DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3349#0017
XVIIIth—XIXth dynasty monuments and details of west hall
of inscription and the torus roll and outer edge.
In the middle is at least 32 inches width of the sunk
door, which was possibly wider, but the increased
thickness of the side has most likely determined
the fracture. The parallel to such false doors in a
temple is seen in the seven chapels of Abydos,
which end each of them in a false door. There is
no room for such chapels in the hall, so it seems
that we must suppose the false doors were the foci
of the worship of the king in the hall. The painted
pottery no. 23 will be noticed with the objects of
Merenptah.
25. On PI. XXI are the views of the West Hall,
the plan of which is given in PI. II. The first is a
distant view from near the colossus, looking across
the water, which covers the temple site of Ptah till
February. The village in the distance is Mitrahineh.
This curious name appears to mean the village of a
hundred mortgages. The West Hall is just behind
the nearest palm stem. The village is seen again
in the view of the pond which is taken from just
in front of the pylon. This pond is due to former
excavations for the early statues of the pyramid
age. The boys are carrying the earth out from our
excavations. The third view is from above the
pylon, with the pond to the left. Just to the right
of the middle tree is the line of columns in the hall ;
and to the left of it is the inner face of the pylon,
the body of which lies to the left. The next view
shews the clearing of one quarter of the pond. We
divided it by banks into halves and quarters, and
then pumped out the water to eight feet under the
ordinary low level, by the pump seen in the middle.
A chain of boys handed up the mud in buckets and
tins, as it was dug loose, and poured it out at a
distance. The water ran in fast, as the work went
through the sand bed of foundations, which are
probably those of the temple of the pyramid age.
The pumping was continued by alternate pairs of
men changing every quarter of an hour, four thus
working by day and four by night. The pump was
of a rubber-diaphragm type taking a four-inch hose :
and the water was run off along a graded channel
to a pond at the farther end of the village.
The outer sides of the West Hall were of basalt,
resting on a basis of granite casing-stones taken from
a pyramid, shewn in the last view. The whole length
was occupied with figures of cities bearing offering-
trays. In the view of the whole wall the distant
palm trees are as far as the Ptolemaic entrance, which
is in the gap above the end of the wall. From those
trees the temple buildings extended up to the hall in
the foreground.
26. PI. XXII shews the details of the West Hall.
The axial entrance-passage has the basement of
basalt remaining, bearing an added inscription of
Merenptah, and another of Ramessu III below that.
In the middle line of the plate is one of the dwarf-
walls of granite that run out on either side of the
entrance before the pylon. The end of the entrance-
passage is seen above on the left. The row of granite
columns is down the northern side of the hall, looking
across the temple site, as at the foot of the previous
plate. Among the loose blocks is a palm capital
probably of the Xllth dynasty ; the lower part has
been built into a wall, and the abacus cut away into a
drum of a Ramesside engaged column. There are
many pieces of engaged columns of hard pale drab
limestone, the longest of which (70 x 175 inches) is
shewn in the last view, PI. XXII. They were built
with the bed of the rock vertical, and usually in two
halves. They have all been re-used for architraves,
or roofing, or core blocks in the pylon, in the West
Hall. The pieces of inscriptions upon them, and the
sections of the blocks, are given on PI. XX. These
were clearly of Ramessu II, and name the god Ptah
Tanen. They seem therefore to have been part of
some building here made by Ramessu, who afterwards
pulled it down and re-used the material in the West
Hall. Such engaged columns are unknown else-
where. The columns were of varying sizes. The
diameters cannot be exactly fixed where only half
of the column breadth was in one block ; but the
sections given have the apparent diameter in inches
put beside each of them. There seem to have been
three sizes, the smallest 2&$ to 3C3 inches, another
40 inches, and the largest 55*6 inches wide. The
smallest were more fully detached, the larger ones
were only half columns projecting from a wall. The
letters A to N at the side of the sections refer to
the inscriptions which belong to each block.
PI. XXIII. The lion's paw is on the side of a
spout, fallen from the roof of the West Hall. The
block is upside down in the ruin, hence the lighting is
reversed here. The channel of the spout is seen on
the end. This is of basalt, as also are pieces of a very
large inscription on PI. XXIV, lower half; and it
seems that the walls—which were probably of lime-
stone—had a band of black basalt along the base and
the top.
