DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4104#0036
THE TOMB OF SENUSERT III.
27
the weight was held up by some kind of prop.
When enough was cut away the props Avere
suddenly knocked out, and the weight of the
sarcophagus, suddenly falling back, came on the
edge of the lid and so forced it forward and even
broke it. Now it was possible for a boy to get
in.
The square canopic box was also of granite,
but with a quartzite lid. This lid was of the
same form as that of the sarcophagus, square
at the ends and round in the central part. The
grooves for sliding it into place were the same
at the sides, but at the end the angle was
square.
On this the same method of getting the lid
loose was employed, and then the exquisite
alabaster dishes were taken out and smashed
altogether. The majority of these were of
the trussed duck pattern, and were the
most beautiful pieces of alabaster I have
ever seen. No traces of the body were found,
so it must have been taken away.
During this long search the amount of
rubbish that accumulated within the tomb
was of course very great. This was carried
and dumped into the different rooms till most
of them were filled. C was half full, both sides
of D were tightly packed, as was also the
passage leading to each. F, G, and H were
completely filled, and E and F so full that it
was necessary to crawl in order to get through
them.
41. It appears very probable that the great
labour expended in trying to destroy the body
of the king was due to political changes. If
one looks at the importance of preserving the
body in order that the Ka might have its
home, it is easily seen why a new dynasty
would be eager to consolidate their power
by destroying the bodies of a former line.
Senusert, if his body were broken up, would
die a second time, and so really cease to exist.
Now being annihilated, there was no chance
of life, much less of kingship, in the under-
world. This rendered it impossible for him to
be feared from the under-world, or to be looked
upon as a power of any kind, and thus his
house would lose one of its chief claims to
the throne. No longer was there any chance
of people favouring his house in the hope
of obtaining his protection in the other
life.
The ransacking of the tomb took place
probably at the close of the Xllth Dynasty,
about 2500 B.C. A year or so would be quite
sufficient to fill up the openings once more with
wind-blown sand, and the desert would resume
its former appearance.
There for twenty-nine centuries this wonder-
ful tomb lay unknown, its beautiful rooms cut
and torn and everywhere piled high with
wreckage. The long yellow monotonous waves
of the Egyptian desert concealed its mouth, and
a thousand feet above its inner chambers rose
the great cliffs that guard the unchanging flint-
paved Sahara, under which Senusert had
hoped to lie as quiet and as unchanging.
On these dark brown flints a traveller may
see a water-pot broken by one who came there
before him, and by its form may know that lie
came in the days of Roman domination, or
when Israel sweated and prayed in bondage, or
even a thousand years before Abraham left Ur
of the Chaldees. Beneath these were the rooms
where the Ka was to move secure in its palace-
fortress, or to which it might return when
satisfied Avith the offerings and Avorship of its
oAvn temple.
42. In the fourth century a.d. the tomb was
again discovered by the Romans. The rubbish
in the sarcophagus chamber Avas dug OA'er and
piled up at the sides, and a small hole was dug
in the rubbish in the final chamber. For the
most part, hoAvever, they contented themselves
Avith pushing their lamps in as far as possible
and peering in to see Avhat might be behind the
great piles of rubbish. The fragment of in-
scribed pottery shown on pi. xl, no. 15, is from
27
the weight was held up by some kind of prop.
When enough was cut away the props Avere
suddenly knocked out, and the weight of the
sarcophagus, suddenly falling back, came on the
edge of the lid and so forced it forward and even
broke it. Now it was possible for a boy to get
in.
The square canopic box was also of granite,
but with a quartzite lid. This lid was of the
same form as that of the sarcophagus, square
at the ends and round in the central part. The
grooves for sliding it into place were the same
at the sides, but at the end the angle was
square.
On this the same method of getting the lid
loose was employed, and then the exquisite
alabaster dishes were taken out and smashed
altogether. The majority of these were of
the trussed duck pattern, and were the
most beautiful pieces of alabaster I have
ever seen. No traces of the body were found,
so it must have been taken away.
During this long search the amount of
rubbish that accumulated within the tomb
was of course very great. This was carried
and dumped into the different rooms till most
of them were filled. C was half full, both sides
of D were tightly packed, as was also the
passage leading to each. F, G, and H were
completely filled, and E and F so full that it
was necessary to crawl in order to get through
them.
41. It appears very probable that the great
labour expended in trying to destroy the body
of the king was due to political changes. If
one looks at the importance of preserving the
body in order that the Ka might have its
home, it is easily seen why a new dynasty
would be eager to consolidate their power
by destroying the bodies of a former line.
Senusert, if his body were broken up, would
die a second time, and so really cease to exist.
Now being annihilated, there was no chance
of life, much less of kingship, in the under-
world. This rendered it impossible for him to
be feared from the under-world, or to be looked
upon as a power of any kind, and thus his
house would lose one of its chief claims to
the throne. No longer was there any chance
of people favouring his house in the hope
of obtaining his protection in the other
life.
The ransacking of the tomb took place
probably at the close of the Xllth Dynasty,
about 2500 B.C. A year or so would be quite
sufficient to fill up the openings once more with
wind-blown sand, and the desert would resume
its former appearance.
There for twenty-nine centuries this wonder-
ful tomb lay unknown, its beautiful rooms cut
and torn and everywhere piled high with
wreckage. The long yellow monotonous waves
of the Egyptian desert concealed its mouth, and
a thousand feet above its inner chambers rose
the great cliffs that guard the unchanging flint-
paved Sahara, under which Senusert had
hoped to lie as quiet and as unchanging.
On these dark brown flints a traveller may
see a water-pot broken by one who came there
before him, and by its form may know that lie
came in the days of Roman domination, or
when Israel sweated and prayed in bondage, or
even a thousand years before Abraham left Ur
of the Chaldees. Beneath these were the rooms
where the Ka was to move secure in its palace-
fortress, or to which it might return when
satisfied Avith the offerings and Avorship of its
oAvn temple.
42. In the fourth century a.d. the tomb was
again discovered by the Romans. The rubbish
in the sarcophagus chamber Avas dug OA'er and
piled up at the sides, and a small hole was dug
in the rubbish in the final chamber. For the
most part, hoAvever, they contented themselves
Avith pushing their lamps in as far as possible
and peering in to see Avhat might be behind the
great piles of rubbish. The fragment of in-
scribed pottery shown on pi. xl, no. 15, is from