Rhind, Alexander Henry: Thebes, its tombs and their tenants, ancient and present (London, 1862)

122 TOMB OF A THEBAN DIGNITARY.

of the principal personage as well as other personal
particulars can thus he ascertained by means of the
papyrus scrolls, it cannot be otherwise than hypo-
thetically decided what, if any, connection had sub-
sisted between all those who in this tomb were so
closely associated in death. There is no difficulty in
supposing the occupants of the sarcophagus and of
the five panelled cases to have been related by family
ties, as is, indeed, proved to have been the fact in one
instance. But between him who reposed in state in
the former, and the man, for instance, who had no
more handsome coffin than the plain box like a work-
house shell, there appears a broad line of separation ;
nor does it seem that their juxtaposition can be easily
accounted for except by some such conjecture as sup-
posing the domestic or other personal dependence of
the one upon the other. That the chief of the group,
the granite sarcophagus, was among the last deposited,
I think is more than probable. The planks and rollers,
even a chip of coarse pottery, holding the residue of
the cement which had been used to fasten down the
lid, all left lying on the spot, would indicate that no
considerable rearrangement had subsequently been
made.

Having witnessed vicissitudes like these, and after
having experienced for nearly two millennia a repose
denied to so many of its kind, changes still more
uncontemplated by the old designers await this sepul-
chre. For fully three thousand years it has been
dedicated to the departed. It may shortly begin a