Part 11

THE PETRIE PAPYRI.--A paper was read by Prof. Mahaffy at the Oriental Congress upon "The Gain to Egyptology from the Petrie Papyri."--The first part of the papyri placed in his hands by Mr. Flinders Petrie consisted of classical documents which had already been printed by the Royal Irish Academy in the Cunningham Memoirs. Of these a large volume had appeared, which was exciting vehement controversy in Germany. But in addition to these there was a great mass of private papers which had not yet been printed, but which had been deciphered partly by Prof. Sayce and partly by himself. These papers were in two languages-Greek and demotic, or the popular language of the Egyptians. These were in part hieroglyphs done into cursive. Of these demotic fragments a large quantity had been sent to the British Museum. The Greek papyri still remain in his own hands. Strange to say, only one of these texts is bilingual. These interesting documents might be divided into--(1) legal agreements, of which some were contracts, others receipts, others again taxing agreements; (2) correspondence, partly of a public and partly of a private character. In the former were official reports, petitions, complaints. The private correspondence was especially interesting in showing the condition of society at that date. A large number of Macedonians and Greeks were settled in the Fayum under the second Ptolemy, about 270 B.C. In addition there was a large number of prisoners from Asia, who must have been brought into Egypt after the great campaign of the third Ptolemy, about 246 B.C. This mixed body were the recipients of large grants of land in the Fayum. It was interesting to find that many of these grants were as large as 100 acres, and the occupiers are thus called [Greek: ecatontaronroi]. The farms were divided into three classes of land. First, there was what was called the Royal land, probably fruitful land was meant; the second class was called [Greek: abrochos], or land still in need of irrigation; and the third [Greek: aphoros], or land which would bear nothing. This latter was also called [Greek: almuris], or the salt marsh, which was still common in Egypt. These recipients or allottees of land were called by a name familiar to all readers of Greek history--[Greek clerouchoi]. Prof. Mahaffy had found no native landowner mentioned in the papyri. Page 95 But in many cases the natives had an interest in the crops on something like a _metayer_ system. Among the crops grown were the vine, olives, wheat, barley, rye. There was evidence in the legal papers that alienation of these farms was not allowed. Among the contracts are many between Greeks and natives. The principal officers of the Nome were the Strategos, the Oeconomos, and the [Greek: epimeletes], or overseer. The commissioner of works had charge of drainage and irrigation works. It was amusing to find that two currencies were prevalent at that period, silver and copper. This discovery disposed of the current theory that the copper currency only came in under the late Ptolemies. The phrases for the rate of exchange had long been known--[Greek: chalcos ou allage], but he had now got hold of a later term, [Greek: isonomos] which might be translated 'at par.' These documents were also valuable, as being transcriptions from Egyptian into Greek, with respect to our knowledge of the Egyptian language. As the Egyptians did not write down their vowels, the vocalisation of the language was hardly yet known. But results of much importance were gained--first, of a palaeographical, and, secondly, of a linguistic character. We now know exactly how they wrote in the third century B.C., and we have also learnt what was the Greek used by the respectable classes of that epoch. The Greek was far purer and better than that of the Septuagint would lead us to expect. There was still a large number of papers to be deciphered, and a large addition to our knowledge might be expected.--_Academy_, Sept. 24.

A GREEK PAPYRUS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.--At the Orientalist Congress in London a most interesting document was submitted by the Rev. Professor Hechler. It is a papyrus manuscript discovered a few months ago in Egypt, and is supposed by some authorities to be the oldest copy extant of portions of the Old Testament books of Zachariah and Malachi. These pages of papyrus when intact were about ten inches high and seven inches wide, each containing 28 lines of writing, both sides of the sheet being used. The complete line contains from fourteen to seventeen letters. The sheets are bound together in the form of a book in a primitive though careful manner with a cord and strips of old parchment. The Greek is written without intervals between the words. The papyrus is in fair preservation, and is believed to date from the third or fourth century. It thus ranks in age with the oldest Greek manuscripts of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament in London, Rome and St. Petersburg. The differences in this papyrus tend to the conclusion that it was copied from some excellent original of the Septuagint, which was first translated about the year 280 B.C. The first summary examination has shown that it has several new readings which surpass some of the other Septuagint Page 96 texts in clearness of expression and simplicity of grammar. It would also appear that it was copied from another Septuagint Bible and was not written, as was frequently the case, from dictation. A second scribe has occasionally corrected some mistakes of orthography made by the original copyist. These are still to be distinguished by the different color of the ink.

