DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0077
NEBESHEH
65
closing wall of the temple, which I soon tracked round
on all sides. In the middle of one side the mound
dipped down, and a few limestone chips lay about.
Here I dug for the entrance pylon, and before long we
found the lower stones of it left in position ; on clear-
ing it out a statue of Ramessu II. larger than life, was
found, and fragments of its fellow: also a sphinx,
likewise in black granite, which had been so often re-
appropriated by various kings, that the original maker
could hardly be traced. Probably of the twelfth
dynasty to begin with, it had received a long inscrip-
tion around the base from an official (the importance of
which we shall see presently), and later on six other
claimants seized it in succession. Outside of the
pylon there had been an approach, of which one orna-
ment remained ; this is an entirely fresh design, being
a column without any capital, but supporting a large
hawk overshadowing the king Merenptah. who kneels
before it. The sides of the column are inscribed.
The ground all around the monolith shrine was dug
over by us. Directly beneath the shrine the granite
pavement and its substructure remains entire; but
over the rest of the area only the bed of the founda-
tion can be traced, all the stone having been removed.
Near the place of the entrance lay the throne of a
statue of Usertcsen III, probably one of a pair by the
door, and showing that a temple had existed as far
back as the twelfth dynasty. The foundation deposits
in the corners I had to get out from beneath the water;
they were plaques of metals and stones, with the
name of A armies Si-nit, and pottery, showing that the
temple had been built in the twenty-sixth dynast)*.
F
65
closing wall of the temple, which I soon tracked round
on all sides. In the middle of one side the mound
dipped down, and a few limestone chips lay about.
Here I dug for the entrance pylon, and before long we
found the lower stones of it left in position ; on clear-
ing it out a statue of Ramessu II. larger than life, was
found, and fragments of its fellow: also a sphinx,
likewise in black granite, which had been so often re-
appropriated by various kings, that the original maker
could hardly be traced. Probably of the twelfth
dynasty to begin with, it had received a long inscrip-
tion around the base from an official (the importance of
which we shall see presently), and later on six other
claimants seized it in succession. Outside of the
pylon there had been an approach, of which one orna-
ment remained ; this is an entirely fresh design, being
a column without any capital, but supporting a large
hawk overshadowing the king Merenptah. who kneels
before it. The sides of the column are inscribed.
The ground all around the monolith shrine was dug
over by us. Directly beneath the shrine the granite
pavement and its substructure remains entire; but
over the rest of the area only the bed of the founda-
tion can be traced, all the stone having been removed.
Near the place of the entrance lay the throne of a
statue of Usertcsen III, probably one of a pair by the
door, and showing that a temple had existed as far
back as the twelfth dynasty. The foundation deposits
in the corners I had to get out from beneath the water;
they were plaques of metals and stones, with the
name of A armies Si-nit, and pottery, showing that the
temple had been built in the twenty-sixth dynast)*.
F