DOI Artikel:
Naville, Edouard; Hall, H. R.: Egypt Exploration Fund: excavations at Deir El-Bahari
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12053#0018
Excavations at Deir El-Bahari.
5
wash; the hieroglyphs are coloured yellow in the outer row of the colonnade,
and blue in the inner row. The pavement of the colonnade is in perfect
preservation : it measures 68 ft. long by 14 ft. wide.
The ramp leads up to the central doorway of the temple, of which the
original finely polished red granite threshold, measuring 9 ft. by 5 ft.,
was discovered in position. The socket in which the door turned is
clearly seen in the photograph (fig. 5), and also the side-run or channel
by which the door could be bodily removed from the socket and replaced.
The gate was no doubt a trilithon of red granite like that, still existing,
of the XVIHth Dynasty temple.
The ramp and threshold must give us the main axis of the temple, and
so enable us to judge of the extent of the pillared hall on the platform, of
which the column-bases, some with the lower portions of the columns
standing, have been found. The best preserved of these is 9 ft. high.
They are small and thin, measuring about 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter : the
bases are 4 ft. across. Each bears the royal label of Mentuhetep. There
seem to have been eight rows of columns on either side of the central
axis of the hall: the intercolumuiation is very narrow, measuring only
7 ft. from centre to centre.
This pillared hall was enclosed by a stout wall of white limestone. Of
this only the two lowest courses of blocks remain at any point. The wall
was originally decorated with coloured reliefs, of which a hundred or more
fragments were found scattered iu the debris above the platform. A few
of the more perfect specimens have been brought to England, and were
exhibited in the annual exhibition at University College, London, in July
last. They have not yet been distributed to museums, as they were
brought to England only on a conditional permit, which precludes distri-
bution until the work of excavating the temple is entirely and thoroughly
completed. The specimens were selected in order to illustrate the different
styles of work found in the temple. These vary greatly in merit, some
fulfilling our traditional idea of the rude work of the Xlth Dynasty, while
others are of very fine work, like the best of the Xllth Dynasty. These last
may well have been executed by Mertisen, a sculptor who is known from his
funeral stela in the Louvre (0. 14) to have flourished in the reign of
Nebkherura, and his school. The subjects are those appropriate to the
funerary chapel of a king : scenes relating to his coronation, processions
of warriors and magnates, among whom the captain ^ (jfi, Kheti,
and the ^ or judge JJJj (j, Beba, seem to have been among
the most prominent; scenes of boat-building and cattle-numbering, etc.
5
wash; the hieroglyphs are coloured yellow in the outer row of the colonnade,
and blue in the inner row. The pavement of the colonnade is in perfect
preservation : it measures 68 ft. long by 14 ft. wide.
The ramp leads up to the central doorway of the temple, of which the
original finely polished red granite threshold, measuring 9 ft. by 5 ft.,
was discovered in position. The socket in which the door turned is
clearly seen in the photograph (fig. 5), and also the side-run or channel
by which the door could be bodily removed from the socket and replaced.
The gate was no doubt a trilithon of red granite like that, still existing,
of the XVIHth Dynasty temple.
The ramp and threshold must give us the main axis of the temple, and
so enable us to judge of the extent of the pillared hall on the platform, of
which the column-bases, some with the lower portions of the columns
standing, have been found. The best preserved of these is 9 ft. high.
They are small and thin, measuring about 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter : the
bases are 4 ft. across. Each bears the royal label of Mentuhetep. There
seem to have been eight rows of columns on either side of the central
axis of the hall: the intercolumuiation is very narrow, measuring only
7 ft. from centre to centre.
This pillared hall was enclosed by a stout wall of white limestone. Of
this only the two lowest courses of blocks remain at any point. The wall
was originally decorated with coloured reliefs, of which a hundred or more
fragments were found scattered iu the debris above the platform. A few
of the more perfect specimens have been brought to England, and were
exhibited in the annual exhibition at University College, London, in July
last. They have not yet been distributed to museums, as they were
brought to England only on a conditional permit, which precludes distri-
bution until the work of excavating the temple is entirely and thoroughly
completed. The specimens were selected in order to illustrate the different
styles of work found in the temple. These vary greatly in merit, some
fulfilling our traditional idea of the rude work of the Xlth Dynasty, while
others are of very fine work, like the best of the Xllth Dynasty. These last
may well have been executed by Mertisen, a sculptor who is known from his
funeral stela in the Louvre (0. 14) to have flourished in the reign of
Nebkherura, and his school. The subjects are those appropriate to the
funerary chapel of a king : scenes relating to his coronation, processions
of warriors and magnates, among whom the captain ^ (jfi, Kheti,
and the ^ or judge JJJj (j, Beba, seem to have been among
the most prominent; scenes of boat-building and cattle-numbering, etc.