DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3350#0021
THE VISIT TO HELIOPOLIS
II
Mr. F. W. Green has pointed out. This grove of
palms around a lake was, then, at Heliopolis. Now
Piankhy in his investiture (stele, 101, 102) when at
Heliopolis went to wash in the pool of Kebh, and
bathed his face in the river of Nun in which Ra
bathes. The king therefore is here going to the
lake of Heliopolis, the Ayn esh Shems, or Fountain
of the Sun, as a part of his ceremony of investiture.
29. PI. VII. The inscription at the top was
similar to that on PI. V, naming Nekhebt as mistress
of the south land. The king is here invested with a
long woollen scarf over the shoulder. Now Piankhy
after bathing at Heliopolis went to the temple of
Ra wearing the sedeb garment, which is determined
by the loop of a scarf (line 103). It seems then
that this scene is his visit to the temple in the
ceremonial dress. At the top the steward, and
probably the chaplain, were shewn engaged in the
ceremony, after having accompanied the king to the
temple following behind him. Before him are two
men dancing, superintended by the chamberlain.
One is the man of the Am or country camp, the
other of the U or town districts. There may be an
allusion to the am, or camp, where the king resided
for the ceremonies, as Piankhy states (line 101).
30. PI. VIII. This is by far the least complete
of all the scenes. Probably the two standards should
be inserted, as I have done in the drawing of the
whole pylon on PL IX. We can only say that the
king was going to a group of shrines where the three
high officials and the an-mut-f priest awaited him.
Possibly this represented the visit to the temple of
Ra, the bark of Ra, and the bark of Atum, described
by Piankhy as the last of his ceremonies of inves-
titure.
We have now traced these ceremonies so far as
the defective state of this pylon allows. Possibly
more fragments may be found in future work, and
help to explain the subjects further.
CHAPTER IV
THE OBJECTS FROM THE PALACE.
31. The things found in the palace were not
numerous, but they were mostly of unusually fine
quality, as we might expect, and they throw light
on the length of use of the building after the time
of Apries.
Among some small pieces of late coloured sculp-
ture, there was one with a fragment of a blank
cartouche, on which had been painted the beginning
of the name of Cambyses. The next dated object
is the sling bullet of Khabbash (XXVI, 10) who held
Memphis 486-484 B.C. There was rough reconstruc-
tion after the XXVIth dynasty, as the slab of
Tha-ast-en-amu, who appears to have been also called
Aahmes-si-neit-rannu, was brought probably from
his tomb (PI. XVII). Of the time of Artaxerxes II,
402 B.C., there is a copy of a date on a document in
Aramaic (PI. XVI). Probably of the Persian age is
the large quantity of scale armour. Herodotos men-
tions the Persians wearing " sleeved breastplates with
iron scales like those of a fish" (VII, 61); and, much
later, Ammianus describes that " they had plates of
iron closely fitting over every limb " (XXIV, ii, 10),
they " were covered from head to foot with thin
plates of iron like the feathers of a bird" (XXIV, iv,
15), "this armour of theirs being singularly adapted
to all the inflections of the body" (XXIV, vii, 8);
and " all the troops were clothed in steel, in such a
way that their bodies were covered with strong plates,
so that the hard joints of the armour fitted every
limb of their bodies" (XXV, i, 12). Then there is the
bowl of Zeher, the last Pharaoh but one, 361-359 B.C.,
which shews that this was still the royal residence to
the end of the kingdom. The moving of the court to
Alexandria seems to have left the place deserted ;
no Ptolemaic pottery has been found in the palace,
but some little lead models of silver trays cannot be
earlier than the first century B.C., and might well
be of the second century A.D. There must have been
some residents here even down to Roman times.
32. PL XIV. In the workshop of the palace
there had been hidden, in a hole in the floor, a mas-
sive silver casting, weighing a pound, with gold and
bronze inlay of the head of Hathor. The square
silver frame has two horizontal bars from the lower
corners, which run back some way and then turn
up into two upright bars. On examination the
whole of the silver faces were seen to be polished—
the polish still reflecting—except the upright bars
which shewed the file marks remaining. It is evident
then that the upright ends were let into another body
and hidden. In the square front all the edges are
sharp except the under side of the top bar which
is round; this shews that a strap passed through it
to pull upwards. The original position of this piece
seems to have been on the pole of a palanquin to
attach a strap of the awning. The upright spikes
were fixed into the under side of the pole, the
horizontal bars passed beneath the pole, and the
II
Mr. F. W. Green has pointed out. This grove of
palms around a lake was, then, at Heliopolis. Now
Piankhy in his investiture (stele, 101, 102) when at
Heliopolis went to wash in the pool of Kebh, and
bathed his face in the river of Nun in which Ra
bathes. The king therefore is here going to the
lake of Heliopolis, the Ayn esh Shems, or Fountain
of the Sun, as a part of his ceremony of investiture.
