DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0125
RETURN FROM UPPER EGYPT.
91
of that monarch. They seem to have been a sub-
structure of some other edifice : bodies have been taken
out from beneath them. I did not hear whether they
were those of Egyptians; but if they were, and coeval
with the Menmonium, it would go far to prove that that
building was a tomb, or a temple, and not a palace.
On the following day I had an opportunity of ex-
amining the arches in the ruined Pyramid at Drah Abou
Negger. It is situated at a considerable height on the
side of the mountain, and consists of a foundation of
unburnt bricks of nearly the same dimensions as those
already described, and impressed with the cartouche in
the preceding page. A few squared stones appeared to
have been used in the superstructure; the brick-work
contained an apartment, which had been regularly domed
over on the principle of an arch, and had been lined with
bricks placed edgeways, like the arches near the Mem-
nonium. Opposite to the entrance a large niche had
been worked in the same manner; and on the left-hand
a smaller one had been constructed by horizontal courses
gradually approaching each other from the bottom. This
building had every appearance of antiquity, and as the
arches were in the foundation, they proved, in my opinion,
that the Egyptians were acquainted with that mode of
construction ; indeed, if a large space was to be built
over by brickwork, it could scarcely be effected in
any other manner. In the caverns and sepulchral ex-
deity of Thebes : this evidently refers to the person, for whom the edifice
was erected, and not to any mark for a collection of revenue from bricks,
the term Osiris, or Osirian, which is placed before the name, always
indicating a deceased person—Mr. Birch.
The other cartouche belongs to Amunmai Remeses.
91
of that monarch. They seem to have been a sub-
structure of some other edifice : bodies have been taken
out from beneath them. I did not hear whether they
were those of Egyptians; but if they were, and coeval
with the Menmonium, it would go far to prove that that
building was a tomb, or a temple, and not a palace.
On the following day I had an opportunity of ex-
amining the arches in the ruined Pyramid at Drah Abou
Negger. It is situated at a considerable height on the
side of the mountain, and consists of a foundation of
unburnt bricks of nearly the same dimensions as those
already described, and impressed with the cartouche in
the preceding page. A few squared stones appeared to
have been used in the superstructure; the brick-work
contained an apartment, which had been regularly domed
over on the principle of an arch, and had been lined with
bricks placed edgeways, like the arches near the Mem-
nonium. Opposite to the entrance a large niche had
been worked in the same manner; and on the left-hand
a smaller one had been constructed by horizontal courses
gradually approaching each other from the bottom. This
building had every appearance of antiquity, and as the
arches were in the foundation, they proved, in my opinion,
that the Egyptians were acquainted with that mode of
construction ; indeed, if a large space was to be built
over by brickwork, it could scarcely be effected in
any other manner. In the caverns and sepulchral ex-
deity of Thebes : this evidently refers to the person, for whom the edifice
was erected, and not to any mark for a collection of revenue from bricks,
the term Osiris, or Osirian, which is placed before the name, always
indicating a deceased person—Mr. Birch.
The other cartouche belongs to Amunmai Remeses.