Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

MEMPHIS.

27

Most of the many pyramids are the tombs of kings, and
all these belong to the earliest line, that of the Memphite
sovereigns whose power ended before the time of Abra-
ham. The rest of the tombs are of many dates; some
ages are fully' represented, some are without records,
as if another great burial-place had come into favour.
Even with these gaps, the accumulation is unequalled.
The Chaldaean city of Erech, the modern Warka, alone
approaches Memphis as a necropolis; but the quantity
and the character of the sepultures is quite insignifi-
cant in comparison. The extent of the desert which
is occupied by the ancient Egyptian cemetery, and the
costliness of the tombs, have no parallel elsewhere. No
wonder that the Israelites, as they saw Pharaoh in
pursuit, thought of the burial-grounds of Egypt, when
in irony they said to Moses, ' Because (there were)
no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die
in the wilderness?' (Exod. xiv. n), while with a more
pointed reference to the great necropolis, Hosea predicts
of the Israelite fugitives, ' Egypt shall gather them up,
Moph shall bury them' (Hosea ix. 6).

The consequence thus given to the tomb by an active
and joyous people is at first perplexing. We must