DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14059#0012
2
Obseraations on Sculptured Marks on
of the Nile, in Lower Nubia, must have been excavated to a depth
of about 27 feet; and lie further speculates as to the process by
which he believes the excavation to have been effected.
It will be convenient, before entering upon the observations I have
to offer upon the cause assigned by Professor Lepsius for the former
higher levels of the Nile indicated by these marks, that I should
give the description of the discovery itself, by translating Dr Lep-
sins's own account of it, in letters which he addressed to his friends,
Professors Ehrenberg and Bockli of Berlin, from the island of Phila5,
in September 1844.*
" "\ on may probably remember, when travelling to Dongola on the
Lybian side of the Nile, and in passing through the district of Batn el
hager, that one of the most considerable of the cataracts of the country
occurs near Semne, a very old fortress, with a handsome temple, built of
sandstone, in a good state of preservation; the track of the caravan
passing close to it, partly over the 4000-year-old artificial road. The
track on the eastern bank of the river is higher up, being carried through
the hills ; and you must turn off from it at this point in order to see the
cataract. This Nile-pass, the narrowest with which I am acquainted,
according to the measurement of Hr. Erbkam, is 380 metres (1247 En-
glish feet) broad ; t and both in itself, and on account of the monuments
existing there, is one of the most interesting localities in the country, and
we passed twelve days in its examination.
" The river is here confined between steep rocky cliffs on both sides,
whose summits are occupied by two fortresses of the most ancient and
most massive construction, distinguishable at once from the numerous
other forts, which, in the time of the Nubian power in this land of cliffs,
were erected on most of the larger islands, and on the hills commanding
the river. The cataract (or rapid) derives its name of Semne from that
of the higher of the two fortresses on the western bank : that on the
opposite bank, as well as a poor village lying somewhat south of it, is
called Kumme. In both fortresses the highest and best position is occu-
pied by a temple, built of huge blocks of sandstone, of two kinds, which
must have been brought from a great distance through the rapids ; for,
southward, no sandstone is found nearer than Gebel Abir. in the neigh-
bourhood of Amara and the island of Sai (between 80 and 90 English
miles), and northward, there is none nearer than the great division of
the district at "Wadi Haifa (30 miles distant.)
" Both temples were built in the time of Tutmosis III., a king of the
18th dynasty, about 1600 years before Christ; but the fortresses in
which thev stand are of a more ancient date. The foundations of these
* Bericht fiber die zur Beknntuiachuhg goeigiieten Verhandlungen dor
Koni^l. Preuss. Akndemio dor Wissenshaften zu Berlin. Aua dem Jahre
1844.
t The breadth of the river itself. See fjetter to Hr. Bbokh, p. 27.
Obseraations on Sculptured Marks on
of the Nile, in Lower Nubia, must have been excavated to a depth
of about 27 feet; and lie further speculates as to the process by
which he believes the excavation to have been effected.
It will be convenient, before entering upon the observations I have
to offer upon the cause assigned by Professor Lepsius for the former
higher levels of the Nile indicated by these marks, that I should
give the description of the discovery itself, by translating Dr Lep-
sins's own account of it, in letters which he addressed to his friends,
Professors Ehrenberg and Bockli of Berlin, from the island of Phila5,
in September 1844.*
" "\ on may probably remember, when travelling to Dongola on the
Lybian side of the Nile, and in passing through the district of Batn el
hager, that one of the most considerable of the cataracts of the country
occurs near Semne, a very old fortress, with a handsome temple, built of
sandstone, in a good state of preservation; the track of the caravan
passing close to it, partly over the 4000-year-old artificial road. The
track on the eastern bank of the river is higher up, being carried through
the hills ; and you must turn off from it at this point in order to see the
cataract. This Nile-pass, the narrowest with which I am acquainted,
according to the measurement of Hr. Erbkam, is 380 metres (1247 En-
glish feet) broad ; t and both in itself, and on account of the monuments
existing there, is one of the most interesting localities in the country, and
we passed twelve days in its examination.
" The river is here confined between steep rocky cliffs on both sides,
whose summits are occupied by two fortresses of the most ancient and
most massive construction, distinguishable at once from the numerous
other forts, which, in the time of the Nubian power in this land of cliffs,
were erected on most of the larger islands, and on the hills commanding
the river. The cataract (or rapid) derives its name of Semne from that
of the higher of the two fortresses on the western bank : that on the
opposite bank, as well as a poor village lying somewhat south of it, is
called Kumme. In both fortresses the highest and best position is occu-
pied by a temple, built of huge blocks of sandstone, of two kinds, which
must have been brought from a great distance through the rapids ; for,
southward, no sandstone is found nearer than Gebel Abir. in the neigh-
bourhood of Amara and the island of Sai (between 80 and 90 English
miles), and northward, there is none nearer than the great division of
the district at "Wadi Haifa (30 miles distant.)
" Both temples were built in the time of Tutmosis III., a king of the
18th dynasty, about 1600 years before Christ; but the fortresses in
which thev stand are of a more ancient date. The foundations of these
* Bericht fiber die zur Beknntuiachuhg goeigiieten Verhandlungen dor
Koni^l. Preuss. Akndemio dor Wissenshaften zu Berlin. Aua dem Jahre
1844.
t The breadth of the river itself. See fjetter to Hr. Bbokh, p. 27.