breasted - the monuments of sudanese nubia

7/29/2019 Breasted - The Monuments of Sudanese Nubia

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Breapted, James HenryThe monuments of Sudanese

Nubia

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l)c (Oriental Crplovation fiiuD of tlK anibcrsit^of Cljicago, Cavpttan Section

REPORTS TO THE GENERAL DIRECTOR

II

The Monuments of Sudanese Nubia

RL"'>m OF THE WORK OFTHE A'PTIAN EXPEDITIONSt.'. SON OF 1906-'07

JAMES HENRY BREASTED

Preprinted from The American Journal of Semitic LancuaAND Literatures, October, 1908

CHICAGO1908


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THE AMERICAN JOURNAIOF

SE.MITIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES(CONTINUING HEBRAICA)

VouME XXV OCTOBER, 1008 Nimber 1

inrirntal ?3.vpIoration ,irunti of tl)r Mnibrrsiitijof ifinrago

SECOND ^EI:LT^^TNARY REPORT OF THE EGYPTIANEXPEDITIONBv James Henry Breasted

Tho Tnivprsity of ChicagoI. INTROUITTION"

The work of the pjf^yptian Ex])e(litioii during its tirst soasoii(in05-fi) had included a complete paleographic survey of themonuments of Lower Nubia from the foot of the second cataractat Haifa to the Ptolemaic temples just above the tirst cataract, notinclusive of the latter. In order to compli-te such a .survey of all themonuments of Nubia, it was now necessary toe.xtend the work of theexpedition for the next season (I'.tOCi -7) through the second cat-aract and above it to the southernmost monuments in the Nile valley,that is, from the vicinity of Khartum to the foot of the secondcataract. In this stretch of the Nile northward from Khartfim.the river describes a huge double curve of nearly a thousand miles,forming a vast S. which includes five of the six cataract regions,and comprises nearly all of the c-ataract country ( see Map, Fig. 1).In the absorption of the I'j)|M'r Nile, a process which l)egan in thetwenty-fifth century B. r.. the Pharaoh "s jH>wer never extended

1


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2 The Americas Joirxal of Semitic La\c.uagesJieconil Caf*rjct

Fin. I.Hi>|> of tlin Calnrnrt Ki'Kion of tlio Niln. fnim KliKrlQm t the Srciuiil ('marncl (aflvrthe AlU if till- Kuypi Kxiilorntimi Fiiml). Tho Smlnii Rallnmil cnt ncnuw On- l~ lii


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Second Prelimixaky Report of Egyptian Expedition 3above the fourth cataract, and his final frontier was always thelanil of Karoy. the country around Na|)ata at the foot of the fourthcataract.' Our original [)lan involved no more than the completionof the monuments within this Pharaonic viceroyalty of Nubia;that is, we did not expect to proceed up the river beyond thePharaonic frontier at the foot of the fourth cataract. The laterindependent Nubian kingdom has. however, left important hybridEgyptian monuments much farther south at the classical Merop,and at other points still farther up the river, and we finally decidedto include these also in at least a rapid visit. The addition ofthese later Nubian sites made up a heavy winter's work, but inview of the fact that no epigra|)hic work had been done in thecountry since the Prussian e.\))edition in 1844, we determined toattem])t it. The time at our disposal for these upper sites, how-ever, would necessarily be very limited, as we should be obliged toreturn in time to pass the cataracts before the fall of the highwater, which would have already begun to recede before ourarrival in the south.

In making our preparations f


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4 Tui: Amkkuax Juikxal of Semitic Languagesinvaluable. It is a privilege to express to him here a sense of ourgreat indebtedness for the unstinted interest and assistance weenjoyed at his hands. To Captain Parker, head of the IntelligenceDepartment of the Sudan in Cairo, the exix-dition owes great obli-gation for attention to many [ireliniinary arrnngenients neces-sarvbef(jre we could leave Cairo.

After ten days' work in Cairo, spent in repacking and distribut-ing supplies, they were dispatched to four points along the up|K'rriver, where we could pick them up at the pro[)er inten"als asneeded. On October '20 we left Cairo for Aswan, where we pickedup the equipment of last year. The exjiedition this season enjoyedthe experienced services of Mr. N. De G. Davios; with him. thephotograjjher, two native assistants, besides the cook and campservants, the present writer left Aswan by government jwst steamerfor Haifa on October 24 where we arrived three days later. Atthe Haifa terminus of Kitchener's famous military railway to Khar-tum, we had the good fortune to find an American tratiic-managerwho had lived in Chicago under the shadow of our university halls.He made it pissible for us to take with us in the regular passengertrain at baggage rates our thirty boxes of sup|>lies and e'r loop ofthe S (measuring some six hundred miles) around which we shouldfollow the river on our return. A glance at the map will showthat the railway fnjm Abu Hanu-d on. may hug the river all theway to the terminus on the Blue Nile o|)|H)site Khartrtm. ( >n theevening of ( )ctober 2^ our immerous im|NMlimenta were liastilythrown from the train at the little waysitle station of Kal>ushia.As the train pulled out and moved away across tlie de.sert, we wereleft to the silence of the night, and lreams of the ancient capitalof Nubia, the mysterious Mero> of the Gret'ks, the p\ramids ofwhich wt' had des


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Second Pbelimixarv Report of Egyi'Tian Expedition 5II. MEROE

We camped beside the little station, having first sent to tlieneighboring %'illage for camels, whose groaning and complniningawoke us the next morning before dawn. With our stutf loadedupon fourteen camels we had made the two hours' march to themain group of pyramids l)y ten o'clock, and before night we weresnugly stowed away in the small chapels of the pyramids wherewe lived for two weeks. It is imjiossible within the limits herenecessary, nor does it fall within the purposes of this rejiort, todescribe in detail the imposing monuments still surviving at ancientMeroe. The ruins of the citj' still lie unexcavated, extending fora mile along the river and for nearly a mile iidand at the modernvillage of Begerawiyeh. Here are the remains of three structures,probably temples, of which little more than the ground plan sur-vives. Southeast of the town is a low mound marked on Cail-liaud's map" as ''restes d'un monument." Cailliaud thouglit itthe remains of a pyramid, but it was clearly a peripteral structure,jirobably a temple, and reminding one of the similar ])eripteralbuilding at Musawwarat. I found remains of columns on the northand south sides. The building was oriented with front to tiie east,approached by a ramp leading to the door, and the whole was sur-rounded by an inclosure wall of burnt brick, now scarcely showingabove the present surface. I mention this building especially asit is not described by Lepsius. It would repay excavation, as ofcourse would the entire site of the ancient citj'. The great necrop-olis of the city lay in the desert to the eastward about an hour fromthe river, but a smaller cemetery lies southeast of the town butfifteen minutes' walk distant, and about ten minutes' walk east-ward of the peripteral temple above mentioned. This smallergroup of pyramids we called the "west group,"' while the twoparts into which the greater cemetery falls were designated as the'"middle" and "east groups" respectively. These were the royalcemeteries. That of the people, lay in the desert on the north ofthe middle and east groups, and has ap[)arently received no atten-tion since the hurried visit of Lepsius as he was leaving Meroe in18-1:4. The tombs of the peo[)le are marked 8imi>l> l>v hi.mukIs.

1 Voi/age d MeTOi, planche II, KiO,


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'' Thk Amkrican Jhihwi or Skmitic T,

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Seconk Prkliminary KEroHT uF Kgyi'tiax Expedition 7

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S Tut; Amekicas Jolkxal of Semitic Laxgcageswhich Wf had no autliorizntioii ti) i-xc-nvati', so that T cau reportnothing of their internal construction. Tliose of the royalty were])jTnmid.s of masonry, huilt with a much shar|K'r slope than inEgyi>t, and far smaller in size (Fig. 3). In the majority of casesthe burial seems to have been in a chamber in the rock lieneaththe pyramid, a|)]iroached by a shaft or an inclined passage fromthe east. Before the pyramid nii tile east' side is ii small ree-

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M Mi.lill.-tiroui., .Ni.rtli Kiid..t .Main Lin.-..rr;rburifd in the masonry,another chamber witimut means of aci-e.'ts. To tin" dead, however,it was accessible through a false window or dr in the i-ast fnmt

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Secoxli Pkkliminakv Hi:roRT of Er.vrTiAX KxriiDixiox 9

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KJ Thi; AMEnicAN Jouksal of Semitic Languagesof tin- pyrnuiid, at n [Kiiiit i-xactly oj)|)Osite the chamlxT thushiddi'ii in the masonry. This fnlst- door, called by Cailliaud "uneesj)6ee de fausse lucarne"' or dormer-window, is of course theEgyptian false door, so often found as the mortuary entrance inmastaha masonry, or the clitf tombs. In Cailliaud's day therewere seven of these false windows still preserved,' but at presentonly one survives (see Fig. 3). Behind it the hollow of thechamber is still pretty evident. It has Ix^eu necessary to go intothese details, in a matter which does not concern our epigraphicwork, because it has Ix-en lately stated that Ferlini, the Italianphysician, who excavated at these pyramids in ls34, could not|)ossibly have found his splendid treasure of Ethiopic jewelry in achamber at the fop of the pyramid. It is further stated that "inthe upper jiortion of no other pyramid in the Sudan up to thepresiMit has any chamber been found."' There can be no doubtthat Ferlini found the treasure now in Munich and Berlin, in achamber at the to[) of the pyramid as he narrates the discovery.

The chief pur|)ose of our visit, however, was not an investiga-tion of these problems, but to make an epigraphic reconl ofinscrii)ed monuments at Meroe as complete as jK)Ssible. In thiswork there was more than enough to Ih' done. The west groupwhich lies on the plain near the town as we havi> said, is probablytlie oldest of the three groups. Cailliaud found twenty |>yramid8there in sutiicieiit preservation to 1m' measured and planiuHl. whilethe low uiounils marking the remains of seventy-live more smnllerones surrounded the group. The only inscriptions, however, aseverywhere el.si- among the Nubian pyramids, are in the chajH'ls,and as nearly nil the chajtels of the west group have disaj>|H'nn>d.we found but little to Ih> recorded there. The middle group andthe east group are situated on the first ridges of the eastern rbsthe radiant heut of the sun. and U'conu'S S4t hoi, thai at noindny

Coyaffc A Urn*, PI, S!. ' Uwigr. Tkr Kott'Han .Oujam, 1. 96.


