlin (No. 2122)
Mr. Harris owns an ancient cubit that was found among the stone blocks of the Pylon of Horus in Karnak.
.
Sa el Hager (Sais) 1 October 1842. (pp.3-4)
Site
plan of the ruins (fig.5) - View of the ruins from a hill behind
the so-called Acropolis, from E. to W. (fig.6.)
A 58 foot
thick wall of Nile earth zigzags [surrounds the city]; The inner half
of the city wall on the west side is 850 paces long, with a stratum
pipe running between each strata of bricks (p.4). The bricks [measure]
1 foot 4 inches x 4 inches x 8 inches [see views of a brick in fig. 5.]
Fig5: Site plan of Sais ruins (DM I, plate 55-1)
60-80 paces from the eastern wall and 330 from the
southern wall lies the Acropolis, the outside, parallel to the eastern
wall, c. 100 paces wide. Its length was c. 320 paces.
To
the N.W of the city lies the necropolis of considerable size, as is the
city itself, built of fired and unfired bricks. Everything has been dug
up for a long time. Laurin has a large block of granite with the
figures of a king, an unrecognizable god and Horus. We found a
limestone there with well-cut hieroglyphs from the Psametich period.
Fig.6: View of the ruins of Sais from a hill behind Acropolis (DM I, plate 56-2)
Daharieh, Naharieh, El Teirieh: 3-4 Oct. 1842. (p.4)
A
few miles south of Sais, on the opposite western bank, lies Daharieh,
where remnants of the old Rosetta Canal can still be seen; the hill
range from c. 20 feet high runs half an hour into the country and
borders the eastern bank of the canal.
Even further south, on
the eastern bank of the river behind Kufr Lebsieh, there are other
ruins in the two towns of Kalib and Naharieh, between which a canal
runs, c. 3/4 hour from the Nile. -- In the village of Naharieh there
are many stones (from a temple) with the names of Psametich II and
Hophra: (fig 7-1): [f]
On a threshold, the crown of Lower Egypt is placed on the king's head by the god Chnubis, it seems (if not Thoth?).
Ca.
1 hour from El Teirieh on the western bank; on the edge of the desert,
against ruins. No stones remain except a tomb, which appears to be
covered with very large colossus, undescribed.
Fig.7: Inscriptions from Daharieh: 1) illustration on p.4 of DM I; 2) DM III, plate 274h; 3) DM III, plate 274i.
Footnotes:
1. There is a paper impression of this cartouche available (A.5).
2. cf. Lepsius A.Z. xx.104.
3. There are indelible paper impressions of the signs in Berlin (A.6).
[Editor's notes:]
a. Hakoris (Achoris) reigned ca. 390-379 BC at the end of the 29th Dynasty.
b. Nectanebo I (r. 380-362 BC); Nectanebo II (r. 360-343 BC); both of the 30th Dynasty.
c. Ramesses II, of the 19th Dynasty, reigned from 1279-1213 BC.
d. Psametich I (Psamtik) reigned 664-610 BC (26th Dynasty, Saite).
e. Smendes I (r. 1077-1051 BC); Smendes II (r. 992-990), both of 21st Dynasty.
f. Psametich II (Psamtik) reigned 595-589 BC (26th Dynasty, Saite).
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