DOI Artikel:
Naville, Edouard: Egypt Exploration Fund, [3]: Excavations, Work at the Temple of Deir el Bahari
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10055#0020
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Egypt Exploration Fund.
placed square abaci. The chapel opening on the hall is reached by a
flight of three steps, and has three chambers. On the walls are painted
scenes of offerings, chiefly made to Anubis, indicating the funerary
character of the building. The hall is one of the best preserved monu-
ments of Thebes, and gives one a faint idea of a Greek temple. Over it
was a flat terrace, evidently never used, since I found there last year the
ebony panel and door which are now exhibited in the Ghizeh museum.
The effect produced by the hall is increased by the fine colonnade
which pins it at right angles and follows the base of the mountain. It
consists of fifteen columns of the same style and height as those of the
hall; they are erected before a wall of white limestone which leans
against the rock. This part of the temple was never completed. The
wall and the columns were intended to form a covered portico like
those of the platforms, but of the ceiling only one block was put into
position, and it is unfinished; nor are there any sculptures or paintings.
On this wall open four rock-cut chapels, with built ceilings in the shape
of a pointed false arch. The walls were evidently intended to receive
funerary sculptures or paintings, which were never executed. This
side of the temple seems not to have been built with the same care as
the southern part; the pavement is rougher, and the masonry often
bears traces of careless work. Probably some reason such as the death
of the queen prevented its being finished. In front of the colonnade
and of the hall there is a large space entirely cleared. The heap of
rubbish still left on the platform prevents the whole being seen to-
gether ; but when it is removed, the view of the platform, the hall, and
the colonnade will be very striking.
The colonnade is prolonged by a wall which continues as far as the
lowest platform. Along this wall and between the columns we found
most of the small objects which have been brought to London : I mean
the beads, the scarabs, of which there is a fine collection, and the frag-
ments of pottery. Between the columns are partitions made of mud
bricks, forming little rooms or cells, which I consider as the dwellings
of embalmers. We know from documents that many people engaged
in the industry of embalming bodies and making coffins were settled in
that part of Thebes, in the great necropolis where there were thousands of
tombs. Such were the inhabitants of the dwellings in which we found
quantities of beads, generally broken, and scarabs, most of them with
the blue glaze characteristic of Deir el Bahari, some of which are very
fine. Another piece of evidence is to be detected in the fact that close
to the lower platform we found several large jars, filled either with a large
Egypt Exploration Fund.
placed square abaci. The chapel opening on the hall is reached by a
flight of three steps, and has three chambers. On the walls are painted
scenes of offerings, chiefly made to Anubis, indicating the funerary
character of the building. The hall is one of the best preserved monu-
ments of Thebes, and gives one a faint idea of a Greek temple. Over it
was a flat terrace, evidently never used, since I found there last year the
ebony panel and door which are now exhibited in the Ghizeh museum.
The effect produced by the hall is increased by the fine colonnade
which pins it at right angles and follows the base of the mountain. It
consists of fifteen columns of the same style and height as those of the
hall; they are erected before a wall of white limestone which leans
against the rock. This part of the temple was never completed. The
wall and the columns were intended to form a covered portico like
those of the platforms, but of the ceiling only one block was put into
position, and it is unfinished; nor are there any sculptures or paintings.
On this wall open four rock-cut chapels, with built ceilings in the shape
of a pointed false arch. The walls were evidently intended to receive
funerary sculptures or paintings, which were never executed. This
side of the temple seems not to have been built with the same care as
the southern part; the pavement is rougher, and the masonry often
bears traces of careless work. Probably some reason such as the death
of the queen prevented its being finished. In front of the colonnade
and of the hall there is a large space entirely cleared. The heap of
rubbish still left on the platform prevents the whole being seen to-
gether ; but when it is removed, the view of the platform, the hall, and
the colonnade will be very striking.
The colonnade is prolonged by a wall which continues as far as the
lowest platform. Along this wall and between the columns we found
most of the small objects which have been brought to London : I mean
the beads, the scarabs, of which there is a fine collection, and the frag-
ments of pottery. Between the columns are partitions made of mud
bricks, forming little rooms or cells, which I consider as the dwellings
of embalmers. We know from documents that many people engaged
in the industry of embalming bodies and making coffins were settled in
that part of Thebes, in the great necropolis where there were thousands of
tombs. Such were the inhabitants of the dwellings in which we found
quantities of beads, generally broken, and scarabs, most of them with
the blue glaze characteristic of Deir el Bahari, some of which are very
fine. Another piece of evidence is to be detected in the fact that close
to the lower platform we found several large jars, filled either with a large