DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0095
CAIRO TO ASSOUAN.
ianity, used as cells by hermits and anchorites. The most interesting of them are at
Beni Hassan, about one hundred and sixty miles above Cairo. They form a terrace,
approached by the remains of an ancient causeway, which rises from the plain and runs
alone the front of the grottoes. The rock has been hewn out into architraves and col-
umns, with doorways leading into the tombs. They thus have the appearance of build-
ings rather than caverns. The columns are remarkable for their non-Egyptian character.
If found elsewhere, they would be at once classed as Doric, yet they belong to the
earliest period of the Egyptian monarchy, and are probably but little later than the era
of the Pyramids. No Greek influence can therefore be suspected. The walls of the
chambers are covered with frescoes representing the every-day life of the time. Men
and women are wrestling, fishing and ploughing, reaping, trapping birds, giving dinner-
parties, being flogged, cutting
their toe-nails, treacling the__ .. ■ • ........
winepress, dancing, playing
the harp, weaving linen, play-
ing at ball, being shaved by
the barber, playing at
draughts. Verily, there is
nothing- new under the sun '
Life in Egypt four thousand
years ago was almost identi-
cal with that of England in
the present day. One of my
companions was a Cumber-
land squire, and a famous
wrestler. His attention was
riveted by a series of wall-
paintings, representing ath-
letic sports, chiefly wrestling
matches. I said to him, "Are
those pictures like the truth?"
He replied enthusiastically,
"There isn't a £rip or a throw ^^^^^^^^ffi^H^^^i^Sffi^S^^^ft^^^^^^^fe^
that I haven't used; and I ' t^^BSBSr^B '!f^p^^ff - ' %; - ' / f '
defy the best wrestler in the "■'!r^^^^K'^^^^^-~V^-^7
north of England to do it "^^^^^^^^^^^^^5^^^=^"^-- -
better." governor's palace at manfalut.
In the tomb of Chnum-
hetep the arrival of a party of Canaanitish shepherds in Egypt it depicted.
They are being introduced to the monarch of the district by a scribe who
holds a tablet, giving their number as thirty-seven, and calling them Amu; by which
name the Aramaic races were known to the Egyptians. A hieroglyphic inscription
styles the leader of the party Hek-absh. He is leading a Syrian goat as a present to
the monarch, and in the panniers of the asses which follow are other presents, among
them jars of stibium, at that time largely imported into Egypt from Palestine.1 On its
i In the inscription it is said that they came fiom Bat Mestem, which probably mean, "the stibium mine." A place of this
name is mentioned in the Apocrypha as existing in the Plain of Jezreel. qi
ianity, used as cells by hermits and anchorites. The most interesting of them are at
Beni Hassan, about one hundred and sixty miles above Cairo. They form a terrace,
approached by the remains of an ancient causeway, which rises from the plain and runs
alone the front of the grottoes. The rock has been hewn out into architraves and col-
umns, with doorways leading into the tombs. They thus have the appearance of build-
ings rather than caverns. The columns are remarkable for their non-Egyptian character.
If found elsewhere, they would be at once classed as Doric, yet they belong to the
earliest period of the Egyptian monarchy, and are probably but little later than the era
of the Pyramids. No Greek influence can therefore be suspected. The walls of the
chambers are covered with frescoes representing the every-day life of the time. Men
and women are wrestling, fishing and ploughing, reaping, trapping birds, giving dinner-
parties, being flogged, cutting
their toe-nails, treacling the__ .. ■ • ........
winepress, dancing, playing
the harp, weaving linen, play-
ing at ball, being shaved by
the barber, playing at
draughts. Verily, there is
nothing- new under the sun '
Life in Egypt four thousand
years ago was almost identi-
cal with that of England in
the present day. One of my
companions was a Cumber-
land squire, and a famous
wrestler. His attention was
riveted by a series of wall-
paintings, representing ath-
letic sports, chiefly wrestling
matches. I said to him, "Are
those pictures like the truth?"
He replied enthusiastically,
"There isn't a £rip or a throw ^^^^^^^^ffi^H^^^i^Sffi^S^^^ft^^^^^^^fe^
that I haven't used; and I ' t^^BSBSr^B '!f^p^^ff - ' %; - ' / f '
defy the best wrestler in the "■'!r^^^^K'^^^^^-~V^-^7
north of England to do it "^^^^^^^^^^^^^5^^^=^"^-- -
better." governor's palace at manfalut.
In the tomb of Chnum-
hetep the arrival of a party of Canaanitish shepherds in Egypt it depicted.
They are being introduced to the monarch of the district by a scribe who
holds a tablet, giving their number as thirty-seven, and calling them Amu; by which
name the Aramaic races were known to the Egyptians. A hieroglyphic inscription
styles the leader of the party Hek-absh. He is leading a Syrian goat as a present to
the monarch, and in the panniers of the asses which follow are other presents, among
them jars of stibium, at that time largely imported into Egypt from Palestine.1 On its
i In the inscription it is said that they came fiom Bat Mestem, which probably mean, "the stibium mine." A place of this
name is mentioned in the Apocrypha as existing in the Plain of Jezreel. qi