DOI Artikel:
Grenfell, Bernard P.; Hunt, Arthur S.: Egypt Exploration Fund: graeco-roman branch (excavations in the Fayûm)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12583#0019
Gbaeco-Boman Branch.
5
consisted of papyrus, but unfortunately the dampness of the ground in that
part of the Fayum had caused it to decay, and in only two or three
instances of the shallowest graves did we find any papyrus strong enough
to hear touching. Near the town on the north-west was yet another
Ptolemaic cemetery, though of a later period (second or first century B.C.),
and here, too, many of the mummies had had papyrus cartonnage, but in all
cases it had been reduced to the condition of powder.
The houses at Dime, the provenance of the countless documents from
Socnopaei Nesus in the museums of Europe, proved, as we had anticipated,
all but exhausted. Only in a cellar of one house which had already been
dug down to the ground floor did we make a large find of rolls; but these,
fortunately, are of more than usual interest on account of their date,
which is the first century B.C. No traces of a pre-Ptolemaic settlement
were found at Dime itself; and the level of many of the Ptolemaic tombs,
especially those on the south-west side of the town, on the right of the road
leading down to the lake, confirms our view (cf. Fayum Towns and their
Papyri, p. 6) that Socnopaei Nesus (the ancient name of Dime) had long
ceased to be an island in Ptolemaic times.
The stone causeway, of which the lower end has been sometimes
supposed to be a quay, is probably merely a raised street leading up to the
temple enclosure, as at Bubastis. The temple at Dime really consists of
two buildings ; the northern is built of well-hewn blocks like the temples of
Kom Ushim and Kasr Kurun, while the southern is built partly of brick,
partly of roughly-hewn stone. These are the u^orepa Upd mentioned in
an inscription from Dime, published by Dr. Mahaffy (Hermathena, 1895,
p. 243 = Strack, Bynastie der Ptolemaer, Anhang no. 141), one of which
was dedicated to Isis Sononoaes, Harpocrates and Premarres (ibid.), the other
to Socnopaeus and Isis Nepherses. The " straight road " mentioned in the
same inscription as having been built " from the dromos of Premarres to
the vaftXa and the bridges " was probably one of the roads leading north-
west from the town, for the central causeway must have been built before
the date of that inscription (Ptolemy Alexander). The "dromos" of
Premarres (cf. ibid. no. 142) was perhaps the temple enclosure itself,
unless it was the causeway leading up to it.
On rising ground about three quarters of a mile north-west of the
temple were a few very shallow remains of houses, in which we found some
pottery and amulets of the late New Empire, and near Schweinfurth's
temple we discovered a number of Middle Empire rock tombs. Nearly all
these had been opened long ago, but one large one was untouched. It was
entered by a sloping passage eighteen metres long, and contained a hand-
5
consisted of papyrus, but unfortunately the dampness of the ground in that
part of the Fayum had caused it to decay, and in only two or three
instances of the shallowest graves did we find any papyrus strong enough
to hear touching. Near the town on the north-west was yet another
Ptolemaic cemetery, though of a later period (second or first century B.C.),
and here, too, many of the mummies had had papyrus cartonnage, but in all
cases it had been reduced to the condition of powder.
The houses at Dime, the provenance of the countless documents from
Socnopaei Nesus in the museums of Europe, proved, as we had anticipated,
all but exhausted. Only in a cellar of one house which had already been
dug down to the ground floor did we make a large find of rolls; but these,
fortunately, are of more than usual interest on account of their date,
which is the first century B.C. No traces of a pre-Ptolemaic settlement
were found at Dime itself; and the level of many of the Ptolemaic tombs,
especially those on the south-west side of the town, on the right of the road
leading down to the lake, confirms our view (cf. Fayum Towns and their
Papyri, p. 6) that Socnopaei Nesus (the ancient name of Dime) had long
ceased to be an island in Ptolemaic times.
The stone causeway, of which the lower end has been sometimes
supposed to be a quay, is probably merely a raised street leading up to the
temple enclosure, as at Bubastis. The temple at Dime really consists of
two buildings ; the northern is built of well-hewn blocks like the temples of
Kom Ushim and Kasr Kurun, while the southern is built partly of brick,
partly of roughly-hewn stone. These are the u^orepa Upd mentioned in
an inscription from Dime, published by Dr. Mahaffy (Hermathena, 1895,
p. 243 = Strack, Bynastie der Ptolemaer, Anhang no. 141), one of which
was dedicated to Isis Sononoaes, Harpocrates and Premarres (ibid.), the other
to Socnopaeus and Isis Nepherses. The " straight road " mentioned in the
same inscription as having been built " from the dromos of Premarres to
the vaftXa and the bridges " was probably one of the roads leading north-
west from the town, for the central causeway must have been built before
the date of that inscription (Ptolemy Alexander). The "dromos" of
Premarres (cf. ibid. no. 142) was perhaps the temple enclosure itself,
unless it was the causeway leading up to it.
On rising ground about three quarters of a mile north-west of the
temple were a few very shallow remains of houses, in which we found some
pottery and amulets of the late New Empire, and near Schweinfurth's
temple we discovered a number of Middle Empire rock tombs. Nearly all
these had been opened long ago, but one large one was untouched. It was
entered by a sloping passage eighteen metres long, and contained a hand-