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Second Preliminaky Kei'ort of Imjvi'tian Exi'i;uitu)S 11in early November we found work ninoug it all hut impossible.It made trouble with instruiiKMits, pruducinjj such heat that thebubble in the level on one's camera disappeared, I sui)posi> owingto the expansion of the liquid in the glass tube. It was impossibleto level a camera for several hours near midday. Cailliaud wasable to measure twenty-two pyramids in the middle group, and todetermine the situation of sixteen more. In an examination ofthis site the day after our arrival, I could place only thirty-threewith certainty, but there were masses of rubbish and debris on theeastern slope where a number of others might have stood. Thisis the most im|)ortant group at Meroe, and had not the knowledgeof hierogly|)hics on the part of the builders here so declined as tomake most of the inscriptions now on the spot very obscure orcompletely unintelligible, it might have been possible to reconstructa rough historical outline of the growth of the cemetery and thesuccession of the kings. Incidentally it should be added that thecursive and other Meroitic inscriptions removed from here byLepsius, will now, in the course of a few years, become readableas a result of the recent discovery of papyrus fragments of theNubian New Testament, the tirst s{)ecimens of such literatureyet discovered. When these aids are available we shall be able togain much of the history of the vanished empire of which thesepyramids are the most considerable surviving remains. Whilewe could observe here and there structural evidences of a longhistory, like the erection of a pyramid partially covering the stilldiscernible base of an older pyramid, or reused blocks with thesculpture up-side-down, too many of the chapels had been removedor had totally perished, or what remained was in too bad a stateof preservation to furnish a basis for any historical reconstructionof the group. Even where the inscriptions are well preserved, arare circumstance, they are more often than not quite too corrujitto be intelligible. Long study and application will secure some-thing from some of them, but such study of our copies has not yetbeen jx)ssible. It should be noted, however, that one circumstancepoints to the greater age of the jiyrnniids at the south end of thisgroup. The latter all contaiii plentiful hieroglyphic inscriptionsscattered among the figures of the reliefs, whereas in the main line


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1.! Tin; Amkkrax .Iolrsal of Semitic Langcages(western row) of tlii.s group, tlie lust f(jur pyramids (Fig. 4) and{xjssihly the fiftli (but its ohajK-i is deeply buried i exhibit theusual panels f(r the lines of hieroglyphics, which have, however,never been inserted. This can only indicate a later period whenknowledge of hieroglyphic hud about disajn^eared. The |mnelswere prepared, but no one could lie found to till them.

It was unfortunately imjx)ssible to carry out the methods ofrecord developed during our tirst season's work. The heat was s*^)great as to make development of negatives on a large scale quiteim|x)ssible; nor was our excellent [Kirtable dark room, which we 8*tup iteside one of the chajn-ls. Inrge enough to |R'runt of such workon the scale demanded by such a great quantity of work. Wewen- obliged to sus|H'nd our otherwise unvarying rule of develop-ing, anil, if jM)ssible, of the use of a print on the Sjxit. until wecould reach our lH)at. More than ordinarily im|Mirtant things,and especially ditiicult and doubtful ex|)o9ures, were developedbefore we left, ami done again if not satisfactory, but it wasimiK)Ssible to furnish prints and to collate them with the originalwails as we did on our tirst campaign. We aduptetl the plan of opyiiig all inscriptions by hnnd, while deix-nding chietly on thephotogra|>li for the reliefs, und for paleographic accuracy. Thelong narrow chapels, not wide enough to give the cameru sufficientdistance from the wall to ftxu.s. caus'd much ditliculty and delayin this work. The corrupt character of the texts, and th' badstate of jMcservution also maiU- the work of hand copying likewiseslow and luborioiis in the extreme, A reconl of u numU'r of thefullen and dismantled cha|K>ls was furthermore made inqnissible,by the fact that as the inscribed blix-ks lay scattennl about u|>onthe ground, the rubbish from Budge's excavations had Int-n thrownover them, making it out of the question for us to atti'uqit torebuild or ri>construct such 'ha|K'ls, in order to piit'e together thereliefs and inscriptions which they still Ix-ar. )(any of themdeeply liuried niuler I'xcuvator's rubbish were ho|>eles8ly inacH*-sible. Furthermore, the shifting of scatlennl blinks in the ciur8tj. 1).

Fio. 10.Temple of Koni.in Abp at Nhkh.

IV. FOIRTH CATARACT BEdlONOf this stretch of two hundred miles, about one hundred and

forty are so broken up by outcropping of the granite through theNubian sandstone, that it forms one long succession of oftendangerous rapids, the lower of which arc known as the "fourthcataract,"' though tlie entire group from Abu Hamed onward isalso frequently included in the term. This region is the secondserious obstruction to navigation in the ascent of the Nile.Though the second cataract is even worse it is not quite so long,


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2i) The Amkrican Joiknal of Semitic Lasgi'aoes


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Secoxi* Prkli.minakv KiiroKT OF Egvptian Expedition 21and is so comparatively near their ancient frontier, tliat thePharaohs successfully passed it. The fourth cataract, however, isso remote and so long that the Pharaohs never surmounted it.Tliey were never able to push their frontier above it. At its footthey built a frontier administrative city. Napata, and at the great-est expansion of the Empire, Karoy, the region about Napata, was

Fli.. li.^Cclitral P. ript.T.il Bililrlirig .it .Milsiwwarfll frmii NtiIiw .-l itficially called the southern limit of the Pharaoh's country.Here, then, we were about to enter territory whose monuments wecould read, and we felt more at home. I had some hopes that wemight happen ujKDn the southern boundary land-marks of theEmpire; for Minhotep, an officer of Amenhotep II, has left aninscription in the quarries at Turra. near Cairo, stating that in theland of Karoy (the southern boundary ). and in the laud of Naharinon the Euphrates (the northern boundary), lie had erected thetaVjlets of the king.''

S! the author's) Ancient RcmriU. II, 8800.


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22 Tm; Amerkan Jolrnal of Semitic LaxgiagesArrivoil nt Aim Hnua-il, tin- fenst of Bnirnm was not yet over,

and we had much difficulty in seeurinonby the omdeh and the mamtir to i)arf with it for fifteen |iounds.It was about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and two and a halffeet deep, and built so heavily that when we put off with ten |>eoplein it, besides a good deal of baggage, on the afternoon of Novem-ber 22, it carried all with ease. A small caravan which followedus on the right bank, carried further supplies, from which we drewwhenever necessary. The voyage of one hundred and forty milesthrough the successive rapids of the cataract was one of surpassinginterest, with a sufficient spice of tianger ami risk almost everyday, to banish all tedium.

It is impossible in the space at command here, to do more thanindicate the character and chief difficulties of a search for reconlsin this region. We began with an attempt to search the islandsan


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Second Preliminary Kepokt of Kgvptian Kxpeuition 23imjx>ssible to iiinkr a landing on an island wo might be ])assing.because of numerous rocks, ugly and jagged, projecting far out intothe stream along the shore. Our search finally resolved itself intocareful observation of all smooth rocks facing the river, with a glass,in the hope that one of the earlier tnnjierors might have marked hisfarthest advance there, as the Twelfth Dynasty Pharaohs did in the

Fig. I.S.Liinclscapo in the Fourth Cataract Rptfion.second cataract region. But this search was necessarilj% for the abovereasons, confined to the particular channel down which we werepassing. It is impossible here to devote any space to descriptionof this wild and interesting region so little known to anhaeologists.'Suffice it to say that the only ruins which we came upon were thestrongholds of the petty Nubian kinglets, the "meleks"' whomtravelers of a century ago found still ruling tlieir tiny kingdoms, thefragments of the once great Nubian empire. Situated on com-manding cliffs and juttiiig rocks, their dark sun-dried brick wallsand battlements formed p picturesque center in not a few scenes

Cailliaud is the only one who passed through it.


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2i The Ameruax Jihrxal of Semitic Lasgi.agesof wild and stilitai v jxraiidt-ur in this rMiii>t. having In-en nine days in the rapids, weemergeil at the foot of the fourth cataract intosnuMitli water. At this|M>iiit we met for the first lime the conlial assistance of ColonolJackson, V. U., governor of the Dongola Province, who did nil inhis jtower to further our work. lie placet! at our dis|ios{il one ofhis pictures/inied us throughoutour work in the Dongola Province. I'.ir his warm hitspitnlity and


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Second Preliminakv Kei'ort of Khyptiax Expeihtiox 25eviT-reiuly assistaiict> wo nwc liini a great debt of


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2 The American Joirnal of Semitic Laxcuagesv. nai'ata kiebel bakkal)

Across the river on the east, at the very foot of the cataract,are the pyramids of Niiri, perhajm the oKlest juTaniids in Nubia( Fig. IN). Here eight are still standing in soui" degree of pres-ervation, while at least thirty-six more are scattered alxjut asmere heaj>s. They are oriented rougldy at southwest to northeast.

