DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6638#0012
L SAPT EL
My first object in excavating at Saft was to
recover as much as I could of the famous shrine
of Saft of the time of Nectanebo II., the last
of the Pharaohs, and thus to restore, at least
in part, this important monument, known only
from the fragments at Bulak. I began, there-
fore, to work round the granite block. I soon
found the walls of the temple (cf. pi. x.) which
originally contained the monolith; but beyond
two more fragments of the naos, I discovered
no inscribed stones in the temple itself, but
only 142 basalt stones worked on one side, and
prepared either for a wall or a pavement. I
cleared the area of the temple down to the
sand. The enclosure is made of brick walls from
15 to 18 feet thick. The building originally stood
on the bank of a canal which followed nearly
the same course as the present Abu-l-Munagge,
and which certainly was the old Pelusiac branch.
The old bed may be traced as far as Belbeis.
Between the temple and the great city wall is a
space about 120 yards wide, which, judging
from the nature of the soil, must once have
been covered with houses. I there made several
soundings, and sank pits down to the natural
soil, but without result. The wall itself is 36
feet wide, and the bricks are more than 15
inches long. There are also traces of a less
massive wall in front of the temple, at right
angles with the city wall, which very likely en-
closed the temenos. Outside the temple, in the
direction of the village, I found in a corn-field
two fragments of a colossal statue of black
granite. The buckle on the belt bears the
cartouche of Rameses II. (pi. viii. a). I also
purchased from a fellah in the village a fine
broken statue of Nectanebo II., now in the
British Museum.
This certainly cannot be called a rich collec-
tion of monuments; but after I had worked
there for a few days, I soon became convinced
that Saft el Henneh had already been robbed of
its choicest relics. It is a mine which has not
only been worked, but thoroughly ransacked,
HENNEH.
and its most valuable monuments have either
been scattered or destroyed. When the sheikh
on whose land I was excavating became re-
assured as to the object of my researches, he
told me that some twenty years ago a great
number of inscribed stones were unearthed on
that spot; but since that time they had dis-
appeared, most of them having been used for
building purposes. The great number of broken
pieces which are built into the walls of the
houses prove that the sheikh spoke the truth.
It is possible that some of the dispersed monu-
ments have found their way to the museums of
Europe. There is no doubt, for instance, that
a basalt ichneumon which was shown to me by
the learned keeper of the Ambras Collection at
Vienna, Bitter von Bergmann, comes from Saft
el Henneh. It exactly resembles the ichneumon
represented on pi. vi., and the inscription is
nearly identical : (j
Ka of Heliopolis, who resides in the house of
the sycamore. It is also likely that a fragment
in the Louvre, on which Professor Brugsch has
discovered a list of dekans,' came from the
same place.
The way in which the monuments of Saft
have been destroyed is very well illustrated by
what happened to the shrine. Twenty years
ago, when digging for agricultural purposes,
the fellaheen came across this splendid mono-
lith, covered with sculptures inside and outside.
A pacha who lives in the neighbourhood
immediately ordered that it should be broken in
pieces, thus acting in accordance with a super-
stition which prevails throughout Egypt, namely,
that the ancient monuments contain gold. The
first thing to do, therefore, is to break them up,
in order to arrive at the precious metal. Two
of the fragments were carried by the pacha to
his isbet (farm), where they remained until they
were taken to the Museum of Bulak (pi. i.
1 Brugsch, Thes. Inscr. i. p. 179; Pierret, Inscr. (In
Louvre, p. 73.
My first object in excavating at Saft was to
recover as much as I could of the famous shrine
of Saft of the time of Nectanebo II., the last
of the Pharaohs, and thus to restore, at least
in part, this important monument, known only
from the fragments at Bulak. I began, there-
fore, to work round the granite block. I soon
found the walls of the temple (cf. pi. x.) which
originally contained the monolith; but beyond
two more fragments of the naos, I discovered
no inscribed stones in the temple itself, but
only 142 basalt stones worked on one side, and
prepared either for a wall or a pavement. I
cleared the area of the temple down to the
sand. The enclosure is made of brick walls from
15 to 18 feet thick. The building originally stood
on the bank of a canal which followed nearly
the same course as the present Abu-l-Munagge,
and which certainly was the old Pelusiac branch.
The old bed may be traced as far as Belbeis.
Between the temple and the great city wall is a
space about 120 yards wide, which, judging
from the nature of the soil, must once have
been covered with houses. I there made several
soundings, and sank pits down to the natural
soil, but without result. The wall itself is 36
feet wide, and the bricks are more than 15
inches long. There are also traces of a less
massive wall in front of the temple, at right
angles with the city wall, which very likely en-
closed the temenos. Outside the temple, in the
direction of the village, I found in a corn-field
two fragments of a colossal statue of black
granite. The buckle on the belt bears the
cartouche of Rameses II. (pi. viii. a). I also
purchased from a fellah in the village a fine
broken statue of Nectanebo II., now in the
British Museum.
This certainly cannot be called a rich collec-
tion of monuments; but after I had worked
there for a few days, I soon became convinced
that Saft el Henneh had already been robbed of
its choicest relics. It is a mine which has not
only been worked, but thoroughly ransacked,
HENNEH.
and its most valuable monuments have either
been scattered or destroyed. When the sheikh
on whose land I was excavating became re-
assured as to the object of my researches, he
told me that some twenty years ago a great
number of inscribed stones were unearthed on
that spot; but since that time they had dis-
appeared, most of them having been used for
building purposes. The great number of broken
pieces which are built into the walls of the
houses prove that the sheikh spoke the truth.
It is possible that some of the dispersed monu-
ments have found their way to the museums of
Europe. There is no doubt, for instance, that
a basalt ichneumon which was shown to me by
the learned keeper of the Ambras Collection at
Vienna, Bitter von Bergmann, comes from Saft
el Henneh. It exactly resembles the ichneumon
represented on pi. vi., and the inscription is
nearly identical : (j
Ka of Heliopolis, who resides in the house of
the sycamore. It is also likely that a fragment
in the Louvre, on which Professor Brugsch has
discovered a list of dekans,' came from the
same place.
The way in which the monuments of Saft
have been destroyed is very well illustrated by
what happened to the shrine. Twenty years
ago, when digging for agricultural purposes,
the fellaheen came across this splendid mono-
lith, covered with sculptures inside and outside.
A pacha who lives in the neighbourhood
immediately ordered that it should be broken in
pieces, thus acting in accordance with a super-
stition which prevails throughout Egypt, namely,
that the ancient monuments contain gold. The
first thing to do, therefore, is to break them up,
in order to arrive at the precious metal. Two
of the fragments were carried by the pacha to
his isbet (farm), where they remained until they
were taken to the Museum of Bulak (pi. i.
1 Brugsch, Thes. Inscr. i. p. 179; Pierret, Inscr. (In
Louvre, p. 73.