DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3349#0023
PTOLEMAIC AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. OBJECTS FROM ATHRIBIS
IS
dynasty {Tell el Amarna p. 26, PI. XIII, 62). The
dishes were stacked face down, one over the other,
supported apart by four cones of pottery between
each. Such cones were about half an inch high in
Ptolemaic times, but varied up to an inch high in
Roman use.
PI. L shews the forms of the dishes and jars
found among these wasters. The best set went to
Cairo and the South Kensington Museum, and other
examples to most of the other museums concerned.
44. PL LI shews the small objects obtained at
Athribis, which were not drawn in Egypt in time for
the volume on that site. The material is stated at
the base of the plate. The date is probably from the
IVth to the VHIth century. Fig. 2 is a lid, perhaps
for a chalice. 3 is a separate figure of an eagle made
to stand alone, and not part of a larger object. 4 and
16 seem as if they were ceremonial crosses to be held
by the loop and used in giving a blessing. 10 is
probably a leather-worker's knife. 12 is a spur,
perhaps late. 14 is a fish-harpoon. 15 is a pair of
tweezers, with a pick point hinged between them, so
that it could be pushed aside when requisite: such
girdle pendants were probably for extracting thorns
from the feet. 18 is a curious chain made of long
strips of bark, coiled round and covered with a
vegetable paste ; it could have no strength, and must
have been only ornamental. The dolls 21, 23, are at
Brussels. The glass bottles 24, 25, 26 I had long
supposed to be modern flower button-hole tubes,
when seen in dealers' hands ; but finding three such
here at Athribis, a most out-of-the-way place, seems
to prove their Roman age. The pieces of a large
glazed jar, with yellow designs, 29, are here restored
as far as possible. It is of course Cufic.
PI. LI I. Many pieces of painted pottery were
found at Athribis ; and it seemed desired by different
authorities that they should be published for refer-
ence. They have all been traced by Miss Murray.
They are mostly in the British Museum, Graeco-
Roman Department, and some at South Kensington.
Above these is an inscription from a wooden
lintel found at Rifeh, apparently belonging to the
scribe Phibamon.
45. PL LIII. The inscription 1 is a dedication
by " Alexander the Rhetor to the most prolific Nile."
It is on the edge of a slab of marble, bought at
Memphis. It was doubtless the base of a group
of sculpture ; and—as Dr. Cecil Smith remarked—it
probably gives the correct name of the group of the
Nile with children around, Nilos Gonimotatos. 4
is a roughly cut block found at Memphis, with the
dedication " In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost." Nos. 1, 5 and 6 are in the
British Museum, Graeco-Roman1 Department. Nos. 8,
9 and 10 are tracings from ink writing on plastered
walls, not removed. The inscriptions 7 and 14 are
at Brussels, 13 at Dublin, 11 and 16 at New York.
No. 14 has not been engraved in the lower part, the
outlined letters being left only in red paint.
We may add here the destination of some other
things. In Athribis, PL XXIX, the scene of Auletes
and his ka is now at Edinburgh. In PL XIX the
nome figures are at Brussels, Munich and Bristol.
In Gizeh and Rifeh, PI. XXXVII B, some of the
chair legs are at South Kensington, Nos. 11, 13, 16 at
University College, 9 at Brussels, 10 at New York, 14
at Rochdale, 15 at Munich. In PL XXXVIII, 1 is
at South Kensington, 8 at University College, 9 at
Brussels, 10 at Cairo, 6 at Philadelphia, 11 at Munich,
12 at Oxford. The parchment and papyrus docu-
ments, and fragments, are all at the Bodleian Library,
Oxford. In PL XXXIX, I is at Cairo, 2 at University
College, 3 at New York. In PL XL, I is at New
York, 2 and 3 at Brussels, 4 at University College,
London.
CHAPTER VII
THE TERRA-COTTA HEADS.
46. The finding of the foreign quarter of Memphis
was one of the main objects of the opening campaign
there. But the discovery of the portraits of the
foreigners was not even thought of; and only
gradually was it realised that we had before us the
figures of more than a dozen different races, see
Pis. XXXV to XLIV.
The date of these models is indicated by the
Persian figures (16, 18), probably made during the
Persian occupation, 525 to 405 B.C., and the archaic
Greek (56) which is of the Vlth century B.C. These,
like most of the other heads, are modelled in solid
clay. Only about half a dozen Greek figures, and the
Indian woman (36), are moulded and made hollow,
and these may well be about 200 B.C. A very rough
variety of the Scythian horseman (46), moulded but
solid, was found with the pottery group of about
300 B.C. We may then probably date the great
majority, which are solid modelled figures, to about
500 to 300 B.C. ; and the few moulded hollow figures
from 300 to 200 B.C. The taste for representing
IS
dynasty {Tell el Amarna p. 26, PI. XIII, 62). The
dishes were stacked face down, one over the other,
supported apart by four cones of pottery between
each. Such cones were about half an inch high in
Ptolemaic times, but varied up to an inch high in
Roman use.
