DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0426
Chap. VI.] ALABASTER QUARRY. 385
houses than any to be met with in the valley of the
Nile: and the extent of this city is unequalled by
any of which we can now trace the ruins, excepting
Thebes, being about two miles in length, though of
a comparatively inconsiderable breadth.
In the mountain to the eastward are several
grottoes, whose sculptures are of a style exactly
similar to those of Gebel Toona. The subjects are
numerous, but the most remarkable are the military
processions, in which the monarch, mounted in
a car, is attended by his troops, consisting of
charioteers and different corps of infantry, with
their respective weapons* and banners. He is also
represented borne on a splendid shrine, and ad-
vancing towards the temple of the sun, to present
his offerings to the deity. But his name has been
effaced wherever it occurred ; and throughout these
grottoes it is evidently the same as at Gebel Toona.
Another remarkable object is the style of the
dresses, which are but rarely met with even at
Thebes, and which seem to belong almost exclu-
sively to the military caste.
In a ravine of the mountain, behind these cata-
combs, is a large alabaster quarry,t which was
* Besides the color of the arms and coats of mail in the tombs
of the kings at Thebes, we might have another argument in favor
of the Egyptians being acquainted with the use of iron, from their
surprise at seeing the Ionians and Carians clad in brass or bronze
armour, if we could believe Herodotus's statement, ii. 152.
f I have already noticed, in my Hieroglyphical Extracts, pp. 21
and 22, my accidental discovery of these catacombs in 1824, and
2 C
houses than any to be met with in the valley of the
Nile: and the extent of this city is unequalled by
any of which we can now trace the ruins, excepting
Thebes, being about two miles in length, though of
a comparatively inconsiderable breadth.
In the mountain to the eastward are several
grottoes, whose sculptures are of a style exactly
similar to those of Gebel Toona. The subjects are
numerous, but the most remarkable are the military
processions, in which the monarch, mounted in
a car, is attended by his troops, consisting of
charioteers and different corps of infantry, with
their respective weapons* and banners. He is also
represented borne on a splendid shrine, and ad-
vancing towards the temple of the sun, to present
his offerings to the deity. But his name has been
effaced wherever it occurred ; and throughout these
grottoes it is evidently the same as at Gebel Toona.
Another remarkable object is the style of the
dresses, which are but rarely met with even at
Thebes, and which seem to belong almost exclu-
sively to the military caste.
In a ravine of the mountain, behind these cata-
combs, is a large alabaster quarry,t which was
* Besides the color of the arms and coats of mail in the tombs
of the kings at Thebes, we might have another argument in favor
of the Egyptians being acquainted with the use of iron, from their
surprise at seeing the Ionians and Carians clad in brass or bronze
armour, if we could believe Herodotus's statement, ii. 152.
f I have already noticed, in my Hieroglyphical Extracts, pp. 21
and 22, my accidental discovery of these catacombs in 1824, and
2 C