DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12249#0071
40
THE NECROPOLIS.
muted or, by error, transferred to an earthly ceremonial,
the mystical teaching of the ancient Egyptian ritual,
wherein such an ordeal is set forth as awaiting the
disembodied spirit. But, considering the specific men-
tion of a lake, considering the processions in the
fresco scenes, and the appearance and situation of
the large basin-like enclosure above referred to, it
would seem to be the excess of pyrrhonism and the
adoption of a mere conjecture in opposition to the
force of what evidence exists, to agree with a recent
Erench writer in supposing that the statement of
Diodorus is throughout, including the alleged existence
of the lake, a confused adaptation to real circumstances
of the native doctrine as to the soul's futurity,— that
the barges in the mural subjects have only reference
to the funeral cortege on its passage on the Nile,—and
that the area in question, instead of a sheet of water,
had been a sort of Champs de Mars for military spec-
tacles or reviews.
A Hat tract of desert about a mile in width lies
between this enclosure and the Libyan hills to the
north-west, in whose skirts the tombs begin to appear.
Those scattered at intervals in the lower slopes, and
none are here to be seen high up, arc little more
than cell-like apertures, neither numerous nor of
very definite character. In one, however, of the
short ravines, which, like a deep cleft runs into the
mountains, an important range of sepulchres have
their place. They are tombs of a few of the queens
and princesses of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth
THE NECROPOLIS.
muted or, by error, transferred to an earthly ceremonial,
the mystical teaching of the ancient Egyptian ritual,
wherein such an ordeal is set forth as awaiting the
disembodied spirit. But, considering the specific men-
tion of a lake, considering the processions in the
fresco scenes, and the appearance and situation of
the large basin-like enclosure above referred to, it
would seem to be the excess of pyrrhonism and the
adoption of a mere conjecture in opposition to the
force of what evidence exists, to agree with a recent
Erench writer in supposing that the statement of
Diodorus is throughout, including the alleged existence
of the lake, a confused adaptation to real circumstances
of the native doctrine as to the soul's futurity,— that
the barges in the mural subjects have only reference
to the funeral cortege on its passage on the Nile,—and
that the area in question, instead of a sheet of water,
had been a sort of Champs de Mars for military spec-
tacles or reviews.
A Hat tract of desert about a mile in width lies
between this enclosure and the Libyan hills to the
north-west, in whose skirts the tombs begin to appear.
Those scattered at intervals in the lower slopes, and
none are here to be seen high up, arc little more
than cell-like apertures, neither numerous nor of
very definite character. In one, however, of the
short ravines, which, like a deep cleft runs into the
mountains, an important range of sepulchres have
their place. They are tombs of a few of the queens
and princesses of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth