DOI article:
Griffith, Francis Ll.: Progress of Egyptology: archaeology, hieroglyphic studies, etc.
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11503#0049
Archaeology, Hieroglyphic Studies, Etc.
37
same writer notes that his own identifications of modern Nuba roots in
the Nubian place-names recorded and translated by Pliny had nearly
all been anticipated by the learned and brilliant Ileinrich Brugsch iu his
Siebenjahriges Hunger snot, published in 1891 {A. Z. xxxiv. 91).
Sethe has written learned and interesting articles on Berenice and
the Blemmyes in Pauly Wissowa's Real Encyclopaedic.
At Wanina near Sohag is a temple of Ptolemy Soter II., giving the
name of a god Horus Ami. Shenf. The locality named Shent was at or
near this spot (Daressy, Hoc. de Tr. xix. 21): hero is also a note on
a locality sacred to Mut.
Baedekers JEgyften, always useful for reference to Egyptologists
at home, as well as to travellers, has been thoroughly revised and
in great part re-written by Professor Steindorfp. He has com-
pressed the two volumes into one, omitting much that was of interest
to specialists only, but bringing the more important information up
to date.
Schweinfurth (Zeits. d. Gesellsch. f. Erdk. zu Berlin, xxxii.) gives a
very interesting account of his observations in the seldom visited
quarries of Mons (Jlaudianus. The mountainous region between the Nile
and the Red Sea was rarely traversed by the Egyptians, who had a
superstitious dread of it, though Bedawin wandered here and there
over the district. The Quser route through the desert to the Red Sea
was the only one which the Egyptians were accustomed to follow, and
there they quarried basalt from the earliest times. Under the Ptolemies
the impulse given to trade led to the establishment of fresh routes, and
under the Romans the region was systematically explored for new varieties
of stone, to suit the builder and sculptor. The porphyry quarries of
Mons Porphyrites were then opened, and some forty miles south of
them the granite quarries at Gebel Fatireh, known as the Mons
Claudianus. The gi'anite here found is grey, easily worked, but not of
very good quality; in every respect it closely resembles that of Oomo in
Italy. The difficulty of transporting the stone to the Nile must have
been enormous, and if these quarries had not offered a safe limbo for
state prisoners, probably they would never have been opened. Such
quarries were worked for perhaps three centuries, from the time of
Claudius to that of Constantine; but the remains at Gebel Fatireh
indicate a shorter period. These consist of a fort surrounded by
huts, houses, and stables, a well, and perhaps the remains of a conduit
from a water tower. One monolithic column has been found there no
less than 51 ft. high.
37
same writer notes that his own identifications of modern Nuba roots in
the Nubian place-names recorded and translated by Pliny had nearly
all been anticipated by the learned and brilliant Ileinrich Brugsch iu his
Siebenjahriges Hunger snot, published in 1891 {A. Z. xxxiv. 91).
Sethe has written learned and interesting articles on Berenice and
the Blemmyes in Pauly Wissowa's Real Encyclopaedic.
At Wanina near Sohag is a temple of Ptolemy Soter II., giving the
name of a god Horus Ami. Shenf. The locality named Shent was at or
near this spot (Daressy, Hoc. de Tr. xix. 21): hero is also a note on
a locality sacred to Mut.
Baedekers JEgyften, always useful for reference to Egyptologists
at home, as well as to travellers, has been thoroughly revised and
in great part re-written by Professor Steindorfp. He has com-
pressed the two volumes into one, omitting much that was of interest
to specialists only, but bringing the more important information up
to date.
Schweinfurth (Zeits. d. Gesellsch. f. Erdk. zu Berlin, xxxii.) gives a
very interesting account of his observations in the seldom visited
quarries of Mons (Jlaudianus. The mountainous region between the Nile
and the Red Sea was rarely traversed by the Egyptians, who had a
superstitious dread of it, though Bedawin wandered here and there
over the district. The Quser route through the desert to the Red Sea
was the only one which the Egyptians were accustomed to follow, and
there they quarried basalt from the earliest times. Under the Ptolemies
the impulse given to trade led to the establishment of fresh routes, and
under the Romans the region was systematically explored for new varieties
of stone, to suit the builder and sculptor. The porphyry quarries of
Mons Porphyrites were then opened, and some forty miles south of
them the granite quarries at Gebel Fatireh, known as the Mons
Claudianus. The gi'anite here found is grey, easily worked, but not of
very good quality; in every respect it closely resembles that of Oomo in
Italy. The difficulty of transporting the stone to the Nile must have
been enormous, and if these quarries had not offered a safe limbo for
state prisoners, probably they would never have been opened. Such
quarries were worked for perhaps three centuries, from the time of
Claudius to that of Constantine; but the remains at Gebel Fatireh
indicate a shorter period. These consist of a fort surrounded by
huts, houses, and stables, a well, and perhaps the remains of a conduit
from a water tower. One monolithic column has been found there no
less than 51 ft. high.