DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0301
265
the H'ermopolitan noine appeared for a time populous and well
cultivated : wheat, coleseed, and sugar-canes, are still the princi-
pal produce of this season. To the East the mountains approach
the river, and frequently nothing but a sandy desert separates
them; deserted towns and villages, not of very antient date, vary
the scene below : and above, the sides of the cliff are for a con-
siderable way perforated into catacombs, repositories, we may
presume, of the antient inhabitants of the Antinoopolitan nome.
Some miles lower down the Eastern banks resume their gay at-
tire and verdure. We now passed the two villages of Beni Has-
san : one, which was entirely deserted, sacked, and burnt, pre-
sented a monument of Mamaluke oppression and revenge for
the refusal of the inhabitants to pay the miri;—the other, a mi-
serable asylum for the refractory. Here we were reminded by
D'Anville to look for the Speos Artemidos in a spot remarkable,
as he says, for large grottoes hollowed out for temples. We
landed, and made our way up to them over the sands. We found
some of the handsomest catacombs in Egypt; and near them,
over the bed of a steep torrent, is a large natural cave, which
may have given to the spot its Greek name. The grottoes were
the cemeteries of the principal families of the Hermopolitan
nome, which is directly opposite to them on the other side of
the river. Even now the inhabitants of the villages to the WTest
of the Nile in this part of the country, where the Libyan Deserts
are at a very great distance, cross the river to bury their deceased
in these sands; neither taking the pains to excavate new tombs
in the cliffs, nor making use of what are made to their hands.
Many of these grottoes are of considerable extent, consisting
of one, two, or three apartments each; the largest of which is
about seventy feet square. In front of the principal ones are
small porticoes of four or more columns, and other columns sup-
port
the H'ermopolitan noine appeared for a time populous and well
cultivated : wheat, coleseed, and sugar-canes, are still the princi-
pal produce of this season. To the East the mountains approach
the river, and frequently nothing but a sandy desert separates
them; deserted towns and villages, not of very antient date, vary
the scene below : and above, the sides of the cliff are for a con-
siderable way perforated into catacombs, repositories, we may
presume, of the antient inhabitants of the Antinoopolitan nome.
Some miles lower down the Eastern banks resume their gay at-
tire and verdure. We now passed the two villages of Beni Has-
san : one, which was entirely deserted, sacked, and burnt, pre-
sented a monument of Mamaluke oppression and revenge for
the refusal of the inhabitants to pay the miri;—the other, a mi-
serable asylum for the refractory. Here we were reminded by
D'Anville to look for the Speos Artemidos in a spot remarkable,
as he says, for large grottoes hollowed out for temples. We
landed, and made our way up to them over the sands. We found
some of the handsomest catacombs in Egypt; and near them,
over the bed of a steep torrent, is a large natural cave, which
may have given to the spot its Greek name. The grottoes were
the cemeteries of the principal families of the Hermopolitan
nome, which is directly opposite to them on the other side of
the river. Even now the inhabitants of the villages to the WTest
of the Nile in this part of the country, where the Libyan Deserts
are at a very great distance, cross the river to bury their deceased
in these sands; neither taking the pains to excavate new tombs
in the cliffs, nor making use of what are made to their hands.
Many of these grottoes are of considerable extent, consisting
of one, two, or three apartments each; the largest of which is
about seventy feet square. In front of the principal ones are
small porticoes of four or more columns, and other columns sup-
port