DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0060
46
BUBASTIS.
(pi. xxxviii. a) ; it shows that the monument
was dedicated to Bast of the city of Bast.
Eameses III. raised many monuments in the
Delta, which was the theatre of his great wars ;
but we had not yet discovered north of
Memphis one of his successors who was also
his son, and who seems to have been the most
powerful of the series of the Eamessides, after
Eameses III., his father. No. VI. has been
<riven him in the list of the Eameses; his
prenomen was, like his elder brother, Amonher-
shepshef. We found three statues of this king.
1. A base of a sitting statue, in black
granite, of natural size, broken at the waist;
the upper part is lost (pi. xxv. a). It wears
a long dress, and on the sides, as well as on
the slab under the feet, are the names of
Eameses VI. (pi. xxxviii. 11'). As the engraving
is not deep, it may be usurpation. The monu-
ment has been left at Tell Basta.
2. Another statue, much smaller, in red lime-
stone, of which also the base alone remains,
has the names of Eameses VI. (pi. xxxviii.
h-h"). It is now in the museum of Ghizeh.8
3. The largest and most important is the
upper part of a statue in red granite, now at
the museum of Ghizeh (pi. xvi.). It is above
natural size, standing, and wearing the double
crown. On the back is an inscription, of which
we have only the upper half (pi. xxxviii. k), the
good god raised statues to his father Anion, who
puts him on his throne; the lord of Upper and
Lower Egypt, Ba hik Ma ... I am inclined
to think that this statue is really the portrait
of Eameses VI. The type is different from
Eameses II., the workmanship alone is the
same. The head has not the commonplace and
indifferent character of the statues made for
an architectural purpose. It is intended to be
a likeness. The nose is aquiline, and wide at
the end. The eyes are prominent, and the. lips
rather thick.
a It is the inscribed Mock which is seen on the left side
of pi. vi.
A short time before beginning the excava-
tions at Bubastis, I had procured at Benha,
from a fellah, a slab coming from a tomb, and
bearing also the name of Eameses VI. Thus
there are two places in the Delta where we
found this king.
THE TWENTY-SECOND DYNASTY.
The twenty-first dynasty, which has been
the object of so much discussion, has left no
trace at Bubastis. In particular, I did not find
the name of the King 8i Amen, whose cartouche
is frequent at Tanis, and who was discovered
at Khataanah.1 Therefore we pass without
transition from the twentieth to the twenty-
second, which, according to Manetho, is pre-
eminently the dynasty of the Bubastites.
Dr. Stern has proved that the Bubastites are
of Libyan origin, and not Asiatics, as it has
been admitted for a long time. They were the
hereditary commanders of a foreign guard, one
of whom, Sheshonli, the Shishah of the Bible,
succeeded in taking possession of the throne, and
legitimated afterwards his usurpation by giving
the daughter of his predecessor in marriage
to his own son. Sheshonk was the founder of
the dynasty; he was a warlike sovereign, and
made against Eehoboam, King of Judah, a suc-
cessful expedition, which he described in an
inscription of the great temple of Amon at
Thebes, in the part called " the portico of the
Bubastites." Bubastis being called his native
city, we should have expected that he would
have felt bound to adorn and embellish its
temple, and to record on its walls his victories.
It is just the reverse; no inscription of Shishak
has been found except a small fragment of
limestone with part of his cartouches. It is
quite possible that when Sheshonk
ascended the throne, he, who was of
foreign origin and a native of Lower
Egypt, found some resistance at
1 Goshen, p. 21.
O
m
/VWW
^2
BUBASTIS.
(pi. xxxviii. a) ; it shows that the monument
was dedicated to Bast of the city of Bast.
Eameses III. raised many monuments in the
Delta, which was the theatre of his great wars ;
but we had not yet discovered north of
Memphis one of his successors who was also
his son, and who seems to have been the most
powerful of the series of the Eamessides, after
Eameses III., his father. No. VI. has been
<riven him in the list of the Eameses; his
prenomen was, like his elder brother, Amonher-
shepshef. We found three statues of this king.
1. A base of a sitting statue, in black
granite, of natural size, broken at the waist;
the upper part is lost (pi. xxv. a). It wears
a long dress, and on the sides, as well as on
the slab under the feet, are the names of
Eameses VI. (pi. xxxviii. 11'). As the engraving
is not deep, it may be usurpation. The monu-
ment has been left at Tell Basta.
2. Another statue, much smaller, in red lime-
stone, of which also the base alone remains,
has the names of Eameses VI. (pi. xxxviii.
h-h"). It is now in the museum of Ghizeh.8
3. The largest and most important is the
upper part of a statue in red granite, now at
the museum of Ghizeh (pi. xvi.). It is above
natural size, standing, and wearing the double
crown. On the back is an inscription, of which
we have only the upper half (pi. xxxviii. k), the
good god raised statues to his father Anion, who
puts him on his throne; the lord of Upper and
Lower Egypt, Ba hik Ma ... I am inclined
to think that this statue is really the portrait
of Eameses VI. The type is different from
Eameses II., the workmanship alone is the
same. The head has not the commonplace and
indifferent character of the statues made for
an architectural purpose. It is intended to be
a likeness. The nose is aquiline, and wide at
the end. The eyes are prominent, and the. lips
rather thick.
a It is the inscribed Mock which is seen on the left side
of pi. vi.
A short time before beginning the excava-
tions at Bubastis, I had procured at Benha,
from a fellah, a slab coming from a tomb, and
bearing also the name of Eameses VI. Thus
there are two places in the Delta where we
found this king.
THE TWENTY-SECOND DYNASTY.
The twenty-first dynasty, which has been
the object of so much discussion, has left no
trace at Bubastis. In particular, I did not find
the name of the King 8i Amen, whose cartouche
is frequent at Tanis, and who was discovered
at Khataanah.1 Therefore we pass without
transition from the twentieth to the twenty-
second, which, according to Manetho, is pre-
eminently the dynasty of the Bubastites.
Dr. Stern has proved that the Bubastites are
of Libyan origin, and not Asiatics, as it has
been admitted for a long time. They were the
hereditary commanders of a foreign guard, one
of whom, Sheshonli, the Shishah of the Bible,
succeeded in taking possession of the throne, and
legitimated afterwards his usurpation by giving
the daughter of his predecessor in marriage
to his own son. Sheshonk was the founder of
the dynasty; he was a warlike sovereign, and
made against Eehoboam, King of Judah, a suc-
cessful expedition, which he described in an
inscription of the great temple of Amon at
Thebes, in the part called " the portico of the
Bubastites." Bubastis being called his native
city, we should have expected that he would
have felt bound to adorn and embellish its
temple, and to record on its walls his victories.
It is just the reverse; no inscription of Shishak
has been found except a small fragment of
limestone with part of his cartouches. It is
quite possible that when Sheshonk
ascended the throne, he, who was of
foreign origin and a native of Lower
Egypt, found some resistance at
1 Goshen, p. 21.
O
m
/VWW
^2