History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent DiscoveryKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.; History, Ancient
In front of the pyramid of Usertsen (Senusret) III at one time stood the
usual funerary temple, but it has been totally destroyed. By the side of
the pyramid were buried some of the princesses of the royal family, in
a series of tombs opening out of a subterranean gallery, and in this
gallery were found the wonderful jewels of the princesses Sit-hathor and
Merit, which are among the greatest treasures of the Cairo Museum. Those
who have not seen them can obtain a perfect idea of their appearance
from the beautiful water-colour paintings of them by M. Legrain, which
are published in M. de Morgan’s work on the “Fouilles à Dahchour”
(Vienna, 1895). Altogether one hundred and seven objects were recovered,
consisting of all kinds of jewelry in gold and coloured stones. Among
the most beautiful are the great “pectorals,” or breast-ornaments, in
the shape of pylons, with the names of Usertsen II, Usertsen III, and
Amenemhat III; the names are surrounded by hawks standing on the sign
for gold, gryphons, figures of the king striking down enemies, etc., all
in _cloisonné_ work, with beautiful stones such as lapis lazuli, green
felspar, and carnelian taking the place of coloured enamels. The massive
chains of golden beads and cowries are also very remarkable. These
treasures had been buried in boxes in the floor of the subterranean
gallery, and had luckily escaped the notice of plunderers, and so by a
fortunate chance have survived to tell us what the Egyptian jewellers
could do in the days of the XIIth Dynasty. Here also were found two
great Nile barges, full-sized boats, with their oars and other gear
complete. They also may be seen in the Museum of Cairo. It can only be
supposed that they had served as the biers of the royal mummies, and had
been brought up in state on sledges. The actual royal chamber was not
found, although a subterranean gallery was driven beneath the centre of
the pyramid.
The southern brick pyramid was constructed in the same way as the
northern one. At the side of it were also found the tombs of members of
the royal house, including that of the king Hor, already mentioned, with
its interesting contents. The remains of the mummy of this ephemeral
monarch, known only from his tomb, were also found. The entrails of the
king were placed in the usual “canopic jars,” which were sealed with the
seal of Amenemhat III; it is thus that we know that Hor died before him.
In many of the inscriptions of this king, on his coffin and stelo, a
peculiarly affected manner of writing the hieroglyphs is found,--the
birds are without their legs, the snake has no tail, the bee no head.
Birds are found without their legs in other inscriptions of this period;
it was a temporary fashion and soon discarded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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