Vu.. Irt.-Ruiining tin- \iiiriihwn Rnpi.!.. IIh< I.-i-t nf Ih- K.mrlh Colnrnct.

and some at least are of solid stone masonry to the center, thoughof snch jMior (juality that they must of necessity rapidly fall topieces. The cha|H'ls are heaps of ruins, [ire.>*-rving none of thesculptures or iliscriplioiis. Heri' prolmlily lie the kings of Nuhin.for a brief time lords also i>f Kgypt, against whom the prophetIsjiiah declainie(l in the streets of .leruwdem. The exact situationof their city of Napnta is still a matter of some uncertainty, butits state temples, with tra


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Second Pni:i,iMiNAiiv Ki^i'okt of Egvptian Kxi'kdition "21


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> Tin: Ami:ui('as .liprKSAi. oi- Si.Mirh LAN(;rA


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Second Preliminary Report of Egyptian Expedition 2'.)on the right bank. Horo in tin- eighth century B. C. grew up thefirst independent Nubian kingdom, wiiich in the last quarter of theeighth century B. c. absorbed Egypt, and hekl it, with the excep-tion of the Delta, taken by the Assyrians, until (501 B.C. A hundredyears later, perhaps impelled by the campaign of Psammetichos IIagainst Niibia. these Nubian [irinces were already occupying theirsouthern capital of Meroe. after which time they no longer residedso frequently at Napata. But the earlier historj' of the placedates far back of the rise of the Nubian kingdom. Seven hundredyears earlier, in the middle of the fifteenth century B. C, we findAmeuhotep II here hanging a rebellious vassal, whom he hadbrought from Tikhsi in Asia, u]xin the walls of Napata. as anexample to the Nubians. It is a remarkable thing, therefore, thatno remains of the imperial age, back of the independent Nubians,can be found at Napata." The buildings now known there all datefrom the Twenty-fifth or Nubian Dynasty ; but from the Eighteenthl^ynasty. when the Pharaohs took possession of the place, onthrough the intervening dynasties, to the Twenty-fourth, no monu-ments have as yet been discovered there.

Looking out through the palms of the village of Barkal, north-ward across the fields and the desert the splendid yellow mass ofMount Barkal rises on the nortliern horizon behind the rich greenof the palms (Fig. 19). On the southern flank of the mount,facing the observer as he appoaches from the river, are ranged thescant V ruins of six temj>les, extending in general in an east andwest line, and mostly facing east of south (Fig. 20). On the westof the mount are two gnMips of pyramids. The temples have suf-fered so sadly that e(>igraphic work exists cjnly in the large tem])leat the extreme east, and in another near the west end of the row.

The large eastern temple is the oldest now known at Napata,the granite base of a chapl at the rear end showing the name ofa Piaukhi, probably the great Pianklii who conquered Egypt inthe .second half of the eighth century B. C. An altar of Taharka(('(88-6t")3 B. C.) also stands in a side chapel at the rear. But the

" Lcpsins states that he found tho namp of Ramsps II here, but this was doubtless theIhroDP-namp a^sumpd by a later Nubian. We also found the name of Ws r- m " t - R ' (throne-name t.f Ramses II) here, but it was clearly later Nubian work. These late Nubians fre-quently assumed the great names >f t^yptian Pliaratilis.


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1" Tm; Amkkk AN .loi lisvi. m- Se:miti( LANtUACiEs


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Second T'ri^liminarv Hkpokt hf lv;n'Ti\N K\im:i)Iti(iv :M

f" '


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'S'2 The American Joirsal of Semitic Langi'aue.shnll iiikI till' UiTgv court in front i-tTtaiiily Ulnn;; to n much Inti-rnffo, luid (loiil)tlfss ilnte from th*- onrly ifiitiirii's of the Christiant'ln. The Inter Niiljinn iiin^js who huilt the lnr;;e court ndonu-tiit witlt siulpturfs whicli they tk from older temples. Es|>efiallvnotable are the two noble lions now in the British Museum, andthe ram at Berlin, nil of which were carried from Amenhote| Ill'stemple at Soleb.' A numl)er of such rams still mnrk the avenuedown the n.xis of the forecourt, thou;h they are all but one nowcovered with rultbish.

It was in this temple that the annals of the Xuhinii king,recoriled on granite stelae, were disccnered by an Kgyptian otticinlill ISC'J. They were shortly after removed and brought to Egyptby order of Mnriette. In the series of stelae thus rescuetl, thoseof the kings of the Twenty-fifth Dynnsty who disputitl withAssyria the |K)ssession of Pnlestiiie and lower Egypt an- entindylacking, leaving a noticeable gnp. I therefore very much desin-dto find .some of the old men of the neighlniring villages, who mightrememlHT where these stelae had been taken out over forty yearsago. At this juncture we received a very welcome visit from Mr.J. \V. Crowfoot, acting curator of the Antii|uitii>8 of the Sudan.to whom we are indebted for much information. anil whoextendinl tous every assistance in his jxiwer at all times. With his aid andthat of Mr. WoiKllaiid. inspewe ) an ng>tlnative was found who told us with accuracy and detail the storyof how the stehu' were excavated and removHl. and |M>inted outthe place without hesitation. He t


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Secoxp Pkemmixarv Kei'ort of Kgyi'tiax KxrKDiTioN :i:i


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:u The American Joirsal of Semitic Lasglage*;Fij;. 2'1). Dt'sceiiding to the level of the jinvenieiit, we fouml tliatit had been removed. No trace of nny stelae was diseeriiihle. Theexcavation disi-losed reliefs on the pylon of enormous iliniensions.showing the kinj; slayinfj his enemies in the conventional stylebefore Amon. On the westernmost column on this side of the courta perfictlv piijiiivid MiToitic inscriptiiin was fciuiul. Tln' denr-

lvsius to 1k> Nubian. The original Merauion the right bank, that is, on the same siile of the river as (ieltelBarkal and its temples, still contains a ruinous mamurlyeh, thewalls of which are tilled with sculptured fragments and inscribedblocks, taken from ancient Egyptian tombs antl temples, and re-U8early a date |H'netrated so far into the Sudan, much less that hecould have founded a town in this vicinity, but the interestingfragment is likely to belong to the ruin of some Empire tomb ortemple in the vicinity. In the middle of the inclosun' is a tineblock of granite i)earing the name Seneferre-l'iankhi. and anotherfragment in the wall contains llie name Taharka. The place fromwhich thew fragments caun-, Ix-ing on the same side of the riveras tlu' Ctebel Harkal ruins and only five miles away, may eitheritwlf have i>een the ancient town of Na|>ata, or tin- fragments nuyi-onceivably have tni-n carried from the (telx-l Harkal sit*-. Infavor of this last sup|Ksition is the fact that the blink of St-neforre-Piankhi calls him "iKdoved of Mut residing in Nnbia (T'-Pdt)."It may therefore have c Mul temple rebuilt byTaharka at Cb>i>el l-tarkal.


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Second Pbelimixarv Keport of E(;yptiax Kxtedition 3!^>vi. from napata to akgo

It was with great regret tliat we took our last stroll throughGovernor Jackson's sujierh garden at Merowe, and enjoyed hiskindlv hospitality for the last time, a pleasure which we shall notsoon forget. On the twenty-second of December we passed theso-called pyramids of Kurru. and also those of Tangassi. whichare little more than burial tumuli, with a few unhewn stonesscattered over them to retain the desert gravel of which they arecomposed. Some seventeen miles from Merowe on the right Ijankis a similar group of mounds, which we reached on the next day.In a winding wadi west of the cemetery, I was led by a native towhat he called "buyut" ("houses"), which proved to be a seriesof tomb chambers cut in the rock wall of the wadi. The wallswere plastered with stucco, into which were cut Coptic inscriptions,all of which had almost entirely disappeared except one in theceiling which I photographed. These are among the southern-most Coptic inscriptions known. Reaching Bakhit on the sameday, we found there our first Christian church. It is one of a num-Iwr still surviving in ruinous condition in the Dougola Province.They arose in the sixth century A. D. on the christianization ofNubia, and fell into ruin in the fourteenth century, when Chris-tianity in this region was supplanted by Islam. The church ofBakhit is surrounded by heavy fortress walls of sun-dried brickreinforced with stone. The curtain wall is strengthened byeighteen pi-ojectiug towers for enfilading the attacking lines. A fmvmiles below Bakhit th(> Sudanese Aral)ic ceases to be the nativetongue and the villagers sjx'ak Nuliian. though the men all under-stand Arabic also.

On the twenty-fourth of December we reached Debba. wherethe Nile l)egins to turn northward, and after which we were obligedto sail against the incessant and powerful north wind. On theway we made brief obser\-ation3 and photographs at the Christianfortres-ses of Ed-Dafar and Genetti. We were held at Debba allChristmas day by a head wind, but managed to reach Old Dongolaby the next evening. On the twenty-seventh I found a native northof Old Dongola on the east shore, at a village known as Megalxla,who told of an inscribed stone far out in the desert. Here, some


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Ht Tm; American Joibsal (jf Semitic Lasgiagesfour miles frinii tlu- rivi-r. n l)roiul wiidi fillnl with tn-t's and sn a low ovalmound of red bunied brick some four hundred to five hundred feetlong and half as wide. On its western margin lies a splendidgranite block, a section of an olx-lisk, In-aring on one corner thefragments of a four-lined Egypto-Nubian hieroglyphic inscription,now too fragmentary, unfortunately, to give us any informHtioii asto the place. But it was eviilently a Nubian site of Meroitic age.