29. PI. VII. The inscription at the top was
similar to that on PI. V, naming Nekhebt as mistress
of the south land. The king is here invested with a
long woollen scarf over the shoulder. Now Piankhy
after bathing at Heliopolis went to the temple of
Ra wearing the sedeb garment, which is determined
by the loop of a scarf (line 103). It seems then
that this scene is his visit to the temple in the
ceremonial dress. At the top the steward, and
probably the chaplain, were shewn engaged in the
ceremony, after having accompanied the king to the
temple following behind him. Before him are two
men dancing, superintended by the chamberlain.
One is the man of the Am or country camp, the
other of the U or town districts. There may be an
allusion to the am, or camp, where the king resided
for the ceremonies, as Piankhy states (line 101).
30. PI. VIII. This is by far the least complete
of all the scenes. Probably the two standards should
be inserted, as I have done in the drawing of the
whole pylon on PL IX. We can only say that the
king was going to a group of shrines where the three
high officials and the an-mut-f priest awaited him.
Possibly this represented the visit to the temple of
Ra, the bark of Ra, and the bark of Atum, described
by Piankhy as the last of his ceremonies of inves-
titure.
We have now traced these ceremonies so far as
the defective state of this pylon allows. Possibly
more fragments may be found in future work, and
help to explain the subjects further.
CHAPTER IV
THE OBJECTS FROM THE PALACE.
31. The things found in the palace were not
numerous, but they were mostly of unusually fine
quality, as we might expect, and they throw light
on the length of use of the building after the time
of Apries.
Among some small pieces of late coloured sculp-
ture, there was one with a fragment of a blank
cartouche, on which had been painted the beginning
of the name of Cambyses. The next dated object
is the sling bullet of Khabbash (XXVI, 10) who held
Memphis 486-484 B.C. There was rough reconstruc-
tion after the XXVIth dynasty, as the slab of
Tha-ast-en-amu, who appears to have been also called
Aahmes-si-neit-rannu, was brought probably from
his tomb (PI. XVII). Of the time of Artaxerxes II,
402 B.C., there is a copy of a date on a document in
Aramaic (PI. XVI). Probably of the Persian age is
the large quantity of scale armour. Herodotos men-
tions the Persians wearing " sleeved breastplates with
iron scales like those of a fish" (VII, 61); and, much
later, Ammianus describes that " they had plates of
iron closely fitting over every limb " (XXIV, ii, 10),
they " were covered from head to foot with thin
plates of iron like the feathers of a bird" (XXIV, iv,
15), "this armour of theirs being singularly adapted
to all the inflections of the body" (XXIV, vii, 8);
and " all the troops were clothed in steel, in such a
way that their bodies were covered with strong plates,
so that the hard joints of the armour fitted every
limb of their bodies" (XXV, i, 12). Then there is the
bowl of Zeher, the last Pharaoh but one, 361-359 B.C.,
which shews that this was still the royal residence to
the end of the kingdom. The moving of the court to
Alexandria seems to have left the place deserted ;
no Ptolemaic pottery has been found in the palace,
but some little lead models of silver trays cannot be
earlier than the first century B.C., and might well
be of the second century A.D. There must have been
some residents here even down to Roman times.
32. PL XIV. In the workshop of the palace
there had been hidden, in a hole in the floor, a mas-
sive silver casting, weighing a pound, with gold and
bronze inlay of the head of Hathor. The square
silver frame has two horizontal bars from the lower
corners, which run back some way and then turn
up into two upright bars. On examination the
whole of the silver faces were seen to be polished—
the polish still reflecting—except the upright bars
which shewed the file marks remaining. It is evident
then that the upright ends were let into another body
and hidden. In the square front all the edges are
sharp except the under side of the top bar which
is round; this shews that a strap passed through it
to pull upwards. The original position of this piece
seems to have been on the pole of a palanquin to
attach a strap of the awning. The upright spikes
were fixed into the under side of the pole, the
horizontal bars passed beneath the pole, and the