DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4391#0021
PTOLEMAIC AND ROMAN PEklOD.
17
great of favours, the divine wife of Amen, the royal
daughter, (the adorer of the god, Isis)." Her mother
is "the great wife of the king, whom he loves,
lady of both lands (Nub-khesdeb) makkeru." (At
Manchester.)
Of Ramesside work also is a part of a stele of a
man adoring a prince of Koptos, Ankh-f-ma-ra son
of Rames. On the back of this are traces of an
inscription of another official, naming his offices
under "the king mery-Amen Painezem," "renewed
to him by his son his beloved, the high priest of
Amen king of the gods . . . Masahart, makkeru."
(Univ. Coll.) One of the Osorkons added his name
to the door-jambs of Tahutmes III (XIII, 7). Of
Psamtek I or II one block has remained (XXVI, 1).
A small chapel of Osiris, built by Aahmes Sineit, stood
by the temenos to the south of the third pylon, in
line with the south wall. Only the lower course,
with ribbing of papyrus stems on it, remains in situ ;
but a slab with a figure of Osiris was found in it.
This had been re-stuccoed and painted a considerable
time after it was first carved ; and hence it is more
likely to belong to a permanent chapel of Osiris, than
to be a place for the transient worship of some king.
Of the XXVIth dynasty also is a headless figure
of a great official Horuza (XVIII, 3), carved in
quartzite sandstone. It is finely wrought, the pebbles
in the stone being smoothly cut through and polished :
the hieroglyphs are well formed, in the taste of that
age, as is also the symmetrical arrangement of the
inscription. It reads " Oh prophets and priests that
go up to Min and the gods of Koptos, as the gods of
your city praise you, as ye make the festival of your
king and fulfil your monthly services, as your children
are in health, your houses in prosperity, your lands
ordered, as ye pass on your offices to your sons, as ye
love life and hate death :—so say ye, May the king
give an offering, and Isis of Koptos, may she give a
good burial and conveyance to the state of a favoured
veteran, to the ka of the hereditary noble, prophet of
the great cycle of gods, great seer of Heliopolis,
Horuza ; and all funerary offerings to the ka of the
pious servant of Horus lord of Koptos, ruler of nobles
of the north and south, ruler of the palace, the great
seer, Horuza." Here again Isis and Horus have
superseded Min, as we have noticed in the Ramesside
times.
The XXXth dynasty has left some trace here ; a
fragment of a small obelisk of brown granite was
carved under Nekht-hor-heb, by Aruerza (XXVI, 2).
A similar name occurs in Mar. Cat. Abyd., 1240,
Turin stele, 159, and Paris Bib. Nat. (see Lieblein) ;
and the name may possibly read Artierza or Mertierza.
And a small chapel some distance to the south of the
temple pylons, near the town wall, has a figure of
Nekht-hor-heb, but seems from its work to be more
probably of Ptolemy XIII and Augustus, whose names
it also bears.
CHAPTER IV.
PTOLEMAIC AND ROMAN PERIOD.
30. We now reach the third great period of re-
construction, which was more extensive than the work
of either the Middle Kingdom or of Tahutmes III.
We shall first review here the plan of the whole
temple, which has never been subject to any later
arrangement, and is therefore still visible in its main
features ; though we cannot safely distinguish in
many parts between the work of the earlier and later
Ptolemies.
The temple itself appears to have been greatly
enlarged. All over the area within the thick wall
portions of a massive pavement of two courses of
rough cut blocks were found in various parts. The
" great pit" at the south side is a deep hollow in the
basal yellow clay, five feet in depth, and with nearly
vertical sides. It was probably the sacred lake or
temple tank of pre-Ptolemaic times. In the Ptolemaic
reconstruction a larger temple tank was provided a
little way to the north of the temenos, where a deep
hollow to below water-level still exists, and is filled
with a varying pond, rising and falling with the Nile.
This older " great pit" was filled up with clean sand
like the whole temenos area in general, and covered
with the uniform double pavement. The older
sculptures which were lying still about the sacred site
were put out of the way into all the hollows of the
basal clay, and thus the three statues of Min, the
slabs of Pepy, the vulture of Amenemhat, the stele
of Rahotep, and other fragments, were all disposed of
beneath the grand platform of sand and pavement
which made a clear space for the Ptolemaic work.
