DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.410#0031
CHAP. II.—SAN UNDER THE EMPIRE.
21
copied and photographed, is still unpublished/
and will appear in the continuation of the chrono-
logical series of inscriptions in the next memoir.
To Tahraka may most probably be attributed the
building, of which the pavement remains, in the
north-east corner of the temple area (between f
and g). From the presence of parts of cartouches
of a Sheshonk upon the stones, we know that this
work must have been constructed when the works
of the twenty-second dynasty (800 b.c.) had
already fallen into desuetude, and were being
destroyed for building material. At the same
time, from the pavement having several feet of
mud accumulated upon it, below the foundations
of a house which was already old in the thirtieth
dynasty, it is certain that we must date it some
centuries before 350 b.c. Thus the date of
Tahraka (or say 670 b.c.) seems about the most
likely period for this erection, of which at present
we only know a portion of the pavement.
It shows, at all events, that a considerable
time after 800 b.c, and probably as late as
600 b.c, the great wall was in fair condition,
and had not become washed down to any serious
extent into the temple area by the rains. This
is, however, the last gleam of honour of the great
temple that we can trace, and it appears to have
gone finally to ruin when Sais became, under the
ascendancy of Psamtik, the capital of the Delta;
though perhaps its death-blow was given by the
Assyrian conquest and pillage in the latter part
of the reign of Tahraka. During the next two
centuries the rains streamed over the walls around
the deserted temple, and foot after foot of mud
was scoured off them and deposited on the sandy
area within the great enclosure of Pisebkhanu.
The city shows no signs of importance, and only
one fragment of this age, a disc of pottery of
Psamtik II., has been found here, and that
outside of the temple. It was a garrison-town,
whose lands were the hereditary property of the
Melanges d'' Archeologie Egyptienne et Assyrien, vol. i, p. 21.
1872.
military caste (Herod, ii. 166); and it is not
until the revival of the native sovereignty in the
Delta, under the twenty-ninth dynasty, that we
can begin to see any fresh life in the formerly
sacred enclosure of the old temple.
About this time houses were built on the plain
of mud, within the mouldering walls of black
brick which surrounded it. Some of the obelisks
were still standing; the pylon was injured, but
yet the walls rose high on each side of the
entrance, which was blocked with fallen masses :
and the colossi lay half-buried in the heaps of
stone chips. The great wall, however, offered
too valuable a shelter to be neglected, and so,
cutting away the rotten and crumbling surface of
it, but yet not trusting to it, for fear of the
streams of rain that ran off its wide and sloping
top, the houses were built close by it in the
north-east corner, where its protection from the
biting winds that swept over the plain was most
to be valued.
Under the thirtieth dynasty there appears some
activity, Nekht-nebf, Nektanebo II., came here;
and here, besieged by the Persian power, he was
rescued by his Greek mercenaries. To his age
may most probably be attributed the three
sphinxes which I have found, carved in limestone,
and evidently belonging to this period : while to
the revival of Egyptian art, strongly influenced
by Greek feeling, under the care of this king, we
may also ascribe the beautiful sets of porcelain
figures found in the ruins of the house g.
During the Macedonian age other houses grew
up within the precincts, as at the western side
of the north gate; and as the dynasty of the
Ptolemies gave more peace than the country had
enjoyed for a long period, fresh houses were built
against the wall in many parts, both inside it, as
at d, f, and k, and also against the outside.
Toward the end. of this dynasty, as the area filled
up more, with accumulations of mud washed off
the ruined walls, and the walls were thus lowered,
houses were built at last on the top of the wall,
which afforded a firm and uniform foundation, as
21
copied and photographed, is still unpublished/
and will appear in the continuation of the chrono-
logical series of inscriptions in the next memoir.
To Tahraka may most probably be attributed the
building, of which the pavement remains, in the
north-east corner of the temple area (between f
and g). From the presence of parts of cartouches
of a Sheshonk upon the stones, we know that this
work must have been constructed when the works
of the twenty-second dynasty (800 b.c.) had
already fallen into desuetude, and were being
destroyed for building material. At the same
time, from the pavement having several feet of
mud accumulated upon it, below the foundations
of a house which was already old in the thirtieth
dynasty, it is certain that we must date it some
centuries before 350 b.c. Thus the date of
Tahraka (or say 670 b.c.) seems about the most
likely period for this erection, of which at present
we only know a portion of the pavement.
It shows, at all events, that a considerable
time after 800 b.c, and probably as late as
600 b.c, the great wall was in fair condition,
and had not become washed down to any serious
extent into the temple area by the rains. This
is, however, the last gleam of honour of the great
temple that we can trace, and it appears to have
gone finally to ruin when Sais became, under the
ascendancy of Psamtik, the capital of the Delta;
though perhaps its death-blow was given by the
Assyrian conquest and pillage in the latter part
of the reign of Tahraka. During the next two
centuries the rains streamed over the walls around
the deserted temple, and foot after foot of mud
was scoured off them and deposited on the sandy
area within the great enclosure of Pisebkhanu.
The city shows no signs of importance, and only
one fragment of this age, a disc of pottery of
Psamtik II., has been found here, and that
outside of the temple. It was a garrison-town,
whose lands were the hereditary property of the
Melanges d'' Archeologie Egyptienne et Assyrien, vol. i, p. 21.
1872.
military caste (Herod, ii. 166); and it is not
until the revival of the native sovereignty in the
Delta, under the twenty-ninth dynasty, that we
can begin to see any fresh life in the formerly
sacred enclosure of the old temple.
About this time houses were built on the plain
of mud, within the mouldering walls of black
brick which surrounded it. Some of the obelisks
were still standing; the pylon was injured, but
yet the walls rose high on each side of the
entrance, which was blocked with fallen masses :
and the colossi lay half-buried in the heaps of
stone chips. The great wall, however, offered
too valuable a shelter to be neglected, and so,
cutting away the rotten and crumbling surface of
it, but yet not trusting to it, for fear of the
streams of rain that ran off its wide and sloping
top, the houses were built close by it in the
north-east corner, where its protection from the
biting winds that swept over the plain was most
to be valued.
Under the thirtieth dynasty there appears some
activity, Nekht-nebf, Nektanebo II., came here;
and here, besieged by the Persian power, he was
rescued by his Greek mercenaries. To his age
may most probably be attributed the three
sphinxes which I have found, carved in limestone,
and evidently belonging to this period : while to
the revival of Egyptian art, strongly influenced
by Greek feeling, under the care of this king, we
may also ascribe the beautiful sets of porcelain
figures found in the ruins of the house g.
During the Macedonian age other houses grew
up within the precincts, as at the western side
of the north gate; and as the dynasty of the
Ptolemies gave more peace than the country had
enjoyed for a long period, fresh houses were built
against the wall in many parts, both inside it, as
at d, f, and k, and also against the outside.
Toward the end. of this dynasty, as the area filled
up more, with accumulations of mud washed off
the ruined walls, and the walls were thus lowered,
houses were built at last on the top of the wall,
which afforded a firm and uniform foundation, as