DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0027
14
HERACLEOPOLtS.
sycamore wood, with the arms in very low relief
and crossed on the breast, is of much later
epoch (pi. xi. e). On the side are painted two
Anubis, a god with a human head, and other
figures. The inscription is nearly destroyed ;
AAAAAA /A C\
what remains of it reads thus
| /C AAAAAA Yi
f AAAAAA
I ^A AAAAAA
o
if
I li
U/VWVVX r J iaj
I UI21
I ^j in favour of Hoteplca,
the son of the 'priest, the scribe Barnes. I
should think that this coffin is later than the
XXth Dynasty. Near it were two blue porce-
lain scarabs.
Thus it is clear that no definite period or
epoch can be fixed for the Necropolis of
Ssedment. We have here a cemetery which
has been used and re-used during centuries,
and where we may come across fragmentary
remains ranging from the Xlth Dynasty to the
time of the Romans. The majority of those
fragments, especially of the stelae, points to
the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties. It is
probable that we must trace the origin of the
greater part of the Necropolis to the time of the
great prosperity and power of Egypt, to the age
of the Thothmes, the Amenophis, and even of
Rameses II.; however, parts of it must be much
older, as we may conclude from the presence of
the coffin of the woman Hunt. But even
though we trace it as far back as the Xlth
Dynasty, there is nothing whatever which we
can consider as belonging to the Old Empire.
I attribute to the XlXth Dynasty the only
statue which I found at Ssedment (pi. xii. b.).
It is a broken granite group found in the rub-
bish thrown into one of the pits to fill it. It
represented a standing priest and priestess.
The figure of the priestess is nearly broken off.
On the back were two scenes of offerings
(pi. i. f.); the priest stood before Arsaphes of
Hunensu, and the priestess Hunuri offered two
sistrums to Hathor, the goddess of the city.
As for the pottery, some specimens of which
have been put together on pi. ix., it is difficult
to date it with exactness, considering that it
comes from a necropolis which has been used at
various epochs. However, it is to be noticed
that with few exceptions the whole of it was
found in the poorest tombs, and even in those
bearing unmistakable indications of a very late
date. We also found fragments of terra-cotta
coffins; the headpiece of one of them is repre-
sented on the same plate as the pottery. All
the vases belong to the roughest kind of
Egyptian pottery. The bottle-shaped vases,
which are sometimes considered as being the
oldest Egyptian pottery, were found close to
the cultivated land, in that part of the Necro-
polis which I described as being the poorest,
where there are only rectangular boxes and
imperfectly mummified bodies, without any
ornament or amulet. Whoever has seen the
Necropolis of Ssedment will have no hesitation
in considering those bottle-shaped vases as the
latest work discovered there, later than the
pieces of Greek inscriptions found close by.
Consequently they must belong to Roman times.
#
HERACLEOPOLtS.
sycamore wood, with the arms in very low relief
and crossed on the breast, is of much later
epoch (pi. xi. e). On the side are painted two
Anubis, a god with a human head, and other
figures. The inscription is nearly destroyed ;
AAAAAA /A C\
what remains of it reads thus
| /C AAAAAA Yi
f AAAAAA
I ^A AAAAAA
o
if
I li
U/VWVVX r J iaj
I UI21
I ^j in favour of Hoteplca,
the son of the 'priest, the scribe Barnes. I
should think that this coffin is later than the
XXth Dynasty. Near it were two blue porce-
lain scarabs.
Thus it is clear that no definite period or
epoch can be fixed for the Necropolis of
Ssedment. We have here a cemetery which
has been used and re-used during centuries,
and where we may come across fragmentary
remains ranging from the Xlth Dynasty to the
time of the Romans. The majority of those
fragments, especially of the stelae, points to
the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties. It is
probable that we must trace the origin of the
greater part of the Necropolis to the time of the
great prosperity and power of Egypt, to the age
of the Thothmes, the Amenophis, and even of
Rameses II.; however, parts of it must be much
older, as we may conclude from the presence of
the coffin of the woman Hunt. But even
though we trace it as far back as the Xlth
Dynasty, there is nothing whatever which we
can consider as belonging to the Old Empire.
I attribute to the XlXth Dynasty the only
statue which I found at Ssedment (pi. xii. b.).
It is a broken granite group found in the rub-
bish thrown into one of the pits to fill it. It
represented a standing priest and priestess.
The figure of the priestess is nearly broken off.
On the back were two scenes of offerings
(pi. i. f.); the priest stood before Arsaphes of
Hunensu, and the priestess Hunuri offered two
sistrums to Hathor, the goddess of the city.
As for the pottery, some specimens of which
have been put together on pi. ix., it is difficult
to date it with exactness, considering that it
comes from a necropolis which has been used at
various epochs. However, it is to be noticed
that with few exceptions the whole of it was
found in the poorest tombs, and even in those
bearing unmistakable indications of a very late
date. We also found fragments of terra-cotta
coffins; the headpiece of one of them is repre-
sented on the same plate as the pottery. All
the vases belong to the roughest kind of
Egyptian pottery. The bottle-shaped vases,
which are sometimes considered as being the
oldest Egyptian pottery, were found close to
the cultivated land, in that part of the Necro-
polis which I described as being the poorest,
where there are only rectangular boxes and
imperfectly mummified bodies, without any
ornament or amulet. Whoever has seen the
Necropolis of Ssedment will have no hesitation
in considering those bottle-shaped vases as the
latest work discovered there, later than the
pieces of Greek inscriptions found close by.
Consequently they must belong to Roman times.
#