This sand-bed we turned over down to the basal clay,
throughout the whole area within the temenos, except
where later constructions of some height stood on it,
and over part of the great pit, where the labour of
shifting such a depth was very great. It might still be
worth while to clear out all the great pit ; but until
D
17
great of favours, the divine wife of Amen, the royal
daughter, (the adorer of the god, Isis)." Her mother
is "the great wife of the king, whom he loves,
lady of both lands (Nub-khesdeb) makkeru." (At
Manchester.)
Of Ramesside work also is a part of a stele of a
man adoring a prince of Koptos, Ankh-f-ma-ra son
of Rames. On the back of this are traces of an
inscription of another official, naming his offices
under "the king mery-Amen Painezem," "renewed
to him by his son his beloved, the high priest of
Amen king of the gods . . . Masahart, makkeru."
(Univ. Coll.) One of the Osorkons added his name
to the door-jambs of Tahutmes III (XIII, 7). Of
Psamtek I or II one block has remained (XXVI, 1).
A small chapel of Osiris, built by Aahmes Sineit, stood
by the temenos to the south of the third pylon, in
line with the south wall. Only the lower course,
with ribbing of papyrus stems on it, remains in situ ;
but a slab with a figure of Osiris was found in it.
This had been re-stuccoed and painted a considerable
time after it was first carved ; and hence it is more
likely to belong to a permanent chapel of Osiris, than
to be a place for the transient worship of some king.
Of the XXVIth dynasty also is a headless figure
of a great official Horuza (XVIII, 3), carved in
quartzite sandstone. It is finely wrought, the pebbles
in the stone being smoothly cut through and polished :
the hieroglyphs are well formed, in the taste of that
age, as is also the symmetrical arrangement of the
inscription. It reads " Oh prophets and priests that
go up to Min and the gods of Koptos, as the gods of
your city praise you, as ye make the festival of your
king and fulfil your monthly services, as your children
are in health, your houses in prosperity, your lands
ordered, as ye pass on your offices to your sons, as ye
love life and hate death :—so say ye, May the king
give an offering, and Isis of Koptos, may she give a
good burial and conveyance to the state of a favoured
veteran, to the ka of the hereditary noble, prophet of
the great cycle of gods, great seer of Heliopolis,
Horuza ; and all funerary offerings to the ka of the
pious servant of Horus lord of Koptos, ruler of nobles
of the north and south, ruler of the palace, the great
seer, Horuza." Here again Isis and Horus have
superseded Min, as we have noticed in the Ramesside
times.
The XXXth dynasty has left some trace here ; a
fragment of a small obelisk of brown granite was
carved under Nekht-hor-heb, by Aruerza (XXVI, 2).
A similar name occurs in Mar. Cat. Abyd., 1240,
Turin stele, 159, and Paris Bib. Nat. (see Lieblein) ;
and the name may possibly read Artierza or Mertierza.
And a small chapel some distance to the south of the
temple pylons, near the town wall, has a figure of
Nekht-hor-heb, but seems from its work to be more
probably of Ptolemy XIII and Augustus, whose names
it also bears.
CHAPTER IV.
PTOLEMAIC AND ROMAN PERIOD.
30. We now reach the third great period of re-
construction, which was more extensive than the work
of either the Middle Kingdom or of Tahutmes III.
We shall first review here the plan of the whole
temple, which has never been subject to any later
arrangement, and is therefore still visible in its main
features ; though we cannot safely distinguish in
many parts between the work of the earlier and later
Ptolemies.
The temple itself appears to have been greatly
enlarged. All over the area within the thick wall
portions of a massive pavement of two courses of
rough cut blocks were found in various parts. The
" great pit" at the south side is a deep hollow in the
basal yellow clay, five feet in depth, and with nearly
vertical sides. It was probably the sacred lake or
temple tank of pre-Ptolemaic times. In the Ptolemaic
reconstruction a larger temple tank was provided a
little way to the north of the temenos, where a deep
hollow to below water-level still exists, and is filled
with a varying pond, rising and falling with the Nile.
This older " great pit" was filled up with clean sand
like the whole temenos area in general, and covered
with the uniform double pavement. The older
sculptures which were lying still about the sacred site
were put out of the way into all the hollows of the
basal clay, and thus the three statues of Min, the
slabs of Pepy, the vulture of Amenemhat, the stele
of Rahotep, and other fragments, were all disposed of
beneath the grand platform of sand and pavement
which made a clear space for the Ptolemaic work.
This sand-bed we turned over down to the basal clay,
throughout the whole area within the temenos, except
where later constructions of some height stood on it,
and over part of the great pit, where the labour of
shifting such a depth was very great. It might still be
worth while to clear out all the great pit ; but until
D