DOI Artikel:
Grenfell, Bernard P.; Hunt, Arthur S.: Egypt Exploration Fund: graeco-roman branch
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12052#0017
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Egypt Exploration Fund.
other side a long Coptic contract. Another contained the beginning of
St. Matthew's Gospel in Sahidic, a third accounts in Coptic, while several
had been nsed for exercises in writing. A fragment of embroidered cloth
■containing (a) three figures, two of which are holding their heads over the
third with Apx^ew; {sic) written above, (b), below (a), the upper portions
of two figures, inscribed above IlapaSaTov (or IIapa/3aTov) and Ap^t\X€co<;
respectively, is now in the South Kensington Museum.
Above Qarara, the next point of interest on the east bank is the so-called
cemetery of SharSna, which really belongs to Kom el Ahmar, the site of an
old town close to the river now marked by a mill and an Arab ezbeh, about
three miles south of the village of Sharona. The ruins of a temple of
Ptolemy I. which once stood here have been carried away for building
purposes, and the remains of the town have been removed by sebakhtn:
but the edge of the adjoining desert is thickly studded with tombs, either
■chambers in the sides of rocky eminences or shaft-tombs on the tops, with
a large rock-tomb containing fine sculptures of the Vlth Dynasty. The
necropolis covers a very long period, but most of the tombs have been
plundered. Within a few yards of the cultivated land and only a couple
■of feet from the surface were two burials of, probably, the Illrd Dynasty,
in one of which were found an alabaster dish, two alabaster vases and one
of limestone, and an earthenware pot (in the Cairo Museum), in the other
a, similar alabaster dish, a vase and small bowl of alabaster, two red, highly
polished pots, and another of rougher ware ; see the Frontispiece. A stela
of an official of, probably, the Vlth Dynasty, called Beba, was discovered
in situ, let into the wall of a small rock chamber.* From the other
tombs, which were chiefly of the late New Empire, we obtained a few
scarabs and amulets, and there were also some burials of the Ptolemaic
period, in one of which were found some scraps of papyrus cartonnage.
Put owing to the proximity of the cultivated land the ground was not dry
enough to offer any prospect of good finds of papyrus.
From Kom el Ahmar it is seven miles to the cemetery of Cynopolis,
which is situated in an isolated range of low hills three miles south-east of
the village of Shekh Fadl, itself half a mile from the town growing up
round the sugar factories on the river bank. The northern part of the
necropolis is ancient Egyptian, and the majority of the tombs seem to be of
the late New Empire. Pock-chambers greatly preponderate over shaft-
graves. The central portion is occupied by a long row of large dog-mummy
tombs, which were cleared out some twenty-five years ago and the contents
* The stela names " Anubis, lord of Het-benu." Thus Het-benu may be placed at
or near Sharona.—Ed.
Egypt Exploration Fund.
other side a long Coptic contract. Another contained the beginning of
St. Matthew's Gospel in Sahidic, a third accounts in Coptic, while several
had been nsed for exercises in writing. A fragment of embroidered cloth
■containing (a) three figures, two of which are holding their heads over the
third with Apx^ew; {sic) written above, (b), below (a), the upper portions
of two figures, inscribed above IlapaSaTov (or IIapa/3aTov) and Ap^t\X€co<;
respectively, is now in the South Kensington Museum.
Above Qarara, the next point of interest on the east bank is the so-called
cemetery of SharSna, which really belongs to Kom el Ahmar, the site of an
old town close to the river now marked by a mill and an Arab ezbeh, about
three miles south of the village of Sharona. The ruins of a temple of
Ptolemy I. which once stood here have been carried away for building
purposes, and the remains of the town have been removed by sebakhtn:
but the edge of the adjoining desert is thickly studded with tombs, either
■chambers in the sides of rocky eminences or shaft-tombs on the tops, with
a large rock-tomb containing fine sculptures of the Vlth Dynasty. The
necropolis covers a very long period, but most of the tombs have been
plundered. Within a few yards of the cultivated land and only a couple
■of feet from the surface were two burials of, probably, the Illrd Dynasty,
in one of which were found an alabaster dish, two alabaster vases and one
of limestone, and an earthenware pot (in the Cairo Museum), in the other
a, similar alabaster dish, a vase and small bowl of alabaster, two red, highly
polished pots, and another of rougher ware ; see the Frontispiece. A stela
of an official of, probably, the Vlth Dynasty, called Beba, was discovered
in situ, let into the wall of a small rock chamber.* From the other
tombs, which were chiefly of the late New Empire, we obtained a few
scarabs and amulets, and there were also some burials of the Ptolemaic
period, in one of which were found some scraps of papyrus cartonnage.
Put owing to the proximity of the cultivated land the ground was not dry
enough to offer any prospect of good finds of papyrus.
From Kom el Ahmar it is seven miles to the cemetery of Cynopolis,
which is situated in an isolated range of low hills three miles south-east of
the village of Shekh Fadl, itself half a mile from the town growing up
round the sugar factories on the river bank. The northern part of the
necropolis is ancient Egyptian, and the majority of the tombs seem to be of
the late New Empire. Pock-chambers greatly preponderate over shaft-
graves. The central portion is occupied by a long row of large dog-mummy
tombs, which were cleared out some twenty-five years ago and the contents
* The stela names " Anubis, lord of Het-benu." Thus Het-benu may be placed at
or near Sharona.—Ed.