DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4191#0010
■p
EL BEESHBH.
down with it tlie architrave and columns of
the portico. To reach the tomb from the
river it is best to land opposite Raramun and
walk across the cultivated land, through the
Coptic village of Der en Nakhleh, to the edge
of the desert. A Coptic cemetery lies at the
foot of the hills. Up the slope, clue east of
Der en Nakhleh, can be discerned a road or
dromos, marked out on either side by large
boulders. It ascends the hill to the summit,
and near the top passes the terrace, on to
which all the larger tombs of the Middle
Kingdom open.
The tomb described in the present volume
is the second inscribed one on the south side
of the great roadway, and is marked No. 2 on
the Survey to be published in El Rev shell,
Part II., PI. 3. It consists of a portico, a
main chamber, and a shrine, and like all the
other tombs in the group it is excavated in the
hill-side.
The facade, before its collapse, must have
presented an imposing architectural front. It
consisted of two noble columns with palm-leaf
capitals supporting a massive architrave, all
coloured pink and marbled with pale-green to
represent rose-granite; at the sides were seen
the names of the kings under whom Tehuti-
hetep, the owner of the tomb, had served. The
space behind the columns was so large that
we have called it an outer chamber. The walls
were sculptured with scenes of hunting large
game with nets, of fowling with the throw-stick,
and of fishing with spear or harpoon. The
left-hand wall (now wholly destroyed) was pro-
bably devoted to military and wrestling scenes,
such as we see so often in the tombs of the
same period at Beni Hasan. The ceiling was
painted blue and studded with yellow quatre-
foils; the design evidently represents a starred
canopy supported by a transverse rafter, the
latter being also imitated in the painting.
A narrow doorway, the jambs of which
were inscribed, led from this chamber into
another rectangular hall—the main or inner
chamber—measuring about twenty-five feet
from front to back, by twenty feet in breadth,
and thirteen feet six inches in height. The
walls of this chamber were also covered with
sculpture and painting above a plain black
dado. On the front wall at either side of the
door we have curious scenes of purification.
On the upper part of the left-hand wall is the
celebrated painting of the " Colossus on a
sledge," a huge alabaster statue of Tehutihetep
being dragged by nearly two hundred men ; on
the lower part of the same wall are scenes of
boats on the Nile, and cattle, the whole referring
to a great stock-taking, to which the herdsmen
of the nome brought in their annual tribute of
cattle. On the inner wall we see Tehutihetep
netting wild fowl with his wife and son,
watching fishermen hauling a net to shore, and
receiving birds, fish, &c, from his estate. The
greater part of the right-hand wall fell with the
earthquake, and was smashed into fragments;
from the portion still in place and the fragments
recovered from the debris, we gather that the
scenes depicted the owner's household and the
occupations of his farm servants, gardeners,
&c. The ceiling of this chamber is decorated
like that of the portico, but with the support-
ing beam represented as placed longitudi-
nally, and in the centre is a rectangular
space of a different pattern, crossed by the
beam and bordered by a black line. This
space is filled with a black and yellow check
pattern.
At the inner end three low steps lead into a
small shrine about four feet broad by eight
feet deep and eight feet high. It is remarkable
that it contained no statues like those at Beni
Hasan and elsewhere. On each of the side
walls is painted a scene of offerings, sur-
mounted by the Icheker ornament. Instead of
statues there are two figures in low relief on
the inner wall, of equal height, and facing
one another, representing Tehutihetep and his
, rpehutih
?. \ »
of W
r;e scenes ii
# of tbetotr
P^esengrav
■according
F a of Am-
Wt sc
$** 'he
Iti3interestmgto1
Loftbepr
Ltheexcavatioi
Lece of Midc
["director of tl
«A.b-Kau'j
l#d to decoi
,>anklm"
worthy to ca
iterity.
