EXCAVATIONS IN 1901-02.

The principal excavations carried on in Upper Egypt during the winter of 1900-01 are those of Mr. Garstang at Bêt Ķhallâf, Messrs. Reisner, Mace, and Lithgow, on a site opposite the town of Girgeh, and of Professor Petrie at Abydos. The village of Bêt Khallâf lies about nine miles west of Girgeh, on the skirt of the desert, and some distance to the north of it Mr. Garstang began to work; in the course of his excavations he discovered several maṣṭaba tombs of the Early Empire. Three miles south-west of Bêt Khallâf, in the desert, he discovered in 1900-01 the two large maṣṭaba tombs of KHET-NETER and ḤEN NEKHT, kings of the IIIrd Dynasty. The first of these names is the Horus name of the well-known king Tcheser, who built a pyramid at Sakkâra, and is famous as the king who reigned over Egypt during a famine which lasted seven years. The skeleton of HEN-NEKHT was discovered in his tomb at Bêt Khallâf, and it is evident that the king was a man of extraordinary stature; Egyptian tradition has preserved many stories of kings of gigantic height, e.g., Osiris and Sesostris were said to be 8 cubits 6 palms and 3 fingers in height, and Sesochris was said to be 5 cubits high, and 3 cubits broad. The mastaba of Tcheser is a very imposing building, and the labour expended in constructing it was enormous, for the interior is hewn out of the limestone to a depth which is almost equal to the height of the brick building above ground; it is well worth visiting and should be ascended: the descent into the interior, however, is unsafe, and without suitable tackle should not be attempted. Between the royal maṣṭabas and the neighbouring village of Bêt Da'ûd lies an interesting tomb of an early hã prince; it is approached by means of an inclined plane and is worth a visit.

Mr. Reisner excavated on sites of the predynastic period, and of the IVth Dynasty, and of the period following the VIth Dynasty. His works have been carried out with great care, and when his results are published, it will probably be found necessary to revise some of the existing ideas on the subject of the development of Egyptian civilization in the light of his discoveries. Professor Petrie, it is understood, has been excavating within the area of the Temple of Osiris at Arâbat al-Madfûnah, north of the Temple of Rameses II. at Abydos, and is said to have discovered predynastic tombs on the slope of Kôm es-Sulțân. In Lower Egypt excavations have been carried out by the German Archæological Mission, under the direction of Dr. Borchardt, at Abuşîr, near Gizeh, with successful results.

THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED CATACOMB AT ALEXANDRIA.

In the year 1900 a magnificent tomb of the Roman period was discovered at Kôm esh-Shukâfa, near Pompey's Pillar, in the quarry at this place, by some workmen, and thanks to the exertions of Dr. Botti, the Director of the Museum at Alexandria, this extremely interesting monument has been preserved in the state in which it was found. The tomb is divided into three stages, which descend into the living rock. It is entered by means of a circular staircase (A), which has been more or less restored, and when the visitor has passed through a narrow way with a semicircular recess (B) on each side, he arrives at a large rotunda (c) with a circular gallery (DDDD), out of which open a series of chambers (EEEE) which appear to have been dedicated to the worship of the dead. On the right the two chambers contain niches and sarcophagi; on the left is a large rectangular chamber, the roof of which is supported by four pillars, and it contains three tables hewn out of the solid rock,

A Circular staircase (entrance). B Corridor with semicircular recesses. C Rotunda. D Circular gallery. F Staircase to second stage.

G Entrance to

which were used for festival purposes by the relatives and friends of the dead who assembled there at certain times during the year. From the circular gallery a staircase leads to the second stage of the tomb, which contains the chief sarcophagus chamber; but a little way down it forks, and passes round the entrance (G) to the third or lowest stage of the tomb. The ante-chamber (H) of the tomb, or pronaos, contains two Egyptian columns which support a cornice ornamented with the winged solar disk, hawks, etc., in relief. In each of the side walls of the chamber is a niche, in the form of an Egyptian pylon; that on the right contains the statue of a man, that on the left the statue of a woman. It has been thought that these niches are ancient openings in the walls which were closed up for the purpose of receiving the statues. The door of the actual funeral chamber (1) is ornamented with the winged solar disk, and a cornice of uræi; on each side of the door, on a pylon-shaped pedestal, is a large serpent wearing the double , and with each are the caduceus of Hermes, and the thyrsus of Dionysos. These serpents are probably intended to represent the goddesses Uatchet and Nekhebet. Above each serpent is a circular shield with a Gorgon's head. The roof of the funeral chamber is vaulted, and the stone is of the colour of old gold; at each corner is a pilaster with a composite capital. In each of the three sides is a niche containing a sarcophagus, which is hewn out of the solid rock; the fronts of the three sarcophagi are ornamented with festoons of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, the heads of bulls, heads of Medusa, etc. Curiously enough no one seems to have been laid in them. In

crown

the principal relief of the right niche we see the figure of a king, or prince, wearing the crowns of the South and North, making an offering of a deep collar or breastplate to the Apis Bull, which stands on a pylon-shaped pedestal,