Having passe8 thesection of a granite obelisk of the existence of which I was kindlyinforunil by Mr. Crowfoot. It lu-ars on each side a column ofinscription liy a Piankhi, whose Horus-name is once given asK"-t"wyf, or "Bull of His Two Lantls:" and again as MightyBull Shining in Thebes." His nbty-name is yk'-Kmt, KuK-rofEgypt." I'nfortunately his throne-name is not given. Thi> sh'-tion had lieen roughly roundwl by hewing otF the corners, till itmuch resembled a column from one of the churches of the n>gion.and as such it had undoubtedly later s'rved. It will Ik evident,therefore, that some am-ient Nubian town ami temple existeil stmio-where in this Wadi Letti. The onnleh fmm Shekh Arab Hngg,who was with us. staletl that he knew of other remains farther north,and we followed him northward for two miles. ( >n reaching thes|M>t the stone he had promis


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Second Pkeliminary Repoet of Egyi'tian Expedition 41vii. argo and tombos

From this point until the island of Argo was reached, only achuich at Komi ( west shore) and the ground plan of a late Nubiantemple at Bugdumbusli (east side) offered us any new material.We found New Dongola, which we reached late on New Year'sDay, verj- interesting and its market furnished us the last oppor-tunity before the awful wilderness of Batu el-IJagar, for buyingpetroleum. Here we were- delayed by a violent northern storm,and it was not until the afternoon of January + that we reachedthe island of Argo ( Arko). Stopping at the village or district ofTebe on the we.st side of the island we marched inland to a pointnearer the eastern shore where there are e.xtensive traces of an an-cient town. The two well-known colossi of granite, each sometwenty feet high, are standing statues of late Nubian kings witiioutinscription (Fig. 25). They stood facing each other on each sideof the temple entrance and have now each fallen over backward.The mound containing the ruins of the temple is elongated eastand west, being some 250 feet long; and the statues lie at oneend. that is. of course, the front end of the ancient building. Onthe northern side of the temple mound at about the north wall ofthe forecourt, west of the colossi is the sitting statue of King Sebek-hotep ( H'-nfr-R'-Sbk-hti)) of the Thirteenth Dynasty, facingsouth. The age of this statue has commonly been confiised withthat of the two late colossi near it, a confusion to which the presentwriter must also plead guilty. The presence of the Sebekhotepstatue, commonly supposed to be very large, on this remote islandhas been generallj- regarded as evidence that Sebekhotep of theotherwise insignificant Thirteenth Dynasty, had extended the(wwer of Egypt southward from the second cataract to this point.An insjX'ction of the Sebekhotep statue, however, must lead to adifferent and important, even though negative, conclusion. Thestatue in the sitting posture measures about four and a half feetin height ( Fig. 2


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The Amkkican .Uh usal of Semitic Langiaues

'.tr\r^'.

^

1i


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Second rKKLiMiSAKV Retort of lv;vrTi\N FIxt'ehition" 43


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44 Thk Ameruan Joiknal of Semitic Lasgiageslike the Soleb lions, this statue of Si-W-kliotej) wns carried south-ward from some lenii)le of northern Nubin by a late Nubian king.We are thus relieved of the confusing and anomalous suj>|H>sitionthat the weak Thirteenth Dynasty, after tlie fall of the MidtUeKingdom, advanced the southern frontier of Egypt over twohundred miles southward. The gradual absorption of Nubia bythe Pharaohs thus becomes an intelligible and traceable progresssouthward at times when such advances of the frontier are quitein harmony with the internal vigor of Egypt.

As we left the Dongola Province at this jHjint, we wi re im-pressed with //(( liisloricnl sii/iiijirniirr of Us fronnmir ruliii: Itis a rather general impression among Egyptologist-s that the solemotive for the southern advance of the Pharaohs and their steadyal>sorption of Nubia was the desire to control the southern traderoutes coming out of the Sudan anil to hold the Nubian goldmines in the eastern desert, but that the land itsi-lf offered nothingwhich wtjuld attract conquest. Having now traveled the entirelength of the Dongola Province, viewed its broad fields and splen-ilid palm groves, sheltering and feeding so many pn>s|x>rous com-munities, tin- economic vahu' of the region to the Pharaohs U-cameat once apparent and much more strikingly sint some forty miles alx>ve Haifa,at Kummeh and Semneh. During the |HTiKl of weakness anil con-fusion culminating in the invasion and dominii>n of the Hyksos,after the fall of the Twelfth Dynasty, it was not to U ex|nctt> |iuhliealln SiuUfn hiM cxpmawl ImUiir opinion, from liiipn-iiliHl from Lo|>Uia' nnlfo.


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Second Preliminary Report of Egyptian Expedition 4"3through the ilangi'ious waters niul difficult marches in the desolatewilderness of the Batn el IJajjar. until, having surmounted therapids of the third cataract, he was the first Pharaoh to stand atthe northern gateway of the Dongola Province. Before himflowed over two hundred miles of unbroken river, winding amongthe richest fields and the most opulent ])alm groves in the Sudan(Fig. 21). With the difficulties of the long advance now behindhim, and the decisive battle over, he halted here for a well-earnedrest, and opposite the Island of Tombos I Fig. '27) he erected fivetriumphant stelae commemorating the conquest, calling him"Overthrower of Kush," and proudly reciting the limits of hisvast empire, from the upf)er Euphrates on the north, to this remoteprovince on the upi)er Nile (Fig. 28). At the same time he tookmeasures to protect and hold the new conquest, and built a for-tress here. Thus when we have excluded the alleged advance ofSebekhotep through this region, Thiitmose I and his monumentshere gain an entirely new significance. He was the first of thePharaohs to view this great garden on the u]>per Nile, and to himits absorption by Egypt was due.

There are no traces of the fortress mentioned in the largeststela-inscription on the eastern shore, where the stelae all are; buton the upper (southern) end of the island of Tombos opposite thestelae, is a Nubian stronghold of .sun-dried brick, which may con-tain the nucleus of Thutmose I's fortress here. The rocks on theisland and the neighboring mainland belong to a granite ridge,which cropping out here causes the Abu Fatma and Hannek rapidsimmediately below, these being the chief rapids of the third cataract.Both on the island and the eastern mainland the granite has l)eenextensively quarried, and in the eastern quarry there lies a pros-trate royal colossus left nearly finished. It is evidently from herethat the granite shafts for the large colossi on Argo were taken.They show the same color. It should be noted also that the graniteof the Sebekhotep statue there is of much darker color than thatof the large colossi, or that of these Tombos quarries, the onlygranite near Argo. The granite rocks in the middle of the islandrise fifty to seventy-five feet above the river and bear numerousrude graffiti of workmen, chiefly clepicting animals and boats.


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!' 'I'hi: Amkricas Journal of Semitic LAXdiAOEs

ur i..i!


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Second Preliminary Report of EcapxiAX ExrEDinos 47Further south, botwet'ii the fortress nail thegrnuite qunrries of theisland, we found on a low rock a new inscription. It is dated inthe year twenty of a king whose name is certainly either ThutmoseIII or Thutmose IV. The space for the three plural strokeswhich would make the name that of Thutmose IV, has been brokenout. but there is room for them, and the question arises whether

Flo. 2H.PhotograpliiiiK Tombris Stela nf Tbiitmosol. The stela isinscribcdontho largefalleu rcKk at left.

the preceding sign, the beetle (bj'r), has been slightly inisiilacedby accident, or intentionally so placed to make room for tiie fol-lowing plural strokes. The available documents from the reign ofTlintniose IV and his age at death (twenty-four) as shown by hismummy, are against his having reigned so long as twenty years.The inscri|)tion belongs to a new viceroy of the south, "king's-son,governor of the southern countries. Ani." His name occurs intwo places, and both times has been carefully erased. The firsttime, the remains of the signs projecting above and below andpreceding the era.sed surface would indicate with tolerable certainty


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48 The Amijkk an .huHNM. of Semitic Languagesthat the iinute is Aiii. It i-oiitaitis I'iglit lines, being a praver tothe gods of Nubia for '"valor, vi^^ilanee reailines.s, inthe favor of the king" and the usual material blessings. Aiii adds,however, a list of the products of the Sudan which he delivers tothe king. They are: "[)erfuuies lynuit), ivory, ebony, carobwood (a word lost), skins of the panther. Khesyt-wood, incense of the Mazoi, being the luxuries (s|>sw ) of wretchedKush."' The Mazoi were the Nubian tribe occupying the countrywithin the upper loop of the Nile-S. and now included lR>tween theriver and railroad from Haifa to Abu Hanied. It is evident thatthe bulk of "Kush" was the Dongola Province. Tliis is thesouthernmost inscription of an Egyptian viceroy, and the tirst yetfound in the Dongola Province.

On the way to Tombos Davies went tint to the strangi- massivemufl brick uiastabas at Defufa and made some general obs'rvationsand photgra])hs. These enigmatical monuments would re|>av amore extended investigation than it was [Missible for us to make inthe limited time at our dis|)sal. At the same time I went (h)wnthe west shore to a jtoint well toward Tnmbns and collected some(ImIii on till' ri'niains nf a cliun-h in .\kkail imrlli nf Hatir.

VIII. TIIIKK CATARACT( )n (he completion of the nionumenls nf Thutniosi' 1 at Tomlwis.

we iiegan the pa.ssage of the third cataract. an


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Second Preliminary Eetort of Egyptian Expedition 40caught by the gnle, it was quickly whipped from its lashings andthe lower half of it snapped into ribbons before the slovenlyNubian sailors could secure it again. The next day the wind hadabated but the rejiair of our mainsail delayed us half a day, andthe night of January 13 found us no farther on than the head ofthe Shaban rapid. This we ran on the fourteenth and in the

Fir,. 2fl.-Oiir Lartcr Gyas^a Dvi'CdKlinc tbp KaghAr CnlarHCt.

evening of the fifteenth we moored but a few miles above theKagbAr rapid. By noon of the sixteenth we had secured a gangof men from the neighboring village and had begun the passageof the difficult KagbAr channel. It lies at the west end of thenigged granite ridge which stretches across the river here likean artificial dam. The drop in [x-rhaps three or four hundred feetis considerable and the channel makes two sharp turns, forming acomplete inverted Z- However, when darkness overtook us. thesmaller of our two gyassas was safely through, though only aftera narrow escape at one point, and the larger Ixjat was lying in the|r)wer angle of the Z (Fig. 2'.) |. This was an uncomfortable situ-


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50 The American Joiknal of Semitic Languagesation, at a jxjiiit where the boat was ex|)OSed to the full fury of theswift water ilLSc-eiuliug the long reach of the Z- Sleep was inijjos-sible, aud to add to our discomfort a heavy wind otf shore sprangup. Above the roar of the cataract surging beside us I heard,about midnight, the sharp snapping of canvas fluttering in thewind, aud on going out could discern through the darkness themizzen-sail loose from its lashings, and drawing heavily. The reishad moored the boat only at the Ijow, and the stern was now drivenby the mizzen-sail out into the rapid. The single forward linechafing on the rocks fortunately held long enough for the fright-ened crew to carry a line ashore from the stern, but they could notdraw the stern in again. What we escai>ed in the night, however, ora similar mishap, overtook us the next morning. We succeee added here to burden this brief recital of ourwinter's work. We succeeded in stopping the hole sufficientlyto bale out the water, and right her. and in the tinal work ofpatching the hole inside and out, we enjoyed the assistance ofthe ShellAli natives of Mr. Scott's government surveying |>arty,which by extraordinary good fortune lia]>|MMieortuiiity to express to him our sense of obligation for thiselTective aid.