Professor Hechler said it was sincerely to be hoped that this papyrus of the Bible, probably the oldest now known to exist, would soon be published in fac-simile.

THE DATE OF THE AEGEAN POTTERY.--Quite a discussion has been carried on between Mr. Flinders Petrie and Mr. Cecil Torr on the subject of the period of the Aegean pottery in Egypt which Mr. Torr regards as having been assigned to too early a date by Mr. Petrie. The recent discovery of such fragments in the ruins of the palace of Khuenaten at Tell-el-Amarna, which existed for little over half a century in the xiv century B.C., would appear to prove beyond doubt the correctness of Mr. Petrie's position.--See _Classical Review_ for March; Academy, May 14 and 21, etc.

A PROFESSORSHIP OF EGYPTOLOGY.--Miss A.B. Edwards has left almost the whole of her property to found a professorship of Egyptology, under certain conditions, at University College, London, The value of the chair will amount to about $2,000 a year. Mr. W.M. Flinders Petrie has been appointed to this chair, and no better selection could have been made.

EXCAVATIONS BY DR. BRUGSCH, COUNT D'HULST AND M. NAVILLE.--Dr. H. Brugsch has been excavating during the past spring in the Fayoum. At Hawara he has discovered a considerable number of painted portraits. At Illahun he opened a tomb of the eleventh dynasty, which had not been entered since the mummy was originally deposited in it. Unfortunately the roof fell in before it could be properly cleared out. At Shenhour he came across the remains of a small temple. Since leaving the Fayoum he has been working on the site of Sais.

Count d'Hulst has been excavating at Behbet, near Mansourah, on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund. The ruined temple there is Ptolemaic, but the cartouche of Ramses II has been found in the course of the excavations.

Mr. Naville has returned to Europe. His excavations at Jmei el-Amdîd, the supposed site of Mendes, have been unfruitful, and he has fared no better at Tel el-Baghliyeh.--_Athenaeum_ May 16.

Page 97 EXCAVATIONS BY LIEUT. LYONS AT WADY HALFAH, ABUSIR, MATUGAH.--Lieut. H.G. Lyons has been continuing exploration at _Wady Halfah_. He has cleared out the sand from one of the temples, and found there eleven slabs with figures of a king making offerings to the god Horus of Behen or Wady Halfah in a chamber in front of the Hall of Columns. The names in the cartouches have been erased, and it is, therefore, impossible to identify the king. A second temple, with sandstone pillars and mud brick walls, is inscribed in many places with the name of Thothmes IV. This building had been flooded and filled to a depth of 2 ft. with fine sand. The third temple of Wady Halfah was completely surrounded by a line of fortifications, the flanks of which rest on the river, but of these works only the foundation remains. The discovery of them is, however, decidedly important, for in them we must see beyond doubt the great frontier fortress which marked the limit of the rule of Egypt on the south.

About five miles beyond the rock of _Abusir_, Lieut. Lyons has excavated the large space, about two hundred yards square, which is mentioned in Burckhard's 'Travels in Nubia,' and upon which stand the ruined walls of what has been variously described as a Roman fort or a monastery. He has come to the conclusion that the building is undoubtedly Egyptian, and has traced the site of the ancient stone temple inside it.

He reports that he has discovered old Egyptian fortresses at Halfa and at Matuga, twelve miles south, the latter containing a cartouche of Usertesen III: and has opened three rocktombs at Halfa.--_Academy_, July 16 and Aug. 6.

NOTES BY PROF. SAYCE.--Besides Tel el-Amarna, I have visited El-Hibeh and the little temple of Shishak, which was uncovered there last year. It is, unfortunately, in a most ruinous condition. One of the natives took me to a recently-found necropolis at a place under the cliffs called Ed-Dibân, some two miles distant, which is plainly of the Roman age, and its occupants belonged to the poorer classes.

