STORE-CITY OF PITHOM AND

THE EOUTE OF THE EXODUS.

5

A statue of a squattingman,in black granite,
a priest of Succoth called Aak. (Plate Y.)

A large statue in black granite, broken to
pieces, of a sitting king, probably of the
twenty-second dynasty, perhaps Osor-
kon II.

Fragment of the statue of a priest. This
was the first monument on which I read
the name of the city, the abode of Turn.
(Plate VII. a.)

Fragments of a very fine pillar, of which
a whole side was gilt, with the name of
Nekhthorheb, Nectanebo I.

Base of the statue of a princess, bearing
the two ovals of the queen Arsinoe II.
Philadelphos. (Plate VII. c.)

The great tablet of Ptolemy Philadelphos,
the largest and most important monu-
ment discovered by me at Tell el
Maskhutah. (Plates VIII. to X.)

Two Roman inscriptions giving the name
of Bro, or Heroopolis. (Plate XL)

Also several others of minor importance.

Let us now examine the principal results
derived from the study of the inscriptions
engraved on these monuments.

THE NAMES OE THE ANCIENT CITY.

Tell el Maskhutah was not Raamses, as M.
Lepsius endeavoured to prove; it was Pithom,
the City or the Abode of Turn, one of the cities
of which Exodus tells that they were con-
structed by the Israelites by the command of
the Oppressor.

Its name corresponds to the Hebrew Dns.i
to the Coptic neeum, to Jlt^w/A and IleiOJ) of
the Septuagint, and to ndrovfJLos of Herodotus.2

In order to make the evidence quite con-
clusive, I shall begin with surveying what we
knew about the nome of Pithom, its capital, its

1 Exodus i. 11. 2 L. ii. 158.

divisions, its local god, before the site had been
identified.

Our chief sources are the geographical lists
engraved on the walls of several temples.3
They are nearly all on the same pattern. They
have the appearance of a procession in which
a man bearing on his head a hieroglyphical
group, which is the name of the province or
nome, is considered as offering to the king the
nome with its products and everything it con-
tains : the whole is described in the legends
accompanying the picture. Each nome has a
separate bearer, and they follow each other in
a definite order which is -always the same. We
learn from the texts not only the divisions of
the nome, but everything connected with the
local worship. The principal divisions of the
nome are:—

1. The ^^^j the territory belonging to
the province.

2. The 3=n , the canal or branch of the Nile
which waters it.

3. The i ^ <o , the lowland or marshy region,
which very likely was used as pasture-land.

We may add to these lists what I shall call
the geographical invocations,4 in which, in order
to show that a god, generally speaking, Osiris,
is lord over the whole of Egypt, he i s addressed
as residing in all the nomes, which are mentioned
in their order.

If we consult the lists, the most important
of which are engraved on the basements of
the walls of Denderah, Edfoo, and Philae, we
find that the Vlllth nome of Lower Egypt is

called v^f ^ ,5 a name which Brugsch reads

3 I must refer the reader to the important collection of
texts published by Duemichen in his " Geographische In-
schriften," a first-rate work which is so far in 4 volumes. As
regards Edfoo, some supplementary inscriptions are found
in Iiouge, " Inscriptions et notices recueillies a Edfou," and
Bergmann " Hieroglyphische Inschriften."

4 Duem., Geog. Insehr., I. pi. 96—100, II. pi. 28, 29
6 Duem. 1.1. I., pi. 62, 64, etc.