DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0042
28 ABUSIR—TUKH
goddess of Busiris. The sense of the word is
revealed to us by a sentence in the inscription of
the shrine of Saft-el Henneh.1
"T^1 CO "if i TTT' ^te fie^ iS excc^ent for cnriching
(menkhheb) your altars. The goddess must be a
goddess of riches and abundance. Mr. Poole
suggested to me that she might be the Egyptian
equivalent of the evdrjvia, who appears on coins
of Hadrianus and Antoninus,2 and is represented
as reclining on a sphinx, and holding in her right
hand ears and poppies.
Abusir, the Busiris of the Greeks, has pre-
served part of the old Egyptian name, the house
of Osiris the lord of Dad, "y1 jj1^ ^^jf^^ ■ It
was a very famous place. Plutarch3 says that,
according to Eudoxos, it was pretended that
Busiris was the site of the tomb of Osiris.
Herodotus4 describes the kind of sacrifices
which were offered there at the great annual
festival; and he adds:—"It is there that the
whole multitude, both of men and women, many
thousands in number, beat themselves in honour
of a god whose name a religious scruple forbids
me to mention." The sacred name of the city
was Dad, and it is of frequent occur-
rence in texts connected with religion or mytho-
logy. A great festival was celebrated on the
30th of Choiak, and the hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions seem to confirm the tradition related by
Plutarch. I succeeded in purchasing at Abusir
a small fragment of green basalt, of excellent
workmanship, found in the neighbouring tell,
and which is now in the Boolak Museum.5 It is
part of a statue of the XXVIth dynasty of
1 " Goshen," pi. v. 4.
2 Zoega, " Num. Aeg.," pi. vi. et x.
3 "De Is. et Os.," cap. 21.
4 TT. 39, 40, 61.
PL vii. B.
EL KARMUS.
the time of Psammitichus I. The personage
represented is said to be beloved by the gods, the
lords of Dad. He was chancellor of Psammitichus,
and in one of the lines occur these interesting
words : (to put) Osiris Dad in his eternal dwelling,
meaning his tomb.
In the bazaar, I also saw a limestone fragment,0
which is interesting on account of the name it
bears. It is part of a funerary inscription for a
man called Sheshonlc. If we again turn to the
inscription of Piankhi, so important by reason of
the information it gives us about the geography of
Lower Egypt, we see that one of the rebel princes
who fougbt against him was the chief of the Ma
or the Mashouasch, the Libyan mercenaries,
/WWW \ Q WWA | ^XT^.
Sheshonlc of Busiris, TtTtT TtTiT A ] u
BIT. He bears the same name and titles
as the first princes of the XXJInd dynasty,
one of whom, Sheshonk I. (Shishak), very likely
came to the throne by the aid of his troops. It
is not certain that the funerary inscription of
Abusir refers to the enemy of Piankhi, the
evidence being too slight for actual identification ;
the coincidence of names, however, is curious.
TUKH EL KARMUS.
Between the stations of Hehya and Abookebir,
on the Mansoorah line of railway, about one
mile east of the railway, is a village called Tuhh el
Earmus, which is the property of the family of the
late prince Hassan. There is a considerable Tell,
which up to the day when we settled there seems
never to have been excavated for antiquities. It
was even but little worked for sebakh, and tbe
opinion of the natives was that nothing had ever
6 PL vii. c.
goddess of Busiris. The sense of the word is
revealed to us by a sentence in the inscription of
the shrine of Saft-el Henneh.1
"T^1 CO "if i TTT' ^te fie^ iS excc^ent for cnriching
(menkhheb) your altars. The goddess must be a
goddess of riches and abundance. Mr. Poole
suggested to me that she might be the Egyptian
equivalent of the evdrjvia, who appears on coins
of Hadrianus and Antoninus,2 and is represented
as reclining on a sphinx, and holding in her right
hand ears and poppies.
Abusir, the Busiris of the Greeks, has pre-
served part of the old Egyptian name, the house
of Osiris the lord of Dad, "y1 jj1^ ^^jf^^ ■ It
was a very famous place. Plutarch3 says that,
according to Eudoxos, it was pretended that
Busiris was the site of the tomb of Osiris.
Herodotus4 describes the kind of sacrifices
which were offered there at the great annual
festival; and he adds:—"It is there that the
whole multitude, both of men and women, many
thousands in number, beat themselves in honour
of a god whose name a religious scruple forbids
me to mention." The sacred name of the city
was Dad, and it is of frequent occur-
rence in texts connected with religion or mytho-
logy. A great festival was celebrated on the
30th of Choiak, and the hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions seem to confirm the tradition related by
Plutarch. I succeeded in purchasing at Abusir
a small fragment of green basalt, of excellent
workmanship, found in the neighbouring tell,
and which is now in the Boolak Museum.5 It is
part of a statue of the XXVIth dynasty of
1 " Goshen," pi. v. 4.
2 Zoega, " Num. Aeg.," pi. vi. et x.
3 "De Is. et Os.," cap. 21.
4 TT. 39, 40, 61.
PL vii. B.
EL KARMUS.
the time of Psammitichus I. The personage
represented is said to be beloved by the gods, the
lords of Dad. He was chancellor of Psammitichus,
and in one of the lines occur these interesting
words : (to put) Osiris Dad in his eternal dwelling,
meaning his tomb.
In the bazaar, I also saw a limestone fragment,0
which is interesting on account of the name it
bears. It is part of a funerary inscription for a
man called Sheshonlc. If we again turn to the
inscription of Piankhi, so important by reason of
the information it gives us about the geography of
Lower Egypt, we see that one of the rebel princes
who fougbt against him was the chief of the Ma
or the Mashouasch, the Libyan mercenaries,
/WWW \ Q WWA | ^XT^.
Sheshonlc of Busiris, TtTtT TtTiT A ] u
BIT. He bears the same name and titles
as the first princes of the XXJInd dynasty,
one of whom, Sheshonk I. (Shishak), very likely
came to the throne by the aid of his troops. It
is not certain that the funerary inscription of
Abusir refers to the enemy of Piankhi, the
evidence being too slight for actual identification ;
the coincidence of names, however, is curious.
TUKH EL KARMUS.
Between the stations of Hehya and Abookebir,
on the Mansoorah line of railway, about one
mile east of the railway, is a village called Tuhh el
Earmus, which is the property of the family of the
late prince Hassan. There is a considerable Tell,
which up to the day when we settled there seems
never to have been excavated for antiquities. It
was even but little worked for sebakh, and tbe
opinion of the natives was that nothing had ever
6 PL vii. c.