DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0169
136
APPENDIX.
Note III.
Sarcophagus, now in the British Museum, which was taken from
the Shaft at the south-eastern corner of Campbell's Tomb.
The sarcophagus, or coffin of red granite, found in a tomb in the
neighbourhood of Gizeh, discovered by Colonel Howard Vyse, in
1837, and named by him Campbell's Tomb, in honour of the present
British consid in Egypt, was presented to the British Museum
by the discoverer, and arrived there on the 11th of April, 1839.
The tomb, as will be perceived from the hieroglyphics copied
from its sides, was constructed, during the rule of the XXVI. or
Saite dynasty, for functionaries of high rank at Memphis ; and the
two sarcophagi from that locality bearing internal evidence of
having been constructed during the same period, receive additional
illustration from two contemporaneous monuments, viz., the large
sarcophagus (note A) of Hapimen, Egyptian Saloon, No. 23, re-
moved from Cairo by the French, called there the " Lover's
Fountain," by the Turks, and the fragment, Egyptian Saloon,
No- 66 (note B), of which a counterpart exists in the Ashmoleaii
Museum at Oxford. The scenes on these three monuments
mutually illustrate, and are necessary evidences to, one another.
At the period of this dynasty, Memphis appears to have
resumed some of the antient splendour which it enjoyed under
the constructors of the eternal pyramids; and an affectation for the
archaic names, titles, customs, and, to a certain extent, an imita-
tion of the works of art of that remote epoch, seems to have
arisen under the rule of the Psammetici, and to have been con-
tinued till the Ptolemaic era. The reasons of this fashion are neces-
sarily hidden in much obscurity, as to whether caprice dictated
the change—a fancied descent from the older monarchs — or the
desire to throw over a throne, acquired by unusual means, an
appearance of that legitimate antiquity which it could not boast,
were the latent and moving springs of this peculiar archaism
during their reign. But the arts were in decay, a florid and
a frittered style was usurping the bold simplicity of the more
antient monuments; and the attempt at imitation only produced
a species of art which pointed out that the elements of its anni-
hilation were making fast inroads upon its powers: for the me-
retricious and ephemeral productions were wanting in that grace
APPENDIX.
Note III.
Sarcophagus, now in the British Museum, which was taken from
the Shaft at the south-eastern corner of Campbell's Tomb.
The sarcophagus, or coffin of red granite, found in a tomb in the
neighbourhood of Gizeh, discovered by Colonel Howard Vyse, in
1837, and named by him Campbell's Tomb, in honour of the present
British consid in Egypt, was presented to the British Museum
by the discoverer, and arrived there on the 11th of April, 1839.
The tomb, as will be perceived from the hieroglyphics copied
from its sides, was constructed, during the rule of the XXVI. or
Saite dynasty, for functionaries of high rank at Memphis ; and the
two sarcophagi from that locality bearing internal evidence of
having been constructed during the same period, receive additional
illustration from two contemporaneous monuments, viz., the large
sarcophagus (note A) of Hapimen, Egyptian Saloon, No. 23, re-
moved from Cairo by the French, called there the " Lover's
Fountain," by the Turks, and the fragment, Egyptian Saloon,
No- 66 (note B), of which a counterpart exists in the Ashmoleaii
Museum at Oxford. The scenes on these three monuments
mutually illustrate, and are necessary evidences to, one another.
At the period of this dynasty, Memphis appears to have
resumed some of the antient splendour which it enjoyed under
the constructors of the eternal pyramids; and an affectation for the
archaic names, titles, customs, and, to a certain extent, an imita-
tion of the works of art of that remote epoch, seems to have
arisen under the rule of the Psammetici, and to have been con-
tinued till the Ptolemaic era. The reasons of this fashion are neces-
sarily hidden in much obscurity, as to whether caprice dictated
the change—a fancied descent from the older monarchs — or the
desire to throw over a throne, acquired by unusual means, an
appearance of that legitimate antiquity which it could not boast,
were the latent and moving springs of this peculiar archaism
during their reign. But the arts were in decay, a florid and
a frittered style was usurping the bold simplicity of the more
antient monuments; and the attempt at imitation only produced
a species of art which pointed out that the elements of its anni-
hilation were making fast inroads upon its powers: for the me-
retricious and ephemeral productions were wanting in that grace