DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4142#0013
DEIR EL BAHART.
roughened with a chisel. Four worked stones have
been found, 7'25 inches wide and 11 inches high, with
a rounded top and roughened lower surface to form
a better key for the mortar which joined them to the
writh just mentioned. These stones were evidently
part of the parapet or coping that once stood on the
altar. The floor of the altar is in bad condition, and
formed of irregular pieces fitted together. No other
markings but those mentioned above can be traced.
Immediately below the bead of the cornice is a
frieze or horizontal band of hieroglyphs incised in the
stone, parts of the inscription being much defaced
with diagonal chisel-marks.
The steps are 29'5 inches wide, the inclined plane
on either side of them being 5'5 inches wide, and the
upper surfaces or treads measure 19*1 inches ; they
are not level, but slope up 1"85 inch in every step.
The actual rising of each is 6-2 inches, but by this expe-
dient of inclining the tread it is lessened to 4-25 inches.
When first discovered, the south-west corner of
the altar was found to have many of its stones dis-
placed, exposing to view inside the main structure
part of another and smaller altar, which forms the
core of the larger one. The smaller altar measures
29 inches high, and has a bead or torus moulding,
on its upper edge, similar to that on the large
altar. On the north and south sides of the ramped
wall supporting the steps is a curved joint line
similar in form to the cavetto moulding of the cornice,
the lowest point being level with the top of the bead
of the inner altar, and the next stone in the ramp
being cut to fit the curve (see north and south
elevations). This shows that part of the old cornice
is embedded here in situ, and that the original altar was
42 inches high, and 30 inches less in width on either
side than the larger altar. Three of the upper stones
of this inner altar were carefully taken out from the
interior, but as they were uninscribed, the search was
not continued, and they were replaced.
It will be noticed that neither the stone floor on
which the altar stands nor the altar itself is quite
level. These errors were carefully determined with a
theodolite ; there are also many slight differences in
the actual dimensions, which are carefully shown on
the plate. The sizes and joints of the stonework were
all measured and plotted on the spot. On all four
sides the original stones which were found lying about
were replaced, especially on the southern side, where
the frieze or third course, with a well-cut inscription,
has been almost entirely restored to its place. The
steps are quite untouched.1
Inscriptions.—On all four sides are inscriptions in
which the queen's cartouches have been defaced con-
sistently, but are still legible, the feminine pronouns
remaining to show whose name was there originally.
On the east side, the first seen in coming from the
Vestibule, the cartouches of the queen were engraved
twice, running north and south; at the southern end
the queen is said to be a worshipper of " Amon Ea,
the lord of the thrones of the two lands," the god
to whom the whole temple was dedicated; at the
northern end she is said to be the worshipper of
O ^
Tia Hor k/ndi
Ra Harmakhis
the god to whom the altar was erected. On the north
and south the inscriptions were almost identical; the
beginning is in both cases erased. The inscription con-
tained the cartouches of Hatshepsu, and these words:
s ii tef-s Ba Hor Midi dr-t nj khat uat m
her father Ila Harmakhis made to him altar great of
\ A/WW\
1 □
I
i
dnr
hez
nefer
stone
white
good
D
_ _n
S3
riffc
an
dr-s fu ankh
An
she is living
of
" (Kamaka she made these buildings) to her father
Ra Harmakhis, she erected to him a great altar of
good white stone of An, she is living well established
and pure, like Ra eternally." Again on the left
side of the staircase the queen is referred to as a
worshipper of Harmakhis.
Ra Harmakhis being the god of Heliopolis, we must
regard this altar as indicating the establishment of
the Heliopolitan cult in a temple of Amon. It is a
remarkable fact that this monument at Deir el Bahari
is exactly similar to the altars represented in the
tombs of Tell el Amarna2 as having stood in the
capital of Khuenaten. From the same tomb paintings
we may also form an idea of the religious ceremonies
performed at such an altar, where no sacrifices took
place, but where great offerings were made to the
sun-god.3 Owing to the interposition of the ceiling
of the Vestibule the sun could be seen from the altar
only when already high above the horizon.
This description has heen written by Mr. John E. Newberry.
Lepsias, Denhndler, iii., pi. 96, 102.
Nestor I'llote, Lettres, p. 63.