PI. L shews the forms of the dishes and jars
found among these wasters. The best set went to
Cairo and the South Kensington Museum, and other
examples to most of the other museums concerned.
44. PL LI shews the small objects obtained at
Athribis, which were not drawn in Egypt in time for
the volume on that site. The material is stated at
the base of the plate. The date is probably from the
IVth to the VHIth century. Fig. 2 is a lid, perhaps
for a chalice. 3 is a separate figure of an eagle made
to stand alone, and not part of a larger object. 4 and
16 seem as if they were ceremonial crosses to be held
by the loop and used in giving a blessing. 10 is
probably a leather-worker's knife. 12 is a spur,
perhaps late. 14 is a fish-harpoon. 15 is a pair of
tweezers, with a pick point hinged between them, so
that it could be pushed aside when requisite: such
girdle pendants were probably for extracting thorns
from the feet. 18 is a curious chain made of long
strips of bark, coiled round and covered with a
vegetable paste ; it could have no strength, and must
have been only ornamental. The dolls 21, 23, are at
Brussels. The glass bottles 24, 25, 26 I had long
supposed to be modern flower button-hole tubes,
when seen in dealers' hands ; but finding three such
here at Athribis, a most out-of-the-way place, seems
to prove their Roman age. The pieces of a large
glazed jar, with yellow designs, 29, are here restored
as far as possible. It is of course Cufic.
PI. LI I. Many pieces of painted pottery were
found at Athribis ; and it seemed desired by different
authorities that they should be published for refer-
ence. They have all been traced by Miss Murray.
They are mostly in the British Museum, Graeco-
Roman Department, and some at South Kensington.
Above these is an inscription from a wooden
lintel found at Rifeh, apparently belonging to the
scribe Phibamon.
45. PL LIII. The inscription 1 is a dedication
by " Alexander the Rhetor to the most prolific Nile."
It is on the edge of a slab of marble, bought at
Memphis. It was doubtless the base of a group
of sculpture ; and—as Dr. Cecil Smith remarked—it
probably gives the correct name of the group of the
Nile with children around, Nilos Gonimotatos. 4
is a roughly cut block found at Memphis, with the
dedication " In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost." Nos. 1, 5 and 6 are in the
British Museum, Graeco-Roman1 Department. Nos. 8,
9 and 10 are tracings from ink writing on plastered
walls, not removed. The inscriptions 7 and 14 are
at Brussels, 13 at Dublin, 11 and 16 at New York.
No. 14 has not been engraved in the lower part, the
outlined letters being left only in red paint.
We may add here the destination of some other
things. In Athribis, PL XXIX, the scene of Auletes
and his ka is now at Edinburgh. In PL XIX the
nome figures are at Brussels, Munich and Bristol.
In Gizeh and Rifeh, PI. XXXVII B, some of the
chair legs are at South Kensington, Nos. 11, 13, 16 at
University College, 9 at Brussels, 10 at New York, 14
at Rochdale, 15 at Munich. In PL XXXVIII, 1 is
at South Kensington, 8 at University College, 9 at
Brussels, 10 at Cairo, 6 at Philadelphia, 11 at Munich,
12 at Oxford. The parchment and papyrus docu-
ments, and fragments, are all at the Bodleian Library,
Oxford. In PL XXXIX, I is at Cairo, 2 at University
College, 3 at New York. In PL XL, I is at New
York, 2 and 3 at Brussels, 4 at University College,
London.
CHAPTER VII
THE TERRA-COTTA HEADS.
46. The finding of the foreign quarter of Memphis
was one of the main objects of the opening campaign
there. But the discovery of the portraits of the
foreigners was not even thought of; and only
gradually was it realised that we had before us the
figures of more than a dozen different races, see
Pis. XXXV to XLIV.
The date of these models is indicated by the
Persian figures (16, 18), probably made during the
Persian occupation, 525 to 405 B.C., and the archaic
Greek (56) which is of the Vlth century B.C. These,
like most of the other heads, are modelled in solid
clay. Only about half a dozen Greek figures, and the
Indian woman (36), are moulded and made hollow,
and these may well be about 200 B.C. A very rough
variety of the Scythian horseman (46), moulded but
solid, was found with the pottery group of about
300 B.C. We may then probably date the great
majority, which are solid modelled figures, to about
500 to 300 B.C. ; and the few moulded hollow figures
from 300 to 200 B.C. The taste for representing