DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4200#0016
12
THE TEMPLE OF MERENPTAH.
back, and a large square base on the north side
appears as if it were for a statue.
From behind the row of Osiride pillars an exit in
the south side led down steps to the great tank.
This tank had probably been lined with stone, though
now only the hole cut in the old Nile mud stratum
remains. It was filled with washed-in earth, and,
though we went down to water-level, we could not
reach the bottom. The other tanks or sacred lakes
are south of the temple at Karnak, and north of that
at Koptos. None have been observed in connection
with other funerary temples.
The third court was a hypostyle hall of twelve
columns. Behind that was another hypostyle of eight
columns, and chambers lay at the back of this and on
either side.
27. The altar chamber was found at the N.W.
corner. The base of the altar was not quite square,
being in width 62 -6N, 65 "4E, 63-55, 63- 7W. The
edge of the basement of it was 73" 5, 76*6, 74"7> arjd
77'6 on corresponding sides. The sloping way up to
it was 30*6 wide and 92-2 long, with a basement
39'4 wide. The angle of slope was indicated by the
base line of a row of hieroglyphs remaining, with part
of the signs neheh, showing that the inscription read
down the slope; the angle was 1 on 4, giving a rise
of 23 inches, which, with a step of about 10 inches at
the lower end, would show a height of 33 inches for
the altar. The slope was therefore merely formal,
and was not actually used to ascend the altar.
This may be compared with the altar at Deir el
Bahri, which is similarly in the N.W. corner of the
site with a chamber behind it, a precisely analogous
arrangement. The steps also slope up from the west.
The steps at Deir el Bahri are 41 wide and 180 long,
against 30*6 wide and 92 long here; they therefore
served for actual ascent to the altar. The altar itself
at Deir el Bahri was 193 X 153 inches, instead of
only 63 inches square as here. Finding that in two
temples, one of the earliest and one of the latest of
this class, the altar is in the same position, we may
look to the plans of other temples in search of the
same feature. In the Ramesseum the large chamber
O of Lepsius, north of the hall E of Baedecker, might
have been an altar court. In the temple of Sety at
Ourneh a hall of columns on the north side has
apparently in the middle of it two blocks of stone
forming a square of 131 inches, which may well be
the base of an altar (Denkmaler I, 86) ; and at
Medinet Habu is a large hall in an analogous
position, which might have contained an altar. It
will be a point of investigation, in all future clearing
of temples, to search for the altar chamber.
28. The mass of brick store-chambers on the north
of the temple are preserved to a height of four or
five feet in the middle, but are entirely denuded
away at the N.W. corner. The long narrow space
at the south side of this block was doubtless for a
stairway, of which a few steps of brickwork yet
remain. The columns in the hall which gives access
to the western part of the block arc 27-4 to 29'3 in
diameter, some being slightly oval. A square abacus
was found, 27'O X 27-2 x 10 inches high. The
distance between the abaci was 70 inches, according
to the spacing on the architraves, which were 26^7
wide and 33'8 deep. This depth of the architrave
was to allow of its appearing square beneath the arch
of brickwork that rested on it. The spacing was
thus:—
Top of architrave ..... 33-8
Butment of brickwork
Inscription borders
Lower edge .
28-0
1 23-6
\to 3'9
o
Thus, after 5 ■ 8 inches of the top were covered by the
spring of the brick arch, the architrave appeared square
in section, and with the inscription having an equal
border above and below it. The roofing between the
architraves was by brick arching, of which a fallen mass
was found in the hall, three courses thick. From the
measurements taken the inner diameter of this brick
arch would have been 68 inches, and the thickness of
the three courses is 28 inches. The breadth of the
spaces between the architraves being 72, 56, and
68 inches, agrees to this width of arch.
Another piece of an architrave from this temple
varies in size, being only 24-5 wide, but 39-0 deep.
The spacing was thus :—
Top of architrave
(Brickwork .
Inscription border
Lower edge .
39-0
3o-S)?
27"3
3'2
o
This was a wider band of inscription, and can
hardly have belonged to this hall, but yet it is too
narrow an architrave for any other columns that are
known here. That it belonged to Merenptah appears
from the hieroglyphs being exactly in the same style
as his, and coloured dull blue in the same manner;
but it was found in the Ramesseum as a re-used
block in a restoration by Ramessu III. The line of
brick butment is inserted on the supposition of
leaving an equal border above and below the in-
'
THE TEMPLE OF MERENPTAH.
back, and a large square base on the north side
appears as if it were for a statue.