Our wreck took place on .Innnary lt>, and the ri|>aii-s werecompli'ted by the t-veiiing of the seventeenth. Altliough ourstores were all reloadetl by niHin of the eightt-t-nth, tin- heavynorth wind made it im|M>ssible to start, and the wintl continuing,the evening of the nineteenth found us only three miles north of


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Second Preliminary Report of Egyptian Expedition 51the fatal Kaghftr rapid. It was not until noon of the twenty-first that we had made the few miles necessary to reach Dulgoand the temple of Sesebi.IX. discovery of ge.m-aton, ikhnaton's KELiGiors capital in

IPPER NUBIAThe temple of Sesebi heretofore attributi'd to Seti I, has long

been known, although it lies in the heart of the most inaccessibleregion of Nubia. It is situated at the foot of the third cataract afew miles below the Kagbar rapid on the west side of the river,opposite Dulgo, the residence of the mamur of the district. Itis thus separated from the south by the third cataract, and fromthe north by the long and terrible rapids of the second cataract.It has therefore not often been visited by Europeans. Burckhardt,almost the first European of modern times to penetrate into theseregions between the second and third cataract, passed the placein 1813 ;'' but as he went up the eastern bank he never saw thetemple of Sesebi, or at least makes no reference to it.

In January, 1821, the able Frenchman Cailliaud, in companywith Letorzec, reached it on his southward journey, and spent aday there." As he continued southward, he passed several dayslater, the two Englishmen, Waddington and Hanbury, comingnorthward on their return journey. The latter two, therefore,arrived at Sesebi eleven days after Caillinud's visit ;'^ so that theFrenchman was the modern discoverer of the temple. Waddingtonwas evidently under the belief that he had discovered the existenceof this temple. His brusque treatment of Cailliaud would indicatealso some jealousy of the latter's possible achievements in this

" Poncct (16981. who gives no account of the monuments in the country, probably neversaw Sesebi. and du Ronle. who perished in Senaar, of conrsc jiublished no account of hisjourney (1704). Norden )lT;i8t did not even reach the second cataract, and Bruce. returninKfrom Abyssinia in 1772, did not follow the river here. In 179.3 Browne's visit to Dftr-FOr didnot carry him into this rpKion: and Leith (1813) stoppeil at Ibrim. half way from Aswan tothe second cat-aract.

1* Voyage d Mero^, au Fteuve Btanc, au-dcM de FAzoql . . . . d Syouah ct datm cinqautret ninit ; fail dam leiannfet fflD, IXK), Ii2tel lxl2,par M. FrM^ric Cailliaud, de Nantes,Paris, 182B (2 vols, of plates. 4 vols, of text). Text. Tome I. p. :t87.

'5Journal of a 1'Mt to .Some Pnrtt nf BIhiopin. By GeorKe Waddington. Esq.. and theRev. Barnard Hanbury. London. 1K'J2. i>p. 279. '280. Cailliautl states that he reachetl Sesebi onJanuary 6. and met the Enelislimeu on the eleventh. Waddincrton affirms that he metCaiUiaud on the fourteenth and arrived at Sesebi on the nineteenth.


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52 The Americas JorBNAL of Semitic Languagesregion." The Eiiglislinian Hoskiiis, on account of a reliellion amongthe tribe of the "Miihnss," avoided the river at this |oint. Hecut otr tlie Ix'nd in the stream, on which our temple is situated, andpassed tlirough the desert from Fakir el-Bent to Soleb on June 3and 4. lH3i}. He therefore never saw Sesehi. Eleven years later,on July 4. 1S44, the great Prussian, Lepsius visited Sesehi on hisway north;" but two generations elapsed Ix-fore it was again theobject of research. In l'.H)o Budge" visited the place, and thepresent writer on behalf of the Oriental Exploration Fund of TheUniversity of Chicago sfxMit |>art of two days there in January.I'.MIT.

Tile first account of the temple ever publishetl was that ofWaddington {i>]). n't., pp. '27i* if., :i'H)). who accompanies histlescription hv a small plan. For his day, his observations are wellma


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Second Preliminary Report of E(;yptiax Expedition u3iiocb vier Sftiileii uiit Palmt'iikapitAleii aufret-hl stehen : dicsetrageu die Schilder Srflios I. die sftdlichsten, die uns von diesemKOnige begegiiet siiid'' { Bvl


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54 The Amkrkan .Ii ksai, of Semitic Lasgcages


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Second Prei.iminakv Report of Kgyptian Expedition 55

4

i


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otl The American- Jolrnal df Semitic Laxgiagescoluuiii iluring n uiomi'iitaiy lull, iiiaki> a hurrietl ijl>st'rvntioii.and hastily beat a retreat to escape n delujje of sand l>tatinfj likelint cinders in one's face, and record the observation in the wel-

tt3o--*JK^m " 1a

;

^^'

J Q.0] "D? ^

Fill. K- I'l . I. tivi.come nhil(er (jf the culunin. Nor nro Huch wind.** as tht8> inicoin-uicin ill Nubia; they blow for davH or even weekH nt n time withunnimte


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Second Preliminary Repcjrt of Egyptian Expedition 57the reader is requested to bear these facts in mind. They arenot what they would have been under different eircunistances.The temple of Sesebi stands not far from the line of cultiva-tion, alx)ut five minutes" walk from the Nile (Fig. 34). It wasbuilt of sandstone and its ground plan was about forty meters inlength by twenty meters in width. The axis is in a tolerablyaccurate east-and-west line. The rear portion of the buildinghas disappeared entirely and even in Cailliaud's day only a slioitsection of the lower courses of the north wall was ol)servable.At the present day the exterior walls ait- nowhere visil)le, thoughexcavation would doubtless disclose their position. The rajjidlyfalling river forbade our undertaking any clearance of the wallshere, much to our regret. The ground plan of the interior atthe rear is entirely problematical, but the arrangement of theinterior of the front half is clear and was already perceived byErbkam. Lepsius' architect (see jilan. Fig. 32). This portion ofthe building consisted of two columned halls, one behind theother, each having eight columns in two transverse rows. Tlioseof the rear hall have now disappeared ( Fig. 33), though Cailliaudfound four bases, of which we could still observe three. In thefirst hall, three columns of the eight still stand (Figs. 33-35).They are of the second row, which thus lacks only its southern-most column. In Lepsius" day a fourth column in this hall, wasstill standing (Fig. 35). It was the northernmost in the first row."The arrangement of this temple is therefore unusual and itshould be compared with the other temple of the age to which itbelongs, just found by Borchardt at Tell el-Amarna. One wouldexj>ect a court before the first hypistyle, but we could find notraces of it.

Of the relation of the building to the town indosure we shallsjKi'ak later. The architecture of the temple is not of the best.The palm columns are all of the same height and there is noclerestory. Their proportions are heavy, being much too thickfor their height; the height of the ca|>ital approaches a third ofthe entire height of the column, and they cannot be compared

"Small fraarments of it capita] ?till lieon thpaixit. Biidito still sawfatircdruirn. andpeak


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o8 The American Jolks.al of Semitic Languages

,^.-


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Second Preliminary Report of KdYrxiAN Expedition 59


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0 The Americas Jolbsal of Semitic Lasgiageswith tlie Suit- palm column still surviving at Soleb. Sjiaci- willnot ])t'rmit a detailed tliscussion of the architeoture of thesecolumns here.

What excavation may yet disclose cannot be foreseen, but at])resent the unique anil remarkable history of the place can liedrawn only from the sculptures and iiiscri[)tions on the threesurviving columns. These we shall refer to as the northern,.southern, and middle columns. The reliefs on the northern andmiddle columns are on the south side; those of the southerncolumn on the north side. The reliefs on the southern andmiddle columns thus face each other, and the aisle between themis the middle aisle, as the ground plan shows (Fig i{2). Theyconsist of otfering scenes in which the king is always at the east,facing west, and the god before him at the west facing east.This shows that the back of the temple was at the west and thefront at the east, for such is the direction with reference to frontand back, in which the royal and divine figures in such templereliefs regularly face. It is as if the god were issuing from theholy |)lace in the rear of the temple, to nuvt the king enteringfrom the front. The king, as Le|>sius long ago ni>ted for tliefirst time, is Seti I. He stands with uplifted hands, bi-fore asmall flower-crowned standard, surmounted by an oblnt ion-vessel,as may liest be seen on the middli- column (Figs. US and 45).An examination of this middle column ( Figs. HS. 8'.l, 4'). 4l>) willshow the reader clearly the arrangement of all these reliefs, whichit is important to folliiw closi'ly. thus:

TheGixl The Kinjr* .\ltar or .Stitndanl ended ser-

[>ent, over which is the band of heaven, extending c-lear acrossthe relief ( Figs. 3t!, 37, and 4'2 ). Both the figures, of god and of

king, have suffered much.The king's extended arms,the heail of the gixl. and hisupiier fig^ire are still pre-served. Behind the king wasa pair of cartouches of largesize, of course also containinghis name. Tliese were sur-mounted each by a pair oflarge feathers, of which onlythe tojw now survive (Figs.37 and 42). This style ofcartouch is common on tem-ple columns anil on scarabs

from the Nineteenth Dynasty onward. The formulae of offeringand the i>romises of the gml. usual in such reliefs, are lost in themiddle of the lower half of the scene, on each siih- of /the offering standard. (See Fig. 37.) Behind Amon ^iwas the figure of Mut, but it has completely disapix-ared 1 1 \ixrept the s[)iral wire belonging to her crown (Fig. "


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JSeconu Preliminakv KEriiRT OF Egyi'tias Expedition t;;3

Fill. ?.-if.nbi Tm|.lp. Right Si.l>- nl Palimp-cDl R.-liff i.n Soathorii Column. ExpungedHgon- nf Ikhnston in miildlo. (Compare Fii:. 41.)


