DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0080
66 minor expi
Mestarad dj^c (a village across the Bahr
Isma'iliyeh, marked but not named in Baedeker's
map). The Coptic church was being rebuilt, and
some old Coptic and Egyptian material was to be
seen about it. In the yard is a shallow trough (?)
or base for a statue (PI. xxi. 10), on the sides of
which is the inscription 10a, containing the car-
touches of Barneses II., and the name of " Horus,
lord of the festivals." The screen of the chancel
cuts off half of a curious channelled stone (11)
built into the step. The curved channel is % in.
deep. 11a is on the front of the stone, " Barneses
II., great provider of food in the Great Temple
of Heliopolis." 10 and 11, like most of the Helio-
politan monuments, are of the choice material
quarried at Jebel Ahmar ; so also is a very large,
slightly domed circular wright, diameter 19^
inches, height 16^. This lies near the church.
BeMim ^Sxy This village, though on almost
level ground, has some considerable marks of
antiquity; not only a very large granite block
without visible sculpture, but also clear traces of
having been encircled by a massive enclosure
wall, which has been levelled by the sibakh
diggers. Fortunately, on the vantage-ground of
this wall a number of shekhs' tombs had been
erected, and so long as these retain their sanctity,
some fragments of the brickwork will be preserved.
On the north, beneath Sidi 'Omar el Berashi, is a
lofty mass with the sides cut vertically as close
to the tomb as the fellahin could venture. On
the south, beneath Shekh 'Ali Tor, is a less
noticeable piece; and on the west the cemetery
and three shekhs have kept guard over a long
strip. These three sides are well beyond the cor-
responding limits of the village ; of the east wall
there is no trace.
12. Almost buried in the pathway, at the
corner of a group of houses in Behtim, is a
tantalizing fragment from an historical stela
(Saite?). The coarsely-worked base (13) of a
statue of Nefertari, queen of Barneses II., "be-
loved of Harmachis," lies in a large court-yard.
At the mosque is a fine slab with the cartouches
of Barneses II. In the fields on the north is (14)
a scrap of inscription. All the above are in the
hard crystalline sandstone of Jebel Ahmar.
Muntai ^LJu, Damanhur ^JUj, Bigam U^,
and Belaqs ^Jii, are noteworthy names.
15. I visited the latter, but found only a small
sandstone fragment with the name of Harmachis.
There are here the ruins of a large dyeing (?)
establishment, that I was told was built by
Muhammad ('Ali) Pasha. The ruined condition
of this very massive building is extraordinary. It
seems to have been undermined by floods.
16. At Khasus, north of Heliopolis, are many
fragments, viz., at a well on the south-west, part
of the cartouche of Nekhtnebef (rather than
Usertesen I.), Gebel Ahmar sandstone. 17. Car-
touche of Bameses^II. on a slab of limestone in
the door of a mosque. Near it is the top of a
small Ptolemaic (?) shrine, having two winged
disks superposed^ front over the door, but no
inscription. A small, much-bruised statue, with
a few signs (18) on the back pilaster, and a kneeling
statue of sandstone (20), holding a shrine whicb
contains a hawk, d is round the base, a on the
left side of the shrine, b on the right, c on the
front of the shrine, right side; the left of the
same is destroyed. The statue is in a bad con-
dition, and the upper part lost. It represented a
high official of the XVIIIth or XXth dynasty
named Sah nefer, called also Nekht Ba maa neb.
Mestarad dj^c (a village across the Bahr
Isma'iliyeh, marked but not named in Baedeker's
map). The Coptic church was being rebuilt, and
some old Coptic and Egyptian material was to be
seen about it. In the yard is a shallow trough (?)
or base for a statue (PI. xxi. 10), on the sides of
which is the inscription 10a, containing the car-
touches of Barneses II., and the name of " Horus,
lord of the festivals." The screen of the chancel
cuts off half of a curious channelled stone (11)
built into the step. The curved channel is % in.
deep. 11a is on the front of the stone, " Barneses
II., great provider of food in the Great Temple
of Heliopolis." 10 and 11, like most of the Helio-
politan monuments, are of the choice material
quarried at Jebel Ahmar ; so also is a very large,
slightly domed circular wright, diameter 19^
inches, height 16^. This lies near the church.
BeMim ^Sxy This village, though on almost
level ground, has some considerable marks of
antiquity; not only a very large granite block
without visible sculpture, but also clear traces of
having been encircled by a massive enclosure
wall, which has been levelled by the sibakh
diggers. Fortunately, on the vantage-ground of
this wall a number of shekhs' tombs had been
erected, and so long as these retain their sanctity,
some fragments of the brickwork will be preserved.
On the north, beneath Sidi 'Omar el Berashi, is a
lofty mass with the sides cut vertically as close
to the tomb as the fellahin could venture. On
the south, beneath Shekh 'Ali Tor, is a less
noticeable piece; and on the west the cemetery
and three shekhs have kept guard over a long
strip. These three sides are well beyond the cor-
responding limits of the village ; of the east wall
there is no trace.
12. Almost buried in the pathway, at the
corner of a group of houses in Behtim, is a
tantalizing fragment from an historical stela
(Saite?). The coarsely-worked base (13) of a
statue of Nefertari, queen of Barneses II., "be-
loved of Harmachis," lies in a large court-yard.
At the mosque is a fine slab with the cartouches
of Barneses II. In the fields on the north is (14)
a scrap of inscription. All the above are in the
hard crystalline sandstone of Jebel Ahmar.
Muntai ^LJu, Damanhur ^JUj, Bigam U^,
and Belaqs ^Jii, are noteworthy names.
15. I visited the latter, but found only a small
sandstone fragment with the name of Harmachis.
There are here the ruins of a large dyeing (?)
establishment, that I was told was built by
Muhammad ('Ali) Pasha. The ruined condition
of this very massive building is extraordinary. It
seems to have been undermined by floods.
16. At Khasus, north of Heliopolis, are many
fragments, viz., at a well on the south-west, part
of the cartouche of Nekhtnebef (rather than
Usertesen I.), Gebel Ahmar sandstone. 17. Car-
touche of Bameses^II. on a slab of limestone in
the door of a mosque. Near it is the top of a
small Ptolemaic (?) shrine, having two winged
disks superposed^ front over the door, but no
inscription. A small, much-bruised statue, with
a few signs (18) on the back pilaster, and a kneeling
statue of sandstone (20), holding a shrine whicb
contains a hawk, d is round the base, a on the
left side of the shrine, b on the right, c on the
front of the shrine, right side; the left of the
same is destroyed. The statue is in a bad con-
dition, and the upper part lost. It represented a
high official of the XVIIIth or XXth dynasty
named Sah nefer, called also Nekht Ba maa neb.