.previous y
group of t
|ie unknown to
tali expedition
I'.tlieir predeces
|«, dates back t
of it to
les and Lie
Mere, after ?
p cataract, joi
isrs. Banke
"»about to p
pan entranc
:-great temple
5*rs in Ni
/bounced Ka--
^k Egypt
^1817-1818
*Kl823,
EL BEESHBH.
down with it tlie architrave and columns of
the portico. To reach the tomb from the
river it is best to land opposite Raramun and
walk across the cultivated land, through the
Coptic village of Der en Nakhleh, to the edge
of the desert. A Coptic cemetery lies at the
foot of the hills. Up the slope, clue east of
Der en Nakhleh, can be discerned a road or
dromos, marked out on either side by large
boulders. It ascends the hill to the summit,
and near the top passes the terrace, on to
which all the larger tombs of the Middle
Kingdom open.
The tomb described in the present volume
is the second inscribed one on the south side
of the great roadway, and is marked No. 2 on
the Survey to be published in El Rev shell,
Part II., PI. 3. It consists of a portico, a
main chamber, and a shrine, and like all the
other tombs in the group it is excavated in the
hill-side.
The facade, before its collapse, must have
presented an imposing architectural front. It
consisted of two noble columns with palm-leaf
capitals supporting a massive architrave, all
coloured pink and marbled with pale-green to
represent rose-granite; at the sides were seen
the names of the kings under whom Tehuti-
hetep, the owner of the tomb, had served. The
space behind the columns was so large that
we have called it an outer chamber. The walls
were sculptured with scenes of hunting large
game with nets, of fowling with the throw-stick,
and of fishing with spear or harpoon. The
left-hand wall (now wholly destroyed) was pro-
bably devoted to military and wrestling scenes,
such as we see so often in the tombs of the
same period at Beni Hasan. The ceiling was
painted blue and studded with yellow quatre-
foils; the design evidently represents a starred
canopy supported by a transverse rafter, the
latter being also imitated in the painting.
A narrow doorway, the jambs of which
were inscribed, led from this chamber into
another rectangular hall—the main or inner
chamber—measuring about twenty-five feet
from front to back, by twenty feet in breadth,
and thirteen feet six inches in height. The
walls of this chamber were also covered with
sculpture and painting above a plain black
dado. On the front wall at either side of the
door we have curious scenes of purification.
On the upper part of the left-hand wall is the
celebrated painting of the " Colossus on a
sledge," a huge alabaster statue of Tehutihetep
being dragged by nearly two hundred men ; on
the lower part of the same wall are scenes of
boats on the Nile, and cattle, the whole referring
to a great stock-taking, to which the herdsmen
of the nome brought in their annual tribute of
cattle. On the inner wall we see Tehutihetep
netting wild fowl with his wife and son,
watching fishermen hauling a net to shore, and
receiving birds, fish, &c, from his estate. The
greater part of the right-hand wall fell with the
earthquake, and was smashed into fragments;
from the portion still in place and the fragments
recovered from the debris, we gather that the
scenes depicted the owner's household and the
occupations of his farm servants, gardeners,
&c. The ceiling of this chamber is decorated
like that of the portico, but with the support-
ing beam represented as placed longitudi-
nally, and in the centre is a rectangular
space of a different pattern, crossed by the
beam and bordered by a black line. This
space is filled with a black and yellow check
pattern.
At the inner end three low steps lead into a
small shrine about four feet broad by eight
feet deep and eight feet high. It is remarkable
that it contained no statues like those at Beni
Hasan and elsewhere. On each of the side
walls is painted a scene of offerings, sur-
mounted by the Icheker ornament. Instead of
statues there are two figures in low relief on
the inner wall, of equal height, and facing
one another, representing Tehutihetep and his
, rpehutih
?. \ »
of W
r;e scenes ii
# of tbetotr
P^esengrav
■according
F a of Am-
Wt sc
$** 'he
Iti3interestmgto1
Loftbepr
Ltheexcavatioi
Lece of Midc
["director of tl
«A.b-Kau'j
l#d to decoi
,>anklm"
worthy to ca
iterity.
.previous y
group of t
|ie unknown to
tali expedition
I'.tlieir predeces
|«, dates back t
of it to
les and Lie
Mere, after ?
p cataract, joi
isrs. Banke
"»about to p
pan entranc
:-great temple
5*rs in Ni
/bounced Ka--
^k Egypt
^1817-1818
*Kl823,