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04 The American Jolrnal of Semitic Lam;iages

Fill. Ti. 8nobi Tiii|>lr. I.


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Secono Preliminary Report of Ecjyptiax Expedition 05

Flo. 38.-Scs


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66 The Amerrax Julrxal of Semitic LaxgiagesThe heaven-band above the king's head, sto|)S just there

(Fig. 45). showing that there was no pair of large cartouchesbehind him, corresponding to those on tlie southern column

(Fig. 37). A single column of text under the god'sarm contains one of the conventional promises. BehindAnion, who faces the right with extended scepter, wasthe figure of Ptah (jr Osiris (Fig. 4o), but only histwo hands grasping the sce[)ter have survived. The

Fui. ./ beginning of his speech (Fig.


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Second Preliminary Report of EciVPTiAX Expedition 07

L.-ft Kn.l.if K.-li.f .. M,


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68 The Amerkan Joi rsai, of Semitic Lax(;iages

i-iu. lu. s-...i.rr I'l'- K .;i.i II .If ( !; i"( ..! \..r!i,.


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Second Preliminary Report of Egyptian Expedition O'.tcoliiDin. I was immediati'l}- orreatly puzzled by this disk. Itseemed to have been out after Seti's inscriptions, as it so sharplyinterrupts them. But. when I considered its position on the othercohinniis. and |>erceived that it was in all three cases in the middle

'/4=//////.Vv/^^1 Soiitlicm Column (Right oiwl

:

Flo. 41ExpuriKwl Fiifuroof Iklinnton behind Amon in Intrr tiiiipo "Anion of (m- Yin," il ti.;,;tii 1- .ii^rrtcd

thmSxii I rxlirff should mi inimixlinlxljr followlntf Ihn oirrrtliniw nf Ikhnnton. Tlii< i> llnnnn- wn of ronrx- rhnnicnl li> iIk' Kotiriinipnt : nml Ihi* ol thKmoutli. or III.' iKs.i.l.'. Th.i.ro m In-t urw u|> lh torm "Anion of lini-Y In . ' nml Inncftrr Iho r.-Toltitlonor Iklinnlon wif fork-ollrn. Ihl< nnmonrthi* NuliUn \u ', ;>..-.) oOl-

rliil ri'roiinitlon. Il ni-rrr in Tirhnkii< trniplr at lirl- ' \).whorpTirhitkn in rrproariile^l mn wiirihlpintf "Anton of Dm Y I n " Uion'< ' ' i--l^


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Second Pbelimixaky Keport of Egyptian- Expeditiox 1'.)

..::^g't.;i.:;i'f:;fe,,,,,,;fS'?'''a&,

'i*^

"^^F

I

Fio. il.Plan nt thr Tity nf (Jem-Aton (alU-t Lepsias, Dcnkmfller


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80 The American Joirsal of Semitic Languagesthe cardinal j)oints. The building, like the teuij)les of Kummehand Seuineh, engaged in the wall of the fortress on two sides.This fortress contained the ancient town, which was therefore, likethe settlements of Soleb and Sedeinga, of very limited extent.The annexed plan (Fig. 47) will indicate roughly its shajK- anddimensions, which may be compared also with the accompanyingview (Fig. 48). The walls are about 7.50 meters thick, and thesouthern gate is about 2.25 m. in width. Most of the east wall isdown and I could find negate in it or the north wall. The bricksmeasure 10 X IG X 3t) cm. The river was falling so rapidly at thistime that our departure was imperative, and we could not explorethe neighboring country, as I should have been glad to do. Wescanned the surrountling hills carefully with glasses in search ofthe (piarries from which the stone for the temple was taken, butcould not tliscover them. They might have yielded a buildinginscription, like that of Ikhnaton at Silsileh, and furnished ussome further clue to the character of his Nubian city and temple.

The origin of the place is therefore evident and in the main itseai'ly history clcai-. Ikhnaton (Amenhotep IV) in his unparalleledreligious revolution about 1370 B. c, sought to bring his wholeempire under the dominion of one god."' As the new religiousand ptjlitical cajiital in Egyj)t he founded Akhet-Aton ( Tell el-Auiarna). But the same must be done for the foreign possessionsof the empire, adjacent Asia and Nubia, for as the king sang to hisgod in,

Thi> CDiiiilrit's of Svii.i and Niiliia,The laud of Ejivjit.Thou settest every inati in liis placi'.

Of the Syrian city or temple which he must havi' fonniK-d we kiuwnotliing; but in Nubia he erected at the foot of the third cataractour temple, now called Sesel)!, and built with it a walleil town.He named the place (iem-Aton (tlm-Ylonb after the sanctuaryof his god Atoll, already existent at Thebes.** The religious char-acter of the |ila


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Second Prkliminakv Ivr.rour uv Ki.vptian 1ai'i:ihtion 81


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f^'2 The Amukkan .Juienal of Semitic LAStiiAOEsEgy[)t were dfstroyed, and their fraj^nients have occaBioimllv In-eiifound built into temples of Ikbnaton's successors. In distantNubia, however, the temple of Gem-Aton was at a safe removefrom the wrath of Ikhnaton's enemies. It escaj)ed the first out-burst, and survived throufjh the reijjn of Harmhab. The j>eoplecontinued to call it Gem-Aton, and fifty years after the death ofIkhnaton, the oflBcials of Seti I found it, still bearing its hereticalreliefs and inscriptions, representing the now detested Ikhnatonand his queen, worsiiij)ing Atou iu his temple. But they did notdestroy it as in Egy|)t. Here, as at the neighboring .Soleli. theyiiacked out the hated sculptures of the heretic, and covering upall trace of them with stucco, they wrought new sculptures on thecolumns anil walls, depicting Seti I worshiping Amon. The placethen became a temple of Aton's rival Amon. Its new official namewe do not know. The people still continued to call it Gem-Aton.Long afterward when the odium attaching to this name was for-gotten, it gained recognition as tiie official name of the place. Inthe reign of Tiriiaka, nearly seven hundred years after Ikiinaton'srevolution we find the town still mentioned, and its goil was thenofficially called "Amon of Gem-Aton." Nearly a thousand yearsafter its foundation l)V Ikhnaton, Amon, the ged there under the same name. From thatlime on we know nothing of the city or temple. When if fell intodisuse after the ciiristiuni/ation of the country, the temple In'camea (piarry for the neighboring kinglet. This continued until allits walls had l)een removeil and its columns one by one disaj*-jK-ared, leaving at last only four. The site remained encumln'n'tlwith the chi|>s of sandstone, h'ft by breaking up the blin-ks freasier transportation from the s|K>t ( see Fig. HiJ ). Some time sincethe forties of last century one of the four columns fell, and wascarried away in fragmetifs as building slime. Thus the only sur-viving tem|ileof Ikhnaton has U-en reduced to three columns, andtheir balti-red and weathered records are nil that we |K>Hsess togive us a hint of the unicpie origin of the place. What secrets ofthe world's first monotheist still lie hiilden there, remain for thespade of the future excavator, who may |Mi..irMi.- mi.. iIuhinncci>s8il>le region.


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Second Preltmixarv Report of Egyptian' Expedition S3X. TEMPLE of SOLEB

Wf tiiiislu'd work at tlie Gem-Atoii temple on .Inmiary 22. andproceeding a few miles the next day, were held by the furiouswind for five days at Gurgot n few miles below Dulgo. Whenset to tracking, the sailors found it impossible to move the boats,so strong was the gale. I sent a request to the mamftr at Dulgofor more hands at the ropes and he secured nine men for us, buteven with these we soon ran into a projecting promontory of rock,around which we could not move, as there was no footing for themen on the other side. The gale quickened into a furious tem-pest burying us in vast clouds of flying dust and sand. Even inthe cabin it fell on one's papers in appreciable thickness, likesnow, within an hour. In two hours everything in our cabin wasdeluged as if by ashes from Vesuvius. There was a pungent odorof dust in the air, it grated between one's teeth, one's eai's werefull, one's eye-brows and lashes were laden like the dust}- miller,it sifted into all boxes and clipboards, photographs and papers,till each leaf was separated from the next by a layer of grit, andit settled on the chemical trays in the dark-room in such quanti-ties that it destroyed disquieting amounts of our precious sup-plies and sadl}' injured the plates. At night it was bitter cold;the temperature dropped to 40 (Fahr.) above every morningbefore daylight, and there was a peculiarly chilling quality in theatmosphere. Our great desire was to reach the temple of Solebthirty miles away, Ijut even had we been able to secure camels, itwould have been impossible to travel in such a gale. By thetwenty-sixth of January the wind had been blowing for sixteendays with but one day's moderation, and for eleven days it hadraged night and day without a moment's cessation. On the morn-ing of the twenty-seventh, however, we cast oif at 4 a. M. withprospects of favorable weather, and having made half the distanceto Soleb that day, we pushed on the next morning ( twenty-eighth ) and reached Soleb on the afternoon of that day.We were favored with good weather for a few days in theVieginning of our work at Soleb, but during the remainder of theten days we S[)ent there, a heavy wind made photographing on ascaffold excessivelv difficult, and work of anv kind a burden. It


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84 The Americas Jolbnal of Semitic Languagesmay be snid that epigrapbic work of any kind is next to ini|>os-sible during three days out of tive at tliis season of the year inNubia. The temple of Soleb, ereettnl by Auienhotep III, is themost iui|Mjrtaiit nionnment in the Sudan, and one of tlie two great-est architectural works surviving in tiie Nile valley, the otherbeing tlie temple of Luxor. Of the magiiiticent temples erei-tedby the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty all have jjerishedsave Luxor and SeanHl.These are the rains remov'd by the Nubians to GeU-l Harkal. ofwhich one was taken thence to Berlin by Lejisius. Tin- pxlon wasmuch wider than the temple iM-hind it. It olTers a remarkablearchitectural feature which deserves further investigation: it waspreceded by a large vestibule hall, the side walls of which abutteildirectly on the nnchlle of the front face of each pylon tower. Tlienorth pylon tower is still sullicieiitly preservt"*! to show the vertical

r jinrirnl Hrrunl: II. ,n.


