DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0016
2
BUBASTIS.
several remains of monuments which may be
useful for the history of Egyptian architecture.
We noticed in particular part of a cornice of a
very vigorous style ; the sculpture of it is fairly
preserved. This block, which may be eight
feet long and six high, is of a very hard red
granite; the work is most elaborate, it is
covered with hieroglyphs, of which we made a
drawing.
" We saw on other masses of granite, among
the hieroglyphs, characters which we had not
noticed anywhere else. The face of an obelisk
is completely covered with stars, and represents
the sky. The stars have five rays of a length
of two centimetres, and are joined to each
other in an irregular order. Enormous masses
of granite, nearly all mutilated, are heaped up
in the most wonderful way. It is difficult to
conceive what power could break and pile them
up in that manner. Several have been cut for
making millstones; some of them are com-
pletely hewn, but have been left on the spot,
probably for want of means of transport. . . .
This city, like all others, was raised on great
masses of raw bricks. The extent of Bubastis
in all directions is from twelve to fourteen
hundred metres. In the interior is a great
depression, in the middle of which are the
monuments which we noticed."
This description is interesting because it
shows that in the time of Malus the part of
the temple which was visible was the western
hall, the hall of Nekhthorheb, the most ex-
tensive, and where at present still exists the
greatest heap of blocks. The monuments
which struck him have been published in the
great work of the French expedition ;1 they
are the upper cornice, adorned with large asps,
of which we discovered several fragments, and
part of the ceiling, which he mistook for the
side of an obelisk, and which is, in fact, adorned
with stars. Although quarrying has been
1 Descr. de l'Egypte, Antiquites, v. pi. 29, 9.
practised in the whole temple, it has been
most active in the western part, judging from
the immense number of chips of red limestone
from Gebel Ahmar, the best material for mill-
stones. Probably more towards the east the
temple was covered, for Malus would certainly
have mentioned the large columns which would
have struck him more than the cornice, had he
seen them.
A more complete description has been given
by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. It appeared first
in the transactions of an Egyptian society,2
whence it passed into Murray's hand-book.
Wilkinson seems to have been at Bubastis
before 18-10. Probably some digging had been
done by the fellaheen, either for " sebakh " or
for quarrying, for he saw a good deal more
than Malus. He speaks of lotus-bud columns,
of a palm-tree column which must have been
twenty-two feet high, and which was lying near
the canal, where it is still now to be seen; and
he read on the stones the names of Barneses II.,
Osorkon L, and of a king whom he calls
wrongly Amyrtaeos, and who is Nectanebo L,
Nekhthorheb.
Since Wilkinson saw the place more stones
have been carried away, and the Nile mud
has covered parts of the temple which were
visible in his time. I visited the place for the
first time in 1882. In the great rectangular
depression which marks the site of the temple,
a few weather-beaten granite blocks were to be
seen, but no column or statue, only two pits
which were Mariettc's attempts at excavations,
very soon given up, as they were without
results. The appearance of the place was
exactly the same in 1887 when I settled there
with Mr. Griffith, and we resolved to excavate
the famous sanctuary of Bubastis, described by
Herodotus as follows :—3
" Among the many cities which thus attained
- Miscellanea Aegyptiaca, p. 2.
3 ii. 137, ed. Rawlinson.
BUBASTIS.
several remains of monuments which may be
useful for the history of Egyptian architecture.
We noticed in particular part of a cornice of a
very vigorous style ; the sculpture of it is fairly
preserved. This block, which may be eight
feet long and six high, is of a very hard red
granite; the work is most elaborate, it is
covered with hieroglyphs, of which we made a
drawing.
" We saw on other masses of granite, among
the hieroglyphs, characters which we had not
noticed anywhere else. The face of an obelisk
is completely covered with stars, and represents
the sky. The stars have five rays of a length
of two centimetres, and are joined to each
other in an irregular order. Enormous masses
of granite, nearly all mutilated, are heaped up
in the most wonderful way. It is difficult to
conceive what power could break and pile them
up in that manner. Several have been cut for
making millstones; some of them are com-
pletely hewn, but have been left on the spot,
probably for want of means of transport. . . .
This city, like all others, was raised on great
masses of raw bricks. The extent of Bubastis
in all directions is from twelve to fourteen
hundred metres. In the interior is a great
depression, in the middle of which are the
monuments which we noticed."
This description is interesting because it
shows that in the time of Malus the part of
the temple which was visible was the western
hall, the hall of Nekhthorheb, the most ex-
tensive, and where at present still exists the
greatest heap of blocks. The monuments
which struck him have been published in the
great work of the French expedition ;1 they
are the upper cornice, adorned with large asps,
of which we discovered several fragments, and
part of the ceiling, which he mistook for the
side of an obelisk, and which is, in fact, adorned
with stars. Although quarrying has been
1 Descr. de l'Egypte, Antiquites, v. pi. 29, 9.
practised in the whole temple, it has been
most active in the western part, judging from
the immense number of chips of red limestone
from Gebel Ahmar, the best material for mill-
stones. Probably more towards the east the
temple was covered, for Malus would certainly
have mentioned the large columns which would
have struck him more than the cornice, had he
seen them.
A more complete description has been given
by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. It appeared first
in the transactions of an Egyptian society,2
whence it passed into Murray's hand-book.
Wilkinson seems to have been at Bubastis
before 18-10. Probably some digging had been
done by the fellaheen, either for " sebakh " or
for quarrying, for he saw a good deal more
than Malus. He speaks of lotus-bud columns,
of a palm-tree column which must have been
twenty-two feet high, and which was lying near
the canal, where it is still now to be seen; and
he read on the stones the names of Barneses II.,
Osorkon L, and of a king whom he calls
wrongly Amyrtaeos, and who is Nectanebo L,
Nekhthorheb.
Since Wilkinson saw the place more stones
have been carried away, and the Nile mud
has covered parts of the temple which were
visible in his time. I visited the place for the
first time in 1882. In the great rectangular
depression which marks the site of the temple,
a few weather-beaten granite blocks were to be
seen, but no column or statue, only two pits
which were Mariettc's attempts at excavations,
very soon given up, as they were without
results. The appearance of the place was
exactly the same in 1887 when I settled there
with Mr. Griffith, and we resolved to excavate
the famous sanctuary of Bubastis, described by
Herodotus as follows :—3
" Among the many cities which thus attained
- Miscellanea Aegyptiaca, p. 2.
3 ii. 137, ed. Rawlinson.