DOI article:
Naville, Edouard: Egypt Exploration Fund, [1]: Excavations: Work of the Winter 1892
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10054#0017
Excavations 1892.
5
nothing but crumbs of charcoal and ashes. What treasures we probably
have lost by the destruction of the library of Mendes !
From Tmci el Amdid we went over to the mound I mentioned first, a
little south of Mausoorah, Baklieh. Here is an enclosure, in the centre
of which stood a temple which never was finished, for near the entrance
is aheap of enormous blocks just as they came from the quarry. Among
them are two large capitals, in the form of a lotus flower, which had not
been polished; one of them has beeii split to make use of the stone.
Probably part only of the temple was completed, but no trace of it
remains. The interest of the place centres in the necropolis of ibises, for
the place belonged to the nonie of Thoth. The mound of the necropolis
has for many years been the mine from which the fellaheen got all
the bronze ibises, which filled the shops of the dealers in Cairo, together
with the cats of Bubastis. Like those of the cats, the bones of the ibises
were gathered together iu heaps, among which the bronzes were thrown.
The mound, when I visited it for the first time in 1885, was of a certain
height, but it has been so thoroughly worked since, that in certain parts
it has been levelled to the ground.
The only result which was obtained in Baklieh was the determination of
its Egyptian name. The geography of the Delta iu Pharaonic and even
in Greek times still presents many doubtful questions. The excavations
which have been carried out, both by Mr. Petrie and myself, have thrown
light on several of them ; but a good many points are still obscure. It
is an object which Egyptologists steadily advise us to keep in view.
Baklieh was the second sanctuary of the noine of the Ibis. It was
called iu Egyptian, Bali. I discovered this from fragments of the destroyed
temple which are in the neighbouring village, and where the name is
mentioned, or the special title of the priest of Bah. Of those fragments
the largest, which is only a small part of the monument, consists of a
piece of a very fine sarcophagus in black basalt, made for the priest
Ahmes of the time of the Sa'ites. The coffin had the names of the hours
of day and night, and Ahmes bore the title of the special priests of Thoth
" the bald-headed." This fragment was in a mill, and when it was
removed and taken out, we found underneath a limestone slab with the
names of Psammetichus II. The taking out of those stones required a
good deal of discussion; at last, with the effective help of £1 sterling,
I carried my point. I was less successful in another village where there
is a sheikh's tomb. The threshold of which is a piece of basalt with an
inscription of Nectanebo, " the worshipper of Thoth of . . . at this
point the inscription is covered by a doorpost made of bricks, and it was
5
nothing but crumbs of charcoal and ashes. What treasures we probably
have lost by the destruction of the library of Mendes !
From Tmci el Amdid we went over to the mound I mentioned first, a
little south of Mausoorah, Baklieh. Here is an enclosure, in the centre
of which stood a temple which never was finished, for near the entrance
is aheap of enormous blocks just as they came from the quarry. Among
them are two large capitals, in the form of a lotus flower, which had not
been polished; one of them has beeii split to make use of the stone.
Probably part only of the temple was completed, but no trace of it
remains. The interest of the place centres in the necropolis of ibises, for
the place belonged to the nonie of Thoth. The mound of the necropolis
has for many years been the mine from which the fellaheen got all
the bronze ibises, which filled the shops of the dealers in Cairo, together
with the cats of Bubastis. Like those of the cats, the bones of the ibises
were gathered together iu heaps, among which the bronzes were thrown.
The mound, when I visited it for the first time in 1885, was of a certain
height, but it has been so thoroughly worked since, that in certain parts
it has been levelled to the ground.
The only result which was obtained in Baklieh was the determination of
its Egyptian name. The geography of the Delta iu Pharaonic and even
in Greek times still presents many doubtful questions. The excavations
which have been carried out, both by Mr. Petrie and myself, have thrown
light on several of them ; but a good many points are still obscure. It
is an object which Egyptologists steadily advise us to keep in view.
Baklieh was the second sanctuary of the noine of the Ibis. It was
called iu Egyptian, Bali. I discovered this from fragments of the destroyed
temple which are in the neighbouring village, and where the name is
mentioned, or the special title of the priest of Bah. Of those fragments
the largest, which is only a small part of the monument, consists of a
piece of a very fine sarcophagus in black basalt, made for the priest
Ahmes of the time of the Sa'ites. The coffin had the names of the hours
of day and night, and Ahmes bore the title of the special priests of Thoth
" the bald-headed." This fragment was in a mill, and when it was
removed and taken out, we found underneath a limestone slab with the
names of Psammetichus II. The taking out of those stones required a
good deal of discussion; at last, with the effective help of £1 sterling,
I carried my point. I was less successful in another village where there
is a sheikh's tomb. The threshold of which is a piece of basalt with an
inscription of Nectanebo, " the worshipper of Thoth of . . . at this
point the inscription is covered by a doorpost made of bricks, and it was