DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0071
TKLL NEBESHEH.
across the isthmus of Suez, are less in area hy far
than the country around them, which has heen
scoured by the wind, so that a foot off the country
would mean much more than that depth of deposit
in the water. It will thus be seen that, so far as
this evidence goes, a depth of twenty or even fifty
feet of sand may have been laid over these lakes
during historic times; thus completely altering
the conditions of the water communication, without
any need of relying on geologic changes of
upheaval. From other considerations it is not
likely that the changes have been so extensive as
this scale of denudation would produce; but at least
we have here to reckon with a factor capable of
doing all that we need to account for, and even more.
This fact of the denudation opens our eyes in a
melancholy way to the reason why early cemeteries
Seem to be unattainable in the Delta. If tombs
of the nineteenth, and even of the twenty-sixth,
dynasty are often so scoured away that barely
anything remains of them, it is a simple conclusion
that earlier tombs, perhaps of double that age, have
vanished into air, entirely denuded away may be
a couple of thousand years ago. Only tombs of
exceptional depth, or preserved by some accidental
protection, would have any chance of coming down
to our days. We may see this also shown by the
proportions of tombs of different ages at Nebesheh ;
one of the nineteenth dynasty, two or three of the
twentieth, half a dozen or a dozen before the
twenty-sixth, and a hundred or more of the twenty-
sixth and Persian periods. Yet the place was
grander, to judge by the remains of the temples,
under the twelfth and nineteenth dynasties, than
in later times. What, therefore, with fifteen feet
of mud over all the works of man in the plains, and
fifteen feet of denudation sweeping away the tombs
in the hills, there is a poor chance of recovering
the remains of early ages, except in the rocky sites
of Upper Egypt.
4. From the statues found in the temple it is
clear that this place was of importance in the
twelfth dynasty; its history is probably parallel to
that of Tanis, and these two sand-hills of Nebesheh
and Tanis were very likely settled at the same
time. How far they were related is yet undecided.
At first it seemed as if Nebesheh might have been
a cemetery of Tanis, and it is not certain that this
was not the case to some extent; especially since
we see that the temple and cemetery of Nebesheh
are larger and more important than would be
expected in proportion to the size of the town.
Sueilen, about three miles from Tanis, was
certainly one cemetery of Tanis; and if a funeral
procession once took boat to a place three miles
distant, there is no reason against their going
eight miles.
The name of the city Am, capital of the
nineteenth nome of Lower Egypt, is closely con-
nected with Nebesheh, having been found there
on eight different monuments; and since three.of
these were in the temple (to the exclusion of all
other town names), one of them being on a list of
the temple festivals in honour of Uati, lady of Am,
there is scarcely a possibility of Nebesheh not
being this city of Am. This leaves still the
question whether there was a separate nome for
Tanis, or whether that lay in the nome Am Pelm,
of which Am was the capital. The latter seems
the more likely; and thus Nebesheh would be the
legal and religious capital, Am, while Tanis, owing
to superior position and importance, overshadowed
its legal superior,—much as Chatham exceeds
Maidstone, and Liverpool and Manchester eclipse
Lancaster. Then in the reconstitution of Greek
times, Nebesheh, having dwindled away, the nome
was called, from its most important city, Tanis.
Such seems, so far as we know, to be the probable
case ; and the discovery which I made three years
ago of two tablets, at Tanis, naming Uati lady of
Am, Khem of Am, and Horus of Am, points to
there not being a religious centre of equal impor-
tance to rival it at Tanis.
This fixing of Am, and the nome of Am Pehu,
at Nebesheh is a step of the first class in the
geography of the Delta. Am had been supposed
to be equivalent to Buto, somewhere in the central
across the isthmus of Suez, are less in area hy far
than the country around them, which has heen
scoured by the wind, so that a foot off the country
would mean much more than that depth of deposit
in the water. It will thus be seen that, so far as
this evidence goes, a depth of twenty or even fifty
feet of sand may have been laid over these lakes
during historic times; thus completely altering
the conditions of the water communication, without
any need of relying on geologic changes of
upheaval. From other considerations it is not
likely that the changes have been so extensive as
this scale of denudation would produce; but at least
we have here to reckon with a factor capable of
doing all that we need to account for, and even more.
This fact of the denudation opens our eyes in a
melancholy way to the reason why early cemeteries
Seem to be unattainable in the Delta. If tombs
of the nineteenth, and even of the twenty-sixth,
dynasty are often so scoured away that barely
anything remains of them, it is a simple conclusion
that earlier tombs, perhaps of double that age, have
vanished into air, entirely denuded away may be
a couple of thousand years ago. Only tombs of
exceptional depth, or preserved by some accidental
protection, would have any chance of coming down
to our days. We may see this also shown by the
proportions of tombs of different ages at Nebesheh ;
one of the nineteenth dynasty, two or three of the
twentieth, half a dozen or a dozen before the
twenty-sixth, and a hundred or more of the twenty-
sixth and Persian periods. Yet the place was
grander, to judge by the remains of the temples,
under the twelfth and nineteenth dynasties, than
in later times. What, therefore, with fifteen feet
of mud over all the works of man in the plains, and
fifteen feet of denudation sweeping away the tombs
in the hills, there is a poor chance of recovering
the remains of early ages, except in the rocky sites
of Upper Egypt.
4. From the statues found in the temple it is
clear that this place was of importance in the
twelfth dynasty; its history is probably parallel to
that of Tanis, and these two sand-hills of Nebesheh
and Tanis were very likely settled at the same
time. How far they were related is yet undecided.
At first it seemed as if Nebesheh might have been
a cemetery of Tanis, and it is not certain that this
was not the case to some extent; especially since
we see that the temple and cemetery of Nebesheh
are larger and more important than would be
expected in proportion to the size of the town.
Sueilen, about three miles from Tanis, was
certainly one cemetery of Tanis; and if a funeral
procession once took boat to a place three miles
distant, there is no reason against their going
eight miles.
The name of the city Am, capital of the
nineteenth nome of Lower Egypt, is closely con-
nected with Nebesheh, having been found there
on eight different monuments; and since three.of
these were in the temple (to the exclusion of all
other town names), one of them being on a list of
the temple festivals in honour of Uati, lady of Am,
there is scarcely a possibility of Nebesheh not
being this city of Am. This leaves still the
question whether there was a separate nome for
Tanis, or whether that lay in the nome Am Pelm,
of which Am was the capital. The latter seems
the more likely; and thus Nebesheh would be the
legal and religious capital, Am, while Tanis, owing
to superior position and importance, overshadowed
its legal superior,—much as Chatham exceeds
Maidstone, and Liverpool and Manchester eclipse
Lancaster. Then in the reconstitution of Greek
times, Nebesheh, having dwindled away, the nome
was called, from its most important city, Tanis.
Such seems, so far as we know, to be the probable
case ; and the discovery which I made three years
ago of two tablets, at Tanis, naming Uati lady of
Am, Khem of Am, and Horus of Am, points to
there not being a religious centre of equal impor-
tance to rival it at Tanis.
This fixing of Am, and the nome of Am Pehu,
at Nebesheh is a step of the first class in the
geography of the Delta. Am had been supposed
to be equivalent to Buto, somewhere in the central