Page images
PDF
EPUB

The island of Elephantine* lies a little to the north of the cataract just opposite Aswán, and has been famous in all ages as the key of Egypt from the south; the Romans garrisoned it with numerous troops, and it represented the southern limit of their empire. The island itself was very fertile, and it is said that its vines and fig-trees retained their leaves throughout the year. The kings of the Vth dynasty sprang from Elephantine. The gods worshipped here by the Egyptians were called Khnemu, Sati and Anuqet, and on this island Amenophis III. built a temple, remains of which were visible in the early part of the XIXth century. Of the famous Nilometer which stood here, Strabo says: "The Nilometer is a well upon the banks of the Nile, constructed of close-fitting stones, on which are marked the greatest, least, and mean risings of the Nile; for the water in the well and in the river rises and subsides simultaneously. of the well are lines, which indicate the complete rise of the river, and other degrees of its rising. Those who examine these marks communicate the result to the public for their information. For it is known long before, by these marks, and by the time elapsed from the commencement, what the future rise of the river will be, and notice is given of it. This information is of service to the husbandmen with reference to the distribution of the water; for the purpose also of attending to the embankments, canals, and

Upon the wall

"A little above Elephantine is the lesser cataract, where the boatmen exhibit a sort of spectacle to the governors. The cataract is in the middle of the river, and is formed by a ridge of rocks, the upper part of which is level, and thus capable of receiving the river, but terminating in a precipice, where the water dashes down. On each side towards the land there is a stream, up which is the chief ascent for vessels. The boatmen sail up by this stream, and, dropping down to the cataract, are impelled with the boat to the precipice, the crew and the boats escaping unhurt." (Strabo, Bk. xvii., chap. i., 49, Falconer's translation.) Thus it appears that "shooting the cataract" is a very old amusement.

other things of this kind. It is of use also to the governors, who fix the revenue; for the greater the rise of the river, the greater it is expected will be the revenue." According to Plutarch the Nile rose at Elephantine to the height of 28 cubits; a very interesting text at Edfû states that if the river rises 24 cubits 34 hands at Elephantine, it will water the country satisfactorily.

The Nilometer at Elephantine is on the east side of the Island, opposite to the town of Aswân, at the foot of the Cataract. To-day it consists of a single stairway of 52 steps parallel to the quay-wall, after which it turns to the east, and opens on the river through a doorway in the wall. In 1799, besides this stairway, there was an upper stairway, about 20 metres long, leading westwards into a small room through which the Nilometer was reached. All this upper stairway has disappeared, except the bottom seven steps. There are two scales, one the scale of 1869 divided into piks and kirâts, and the marble scale now in use, which is divided metrically, and numbered to show the height above mean sea-level. On the west wall are the remains of two other scales, one Arabic, and one numbered with Greek numerals; the latter was used in late Egyptian times. On the wall of the stairway are the remains of Greek inscriptions dating from the reigns of several of the Roman Emperors and giving the year of his reign and the height of the Nile flood. From these it is clear that about 100 A.D. the Nile often rose to 24 and sometimes 25 cubits on the Nilometer scale; so that the high floods of that time reached the level of 91 metres above sea-level. To-day they reach 94 metres as in 1874, or three metres above the level of 1900 years ago, corresponding to a rise of the bed of o 16 metre per century at this point. Lyons, Physiography, p. 315.

A mile or so to the north of the monastery stands the bold hill in the sides of which are hewn the tombs which General

Sir F. W. Grenfell, G.C.B., excavated; this hill is situated in Western Aswân, the corεn à ПEEПт of the Copts, and is the Contra Syene of the classical authors. The tombs are hewn out of the rock, tier above tier, and the most important of these were reached by a stone staircase, with a sarcophagus slide, which to this day remains nearly complete, and is one of the most interesting antiquities in Egypt. At the top of the staircase are four chambers, two on each side, from which we took out coffins and mummies in 1886. The tombs in this hill may be roughly divided into three groups. The first group was hewn in the best and thickest layer of stone in the top of the hill, and was made for the rulers of Elephantine who lived during the VIth and XIIth dynasties. The second group is composed of tombs of different periods; they are hewn out of a lower layer of stone, and are not of so much importance. The third group, made during the Roman occupation of Egypt, lies at a comparatively little height above the river. All these tombs were broken into at a very early period, and the largest of them formed a common sepulchre for people of all classes from the XXVIth dynasty downwards. They were found filled with broken coffins and mummies and sepulchral stelæ, etc., etc., and everything showed how degraded Egyptian funereal art had become when these bodies were buried there. The double tomb at the head of the staircase was made for Sabnȧ and Mekhu; the former was a dignitary of high rank who lived during the reign of Pepi II., a king of the VIth dynasty, whose prenomen

(U) Nefer-ka-Rã is inscribed on the left hand side of

the doorway; the latter was a smer, prince and inspector, who appears to have lived during the XIIth dynasty. The paintings on the walls and the proto-Doric columns which support the roof are interesting, and its fine state of preservation and position make it one of the most

valuable monuments of that early period. northward is the small tomb of 4

A little further

Heqȧb, and beyond

this is the fine large tomb hewn originally for Sa-Renput, one of the old feudal hereditary governors of Elephantine, but which was appropriated by Nub-kau-Ra-nekht. He was the governor of the district of the cataract, and the general who commanded a lightly-armed body of soldiers called "runners "; he lived during the reign of Usertsen I., the second king of the XIIth dynasty, and his tomb must have been one of the earliest hewn there during that period.

Another

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

interesting tomb is that of Heru-khuf, who was governor of Elephantine, and an inscription from it (now in the Cairo Museum) shows that this official was sent by Pepi II. to bring back a pygmy, tenk, from the "Land of the Spirits," which was near Punt. The king promised Heru-khuf that if he brought back a pygmy alive and well, he would confer upon him a higher rank and dignity than that which King Assȧ conferred upon his minister Ba-urTettet, who performed the same service about eighty years before.

The following is a list of the principal tombs at Aswân:—

No. 1. Tomb of Mekhu and Sabna,

and

Na Imm]. In this tomb is an interesting scene of

the deceased in a boat spearing fish.

No. 2. Tomb of Ḥeq-áb, Δ

No. 3. Tomb of Sa-renput,

, son of

www

Satet-hetep. (No. 31.)

No. 4. Tomb of Ãku, Y. (No. 32.)

No. 5. Tomb of Khuuả,DI.

No. 6. Tomb of Khunes (?).

No. 7. Tomb of Khennu-sesu, .

&

No. 8. Tomb of Ḥeru-Khu-f, § 20.
No. 9. Tomb of Pepi-nekht, (44)

No. 10. Tomb of Sen-mes, Imm

No. 11. Tomb of Sa-renput-ȧ,

www

This

tomb is the finest of all the tombs at Aswân. It faces the north, and lies round the bend of the mountain. Before it is a spacious court, which was enclosed by a wall, and the limestone jambs of the door, which were ornamented with reliefs and hieroglyphics, were, until recently, still standing. At the south end of the court was a portico supported by eight rectangular pillars, The first chamber contains four pillars, and leads through a wide corridor to another chamber with two pillars; in this last are two flights of steps which lead to two other chambers, The walls of

« PreviousContinue »