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Second PRiajMiVARV lii:rnRT of Koyi'tiav Kxpkiutiox Ho


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86 Tin; Amkkkax .Toirnal ok Semitic Lasuiagesline on its east front, where the north side-wall of the vestibulehall impinged on the face of the pylon, extending upward to thecornice of the pylon. At the rear of this imposing hail, immedi-ately in front of the [)ylon door, are now the bases of two enormouscolumns, one on each side of the axis, each over seven feet indiameter at the base, wliile the bases themselves are over twelveand a lialf feet in diameter. Le|>sius still saw eight of these ba.sesin two rows of four each, on each side of the axis and parallel withit." Viewed from the entrance, this hall must liave been one ofthe most imposing exami)les of columned architectuiH- ever con-ceived in the Nile valley. It is greatly to l)e regretted that thisunitjue hall has disappeared down to the bases of the columns andwalls. It is deeply encumbered with rubbish, but it would amplyrej>ay clearance. Behind the pylon the arrangement of the templeis an extension of the usual plan: a large i)eristyle court of thirtycohunns, with a double row of columns at the rear and a singlerow elsewhere, followefl by a second similar court of thirty-twocolumns, and two successive hypostyle halls, with the columnednaos itself behind all this. The entire structure including the largeforecourt was some six hundreil feet long, and Lepsius' draughts-men saw the l)ase8 of one huiulred and forty columns. Every-where in design and execution the building betrays the tine linesand the exijuisite projMtrtious of the very best work of thortant documents:

MThsro mm' bo wifno i|iii i>olitnnnl Iwn iialn.nr whnilifr lix hn< rfxiomi lliftn in hin |>liiii il.O. I. Hi).


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Secokd Pbelimixaky Report of Egyptian Expedition- 871. Faco of pylon (^ reliefs of Ameuhotc]) IV i.2. Back of pylon (Heb-sed reliefs).3. North side of door between the (wo peristyle courts (Heb-

sed reliefs).4. Columns in rear chambers (foreign captive lists).No study of these important documents has been made since

Lepsius visited it sixty-three years ago, tliough an account of someof them only as published by Lepsius is given by Budge, whovisited the place in l'.>05. He says: "Of the reliefs with whichit was decorated we can get a good idea from the drawings pub-lished by Lepsius." Budge seems, however, to have made anindependent examination of the front of the standing section of thepylon (called by him "second pylon"), from which Lepsius pub-lished nothing; for Budge saj's: "The face of the second pylonwas sculptured with large figures of the king [Amenhotep III],who was represented in the act of slaying his enemies" (Siidan,I, (ir2). What this face of the pylon really does contain is ofgreat importance and interest, for the reason that, having beenIrff hare hij Amcuhoicj) III, his son, the religious revolutionaryIkhnaton (Amenhotep IV), whose city we found at Sesebi, filledit with his own reliefs. They form the only extensive scries oftemple reliefs surviving from the reign of Ikhnaton. In the hollowcornice over the pylon door, in such delicate and flat relief that itis faintly visible only in oblique light for a little while beforemidday, is a pair of huge cartouches containing the double name,Ixeferkheprure-Wanre-Ikhnaton. There are in all six relief scenesof Ikhnaton still discernible on the portion of the pylon preserved(only the south half of the northern tower), of which the follow-ing five are intelligible:

1. King Ikhnaton stands at the left, while Horus or Re at theright before him are jjlacing a crown upon his head.

-2. King Ikhnaton kneels in the middle, while Atum and Reenthroned at the left and right place a crown upon his head.

3. Ikhnaton standing at the right receives the sign of life fromhis father Amenhotep III as a god at the left.

4. Ikhnaton standing on the right burns incense and |j


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88 The American Juibnal of Semitic Lasglagesn. Iklinatixi staniliiij^ at tlic right worships Aumii standing on

the K-ft.In scent's H to ~y tin- vulture-goddess Buto hovers over the

king nt the right. These reliefs of Ikhnaton are of esiiecial in-terest l)eeause they date from the earliest years of his reign, fromwhich heretofore we have iM)ssessed only the building inscri|)tionat Silsileh, and a few small fragments at Kariiak. Tliese newSoleb reliefs, therefore, exhibit a number of facts of interest in thecourse of Ikhnaton's revolution. Three stages in their history aretraceable

:

I. These reliefs were executed by Ikhnatou's scul|)tors bi-forehis antipathy for Amon had begun; he is, therefore, represented asworshiping l)oth Amon and his own father.

II. SoQie time before his sixth year," the feud with Amonand the other gods having broken out, the name and the figure ofAmon, here in his own reliefs and also tiiroughout this temple,were expunged.** But here a remarkable fact arises: the figureof Ikhnatou's father as god of the temple of Soleb. was re9|iecte. 91 r.. and my .Idrirnl Ktrvnl; II,RmThf.'r.,.,.l. I)Hiwavi, ins.


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Secoxu Preliminakv Ki:i'()kt of Imiyptiax Kxpeditiox Mta suu-god. whiK' "His Liviiii: liiini,'r on P^artli'' means tlic iiiin>,reof the sun-god. and I cannot but believe, therefore, that Ikhnatonwas but continuing the cult of the sun-god in continuing that ofhis father: just as he continued that of Re, of Horns, and of Atuni.all sun-gods. To him these latter were identical and did notdisturb his monotheistic theology. In the same way we unistregard the cult of his father.

III. The final stage of hist(U-v discernible on this wall andelsewhere in the temple, is that which followed the fall of Ikhnaton,when his figure and name were expunged in turn, while those ofAmon and the name of Amenhotep III were everywhere restored,the latter often wrongly as Nibmare, where we should have Amen-hotep. This restoration was also known to us from the lions andrams of Soleb long since broxight to Euro[)e from Gebel Barkal.

Passing from the front face to the rear face of this northernpylon tower, a not less interesting series of reliefs, from whichLepsius extracted a few isolated scenes,'" is revealed to us. Theinnwrtauce of these scenes lies in their connection, not discerniblein the four published by Lepsius, where indeed the most importantdetail on the walls was omitted, as we shall see. These scenesdepict the ceremonies of the royal jubilee known as the Heb-sed(5b-sd) in two series, which we may designate as: first, theThrone Ceremonies; and second, the Ceremony of Striking theCity Gates. In the first, the throne (tnt't) is the object of suc-cessive ceremonies at the hands of the king and queen, AmenhotepIII aT'd Tiy, and the important state officialseach ceremonybeing called by a sjiecial title like "Illumination ot the Throne."The ceremonies took place on different days and two at least were"on the morning of the Heb-sed." In one of them the thronewas anointetl, and we see before it a cabinet containing the oint-ment which is designated "hall of secret ointment brought beforethe throne." These throne ceremonies form a series of reliefs ina single bottom row along the lower ])ortion of the wall for perhapstwo meters from the pavement. Above this row is the second,larger series, the Ceremony of Striking the City Gates, whichoccupied all the space to the top of the wall. The two extracts

'2 Denkm-Vcr. III. W b. r.Un. h


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'. Tut: Americas .Toirsal of Semitic Langiagesgiven by Lepsius, show what has often Ijeen recogiiizence here for discussion of its signiticnnce, but itwould seem to be evident that it grew out of some historical iK'cur-rence. |>|H'r Kgypt at the absorption of th' Delta by I'pinTKgypt in prehistoric days. His knecome apart of the ceremonies by which the later kings of the unitinlkingdom each 'elebrnted his assumption of jxiwer over l'p|T luul


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Second Preliminary Report of KiivrTiAN KxrcinTiox '.il

JillLv

Fio. -Vi -trikinir thp TwpI tli Ciry (iate in tl.r- Royal Jnbi'fc Kolipfs nt 5


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'.2 TiiK Ami;rican Joirxal of Semitic LanguagesLower Egypt now united. Leaving such conjectures, it would beinteresting to determine how many gates the city jxassessed andwhat city is meant. Unfortunately, as n glance at Fig. 51 willdisclose, only two sides are j)reserved and one of these is incom-plete. A reconstruction with the full number of gates on eachside is therefore impt)ssiijle. It is probable that the right side iscomplete, but the numbers on the original are illegible and un-certain. Assuming that the numbering began at the lower left-hand corner of the city, there were twelve gates above and Ijelow,and probably three gates at each end, making thirty gates in all.Assuming that the numbering began at the upper left-hand corner,there were nine gates above and below, and tiiree at each end. ortwenty-four in all. Thus far I can discover nothing in the reliefsor inscriptions to determine what city is meant, but it was pre-sumably Menipliis. fur reasons which space will nut permit recitinghere.

The only piece of inscribeil wall still standing in the temple ofSoleb besides the two sides i>{ the section of the pylon, withwhich we have been dealing, is the north side of the deep door-way (Fig. -iV), Door IV), from the first into the second peristylecourt. On the north face of this section of wall is n series ofreliefs of prime im|K)rtnnce in eight horizontal rows, rising onenlxive the other from the Hoor to tlu' ceiling of the lofty colon-nade. We haailly fractun-din the middle, making the (jucslion of its ability t> sustain us npiipiant element in our long-continued efforts to sH'un' a com-plete record of this wall. During our entire work u|>on it, facingthe north as it did. we were ex|M>sed to a violent north windwhich arose simiu afl


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Second Prkliminarv Report of Egvptiax Expedition "J3shake down the scaffohl. The nianipuhition of squeeze paperwas an impossibility. The operation of a large camera on twocrazy planks at an uncomfortable elevation is not easy; when thewind, however, threatens to carry away the instrument everymoment, and the wall, always in the shadow and never receivingany sun. must be illuminated with a reflector held by some onestanding on the scaffold, the work of securing even poor negativesis slow and painful. We hope, however, that with tiie negatives

4";.4-^.^^

Flo. .il.Plan of the "Strikines" of the City Oatc? at the (Vlehration of the RoyalJnbilr as Presorvwl on the Pylon at Soleh. The royal flsuro is above iDaortd only twice

;

it i.i* t*t be iiupplied at earh ff the eates.


