DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0028
XX
INTRODUCTION.
in a coarse woollen cloth of a yellow colour, to which a small quantity of
resinous substance and gum adhered.* 1 It would therefore seem that, as the
sarcophagus could not be removed, the wooden case alone containing the body
had been brought into the large apartment for examination. Now, whether
the human remains2 there found are those of Mycerinus or of some one else, as
some have suggested, in no way affects the question of the ownership of the
coffin, for we know by the hieroglyphic inscription upon it that it was made
to hold the mummified body of the king. This inscription, which is arranged in
two perpendicular lines down the front of the coffin reads :—3 * * 6
1.
(o=jJ£,] f
Ausdr
[Hail] Osiris,
suten net
f King of the North
\ and South,
Men-kau-Ra any^ t' etta
Men-kau-Ra, living for ever,
ines en pet aur
born of heaven, conceived of
0 0
islk
www\
%-jj
Nut
da
en
Seb
Nut,
heir
of
Scb,
mer - f peses - s
his beloved. Spreadeth she
mut - k Nut her - k
thy mothcr Nut over thee
embarked at Alexandria in the auturnn of 1838, on board a merchant ship, which was supposed to have
been lost off Carthagena, as she never was heard of after her departure frorn Leghorn on the 12th of
October in that year, and as some parts of the wreck were picked up near the former port. The
sarcophagus is figured by Yyse, Pyramids, vol. ii., plate facing p. 84.
1 As a considerable misapprehension about the finding of these remains has existed, the account
of the circumstances under which they were discovered will be of interest. “ Sir, by your request, I
“ send you the particulars of the finding of the bones, mummy-cloth, and parts of the coffin in the
“ Third Pyramid. In clearing the rubbish out of the large entrance-room, after the men had been
“ employed there several days and had advanced some distance towards the south-eastern corner, some
“ bones were first discovered at the bottom of the rubbish; and the remaining b'ones and parts of
“ the coffin were immediately discovered all together. No other parts of the coffin or bones could be
“ found in the room; I therefore had the rubbish which had been previously turned out of the same
“ room carefully re-examined, when several pieces of the coffin and of the mummy-cloth were found ;
“ but in no other .part of the pyramid were any parts of it to be discovered, although every place was
“ most minutely examined, to make the coffin as eomplete as possible. There was about three
“ feet of rubbish on the top of the same; and from the circumstance of the bones and part of the
“ coffin being all found together, it appeared as if the coffin had been brought to that spot and there
“ unpacked.—H. Raven.” Yyse, Pyramids, vol. ii., p. 86.
2 They are exhibited in the First Egyptian Room, Case A, and the fragments of the coffin in Wall-
Case No. 1 (No. 6647) in the same room.
3 See Lepsius, Auswahl, Taf. 7.
* Or suten bat; see Sethe, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXVIII., p. 125; and Bd. XXX., p. 113; Max
Miiller, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXX., p. 56; Renouf, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., 1893, pp. 219, 220; and
Lefebure, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXXI., p. ii4ff.
6 It seems that we should read this god’s name Keb (see Lefebure, Aeg. Z.eitschrift, Bd. XXXI.,
p. 125); for the sake of uniformity the old name is here retained.
INTRODUCTION.
in a coarse woollen cloth of a yellow colour, to which a small quantity of
resinous substance and gum adhered.* 1 It would therefore seem that, as the
sarcophagus could not be removed, the wooden case alone containing the body
had been brought into the large apartment for examination. Now, whether
the human remains2 there found are those of Mycerinus or of some one else, as
some have suggested, in no way affects the question of the ownership of the
coffin, for we know by the hieroglyphic inscription upon it that it was made
to hold the mummified body of the king. This inscription, which is arranged in
two perpendicular lines down the front of the coffin reads :—3 * * 6
1.
(o=jJ£,] f
Ausdr
[Hail] Osiris,
suten net
f King of the North
\ and South,
Men-kau-Ra any^ t' etta
Men-kau-Ra, living for ever,
ines en pet aur
born of heaven, conceived of
0 0
islk
www\
%-jj
Nut
da
en
Seb
Nut,
heir
of
Scb,
mer - f peses - s
his beloved. Spreadeth she
mut - k Nut her - k
thy mothcr Nut over thee
embarked at Alexandria in the auturnn of 1838, on board a merchant ship, which was supposed to have
been lost off Carthagena, as she never was heard of after her departure frorn Leghorn on the 12th of
October in that year, and as some parts of the wreck were picked up near the former port. The
sarcophagus is figured by Yyse, Pyramids, vol. ii., plate facing p. 84.
1 As a considerable misapprehension about the finding of these remains has existed, the account
of the circumstances under which they were discovered will be of interest. “ Sir, by your request, I
“ send you the particulars of the finding of the bones, mummy-cloth, and parts of the coffin in the
“ Third Pyramid. In clearing the rubbish out of the large entrance-room, after the men had been
“ employed there several days and had advanced some distance towards the south-eastern corner, some
“ bones were first discovered at the bottom of the rubbish; and the remaining b'ones and parts of
“ the coffin were immediately discovered all together. No other parts of the coffin or bones could be
“ found in the room; I therefore had the rubbish which had been previously turned out of the same
“ room carefully re-examined, when several pieces of the coffin and of the mummy-cloth were found ;
“ but in no other .part of the pyramid were any parts of it to be discovered, although every place was
“ most minutely examined, to make the coffin as eomplete as possible. There was about three
“ feet of rubbish on the top of the same; and from the circumstance of the bones and part of the
“ coffin being all found together, it appeared as if the coffin had been brought to that spot and there
“ unpacked.—H. Raven.” Yyse, Pyramids, vol. ii., p. 86.
2 They are exhibited in the First Egyptian Room, Case A, and the fragments of the coffin in Wall-
Case No. 1 (No. 6647) in the same room.
3 See Lepsius, Auswahl, Taf. 7.
* Or suten bat; see Sethe, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXVIII., p. 125; and Bd. XXX., p. 113; Max
Miiller, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXX., p. 56; Renouf, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., 1893, pp. 219, 220; and
Lefebure, Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXXI., p. ii4ff.
6 It seems that we should read this god’s name Keb (see Lefebure, Aeg. Z.eitschrift, Bd. XXXI.,
p. 125); for the sake of uniformity the old name is here retained.