DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6553#0159
APPENDIX.
99
MASSARA QUARRIES.
These quarries appear also to have been worked from north to
south. The earliest tablets, Nos. G and 7, are of Amasis, but his im-
mediate successors are not noticed ; although the names of Psam-
metichus II., and of Hakoris, are inscribed on the cartouches to the
southward. The remainder of the tablets belong to the Ptolemies.
No. 6.—The upper part contains the names and the titles of Amasis,1
and those of his wife, Amasis Nofreareh. The royal prenomcn, with
the usual titles, is in the centre. On the left is expressed — "beloved
of Athom, lord of Poni;" on the right — " beloved of Phtah, who
is the southern rampart." Further to the left are the titles, &c. of
Nofreareh, the queen of Amasis, " the royal daughter, Aahmcs No-
freareh, the giver of eternal life, the royal sister, the chief;" and
to the right is written—" the royal wife, the great royal mother,
the mistress of the world." Below these titles are eight horizontal
lines of hieroglyphics. It will be seen by the Plate, that they are
imperfect, but that they refer to excavations in the quarries. " In
the twenty-second year of the sanctity of the king, the son of the
sun, Aahmos, the giver of life, the caves.....filled with good and
white stone of the precinct (?) were opened for the abodes belonging
to ... . abode, the abode of Phtah, the gracious god of Amon in
Thebes.....his sanctity made.....the stone by oxen(>.) ....
Done under the arm (the authority) of the chief . • . . the chief of the
lord of the world constructing . ... of the gracious god the guardian
of the signet....." Beneath this inscription, a block of stone, drawn
on a sledge by six oxen, and attended by three drivers, is represented. The
tablet records the fact, that the quarries, which had been begun in the
forty-third year of Amonemhe, probably the fourth, were worked in the
twenty-second of Amasis, apparently for the same purpose, viz. the build-
ing of the temples of Phtah, and of Amon in Thebes ; which probably were
begun by Amonemhe, because the inscription mentions that the stone was
intended for the temples of the gods of the south, and for the temple of
Amon in Thebes. It therefore appears that the monarchs of the six-
teenth and seventeenth dynasties (whose capital seems to have been
Abydos, from the recurrence of their names upon monuments brought
from that place) had regained complete authority over the whole country,
especially towards the close of the seventeenth dynasty. These tablets
1 A tablet of the same import, nnd referring to the same monarch, has
been published by M.Rosellini, "Mon. Stor." Teste. Tar. last of Vol. I.
99
MASSARA QUARRIES.
These quarries appear also to have been worked from north to
south. The earliest tablets, Nos. G and 7, are of Amasis, but his im-
mediate successors are not noticed ; although the names of Psam-
metichus II., and of Hakoris, are inscribed on the cartouches to the
southward. The remainder of the tablets belong to the Ptolemies.
No. 6.—The upper part contains the names and the titles of Amasis,1
and those of his wife, Amasis Nofreareh. The royal prenomcn, with
the usual titles, is in the centre. On the left is expressed — "beloved
of Athom, lord of Poni;" on the right — " beloved of Phtah, who
is the southern rampart." Further to the left are the titles, &c. of
Nofreareh, the queen of Amasis, " the royal daughter, Aahmcs No-
freareh, the giver of eternal life, the royal sister, the chief;" and
to the right is written—" the royal wife, the great royal mother,
the mistress of the world." Below these titles are eight horizontal
lines of hieroglyphics. It will be seen by the Plate, that they are
imperfect, but that they refer to excavations in the quarries. " In
the twenty-second year of the sanctity of the king, the son of the
sun, Aahmos, the giver of life, the caves.....filled with good and
white stone of the precinct (?) were opened for the abodes belonging
to ... . abode, the abode of Phtah, the gracious god of Amon in
Thebes.....his sanctity made.....the stone by oxen(>.) ....
Done under the arm (the authority) of the chief . • . . the chief of the
lord of the world constructing . ... of the gracious god the guardian
of the signet....." Beneath this inscription, a block of stone, drawn
on a sledge by six oxen, and attended by three drivers, is represented. The
tablet records the fact, that the quarries, which had been begun in the
forty-third year of Amonemhe, probably the fourth, were worked in the
twenty-second of Amasis, apparently for the same purpose, viz. the build-
ing of the temples of Phtah, and of Amon in Thebes ; which probably were
begun by Amonemhe, because the inscription mentions that the stone was
intended for the temples of the gods of the south, and for the temple of
Amon in Thebes. It therefore appears that the monarchs of the six-
teenth and seventeenth dynasties (whose capital seems to have been
Abydos, from the recurrence of their names upon monuments brought
from that place) had regained complete authority over the whole country,
especially towards the close of the seventeenth dynasty. These tablets
1 A tablet of the same import, nnd referring to the same monarch, has
been published by M.Rosellini, "Mon. Stor." Teste. Tar. last of Vol. I.