DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4195#0011
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THE MASTABA OF FTAHTTETEP AND AKHETHETEP.
S
the official regulations at tliat time in force,
which made it advisable to restrict excava-
tion as much as possible. In several places,
also, deeper digging would have involved the
removal of heavy blocks, or the shoring up
of a structure, the ruined state of which
Avas already sufficiently threatening. Bearing
this in mind, the reader will pardon the
blank Spaces and conjectural lines which
occur in the plans.1 Those who have dug in
the drifted sand of the desert know how closely
its properties approximate to those of a fluid,
and will understand why more was not done to
lay bare the exterior walls. Beyond the iden-
tification and clearance of the corners little was
attempted höre; it has been assumed on the
plan that the walls run straight between the
points thus found.
3. As this mastaba is now one of the sights
of Saqqareh, there is no need to define its
position further than by stating that it lies
close to the W. slope of the eminence on which
the Step Pyramid Stands. A long depression
of clear sand rans N. and S. at the foot of the
rising ground on this side, and seems to mark a
roadway separating the pyramid enclosure from
the city of tombs. Between this and our
mastaba there is only room for one tomb of
similar size. Märiette places here the tomb of
a Princess Rahent, and shows a small erection
on his plan (see Mae., Mast., p. 351)). No
evidence was gained regarding this Chamber,
but the existence of a larger building a little
to the S. of that point became piain. A
mastaba of rüder construcfcion intrudes on our
tomb at the S.W. corner. On the N. and S.
there appear to have been roadways. The
mastaba faces 12° E. of Magnetic North.
4. This monument, so long inexactly known
as the Tomb of Ptahhetep, was discovered by
1 The limits of tlie clearance are iiidicated in a general
way in Plates I. and II. by dotted or broken lines.
Marietfce nearly half a Century ago, but no
record of it was left by him, except a photo-
graph of a scene in Ptahhetep's chapel and the
rough plan given in his Mastabas (under D 64).
Owing to the value of the sculptures, he had
probably determined to publish the tomb com-
pletely, but found no leisure for the purpose.
Subsequently the chapel of Ptahhetep was
opened now and again for the privileged, and
gradually it has been made known by publica-
tion; but the less attractive Chambers of
Akhethetep were passed over without mention,
and all tradition of their existence was lost.
De Rouge had some record of the inscriptions,
but apparently knew nothing of the connection
of Akhethetep with Ptahhetep (Six Premiere*
Dynastie.?, p. 101). How completely the know-
ledge of this had been lost as soon as gained
may be gathered from quotations, which com-
prise all that was known to the world of the
Joint mastaba tili 1898 :—
" II n'offre pas d'autre disposition que le
tombeau de Ti et on y trouve, comme partout,
un massif reetangulaire qui est ä proprement
]3arler le mastaba, une chambre qui fait office
de chapelle, un serdab, un puits, et enfin le
caveau souterrain " (Mariette, Voyage dans la
Haute Egypte, p. 41).
" Das Grab des Ptahhetep besteht, wie dies
bei den meisten Gräbern auf dem Pyramiden
Felde bei Saqqarah der Fall ist, nur aus
einem einzigen Gemache von sehr kleinen
Dimensionen" (Dümichen, Photographische
Resultate, p. 16).
Exterior.
5. The appearance of white limestone above
the sand of an Egyptian cemetery is the signal
for prompt theft. Consequently the walls of the
mastaba nowhere retain their original height,
and all trace of the platform surface is gone.
In soine places destruetion has been carried very
much lower, making it impossible to restore the
Jß\
%
THE MASTABA OF FTAHTTETEP AND AKHETHETEP.
S
the official regulations at tliat time in force,
which made it advisable to restrict excava-
tion as much as possible. In several places,
also, deeper digging would have involved the
removal of heavy blocks, or the shoring up
of a structure, the ruined state of which
Avas already sufficiently threatening. Bearing
this in mind, the reader will pardon the
blank Spaces and conjectural lines which
occur in the plans.1 Those who have dug in
the drifted sand of the desert know how closely
its properties approximate to those of a fluid,
and will understand why more was not done to
lay bare the exterior walls. Beyond the iden-
tification and clearance of the corners little was
attempted höre; it has been assumed on the
plan that the walls run straight between the
points thus found.
3. As this mastaba is now one of the sights
of Saqqareh, there is no need to define its
position further than by stating that it lies
close to the W. slope of the eminence on which
the Step Pyramid Stands. A long depression
of clear sand rans N. and S. at the foot of the
rising ground on this side, and seems to mark a
roadway separating the pyramid enclosure from
the city of tombs. Between this and our
mastaba there is only room for one tomb of
similar size. Märiette places here the tomb of
a Princess Rahent, and shows a small erection
on his plan (see Mae., Mast., p. 351)). No
evidence was gained regarding this Chamber,
but the existence of a larger building a little
to the S. of that point became piain. A
mastaba of rüder construcfcion intrudes on our
tomb at the S.W. corner. On the N. and S.
there appear to have been roadways. The
mastaba faces 12° E. of Magnetic North.
4. This monument, so long inexactly known
as the Tomb of Ptahhetep, was discovered by
1 The limits of tlie clearance are iiidicated in a general
way in Plates I. and II. by dotted or broken lines.
Marietfce nearly half a Century ago, but no
record of it was left by him, except a photo-
graph of a scene in Ptahhetep's chapel and the
rough plan given in his Mastabas (under D 64).
Owing to the value of the sculptures, he had
probably determined to publish the tomb com-
pletely, but found no leisure for the purpose.
Subsequently the chapel of Ptahhetep was
opened now and again for the privileged, and
gradually it has been made known by publica-
tion; but the less attractive Chambers of
Akhethetep were passed over without mention,
and all tradition of their existence was lost.
De Rouge had some record of the inscriptions,
but apparently knew nothing of the connection
of Akhethetep with Ptahhetep (Six Premiere*
Dynastie.?, p. 101). How completely the know-
ledge of this had been lost as soon as gained
may be gathered from quotations, which com-
prise all that was known to the world of the
Joint mastaba tili 1898 :—
" II n'offre pas d'autre disposition que le
tombeau de Ti et on y trouve, comme partout,
un massif reetangulaire qui est ä proprement
]3arler le mastaba, une chambre qui fait office
de chapelle, un serdab, un puits, et enfin le
caveau souterrain " (Mariette, Voyage dans la
Haute Egypte, p. 41).
" Das Grab des Ptahhetep besteht, wie dies
bei den meisten Gräbern auf dem Pyramiden
Felde bei Saqqarah der Fall ist, nur aus
einem einzigen Gemache von sehr kleinen
Dimensionen" (Dümichen, Photographische
Resultate, p. 16).
Exterior.
5. The appearance of white limestone above
the sand of an Egyptian cemetery is the signal
for prompt theft. Consequently the walls of the
mastaba nowhere retain their original height,
and all trace of the platform surface is gone.
In soine places destruetion has been carried very
much lower, making it impossible to restore the
Jß\
%