_J___
roughened with a chisel. Four worked stones have
been found, 7'25 inches wide and 11 inches high, with
a rounded top and roughened lower surface to form
a better key for the mortar which joined them to the
writh just mentioned. These stones were evidently
part of the parapet or coping that once stood on the
altar. The floor of the altar is in bad condition, and
formed of irregular pieces fitted together. No other
markings but those mentioned above can be traced.
Immediately below the bead of the cornice is a
frieze or horizontal band of hieroglyphs incised in the
stone, parts of the inscription being much defaced
with diagonal chisel-marks.
The steps are 29'5 inches wide, the inclined plane
on either side of them being 5'5 inches wide, and the
upper surfaces or treads measure 19*1 inches ; they
are not level, but slope up 1"85 inch in every step.
The actual rising of each is 6-2 inches, but by this expe-
dient of inclining the tread it is lessened to 4-25 inches.
When first discovered, the south-west corner of
the altar was found to have many of its stones dis-
placed, exposing to view inside the main structure
part of another and smaller altar, which forms the
core of the larger one. The smaller altar measures
29 inches high, and has a bead or torus moulding,
on its upper edge, similar to that on the large
altar. On the north and south sides of the ramped
wall supporting the steps is a curved joint line
similar in form to the cavetto moulding of the cornice,
the lowest point being level with the top of the bead
of the inner altar, and the next stone in the ramp
being cut to fit the curve (see north and south
elevations). This shows that part of the old cornice
is embedded here in situ, and that the original altar was
42 inches high, and 30 inches less in width on either
side than the larger altar. Three of the upper stones
of this inner altar were carefully taken out from the
interior, but as they were uninscribed, the search was
not continued, and they were replaced.
It will be noticed that neither the stone floor on
which the altar stands nor the altar itself is quite
level. These errors were carefully determined with a
theodolite ; there are also many slight differences in
the actual dimensions, which are carefully shown on
the plate. The sizes and joints of the stonework were
all measured and plotted on the spot. On all four
sides the original stones which were found lying about
were replaced, especially on the southern side, where
the frieze or third course, with a well-cut inscription,
has been almost entirely restored to its place. The
steps are quite untouched.1
Inscriptions.—On all four sides are inscriptions in
which the queen's cartouches have been defaced con-
sistently, but are still legible, the feminine pronouns
remaining to show whose name was there originally.
On the east side, the first seen in coming from the
Vestibule, the cartouches of the queen were engraved
twice, running north and south; at the southern end
the queen is said to be a worshipper of " Amon Ea,
the lord of the thrones of the two lands," the god
to whom the whole temple was dedicated; at the
northern end she is said to be the worshipper of
O ^
Tia Hor k/ndi
Ra Harmakhis
the god to whom the altar was erected. On the north
and south the inscriptions were almost identical; the
beginning is in both cases erased. The inscription con-
tained the cartouches of Hatshepsu, and these words:
s ii tef-s Ba Hor Midi dr-t nj khat uat m
her father Ila Harmakhis made to him altar great of
\ A/WW\
1 □
I
i
dnr
hez
nefer
stone
white
good
D
_ _n
S3
riffc
an
dr-s fu ankh
An
she is living
of
" (Kamaka she made these buildings) to her father
Ra Harmakhis, she erected to him a great altar of
good white stone of An, she is living well established
and pure, like Ra eternally." Again on the left
side of the staircase the queen is referred to as a
worshipper of Harmakhis.
Ra Harmakhis being the god of Heliopolis, we must
regard this altar as indicating the establishment of
the Heliopolitan cult in a temple of Amon. It is a
remarkable fact that this monument at Deir el Bahari
is exactly similar to the altars represented in the
tombs of Tell el Amarna2 as having stood in the
capital of Khuenaten. From the same tomb paintings
we may also form an idea of the religious ceremonies
performed at such an altar, where no sacrifices took
place, but where great offerings were made to the
sun-god.3 Owing to the interposition of the ceiling
of the Vestibule the sun could be seen from the altar
only when already high above the horizon.
This description has heen written by Mr. John E. Newberry.
Lepsias, Denhndler, iii., pi. 96, 102.
Nestor I'llote, Lettres, p. 63.
_J___