DOI Artikel:
Postscripts
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12423#0089
Postscripts.
79
tomb, that of a king, which had twice been plundered but still contained
more than a dozen bronze vessels and over fifty pots, were two bronze jugs
with handles ending above in a human figure whose outstretched arms
embrace the rim, and below in a fine full-face female mask. These are
purely Hellenistic in type, closely resembling I'ompeian examples and
probably of Alexandrian manufacture of the first cent, a.d., as were also a
bronze incense burner, and a swinging lamp in the same tomb. Side by
side with these were two large bronze bowls with engraved decorations ;
one shows a string of cattle, driven by a man who carries a milk-pail on
his head, the other, the most important single object found by the expedi-
tion, represents apparently a Nubian queen, who seated under the trees
outside her wigwam, and attended by her servants, receives offerings of milk
brought up in bowls by other servants: some carry the bowls and pails,
one is milking a cow ; the line of beasts occupies all that remains of the
bowl's circumference. The subject is a local one and is treated in a style
neither classical nor Egyptian, but Nubian, no less original here than on
the pottery; for illustrating the art of the country and the time the bowl
is a unique document. Almost as interesting in their way are the toilet-
cases of wood inlaid with ivory, of which several were found. The best
has human figures standing in arched niches, while sphinxes lie in the
architectural compartments below; another has floral decoration, stiff con-
ventionalised lotus-plants within a border of floral rosettes upon the front,
and loose trailers of veined ivy upon the lid ; others are merely diapered with
rosettes and dots. The remains of these caskets, sometimes replaced by
oval baskets of wicker work, were not infrequent in the graves of the
women ; indeed, while the essential furniture consisted merely of a water-
or beer-jar and a tumbler, this could be elaborated to a very great extent
indeed. The men had often weapons—whole quiverfuls of arrows were
found, recalling the name of the Archers given by the Egyptians to the
people of the south, while the women had scent-bottles of glass and strings
of beads. The glass vessels, some of which retain their contents still
liquid, seem to be of imported Roman fabric, and form an interesting
series of types; the beads are very remarkable, of paste, of gilt silvered
and millefiore glass, and of the commoner stones, quartz and cornelian;
and over two hundred complete strings were found. The finger-rings,
about a hundred in number, are also curious for their mixture of types,
some being purely classical—one has Cupid driving swans, one a Greek
inscription to ' Sarapis of Napata'—some with the regular Egyptian
motives, others with designs that can only be called Nubian.
" Boughly speaking, the cemetery must be dated within the first live
79
tomb, that of a king, which had twice been plundered but still contained
more than a dozen bronze vessels and over fifty pots, were two bronze jugs
with handles ending above in a human figure whose outstretched arms
embrace the rim, and below in a fine full-face female mask. These are
purely Hellenistic in type, closely resembling I'ompeian examples and
probably of Alexandrian manufacture of the first cent, a.d., as were also a
bronze incense burner, and a swinging lamp in the same tomb. Side by
side with these were two large bronze bowls with engraved decorations ;
one shows a string of cattle, driven by a man who carries a milk-pail on
his head, the other, the most important single object found by the expedi-
tion, represents apparently a Nubian queen, who seated under the trees
outside her wigwam, and attended by her servants, receives offerings of milk
brought up in bowls by other servants: some carry the bowls and pails,
one is milking a cow ; the line of beasts occupies all that remains of the
bowl's circumference. The subject is a local one and is treated in a style
neither classical nor Egyptian, but Nubian, no less original here than on
the pottery; for illustrating the art of the country and the time the bowl
is a unique document. Almost as interesting in their way are the toilet-
cases of wood inlaid with ivory, of which several were found. The best
has human figures standing in arched niches, while sphinxes lie in the
architectural compartments below; another has floral decoration, stiff con-
ventionalised lotus-plants within a border of floral rosettes upon the front,
and loose trailers of veined ivy upon the lid ; others are merely diapered with
rosettes and dots. The remains of these caskets, sometimes replaced by
oval baskets of wicker work, were not infrequent in the graves of the
women ; indeed, while the essential furniture consisted merely of a water-
or beer-jar and a tumbler, this could be elaborated to a very great extent
indeed. The men had often weapons—whole quiverfuls of arrows were
found, recalling the name of the Archers given by the Egyptians to the
people of the south, while the women had scent-bottles of glass and strings
of beads. The glass vessels, some of which retain their contents still
liquid, seem to be of imported Roman fabric, and form an interesting
series of types; the beads are very remarkable, of paste, of gilt silvered
and millefiore glass, and of the commoner stones, quartz and cornelian;
and over two hundred complete strings were found. The finger-rings,
about a hundred in number, are also curious for their mixture of types,
some being purely classical—one has Cupid driving swans, one a Greek
inscription to ' Sarapis of Napata'—some with the regular Egyptian
motives, others with designs that can only be called Nubian.
" Boughly speaking, the cemetery must be dated within the first live