DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0030
STIE1NE OF AMASTS.
17
a great number of buildings, including the
most valuable Xllth Dynasty temples of the
Delta. The scanty remains which the French
saw at the beginning of this century have for
the most part long since disappeared, and
except the monolithic shrine, some of the
coffins, aud a few stray blocks of hard stone
which could not be used, nothing remains
either above or below the soil of the extensive
buildings of the city of Mendes.
When I settled there, at the beginning of
January, 1892, the only things visible were
Drawing found in Lepsius' Papers.
the monolithic shrine (see Vignette), a few
blocks originally forming the basements of
the walls, and the sarcophagi of the sacred
rams within the enclosure wall on the north
side, besides a very large coffin in black granite
with a casing of limestone, which must have
been for a high official or even for a king,
and which had already been discovered and
opened—when, we do not know. It bears no
inscription.
The shrine is an enormous monolith of red
granite; its height is more than twenty feet,
and its width twelve. There is a low roof
in the form of a pyramidion with a very obtuse
angle. Its granite base rests upon a high
limestone basement, which extended not only
under the monument itself, but also under-
neath the hall which contained the shrine.
The shrine was evidently destined to contain
the sacred emblems, for it had a door, probably
made of precious wood. The limestone base-
ment was quarried out not long ago, and a
quantity of lime has been made out of it for a
pasha's farm; so that at present the solidity
of the monolith is endangered by the deep
holes around it, into which blocks of the pave-
ment have fallen. This quarrying seems to
have been stopped lately, owing to the energy
of the Museum authorities, otherwise the shrine
would certainly have fallen to pieces, and that
the more easily since deep cracks on the sides
show that the stone is broken.
One of the French explorers, Girard,9 says
that in his time there were traces of erased
hieroglyphs on the sides of the shrine. They
are no longer discernible. Burton,1 who visited
the place about the year 1825, and who made
a drawing of the shrine, could decipher a few
signs which were probably on the cornice of
the monument. They form the coronation
cartouche of King Amasis of the XXVIth
Dynasty, who is said in the same inscription to
be the worshipper of ^^ T" j y> <^/[ the living
soul of Shu. In the course of the excavations
which I made near the monolith, I found the
same cartouche with the words (worshipper of)
"*}£*? T ^^= J ^e ^m'w£7 sow^ °f $e^5 on a granite
block. I shall revert later to the worship of
Mendes indicated by these words. Whether
the shrine was reconstructed by the Sa'ites,
or whether those kings merely engraved an
inscription upon it, one thing is certain : the
9 Descr. de FEgypte, Ant,, vol. ix. p. 375.
1 Excerpta liter., pi. xli.
P
17
a great number of buildings, including the
most valuable Xllth Dynasty temples of the
Delta. The scanty remains which the French
saw at the beginning of this century have for
the most part long since disappeared, and
except the monolithic shrine, some of the
coffins, aud a few stray blocks of hard stone
which could not be used, nothing remains
either above or below the soil of the extensive
buildings of the city of Mendes.
When I settled there, at the beginning of
January, 1892, the only things visible were
Drawing found in Lepsius' Papers.
the monolithic shrine (see Vignette), a few
blocks originally forming the basements of
the walls, and the sarcophagi of the sacred
rams within the enclosure wall on the north
side, besides a very large coffin in black granite
with a casing of limestone, which must have
been for a high official or even for a king,
and which had already been discovered and
opened—when, we do not know. It bears no
inscription.
The shrine is an enormous monolith of red
granite; its height is more than twenty feet,
and its width twelve. There is a low roof
in the form of a pyramidion with a very obtuse
angle. Its granite base rests upon a high
limestone basement, which extended not only
under the monument itself, but also under-
neath the hall which contained the shrine.
The shrine was evidently destined to contain
the sacred emblems, for it had a door, probably
made of precious wood. The limestone base-
ment was quarried out not long ago, and a
quantity of lime has been made out of it for a
pasha's farm; so that at present the solidity
of the monolith is endangered by the deep
holes around it, into which blocks of the pave-
ment have fallen. This quarrying seems to
have been stopped lately, owing to the energy
of the Museum authorities, otherwise the shrine
would certainly have fallen to pieces, and that
the more easily since deep cracks on the sides
show that the stone is broken.
One of the French explorers, Girard,9 says
that in his time there were traces of erased
hieroglyphs on the sides of the shrine. They
are no longer discernible. Burton,1 who visited
the place about the year 1825, and who made
a drawing of the shrine, could decipher a few
signs which were probably on the cornice of
the monument. They form the coronation
cartouche of King Amasis of the XXVIth
Dynasty, who is said in the same inscription to
be the worshipper of ^^ T" j y> <^/[ the living
soul of Shu. In the course of the excavations
which I made near the monolith, I found the
same cartouche with the words (worshipper of)
"*}£*? T ^^= J ^e ^m'w£7 sow^ °f $e^5 on a granite
block. I shall revert later to the worship of
Mendes indicated by these words. Whether
the shrine was reconstructed by the Sa'ites,
or whether those kings merely engraved an
inscription upon it, one thing is certain : the
9 Descr. de FEgypte, Ant,, vol. ix. p. 375.
1 Excerpta liter., pi. xli.
P