DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3391#0028
MISCELLANEOUS AND LATE OBJECTS
19
Mety en sa is the Regulator of the courses of the
priests, and it is to be noticed that Sauazet has the
same title (grave 166). Part of this stele came from
the filling of grave 184, and the remainder from the
dromos of 306. Its original tomb was doubtless
tomb no. 191, the paintings on the walls of which
give the same name and title, also that of his son
Ameny, whose name is scratched upside down on
the lower part of this stele.
PL xxi, nos, 1, 3, and 4. Offering-tables of the
xxiii-xxvth dynasties from cemetery B. They were
all found near the surface, having been thrown out of
the deep shafts by the ancient plunderers.
PI. xxi, no. 2. Part of the stele of Bak-Amen,
representing women offering to the deceased. The
small figure below the table smelling the lotus is
probably his wife or daughter. The stele is of soft
limestone, so badly weathered that it was impossible
to bring it to England.
PI, xxi, no. 5. Fragment of the stele of the
Imi-re 'akhenuty, Overseer of the Interior of the
Palace, Senusert-SENB of the xiith dynasty, found
at the mouth of the dromos of tomb no. 304,
cemetery A.
50. PI. xxii, no. 1. See sect. 10. No. 2. ' Syrian '
false-necked pot from a robbed grave in cemetery E.
No. 3. See sect. 44, and pi. xvi, no. 9. No. 4. Top
of a ' Syrian ' pot from the tomb of Apiy.
Pi. xxii, no. 5. Part of a pot of Mykenaean type
from the tomb of Apiy; xviiith dynasty. The
circles on the pot were drawn while it was on the
wheel. The pot is of light buff colour, the design
being in red.
51. PI. xxii, no. 6. Mud female figure from a
robbed grave in cemetery E ; xviiith dynasty. No. 7.
Male and female mud figures of the xiith dynasty,
from grave 36, cemetery A. The set consisted of
three female figures and one male. Their use is not
known for certain. These figures are now in
University College, London.
PI. xxii, no. 8. Drawing of the ' flail-beads ' of
the priest Sauazet. These beads are common in the
xiith dynasty, and are intended to represent a whip.
The beads may be arranged either with the long
beads below, or as shewn in the drawing. See
Dahchour, 1894 ; pi. xxxix.
52. PI. xxii, no. 9. Fragment of relief, from grave
96, cemetery A, shewing part of a plant which at
first sight strongly resembles a cactus. Mr. C. M.
Green of the Botanical Department, University
College, London, has kindly examined it for us and
reports on it as follows :—" The identification of the
plant represented in the fragment of carving in relief
is far from an easy task, from its incompleteness and
from the absence of precise data as to scale. At the
best it is possible to give only the most general
indications.
In the following discussion we have restricted
ourselves to such plants as occur in the existing
Egyptian flora ; to go outside this and consider the
floras of countries with which the ancient Egyptians
may have had trade, or other communications, would
carry us farther than the case appears to demand.
A great peculiarity of the carving is its monili-
form nature ; each of the three detached portions con-
sists of a series of spindle-shaped segments, of which
as many as three are inserted together at a single
node or joint (left-hand specimen). Presuming that
we are dealing with one of the higher plants, these
segments are to be interpreted as follows.
The axis or stem consisted of a series of inflected
segments—as to that there is no reasonable doubt.
When, however, similar segments are inserted at
a node—sometimes one (middle specimen), some-
times two (left-hand specimen), the question arises,
Were these appendages branches or were they leaves ?
If they were leaves, then the plant must have been
characterised by leaves closely similar in appearance
to its stem internodes. On the other hand, they
may not be leaves at all, but branches—a condition
realised frequently among desert plants, in which
the leaves may be absent or so reduced as to escape
observation.
We will deal first with the assumption that
the appendages were branches, and that conse-
quently the plant was leafless.
Two cases of aphyllous plants with jointed
swollen stem segments at once spring to the
mind. One of these is Opuntia, the Prickly Pear,
now naturalised in Egypt. This, however plausible,
may be dismissed at once, as the Opuntia is a
tropical American plant of which there is no record
for the Old World earlier than the middle ages.
Had so conspicuous, characteristic and useful a
plant as this occurred in ancient Egypt, it is incon-
ceivable that it would not have found frequent
representation in contemporary art.