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'.4 Tm: A.mkricas Jul knal of Semitic Laxhiages( thirtv-twn ill iiumhcri and mir liiind coir's made from the wall,that \Vf linvi' scriircd about all that it otTt-rs.

Two of the eight rows on this wall were copied and |iul)lish(ilby Lei)sius,'"'' but the subject of the series is not disoeriiible inthe publication. At the right-hand end of the lower row. in ascene" now almost invisible, the king may l>e discerned as he is

Fki. .-12. I'll to^rnpli nu t!i Kxliofi. or tli- Kojiil .liil>il.' IV 111 SiiU'li.

borne from the palace in a pahuupiin on the shoulders of hisl)earers; liefore him is a retrograde inscription in six verticallines. The tirst of these (apparently the last i on long and closeinspection certainly iM-gins with the date, which is given as fol-lows: "Year ;{, second* month of the third sea.son (Smwt. firstday." This is of course the dale of the Hel)-sed. the thirtyyears' jtibilei', and to make matters certain, the fourth line In-gins."He ( Amoii ) ap|Miints the tirst Heb-sed for his .son, who rests

l>rnkm/ller, lll.Vi.M1. ^ I^ninlii*. Prntm^'rr, III. M/..>*Tlmcniilliiiml


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Second Preliminary HEroRT of Eovi'tian Expedition 95ujMin his throne.'" This establishes for the first time the date ofAiuenhotep Ill's tirst jubilee,'' and we thus have in these eightrows invalualile new material for furtlier study of this remarkablefeast. The general arraiigeuu'ut of cacli of the seven rows abovethe first is as follows:

First, at the left end is the door of the palace ('h'), which theking and queen approach from the riglit in order to "rest in thepalace."

Second, farther to the right an elaborate procession withUpwawet mounted on a very tall pole surmounting a shrinelikebase borne on poles on the shoulders of priests. The king andgrandees accompany it.

Third, farther to the right, a shrine containing a Khnum,"presider over the chapel of Wnm-ljrp (or shm), before whichthe king worships."

Fourth, at the right end various ceremonies, especially thepresentation of grain to the king and by him to the god Khnum.

Divergencies from this scheme occur in some cases. Tliebeginning of each row, like the lowermost, is at the right, andwhen the ceremony depicted in the row is finished, the kingenters the palace at the left end of each row. It is possible thateach row depicts the ceremonies of a single day. In view of thisHeb-sed series at the back of this peristyle court and the otherHeb-sed series at the front of the same court (on the back of thepylon ), it becomes evident that this court, and perhaps the wholetemple, was bnilt to celebrate the king's first Heb-sed jubilee, ofwhich we also hear of the celebration at Thebes. Being built solate in the king's reign, we can now understand why the pylonreliefs on the front were unfinished at the king's death, leavingthe face of the pylon to be filU^d with reliefs hy tlic king's sonIkhnaton (Amenhotep IV).

Not a single column of the second peristyle court is still stand-ing (Fig. i')); the walls are also down, the blocks carried away,and even the pavement has been removed. The rear of the temple(Fig. 49), containing a 8upt>rb palm column, is in somewhat better

'' The year was a\ndy known from the tomb of Khnmhet at Thebos ; 900 my AneienIKcconU. II. "TOfl.


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no The Americas Joukxal of Semitic Laxgiagescuiulitioii. but almost the only inscriptions there are the foreigncaptives sculjjtured on the columns with their names. All thesewe copied and the most important we photographed. They shouldfurnish some useful ethnological types. At the rear of the templeon the north side is the temple well, solidly lined with masonry tothe top. We cleared it to the water level, going down about twentyfeet, but found only a few blocks from the temple which at sometime had been thrown into it.

The remains of the ancient town are very scanty n!id limited.On the west is the ancient cemetery, the tomt)s being cut out ofthe desert gravel. On the northeast of the teun>le is a heavymasonry quay extending into the. river, but it is uninscribed.Fragments of wall ( '? ) are near it on the north. Three miles northof the Soleb temple is a promontory of sandstone (Fig. 53) pro-jecting into the river on the west shore. It is known as Gelx-lDosheh and contains a number of monuments. If it had beenbetter preserved the most imjwrtant of them would be a clitf-chajielof Thutmose III. now containing only traces of the conventionalcultus reliefs, among them, of course, the worship of Sesostris IIIas god of Nubia. The face of the rocks bears numerous gratiiti ofofficials who have passed here in the days of the Empire. Themost imiMirfaut is a large stela of Amenemo|H.'t. viceroy of Nubinunder Siti I. It contains a bniUy cut, but unusual prayer for hisprosperity and success, in the course of which the Kiundaries ofSeti Ts empire are given as Khenthennofer on the south andKetenu on the north. The gods of this hill are the cataract godsso commonly fnund in L


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Second Preliminary Kiii-oRT of E(;YmAN Expedition It?


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98 TiiL Americas Jm rnai. kf Semitk- LaN(;ia(;e.snamely, the nffieial iinuif of tlic plai-c, "Fortress of Tiv." whichwas uotk-ed ])_v Dnvies on a liadlv weathered, hnlf-owrtiirnedblock. Tlie fallen suj'rstrueture so eneiinibers the place withheavy blocks that it is now iuijMJSsible to discern the j^njund-planof the building without clearance, which we did not undertake.

Passing the large Island of Sni on February Ut. we reached itsnorth end, twenty-si.\ miles from Solcb, in the evening of the sameday. Here on the east side of the island, crowning the heightsoverlooking the river is a considerable fortress of some Nubianmelek of the last century or two. But there is every evidence thatit occupies the site of an ancient Pharaonic fortress of the enjjnre.Within are nia.ssive fragments of Pliaraonic buildings, columns,door-posts, architraves, and the like, overturned and scattered inthe greatest confusion, having evidently been reused by the laterNubinns. On the north of the fortress, that is, outsiosed was found to contain the fragnn-ntary build-ing itiscription of Thutniose Ill's great viceroy of Nubia. Nehi.In his king's (wenty-Hfth year Nehi erected the temple lu're of.Kandstone. to replace one of brick. lie ia uniler Kams


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Second Pkklimixary Kktort of E(;vptiax Kxi'kditiox UU


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Umi Thi: Ameukax .Tolksal uf Semitic LanguagesXuljiaii f^okl fuuiitry of Amoii at tlie beginning of the NineteenthDynasty.* A small piece of sandstone bears the title. "Overseerof the prophets of all the gods, deputy of Kush." which looks verymuch as if the local priesthoods of Nuljin under the Empire wereincorporated in one general sacerdotal organization under one head.The oldest document on Sai is to be found on a huge piece of thecliff which had fallen out of the east face of the rocks north of thefortress, and now lies close to the river on the east shore of theisland. Having turned over in its fall the inscription is now up-side down. It is so badly weathered that it was some time beforeI discovered that it is upside down, not at first thinking that solarge a rock (thirty feet square and fifteen or twenty feet high)could have turned over since the making of such an inscription.However, I at Inst made out, "Year '1 under tlie majesty of theKing of I'pper and Lower Egypt, Okheperkere (Thutmose I |."It was therefoi-e placed here l)y Thutmose I on the march for hisDongola cam[)aign. A second line is so weathei-ed that I gave itover. Two miles north of the fortress are four columns of aChristian church.

After being delayed a day by a violent northern gale, we crossedwith the two nuggers to the east shore and sj)ent the twelfthof February in preparing to leave the boats and transfer to thecaravan fi)r the journey through the Batn el-IJagar, now totallyinipas.sablc to such i)oata as ours. But as the wind drop|H>


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Second Preliminary Report of EiarTiAX ExrEinTios KUCrossing in the felucca to the other (west) side we examined tlieruins of a temple of Ramses II, a considerable building. The wallsare encumbered to the tops of the doorways, and the place wouldgreatly repay excavation. As informed by Mr. Crowfoot, we foundat the rear of the temple a stela of Ramses II. We found it cov-ered with sand, which we removed, and replaced again on thecompletion of our records. This monument was also excavated byBudge in IlXto. He describes it as follows:

We found that the stela of Ramses II had at some time or other beenbroken to piwes. which had been ro


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102 TmK A.MliKICAS JoiRXAL UV SEMITIC LaMJIAGESwi- failiil tci visit anil iiisjM-fl tlie s'ix cKiumns still staiuliug in thesuiail lati- Niihiaii temple dii the east shore at AiiiAra.

XII. SECOND CATARACT REGION, KLMMEH AND SEMNEHOn the fifteenth of February, having transferred to the caravan,

nuuibering thirty-three camels in all, we rode along the east shorepast the Amftra rapids and reached Kosha in the evening. The rail-way once connecting Haifa and Kosha has now Ix'en discontinued

;

it would, however, have been of little use to us as we wislunl toscrutiiiizt- the rocks of the Batn el-I^agar for inscriptions. AtKosha I I'.ad great tlirticulty in fintling a com|)etent cataract reisto take our heavy felucca down the dangerous rapids Iti'tweenthere and Haifa. After a |>leasant night in the government rest-house at Kuslia. it was nearly nocjii (Fel)ruary lt>) before we coulilgain information of a suitable reis, wIkjui we found later on thesame day in a village a few miles farther north. The ni

breasted - the monuments of sudanese nubia

Documents