DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3350#0011
THE PALACE OF APRIES (MEMPHIS II)
CHAPTER I
THE PALACE OF MEMPHIS.
i. After the close of the excavations at Qurneh
our camp was moved to Memphis to continue the
work of the previous season, recorded in Memphis I.
Mr. Wainwright left Qurneh three weeks before me,
in order to study at the Cairo museum, and to begin
the arrangements at Memphis. I went down on
10 February, and Mr. Mackay followed twelve days
later after packing. I left on 21 April and Mr.
Wainwright soon after, Mr. Mackay staying on till
near the middle of May.
The greater part of our work was spent upon the
large mound at the north end of Memphis, which
we found to be the site of the royal palace of Apries.
The general appearance of it is a long ridge about
two hundred feet wide, and four hundred feet from
the north end up to some immense walled enclosures
of brick at the south end. The view of the whole,
from the east, is in PL X, and the plan of the palace
in PL I. The plan was entirely measured by taping,
from a sighted line laid out along the wall east of the
new broadway, with diagonal ties across the great
court to fix the squareness of the whole. Plumb-lines
were constantly used for sighting and measuring.
The clearance was over two acres of ground, to a
depth of ten or fifteen feet in most parts, the largest
clearance made this year in any site. Last season I
had seen that there were walls remaining on the top
of the mound, and therefore we ranked a row of
workmen along each side of the ridge, and began
steadily clearing inwards until they met in the middle.
2. The walls are all of black mud brick, with
stone linings around the lower part of the halls, stone
floors to the halls, and stone doorways and stairways.
The walls are from 10 to 22 feet in thickness, gener-
ally being about 14 feet. They vary in age, some
being patched on the top with later brickwork, some
being built up from the floor of Apries, while many
extend down far into the mound, covered with plaster,
and evidently have served for previous palaces. It
may be said that the level of Apries is inserted some
way up the older walls, with some repairs, and some
new construction added. The disentanglement of
the history of construction, and of the changes of
levels, will need careful work in future; but for the
present we only deal with the level of Apries. The
history of these changes seems clear. As a dynasty
decayed, the roofs were not kept in good state, the
winter rains ran into the walls, large masses fell off
the tops of the walls after a heavy storm, some roofs
fell in ; then when a new order of things arose, the
damaged parts were taken down, the floors were all
levelled up with the rubbish, the sound walls were
trimmed and patched, new walls were built where the
decay was beyond repair, and the whole palace was
restored at a higher level. Thus about seventy feet
depth of artificial construction stands between the
primitive ground level and the floor of Apries. Much
of the north end has been successively extended by
building up a cellular substructure of brick shafts
domed over, like the platforms of the forts of Nau-
kratis and Daphnae; but the rest of the site shews
earlier courts in the lower levels.
3. The general scheme of the building was that it
occupied the north-west corner of the great fortified
camp of about thirty acres, at the north end of the
ruins of Memphis. Along the west side of the camp
was a line of three great enclosures, and the palace-
fortress mound. The enclosures to the south are
ruined and built over ; that next to the palace has
been cleared out by the sebakhin for earth, leaving
a square of massive walls standing about forty feet
high ; all the interior of this is empty, and we cannot
know what it contained before it was destroyed.
Through this great square there was a roadway,
with a wide gate on the south, and another on the
north opposite to it. This latter is shewn on the
plan, PL I, by two white lines across the thick wall at
the foot of the plate. They mark the sides of the
gate, subsequently built up with brickwork. This
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CHAPTER I
THE PALACE OF MEMPHIS.
i. After the close of the excavations at Qurneh
our camp was moved to Memphis to continue the
work of the previous season, recorded in Memphis I.
Mr. Wainwright left Qurneh three weeks before me,
in order to study at the Cairo museum, and to begin
the arrangements at Memphis. I went down on
10 February, and Mr. Mackay followed twelve days
later after packing. I left on 21 April and Mr.
Wainwright soon after, Mr. Mackay staying on till
near the middle of May.
The greater part of our work was spent upon the
large mound at the north end of Memphis, which
we found to be the site of the royal palace of Apries.
The general appearance of it is a long ridge about
two hundred feet wide, and four hundred feet from
the north end up to some immense walled enclosures
of brick at the south end. The view of the whole,
from the east, is in PL X, and the plan of the palace
in PL I. The plan was entirely measured by taping,
from a sighted line laid out along the wall east of the
new broadway, with diagonal ties across the great
court to fix the squareness of the whole. Plumb-lines
were constantly used for sighting and measuring.
The clearance was over two acres of ground, to a
depth of ten or fifteen feet in most parts, the largest
clearance made this year in any site. Last season I
had seen that there were walls remaining on the top
of the mound, and therefore we ranked a row of
workmen along each side of the ridge, and began
steadily clearing inwards until they met in the middle.
2. The walls are all of black mud brick, with
stone linings around the lower part of the halls, stone
floors to the halls, and stone doorways and stairways.
The walls are from 10 to 22 feet in thickness, gener-
ally being about 14 feet. They vary in age, some
being patched on the top with later brickwork, some
being built up from the floor of Apries, while many
extend down far into the mound, covered with plaster,
and evidently have served for previous palaces. It
may be said that the level of Apries is inserted some
way up the older walls, with some repairs, and some
new construction added. The disentanglement of
the history of construction, and of the changes of
levels, will need careful work in future; but for the
present we only deal with the level of Apries. The
history of these changes seems clear. As a dynasty
decayed, the roofs were not kept in good state, the
winter rains ran into the walls, large masses fell off
the tops of the walls after a heavy storm, some roofs
fell in ; then when a new order of things arose, the
damaged parts were taken down, the floors were all
levelled up with the rubbish, the sound walls were
trimmed and patched, new walls were built where the
decay was beyond repair, and the whole palace was
restored at a higher level. Thus about seventy feet
depth of artificial construction stands between the
primitive ground level and the floor of Apries. Much
of the north end has been successively extended by
building up a cellular substructure of brick shafts
domed over, like the platforms of the forts of Nau-
kratis and Daphnae; but the rest of the site shews
earlier courts in the lower levels.
3. The general scheme of the building was that it
occupied the north-west corner of the great fortified
camp of about thirty acres, at the north end of the
ruins of Memphis. Along the west side of the camp
was a line of three great enclosures, and the palace-
fortress mound. The enclosures to the south are
ruined and built over ; that next to the palace has
been cleared out by the sebakhin for earth, leaving
a square of massive walls standing about forty feet
high ; all the interior of this is empty, and we cannot
know what it contained before it was destroyed.
Through this great square there was a roadway,
with a wide gate on the south, and another on the
north opposite to it. This latter is shewn on the
plan, PL I, by two white lines across the thick wall at
the foot of the plate. They mark the sides of the
gate, subsequently built up with brickwork. This
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