In the White Monastery near Sohâg, I found a stone with the cartouche of Darius, which had formed part of the ancient temple of Crocodilopolis.

I picked up some fine flint spear-heads near the line of Roman forts on the north side of the Gebel Sheikh Embârak, where I discovered an enormous manufactory of flint weapons and tools three years ago.

Lastly, I may add that at the back of the Monastery of Mari Girgis, about three miles south of Ekhmim, I found that another cemetery of the early Coptic period has been discovered, and Page 98 that it is providing the dealers with fresh supplies of ancient embroideries.--A.H. SAYCE, in _Academy_, Feb. 27.

PRESERVATION OF MOHAMMEDAN MONUMENTS.--The Soc. for the Protection of Ancient Buildings has protested, through Sir Evelyn Baring, against the so-called restoration of the mosque El-Mouyayyed and the mosque of Barkouk. It is proposed to rebuild the domed minaret of Barkouk's mosque and the suppressed bell-tower of the Sultan's mosque, which is to be replaced by a bulbous roof.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 31.

ABU-SIMBEL.--The Council of Ministers has granted £1,000 for the preservation of Abu-Simbel, which is in danger of partial destruction. The rock above the four colossi on the façade, which is of sandstone with layers of clay, had become fissured, threatening an immediate fall. A party of sappers from the army of occupation have been sent to the temple, who, after binding with chains the falling rock, will break it up. Further examination will be made to ascertain whether additional work is required for the protection of this temple.--_Academy_, March 5.

ASSOUAN.--DAM.--A huge dam is to be thrown across the Nile at Assouan: its height will raise the water to the level of the floors of the ruins at Philae, enhancing rather than detracting from their picturesque grandeur. It is said that the structure of the dam will harmonize with the ancient architecture of Philae. The material already cut and lying in the quarries of Assouan will be almost sufficient to complete the dam.--_Biblia_, V. p. 109.

TOMBS.--Some new tombs have been opened, one by the Crown Princess of Sweden and Norway, the other by Mr. James. One of them belonged to the reign of Nofer-Ka-Ra; and, in an inscription found in it, Prof. Schiaparelli has read the name of the land of Pun, which accordingly, was already known to the Egyptians in the age of the dynasty.--PROF. SAYCE in _Academy_.

CAIRO (NEAR). DESTRUCTION OF AN ANCIENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.--Rev. Greville J. Chester writes (_Acad._ March 19). Permit me to draw public attention to an almost incredible act of vandalism which was perpetrated during the last year in Egypt, close to the capital. The finest Roman ruin in Egypt was the fortress of Babylon, south of Cairo, known also as Mus'r el Ateekeh and Dayr esh Shemma. One of the most interesting sights in that Dayr was the Jewish synagogue, anciently the Christian Church of St. Michael, but desecrated by being handed over in the Page 99 middle ages by an Arab Sultan to the Jews, and thenceforward to the present time used by them as a place of worship. The building was of much architectural interest. The old Christian nave and aisles were preserved intact; but the Jews had destroyed the apse which must have existed, and had replaced it by a square Eastern sanctuary, and over the niche, within which were preserved the Holy Books of the Law, had adorned the wall with numerous Hebrew texts executed in gesso, forming an interesting example of Jewish taste and work in the middle ages. Some of the ancient Christian screenwork of wood was preserved, but was turned upside down, probably because gazelles and other animals formed part of the design. Behind this building, in a sort of court, the very finest portion of the original wall of the Roman fortress was visible, and, what is more important, the inner and most perfect circuit of one of the Roman bastion-towers, which outside looked out on the desert.

All this is now a thing of the past. The Jews have razed the ancient church and synagogue to the ground, and in its place have erected a hideous square abomination, supported internally on iron pillars. Of the fine Roman wall which bounded the property, and with it the bastion-tower, with its courses of brick at regular intervals, and its deeply-splayed windows, not a vestige now remains.

