DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0043
THE EXPLORER IX EGYPT.
23
Ernest Gardner at Naukratis, in the Eastern Delta. Fraer-
ments of Homer, Alcajus, Sappho, and other Greek poets
have been found from time to time in Egypt during the pres-
ent century, some scribbled on
potsherds and some written on
papyrus.Q It is not three years
since Mr. Petrie found a com-
plete copy of the Second Book
of the " Iliad," written on papy-
rus in most beautiful uncial
Greek by a scribe of the second
century after Christ, and buried
under the head of a woman in
the Gra3CO-Egyptian necropolis
of Hawara, in the Eayiiin. The
woman had apparently been
young and beautiful. Her teeth
were small and regular, and her
long, silky black hair had been
cut off and laid in a thick coil
upon her breast. Was she a
Greek, or was she an Egyptian lady learned in the language
of the schools ? We know not. There was no inscription to
tell of her nationality or her name. AVe only know that she
was young and fair, and that she so loved her Homer that it
was buried with her in the grave. Her head and her beau-
tiful black hair are now in the Ethnographical Department
of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, and
her precious papyrus is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
To appreciate and report upon such a find as this, or upon
the insci-iptions discovered at Naukratis, the explorer must,
of course, be a fairly competent Greek scholar.
Still more of course must he be sufficiently conversant
with the ancient Egyptian language to translate any hiero-
glyphic inscriptions which he may discover. A knowledge
of trigonometry, though not absolutely indispensable, is of
value in surveying sites and determining ancient levels.
ARCHAIC HEAD OK CYPRIOTE TYPE.
Found in the ruins of Naukratis.
23
Ernest Gardner at Naukratis, in the Eastern Delta. Fraer-
ments of Homer, Alcajus, Sappho, and other Greek poets
have been found from time to time in Egypt during the pres-
ent century, some scribbled on
potsherds and some written on
papyrus.Q It is not three years
since Mr. Petrie found a com-
plete copy of the Second Book
of the " Iliad," written on papy-
rus in most beautiful uncial
Greek by a scribe of the second
century after Christ, and buried
under the head of a woman in
the Gra3CO-Egyptian necropolis
of Hawara, in the Eayiiin. The
woman had apparently been
young and beautiful. Her teeth
were small and regular, and her
long, silky black hair had been
cut off and laid in a thick coil
upon her breast. Was she a
Greek, or was she an Egyptian lady learned in the language
of the schools ? We know not. There was no inscription to
tell of her nationality or her name. AVe only know that she
was young and fair, and that she so loved her Homer that it
was buried with her in the grave. Her head and her beau-
tiful black hair are now in the Ethnographical Department
of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, and
her precious papyrus is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
To appreciate and report upon such a find as this, or upon
the insci-iptions discovered at Naukratis, the explorer must,
of course, be a fairly competent Greek scholar.
Still more of course must he be sufficiently conversant
with the ancient Egyptian language to translate any hiero-
glyphic inscriptions which he may discover. A knowledge
of trigonometry, though not absolutely indispensable, is of
value in surveying sites and determining ancient levels.
ARCHAIC HEAD OK CYPRIOTE TYPE.
Found in the ruins of Naukratis.