DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0029
16
MENDES.
fd
Ammianus Marcellinus,6 who says that it was
one of the four great cities of Egypt, the other
three being Athribis, Oxyrynchos, and Mem-
phis. According to the Itinerary of Anto-
ninus,6 it was twenty-two miles distant from
Tanis, and forty-four from Heracleopolis Parva,
the present Kantarah on the Suez Canal.
Thmuis became one of the episcopal seats of
Egypt, and the names of two of its bishops have
come down to us: that of Serapion, who
wrote a biography of St. Macarius, and that of
Phileas, who suffered martyrdom under Diocle-
tian. Under Arab rule both mounds belonged
to the province of Murtahia.
I devoted the greatest part of my time to
the Pharaonic mound of Mendes. The remains
are so scanty that it is hardly possible, from
the mere sight of them, to form an idea of
what the old city must have been, and of the
buildings which it contained. Rightly to judge
of their size and importance we must go back
to ancient descriptions of the place. An Arab
geographer of the fifteenth century, Abul-
' Abbas Ahmed ben Ali el Oalcaschandi, gives
the following account of the ruins : " The tem-
ple of Tumei, in the province el Murtahia, on
the north towards the city of Tumei, is in ruins.
The common people call it the Temple of 'Ad.
Remains of its walls and of the roof, made of
very large stones, have been preserved to the
present day. Over the entrance is a piece of
limestone and gypsum. In the interior there
are large cisterns of hard stone and of a very
extraordinary description." And further:
" Tumei is a city in ruins, in the province of
Murtahia, with considerable remains. I saw
there a hall with columns of hard stone made
of one single piece of a height of about ten
cubits, erected on a basement also of hard
stone." 7
5 L. xxii. 16. 6 P. 153, ed. Wesseling.
1 I am indebted to the kindness of Count d'Hulst for
these curious quotations.
We find that the place had altered consider-
ably by the end of last century, at the time of
the French expedition.8 The French savants
speak of it as being covered by a confused
mass of broken pottery, granite blocks, and
ruined brick walls. The only monument which
they found complete was the monolithic shrine,
still standing, and to which we shall refer later.
Besides the shrine, there were blocks of black
granite, which have since disappeared, as well
as three falling buildings whose remains
covered the soil. Also, at a short distance
from the monolith, were twenty-eight large
oval-shaped stones, hollowed as for watering
troughs, or coffins ; and Jomard, remembering
the passage in Herodotus which says that Pan,
called Mendes, was worshipped here under the
form of a he-goat, suggests that these coffins
may have been destined for the embalmed
bodies of those sacred animals. They are
evidently the " cisterns of extraordinary
description" which so astonished the Arab
traveller.
Another Frenchman, who visited the place
about the same time, noticed that the ground
had been dug over for the limestone with
which the walls of the ancient buildings were
made. He also observed that the pavement
of the largest temple was of sandstone, and
was covered with yellow and red fragments
from Gebel Ahmar, the Red mountain near
Cairo. Everywhere he found traces of fire,
thick layers of charcoal and calcined matter,
burnt bricks, and half-vitrified fragments, and
as he had seen the same things on other
mounds, he concluded that fire had been the
chief agent in the destruction of this city. No
doubt many of the old Egyptian cities owe
their destruction to fire; but the most de-
structive of all fires is that of the kiln, which in
modern times has reduced to lime the walls of
8 Descr. de VEgypte. Ant., vol. ix. p. 369 and ff., ed.
Panckoucke,
MENDES.
fd
Ammianus Marcellinus,6 who says that it was
one of the four great cities of Egypt, the other
three being Athribis, Oxyrynchos, and Mem-
phis. According to the Itinerary of Anto-
ninus,6 it was twenty-two miles distant from
Tanis, and forty-four from Heracleopolis Parva,
the present Kantarah on the Suez Canal.
Thmuis became one of the episcopal seats of
Egypt, and the names of two of its bishops have
come down to us: that of Serapion, who
wrote a biography of St. Macarius, and that of
Phileas, who suffered martyrdom under Diocle-
tian. Under Arab rule both mounds belonged
to the province of Murtahia.
I devoted the greatest part of my time to
the Pharaonic mound of Mendes. The remains
are so scanty that it is hardly possible, from
the mere sight of them, to form an idea of
what the old city must have been, and of the
buildings which it contained. Rightly to judge
of their size and importance we must go back
to ancient descriptions of the place. An Arab
geographer of the fifteenth century, Abul-
' Abbas Ahmed ben Ali el Oalcaschandi, gives
the following account of the ruins : " The tem-
ple of Tumei, in the province el Murtahia, on
the north towards the city of Tumei, is in ruins.
The common people call it the Temple of 'Ad.
Remains of its walls and of the roof, made of
very large stones, have been preserved to the
present day. Over the entrance is a piece of
limestone and gypsum. In the interior there
are large cisterns of hard stone and of a very
extraordinary description." And further:
" Tumei is a city in ruins, in the province of
Murtahia, with considerable remains. I saw
there a hall with columns of hard stone made
of one single piece of a height of about ten
cubits, erected on a basement also of hard
stone." 7
5 L. xxii. 16. 6 P. 153, ed. Wesseling.
1 I am indebted to the kindness of Count d'Hulst for
these curious quotations.
We find that the place had altered consider-
ably by the end of last century, at the time of
the French expedition.8 The French savants
speak of it as being covered by a confused
mass of broken pottery, granite blocks, and
ruined brick walls. The only monument which
they found complete was the monolithic shrine,
still standing, and to which we shall refer later.
Besides the shrine, there were blocks of black
granite, which have since disappeared, as well
as three falling buildings whose remains
covered the soil. Also, at a short distance
from the monolith, were twenty-eight large
oval-shaped stones, hollowed as for watering
troughs, or coffins ; and Jomard, remembering
the passage in Herodotus which says that Pan,
called Mendes, was worshipped here under the
form of a he-goat, suggests that these coffins
may have been destined for the embalmed
bodies of those sacred animals. They are
evidently the " cisterns of extraordinary
description" which so astonished the Arab
traveller.
Another Frenchman, who visited the place
about the same time, noticed that the ground
had been dug over for the limestone with
which the walls of the ancient buildings were
made. He also observed that the pavement
of the largest temple was of sandstone, and
was covered with yellow and red fragments
from Gebel Ahmar, the Red mountain near
Cairo. Everywhere he found traces of fire,
thick layers of charcoal and calcined matter,
burnt bricks, and half-vitrified fragments, and
as he had seen the same things on other
mounds, he concluded that fire had been the
chief agent in the destruction of this city. No
doubt many of the old Egyptian cities owe
their destruction to fire; but the most de-
structive of all fires is that of the kiln, which in
modern times has reduced to lime the walls of
8 Descr. de VEgypte. Ant., vol. ix. p. 369 and ff., ed.
Panckoucke,