CAIRO.--GIZEH MUSEUM.--M. de Morgan has been appointed director of the Museum in place of M. Grébaut. This will meet with general approval. He is young and energetic, and the work he has done in the Caucasus and in Persia has placed him in the front rank of archaeologists and explorers. Moreover, he is an engineer, and therefore possesses a practical knowledge which, in view of the conservation of the ancient monuments of Egypt, is a matter of prime importance. He has asked the Board of Public Works for £50,000 in order to secure the building against fire; it is built of very inflammable material. During the past summer the museum has been entirely rearranged by him. Of the rooms in the palace, only some thirty-eight contained antiquities last winter; now, however, about eighty-five are used as exhibition rooms, and, for the first time, it is possible to see of what the Egyptian collection really consists. On the ground floor the positions of several of the large monuments have been changed, and the chronological arrangement is better than it was before. In one large room are exhibited for the first time eleven fine _mastaba_ stelæ of the Ancient Empire, (VI. Dyn.) which were brought from Sakkarah during the past summer; they are remarkable for the brightness of the colours, the vigour of the figures, and the beauty of the hieroglyphics. On the same floor are two splendid colossal statues of the god Ptah which have been excavated at Memphis the hieroglyphics. On the same floor are two splendid colossal statues of the god Ptah which have been excavated at Memphis Page 100 during last summer, and many other large objects from the same site. In a series of rooms, approached from the room in which the Dêr el-Bahari mummies are exhibited, are arranged the coffins and mummies of the priests of Amen which were brought down from Thebes two years ago. The coffins are of great interest, for they are ornamented with mythological scenes and figures of gods which seem to be peculiar to the period immediately following the rule of the priest-kings at Thebes, _i.e._, from about B.C. 1000 to 800.

A new and important feature in the arrangement of the rooms on the upper floor is the section devoted to the exhibition of papyri. Here in flat glazed cases are shown at full length fine copies of the 'Book of the Dead,' hieratic papyri, including the unique copy of the 'Maxims of Ani.' and many other papyri which have been hitherto inaccessible to the ordinary visitor. To certain classes of objects, such as scarabs, blue glazed _faïence_, linen sheets, mummy bandages and garments, terracotta vases and vessels, alabaster jars, &c., special rooms are devoted. The antiquities which, although found in Egypt, are certainly not of Egyptian manufacture, _e.g._, Greek and Phornician glass, Greek statues, tablets inscribed in cuneiform from Tel el-Amarna, &c., are arranged in groups in rooms set apart for them; and the monuments of the Egyptian Christians or Copts are also classified and arranged in a separate room.--_Athenæum_, May 14 and Nov. 19.

THE FRENCH SCHOOL AT CAIRO.--M. Maspero analyzed before the _Acad. des Inscr._ (Oct. 28), the recent work and immediate prospects of the French School at Cairo. The _Memoirs_ recently issued show the field that it covers at present. First comes a fascicule of Greek texts, the mathematical papyrus of Akmim, explained and commented by M. Baillet; a long fragment of the Greek text of the Book of Enoch, remains of the apocryphal Gospel and Apocalypse of St. Peter, reproduced by M. Bouriant. All these works are of extreme importance for primitive church history. Arab archæology is represented by memoirs of M. Casonova on an Arab globe, on sixteen Arab steles, and especially by M. Burgoin's great work on Arab art in Egypt. Father Scheil makes an incursion into Assyriology by his publication of some of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, and in this connection M. Maspero states that the intention of the school is to extend their researches to Syria and Mesopotamia and to include the entire East both ancient and modern. In the Egyptian domain, besides the Theban fragments of the Old Testament and the remains of the Acts of the Council of Ephesos, the notable event is the appearance of the first fasciculus of the work on _Edfu_ by M. de Rochemonteix. In it a Page 101 complete temple will be placed before students. The entire Egyptian religion will be illustrated, in all its rituals,--ritual of foundation, of sacrifice, of the feast of Osiris. M. Benedite has commenced in the same way the publication of the Temples of Philae.--_Revue Critique_, 1892, No. 45.

The investigations enumerated above are far from being all. They represent merely the official governmental side of the work. The learned societies have done a great deal; such as the Ecole des lettres of Algiers, the management of historical monuments (Tebessa), and the French School of Rome.