From behind the row of Osiride pillars an exit in
the south side led down steps to the great tank.
This tank had probably been lined with stone, though
now only the hole cut in the old Nile mud stratum
remains. It was filled with washed-in earth, and,
though we went down to water-level, we could not
reach the bottom. The other tanks or sacred lakes
are south of the temple at Karnak, and north of that
at Koptos. None have been observed in connection
with other funerary temples.
The third court was a hypostyle hall of twelve
columns. Behind that was another hypostyle of eight
columns, and chambers lay at the back of this and on
either side.
27. The altar chamber was found at the N.W.
corner. The base of the altar was not quite square,
being in width 62 -6N, 65 "4E, 63-55, 63- 7W. The
edge of the basement of it was 73" 5, 76*6, 74"7> arjd
77'6 on corresponding sides. The sloping way up to
it was 30*6 wide and 92-2 long, with a basement
39'4 wide. The angle of slope was indicated by the
base line of a row of hieroglyphs remaining, with part
of the signs neheh, showing that the inscription read
down the slope; the angle was 1 on 4, giving a rise
of 23 inches, which, with a step of about 10 inches at
the lower end, would show a height of 33 inches for
the altar. The slope was therefore merely formal,
and was not actually used to ascend the altar.
This may be compared with the altar at Deir el
Bahri, which is similarly in the N.W. corner of the
site with a chamber behind it, a precisely analogous
arrangement. The steps also slope up from the west.
The steps at Deir el Bahri are 41 wide and 180 long,
against 30*6 wide and 92 long here; they therefore
served for actual ascent to the altar. The altar itself
at Deir el Bahri was 193 X 153 inches, instead of
only 63 inches square as here. Finding that in two
temples, one of the earliest and one of the latest of
this class, the altar is in the same position, we may
look to the plans of other temples in search of the
same feature. In the Ramesseum the large chamber
O of Lepsius, north of the hall E of Baedecker, might
have been an altar court. In the temple of Sety at
Ourneh a hall of columns on the north side has
apparently in the middle of it two blocks of stone
forming a square of 131 inches, which may well be
the base of an altar (Denkmaler I, 86) ; and at
Medinet Habu is a large hall in an analogous
position, which might have contained an altar. It
will be a point of investigation, in all future clearing
of temples, to search for the altar chamber.
28. The mass of brick store-chambers on the north
of the temple are preserved to a height of four or
five feet in the middle, but are entirely denuded
away at the N.W. corner. The long narrow space
at the south side of this block was doubtless for a
stairway, of which a few steps of brickwork yet
remain. The columns in the hall which gives access
to the western part of the block arc 27-4 to 29'3 in
diameter, some being slightly oval. A square abacus
was found, 27'O X 27-2 x 10 inches high. The
distance between the abaci was 70 inches, according
to the spacing on the architraves, which were 26^7
wide and 33'8 deep. This depth of the architrave
was to allow of its appearing square beneath the arch
of brickwork that rested on it. The spacing was
thus:—
Top of architrave ..... 33-8
Butment of brickwork
Inscription borders
Lower edge .
28-0
1 23-6
\to 3'9
o
Thus, after 5 ■ 8 inches of the top were covered by the
spring of the brick arch, the architrave appeared square
in section, and with the inscription having an equal
border above and below it. The roofing between the
architraves was by brick arching, of which a fallen mass
was found in the hall, three courses thick. From the
measurements taken the inner diameter of this brick
arch would have been 68 inches, and the thickness of
the three courses is 28 inches. The breadth of the
spaces between the architraves being 72, 56, and
68 inches, agrees to this width of arch.
Another piece of an architrave from this temple
varies in size, being only 24-5 wide, but 39-0 deep.
The spacing was thus :—
Top of architrave
(Brickwork .
Inscription border
Lower edge .
39-0
3o-S)?
27"3
3'2
o
This was a wider band of inscription, and can
hardly have belonged to this hall, but yet it is too
narrow an architrave for any other columns that are
known here. That it belonged to Merenptah appears
from the hieroglyphs being exactly in the same style
as his, and coloured dull blue in the same manner;
but it was found in the Ramesseum as a re-used
block in a restoration by Ramessu III. The line of
brick butment is inserted on the supposition of
leaving an equal border above and below the in-
'