DOI Heft:
Nr. 1-2
DOI Artikel:Sayce, A. H.: Gleanings from the land of Egypt, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12258#0076
<;UÏANIN<;s KIÎi iM THK I-AN'l) i »F KGYPT
65
them. Now, it will be noticed that the occupant of tomb No. IV was cliief propbet of the
god Anhir-t, and that he was a director of ail the works which were ordered to be
made in the Thinite nome. The Thinite nome and its chief city were dedicated to
Anhir, whom the Greeks identified with Ares. The Coptic représentative of Anhir is
St. George, Girgis or Girgeh. We may therefore conclude that Girgeh occupies the
site of This, as Mariette once suggested. The mound on which it stands must be of
great depth, since only Roman remains are found in it at the présent level of low Nile;
in order to discover the remains of the early Pharaonic period, it would be neces-
sary to dig far below the existing bed of the river. Perhaps we may also conclude
that the tombs I have been desCribing, and which I first discovered in the winter of
1884-1885, mount back to a period before the rise of Abydos and the time when the
pious and wealthy Egyptian wished his body to rest there, by the side of that pf Osiris.
Abydos may originally have been a dépendent sanctuary of This, as Olympia was of
Pisa; and just as Olympia came eventually to supplant Pisa, so the sanctity of Abydos
came to éclipse the merely secular famé of This. The tomb behind Mesliaikh is further
évidence that Girgeh must represent the site of This. Anhir-messu, wlio was buried init,
is not only callcd j^!,"^ Q ,jut also | I l "\ *] *] j ^* ] @ • Tnc only an~
cient site within view of Mesliaikh is Girgeh, and, although Anhir-niessu may have lived
at Mesliaikh, he must have been within a reasonable distance of This. This would not
have been the case if the site of This is to be sought in the neighbourhood of Abydos, at
a distance from the river.
At some little distance to the north of the ruined tombs of Negadiyeh, and at the
same high level. is a natural cave which seems to have been the habitation of a Coptic
monk named Samuel Koui. At ail events I found the following inscriptions painted
within it :
___ ^ Close to the cave are three grafhli : aiiok cbiApeetfc; murr
y H' VG niKA^ ii»iii|M;, and lepuievc. Beyond this point are neither tombs nor
cauovhakoti inscriptions mit il we reacli a large columned tomb, about hàu a
n;ynpoiiAnA$ miie to the north, which, however, bas been entirely stripped of
i(()cii<|)a|)is: the stucco and ornementation that once adorned it.
rieuueores:
UTenuoTTe II. — An inscription from the tombs of Beni-Mohammed
nrr:ii?a:i(;^ el-Kufûr.
liOA(;CU|)OIIAl-|
2AUHM
On the eastern bank of the Nile, opposite Assiout, is a large and
fertile plain, enclosed, as usual, by a désert and a range of mountains.
On the northern side, and on the edge of the désert, is the Dèr el-Gibrawi, and, an hour
and a half distant from this, a séries of ancient tombs eut in the clifï, whicli is here called
.the Gebel Marâg. Owing to the distance of the tombs from the river, 1 have never been
able to visit them more than once, and upon that occasion my time was very limited.
Consequently, my copies of the inscriptions that remain in them are necessarily hasty
and imperfect. But, as no other copies of them appear to have been published, I venture
itiicuun., xm.
65
them. Now, it will be noticed that the occupant of tomb No. IV was cliief propbet of the
god Anhir-t, and that he was a director of ail the works which were ordered to be
made in the Thinite nome. The Thinite nome and its chief city were dedicated to
Anhir, whom the Greeks identified with Ares. The Coptic représentative of Anhir is
St. George, Girgis or Girgeh. We may therefore conclude that Girgeh occupies the
site of This, as Mariette once suggested. The mound on which it stands must be of
great depth, since only Roman remains are found in it at the présent level of low Nile;
in order to discover the remains of the early Pharaonic period, it would be neces-
sary to dig far below the existing bed of the river. Perhaps we may also conclude
that the tombs I have been desCribing, and which I first discovered in the winter of
1884-1885, mount back to a period before the rise of Abydos and the time when the
pious and wealthy Egyptian wished his body to rest there, by the side of that pf Osiris.
Abydos may originally have been a dépendent sanctuary of This, as Olympia was of
Pisa; and just as Olympia came eventually to supplant Pisa, so the sanctity of Abydos
came to éclipse the merely secular famé of This. The tomb behind Mesliaikh is further
évidence that Girgeh must represent the site of This. Anhir-messu, wlio was buried init,
is not only callcd j^!,"^ Q ,jut also | I l "\ *] *] j ^* ] @ • Tnc only an~
cient site within view of Mesliaikh is Girgeh, and, although Anhir-niessu may have lived
at Mesliaikh, he must have been within a reasonable distance of This. This would not
have been the case if the site of This is to be sought in the neighbourhood of Abydos, at
a distance from the river.
At some little distance to the north of the ruined tombs of Negadiyeh, and at the
same high level. is a natural cave which seems to have been the habitation of a Coptic
monk named Samuel Koui. At ail events I found the following inscriptions painted
within it :
___ ^ Close to the cave are three grafhli : aiiok cbiApeetfc; murr
y H' VG niKA^ ii»iii|M;, and lepuievc. Beyond this point are neither tombs nor
cauovhakoti inscriptions mit il we reacli a large columned tomb, about hàu a
n;ynpoiiAnA$ miie to the north, which, however, bas been entirely stripped of
i(()cii<|)a|)is: the stucco and ornementation that once adorned it.
rieuueores:
UTenuoTTe II. — An inscription from the tombs of Beni-Mohammed
nrr:ii?a:i(;^ el-Kufûr.
liOA(;CU|)OIIAl-|
2AUHM
On the eastern bank of the Nile, opposite Assiout, is a large and
fertile plain, enclosed, as usual, by a désert and a range of mountains.
On the northern side, and on the edge of the désert, is the Dèr el-Gibrawi, and, an hour
and a half distant from this, a séries of ancient tombs eut in the clifï, whicli is here called
.the Gebel Marâg. Owing to the distance of the tombs from the river, 1 have never been
able to visit them more than once, and upon that occasion my time was very limited.
Consequently, my copies of the inscriptions that remain in them are necessarily hasty
and imperfect. But, as no other copies of them appear to have been published, I venture
itiicuun., xm.