EL-KARGEH.--PLASTER BUSTS.--At a meeting of the _Académie des Inscriptions_, M. Héron de Villefosse exhibited four painted plaster busts from El-Kargeh, in the Great Oasis, which have recently been sent to the Louvre by M. Bouriant, director of the French School at Cairo. They have been taken from the lids of sarcophagi; but the peculiarity about them is that the heads were not in the same plane with the body, but as it were erect. The features have been modelled with extraordinary verisimilitude; the eyes are of some glassy material, in black and white; the hair was modelled independently, and afterwards fitted to the plaster head; the painting is in simple colours--various shades of red for the skin, and black or brown for the hair. M. Héron de Villefosse maintained that they were certainly portraits. The physiognomy of one is Jewish; another recalls a bronze head from Cyrene in the British Museum, which Fr. Lenormant considered to be of Berber type; the third might be Syrian, and the fourth Roman. The date is probably about the time of Septimius Severus. M. Maspero declared that he had never seen anything of the kind in any museum.--_Academy_, July 9.

These busts have been placed on exhibition at the Louvre, in the _Salle des fresques_.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 28.

According to a writer in the _Temps_, two are Greeks, one Syrian and one a Jew. The Greeks are blond with straight hair; the others have dark brown curly hair. All are bearded. The drapery is white.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 30.

The department of Greek and Roman antiquities at the Louvre has also received from M. Bouriant two funerary inscriptions found in the necropolis dating from the second century A.D. One is Latin, tha other Greek.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 32.

CHATBI (NEAR).--NECROPOLIS.--M. Botti has discovered between Chatbi and Ibrahimieh a Roman necropolis of the first or second century A.D.. at a depth of fourteen metres. It is excavated in soft calcareous stone and its chambers and corridors are Page 102 reached by a rock-cut staircase.

The bodies are both laid on the floor and placed in jars. They were intact.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 30.

EL-QAB.--Mr. Taylor has been excavating here for the Egypt exploration fund, in continuation of the previous year's work. Prof. Sayce reports, after Mr. Taylor's departure (_Acad._, March 12), that more of the foundations of the old temple which stood within the temple were then visible than the preceding year. The fragmentary remains show that among its builders were Usertesen (xii dyn.), Sebekhotep II (xiii dyn.), Amenophis I and Thothmes III (xviii dyn.) and Nektanebo I (xxx dyn.) In one of the tombs Nofer-Ka-Ra is alluded to as (apparently) the original founder of the sanctuary.

GEBELEN.--TEMPLE OF HOR-M-HIB.--Prof. Sayce writes. "On the voyage from Luxor to Assuan I stopped at Gebelon, and found that the Bedouin squatters there had unearthed some fragments of sculptured and inscribed stones on the summit of the fortress built by the priest-king Ra-men-kheper and queen Isis-m-kheb to defend this portion of the Nile. On examination they turned out to belong to a small temple which must once have stood on the spot. The original temple, I found, had been constructed of limestone by Hor-m-hib, the last king of the xviii dynasty, and brilliantly ornamented with sculpture and painting. Additions had been made to the temple, apparently by Seti I.; since besides the stones belonging to Hor-m-hib, there were other fragments of the same limestone as that of which the temple of Seti at Abydos is built, and covered with bas-reliefs and hieroglyphs in precisely the same delicate style of art. Eventually a building of sandstone had been added to the original temple on the west side by Ptolemy VII Philometor. It may be noted that Ra-men-kheper used bricks burnt in the kiln as well as sun-dried bricks in the construction of the fortress, as he also did in the construction of the fortress at El-Hibeh.--_Academy_, March 12."

HAT-NUB.-THE EARLY QUARRY.-This interesting quarry has been recently discovered by Mr. Griffith. Mr. Petrie writes: Allow me to note that in this quarry, described by Mr. Griffith (_Academy_, Jan. 23), and situated ten miles southeast of El Tell in this plain, the main quarry does not contain any name later than the vi Dynasty. The tablet in the thirtieth year being of Pepi II (Nefer-ka-ra), and mentioning the _sed_ festival in that year, this might refer to the Sothiac festival of 120 years falling in that year, and so be important as a datum. There are seven painted inscriptions of Pepi II, containing about fifty lines in all. There are also a great number of incised graffiti.--_Academy_, Feb. 20. Page 103