Other jointed plants that suggest themselves
(Halocnemon and Anabasis) belong to the section
Salsolaceae of Chenopodiaceae, and are allied to
Salicornia, the well-known Marsh Samphire. The
attribution is however improbable in view of the
19
Mety en sa is the Regulator of the courses of the
priests, and it is to be noticed that Sauazet has the
same title (grave 166). Part of this stele came from
the filling of grave 184, and the remainder from the
dromos of 306. Its original tomb was doubtless
tomb no. 191, the paintings on the walls of which
give the same name and title, also that of his son
Ameny, whose name is scratched upside down on
the lower part of this stele.
PL xxi, nos, 1, 3, and 4. Offering-tables of the
xxiii-xxvth dynasties from cemetery B. They were
all found near the surface, having been thrown out of
the deep shafts by the ancient plunderers.
PI. xxi, no. 2. Part of the stele of Bak-Amen,
representing women offering to the deceased. The
small figure below the table smelling the lotus is
probably his wife or daughter. The stele is of soft
limestone, so badly weathered that it was impossible
to bring it to England.
PI, xxi, no. 5. Fragment of the stele of the
Imi-re 'akhenuty, Overseer of the Interior of the
Palace, Senusert-SENB of the xiith dynasty, found
at the mouth of the dromos of tomb no. 304,
cemetery A.
50. PI. xxii, no. 1. See sect. 10. No. 2. ' Syrian '
false-necked pot from a robbed grave in cemetery E.
No. 3. See sect. 44, and pi. xvi, no. 9. No. 4. Top
of a ' Syrian ' pot from the tomb of Apiy.
Pi. xxii, no. 5. Part of a pot of Mykenaean type
from the tomb of Apiy; xviiith dynasty. The
circles on the pot were drawn while it was on the
wheel. The pot is of light buff colour, the design
being in red.
51. PI. xxii, no. 6. Mud female figure from a
robbed grave in cemetery E ; xviiith dynasty. No. 7.
Male and female mud figures of the xiith dynasty,
from grave 36, cemetery A. The set consisted of
three female figures and one male. Their use is not
known for certain. These figures are now in
University College, London.
PI. xxii, no. 8. Drawing of the ' flail-beads ' of
the priest Sauazet. These beads are common in the
xiith dynasty, and are intended to represent a whip.
The beads may be arranged either with the long
beads below, or as shewn in the drawing. See
Dahchour, 1894 ; pi. xxxix.
52. PI. xxii, no. 9. Fragment of relief, from grave
96, cemetery A, shewing part of a plant which at
first sight strongly resembles a cactus. Mr. C. M.
Green of the Botanical Department, University
College, London, has kindly examined it for us and
reports on it as follows :—" The identification of the
plant represented in the fragment of carving in relief
is far from an easy task, from its incompleteness and
from the absence of precise data as to scale. At the
best it is possible to give only the most general
indications.
In the following discussion we have restricted
ourselves to such plants as occur in the existing
Egyptian flora ; to go outside this and consider the
floras of countries with which the ancient Egyptians
may have had trade, or other communications, would
carry us farther than the case appears to demand.
A great peculiarity of the carving is its monili-
form nature ; each of the three detached portions con-
sists of a series of spindle-shaped segments, of which
as many as three are inserted together at a single
node or joint (left-hand specimen). Presuming that
we are dealing with one of the higher plants, these
segments are to be interpreted as follows.
The axis or stem consisted of a series of inflected
segments—as to that there is no reasonable doubt.
When, however, similar segments are inserted at
a node—sometimes one (middle specimen), some-
times two (left-hand specimen), the question arises,
Were these appendages branches or were they leaves ?
If they were leaves, then the plant must have been
characterised by leaves closely similar in appearance
to its stem internodes. On the other hand, they
may not be leaves at all, but branches—a condition
realised frequently among desert plants, in which
the leaves may be absent or so reduced as to escape
observation.
We will deal first with the assumption that
the appendages were branches, and that conse-
quently the plant was leafless.
Two cases of aphyllous plants with jointed
swollen stem segments at once spring to the
mind. One of these is Opuntia, the Prickly Pear,
now naturalised in Egypt. This, however plausible,
may be dismissed at once, as the Opuntia is a
tropical American plant of which there is no record
for the Old World earlier than the middle ages.
Had so conspicuous, characteristic and useful a
plant as this occurred in ancient Egypt, it is incon-
ceivable that it would not have found frequent
representation in contemporary art.
Other jointed plants that suggest themselves
(Halocnemon and Anabasis) belong to the section
Salsolaceae of Chenopodiaceae, and are allied to
Salicornia, the well-known Marsh Samphire. The
attribution is however improbable in view of the