DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0010
iv PREFACE.
dwelt ill the city, and had left in its temple important traces of their
dominion.
In 1889 Mr. Griffith was prevented from going to Egypt by his appointment
at the British Museum. Dr. Goddard, from America, took his place. We exca-
vated the cemetery of cats. In the temple, the limits of which had been reached
in the preceding year, we had chiefly to roll the blocks of the first hall, where
appeared the names of Cheops and Chefren of the fourth dynasty. These names
proved that the antiquity of the temple was higher than we thought. Thus, each
year modified in certain respects the ideas which I had formed on the age and the
nature of the edifice, and therefore it was preferable to wait for the publication
of the results until the excavations were completed. It enabled me to give a
general view of the history of the edifice, Avhich, though smaller, is like Karnak,
a summary of the history of the country.
I have to express my gratitude to the Director of the Antiquities of Egypt,
M. Grebaut, for authorizing me to excavate at Tell Basta, and for the kind help
he lent me in my work.
The plates of this volume are of two kinds, phototypes and linear plates.
We made a much greater use of photography than in former excavations; and
in this respect I have to thank my friend, the llev. W. MacGregor, for his
liberality in letting me make use of his negatives, several of which have been re-
produced in this volume. A few photographs are the work of the skilled hand
of Brugsch-Bey. The phototypes have been made by the firm of F. Thevoz
and Co., in Geneva, arid are on the whole very satisfactory. In appreciating
them it must be remembered that both the Rev. W. MacGregor and I are
amateur photographers ; neither of us have made a special study of this delicate
and difficult art. For this reason several of the negatives were not very good;
besides, whenever some natives are included in the picture, it is hardly possible
to persuade them to remain motionless.
I am indebted to my countryman, M. E. Cramer, who lives at Cairo, for the
architectural drawing of the lotus-bud column, and to Count d'Hulst for one of the
photographs and for the plan. As for the linear plates, they have been drawn from
paper-casts by Mme. Naville, and printed by the same firm as the phototypes.
I must not forget to thank particularly Prof. Ilobert Harvey, of the Univer-
sity of Geneva, who kindly fulfilled the ungrateful task of revising the style of
the memoir for the press.
dwelt ill the city, and had left in its temple important traces of their
dominion.
In 1889 Mr. Griffith was prevented from going to Egypt by his appointment
at the British Museum. Dr. Goddard, from America, took his place. We exca-
vated the cemetery of cats. In the temple, the limits of which had been reached
in the preceding year, we had chiefly to roll the blocks of the first hall, where
appeared the names of Cheops and Chefren of the fourth dynasty. These names
proved that the antiquity of the temple was higher than we thought. Thus, each
year modified in certain respects the ideas which I had formed on the age and the
nature of the edifice, and therefore it was preferable to wait for the publication
of the results until the excavations were completed. It enabled me to give a
general view of the history of the edifice, Avhich, though smaller, is like Karnak,
a summary of the history of the country.
I have to express my gratitude to the Director of the Antiquities of Egypt,
M. Grebaut, for authorizing me to excavate at Tell Basta, and for the kind help
he lent me in my work.
The plates of this volume are of two kinds, phototypes and linear plates.
We made a much greater use of photography than in former excavations; and
in this respect I have to thank my friend, the llev. W. MacGregor, for his
liberality in letting me make use of his negatives, several of which have been re-
produced in this volume. A few photographs are the work of the skilled hand
of Brugsch-Bey. The phototypes have been made by the firm of F. Thevoz
and Co., in Geneva, arid are on the whole very satisfactory. In appreciating
them it must be remembered that both the Rev. W. MacGregor and I are
amateur photographers ; neither of us have made a special study of this delicate
and difficult art. For this reason several of the negatives were not very good;
besides, whenever some natives are included in the picture, it is hardly possible
to persuade them to remain motionless.
I am indebted to my countryman, M. E. Cramer, who lives at Cairo, for the
architectural drawing of the lotus-bud column, and to Count d'Hulst for one of the
photographs and for the plan. As for the linear plates, they have been drawn from
paper-casts by Mme. Naville, and printed by the same firm as the phototypes.
I must not forget to thank particularly Prof. Ilobert Harvey, of the Univer-
sity of Geneva, who kindly fulfilled the ungrateful task of revising the style of
the memoir for the press.