27. The colossi in front of the pylon are noticed
in the description of the plan, PI. II. In PI. XXIII
2
of inscription and the torus roll and outer edge.
In the middle is at least 32 inches width of the sunk
door, which was possibly wider, but the increased
thickness of the side has most likely determined
the fracture. The parallel to such false doors in a
temple is seen in the seven chapels of Abydos,
which end each of them in a false door. There is
no room for such chapels in the hall, so it seems
that we must suppose the false doors were the foci
of the worship of the king in the hall. The painted
pottery no. 23 will be noticed with the objects of
Merenptah.
25. On PI. XXI are the views of the West Hall,
the plan of which is given in PI. II. The first is a
distant view from near the colossus, looking across
the water, which covers the temple site of Ptah till
February. The village in the distance is Mitrahineh.
This curious name appears to mean the village of a
hundred mortgages. The West Hall is just behind
the nearest palm stem. The village is seen again
in the view of the pond which is taken from just
in front of the pylon. This pond is due to former
excavations for the early statues of the pyramid
age. The boys are carrying the earth out from our
excavations. The third view is from above the
pylon, with the pond to the left. Just to the right
of the middle tree is the line of columns in the hall ;
and to the left of it is the inner face of the pylon,
the body of which lies to the left. The next view
shews the clearing of one quarter of the pond. We
divided it by banks into halves and quarters, and
then pumped out the water to eight feet under the
ordinary low level, by the pump seen in the middle.
A chain of boys handed up the mud in buckets and
tins, as it was dug loose, and poured it out at a
distance. The water ran in fast, as the work went
through the sand bed of foundations, which are
probably those of the temple of the pyramid age.
The pumping was continued by alternate pairs of
men changing every quarter of an hour, four thus
working by day and four by night. The pump was
of a rubber-diaphragm type taking a four-inch hose :
and the water was run off along a graded channel
to a pond at the farther end of the village.
The outer sides of the West Hall were of basalt,
resting on a basis of granite casing-stones taken from
a pyramid, shewn in the last view. The whole length
was occupied with figures of cities bearing offering-
trays. In the view of the whole wall the distant
palm trees are as far as the Ptolemaic entrance, which
is in the gap above the end of the wall. From those
trees the temple buildings extended up to the hall in
the foreground.
26. PI. XXII shews the details of the West Hall.
The axial entrance-passage has the basement of
basalt remaining, bearing an added inscription of
Merenptah, and another of Ramessu III below that.
In the middle line of the plate is one of the dwarf-
walls of granite that run out on either side of the
entrance before the pylon. The end of the entrance-
passage is seen above on the left. The row of granite
columns is down the northern side of the hall, looking
across the temple site, as at the foot of the previous
plate. Among the loose blocks is a palm capital
probably of the Xllth dynasty ; the lower part has
been built into a wall, and the abacus cut away into a
drum of a Ramesside engaged column. There are
many pieces of engaged columns of hard pale drab
limestone, the longest of which (70 x 175 inches) is
shewn in the last view, PI. XXII. They were built
with the bed of the rock vertical, and usually in two
halves. They have all been re-used for architraves,
or roofing, or core blocks in the pylon, in the West
Hall. The pieces of inscriptions upon them, and the
sections of the blocks, are given on PI. XX. These
were clearly of Ramessu II, and name the god Ptah
Tanen. They seem therefore to have been part of
some building here made by Ramessu, who afterwards
pulled it down and re-used the material in the West
Hall. Such engaged columns are unknown else-
where. The columns were of varying sizes. The
diameters cannot be exactly fixed where only half
of the column breadth was in one block ; but the
sections given have the apparent diameter in inches
put beside each of them. There seem to have been
three sizes, the smallest 2&$ to 3C3 inches, another
40 inches, and the largest 55*6 inches wide. The
smallest were more fully detached, the larger ones
were only half columns projecting from a wall. The
letters A to N at the side of the sections refer to
the inscriptions which belong to each block.
PI. XXIII. The lion's paw is on the side of a
spout, fallen from the roof of the West Hall. The
block is upside down in the ruin, hence the lighting is
reversed here. The channel of the spout is seen on
the end. This is of basalt, as also are pieces of a very
large inscription on PI. XXIV, lower half; and it
seems that the walls—which were probably of lime-
stone—had a band of black basalt along the base and
the top.
27. The colossi in front of the pylon are noticed
in the description of the plan, PI. II. In PI. XXIII
2