DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0038
THE CITY OF BAH.
25
of Egypt, and where he is shown as standing
next to Ramehi, the goddess of Mendes.3
On the other hand, I consider that Bah
Ip* © was not the capital, but some other city
of the same province, and I have no hesitation
in assigning to it the site of Baklieh, from the
temple of which came the fragment bearing
that name, and also the sarcophagus with the
characteristic priestly title.
If Bah is at Baklieh, I believe that the
capital of the nome, the city of Thoth, the house
of Thoth Aprehuh or Shmun as it was called,
is to be looked for in the mounds of Tannah, a
place often referred to by the natives of Tmei
el Amdid. It is about seven miles north of
Mendes, and ten miles east of Mansoorah. The
fellaheen say that monuments have been fonnd
there, and at a short distance from it is the
village called Ashmun er liummdn, which, as
Ohampollion rightly observes,4 must not be trans-
lated Shmun of the Romans, but Shmun of the
Pomegranates. According to the same author,
this place was called also Ashmun Thannah.5
It is probable that the cities built on the sites
of Baklieh and Tannah were separated from
Mendes by the Mendesian branch of the Nile,
which bounded the nome of Thoth on the
south-east.
I have already mentioned that close to the
tell, near the opening in the enclosure wall,
there is a large heap of unworked blocks
intended for the building of a temple to be
erected on that spot, and that these blocks
seem to be of the kind of material which would
have been employed by the XXXth Dynasty.
It is remarkable that we should have a record
which may refer to this very temple. In the
quarries of Toora, south of Cairo, Brugsch6
discovered an inscription stating that Necta-
nebo II. " opened a good quarry at Toora, in
3 Buhastis, pi. xlv. D.
1 Eijijpte sous les Pharaons, ii. p. 124.
5 Champollion, I.e., ii. p. 152. 351. G Zeitschr., 1807, p. 91.
order to build in good stone a sacred abode to
Thoth Aprehuh, the great god of Bah, and to the
gods of Bah." From Toora he could only get
limestone, and none of the black granite which
comes from Hamamat in Upper Egypt. But we
may conclude from this inscription, that since
he intended to build a temple, he would also,
when sending the limestone from Toora, order
the granite blocks and capitals which were to
adorn the halls and the gateways of the build-
ings to be brought from the upper country.
But the grave events of his reign, and the
abrupt termination of his rule, prevented
Nectanebo from carrying out his plans.
A monument, which would be interesting if
complete, is the basalt sarcophagus of which we
have only a fragment. The sculpture is clearly
of the Sa'ite style; moreover, the dead man's
name of Aahmes is another indication of the
same period. Aahmes, or as the Greeks would
have called him, Amasis, had different titles.
He was first
\>
Whether the second sisrn is
to be read ^7 ma, the river-side, the shore,
or @ \> tep, the field, it seems that he had in
either case the superintendence of land. The
same office appears to be implied in the predi-
cate added to his priestly title __ ^ ^ the
fek, the bald-headed on the earth, or on the land.
As for the title of " ^, we know from the
lists that it belonged to the priests of the nome
of Thoth ; but the word ^ generally means on
the earth, living, in opposition to the buried.
Here, however, it is clear that it has another
sense. These words must also refer to land, and
probably mean that the fek Amasis was speci-
ally entrusted with the supervision of the land
belonging to the temple. A third title, which is
very vague, is ^=iiTj superintendent of the temples.
We do not know what this title really meant,
and whether it gave any authority to the
bearer; it may have been merely honorary, and
E
25
of Egypt, and where he is shown as standing
next to Ramehi, the goddess of Mendes.3
On the other hand, I consider that Bah
Ip* © was not the capital, but some other city
of the same province, and I have no hesitation
in assigning to it the site of Baklieh, from the
temple of which came the fragment bearing
that name, and also the sarcophagus with the
characteristic priestly title.
If Bah is at Baklieh, I believe that the
capital of the nome, the city of Thoth, the house
of Thoth Aprehuh or Shmun as it was called,
is to be looked for in the mounds of Tannah, a
place often referred to by the natives of Tmei
el Amdid. It is about seven miles north of
Mendes, and ten miles east of Mansoorah. The
fellaheen say that monuments have been fonnd
there, and at a short distance from it is the
village called Ashmun er liummdn, which, as
Ohampollion rightly observes,4 must not be trans-
lated Shmun of the Romans, but Shmun of the
Pomegranates. According to the same author,
this place was called also Ashmun Thannah.5
It is probable that the cities built on the sites
of Baklieh and Tannah were separated from
Mendes by the Mendesian branch of the Nile,
which bounded the nome of Thoth on the
south-east.
I have already mentioned that close to the
tell, near the opening in the enclosure wall,
there is a large heap of unworked blocks
intended for the building of a temple to be
erected on that spot, and that these blocks
seem to be of the kind of material which would
have been employed by the XXXth Dynasty.
It is remarkable that we should have a record
which may refer to this very temple. In the
quarries of Toora, south of Cairo, Brugsch6
discovered an inscription stating that Necta-
nebo II. " opened a good quarry at Toora, in
3 Buhastis, pi. xlv. D.
1 Eijijpte sous les Pharaons, ii. p. 124.
5 Champollion, I.e., ii. p. 152. 351. G Zeitschr., 1807, p. 91.
order to build in good stone a sacred abode to
Thoth Aprehuh, the great god of Bah, and to the
gods of Bah." From Toora he could only get
limestone, and none of the black granite which
comes from Hamamat in Upper Egypt. But we
may conclude from this inscription, that since
he intended to build a temple, he would also,
when sending the limestone from Toora, order
the granite blocks and capitals which were to
adorn the halls and the gateways of the build-
ings to be brought from the upper country.
But the grave events of his reign, and the
abrupt termination of his rule, prevented
Nectanebo from carrying out his plans.
A monument, which would be interesting if
complete, is the basalt sarcophagus of which we
have only a fragment. The sculpture is clearly
of the Sa'ite style; moreover, the dead man's
name of Aahmes is another indication of the
same period. Aahmes, or as the Greeks would
have called him, Amasis, had different titles.
He was first
\>
Whether the second sisrn is
to be read ^7 ma, the river-side, the shore,
or @ \> tep, the field, it seems that he had in
either case the superintendence of land. The
same office appears to be implied in the predi-
cate added to his priestly title __ ^ ^ the
fek, the bald-headed on the earth, or on the land.
As for the title of " ^, we know from the
lists that it belonged to the priests of the nome
of Thoth ; but the word ^ generally means on
the earth, living, in opposition to the buried.
Here, however, it is clear that it has another
sense. These words must also refer to land, and
probably mean that the fek Amasis was speci-
ally entrusted with the supervision of the land
belonging to the temple. A third title, which is
very vague, is ^=iiTj superintendent of the temples.
We do not know what this title really meant,
and whether it gave any authority to the
bearer; it may have been merely honorary, and
E