ARCHAEOLOGY. 



35 



tablets in lapis lazuli, engraved with the name 

 and titles of Ptolemy II, who must therefore 

 have been the founder of the building. This 

 is the first and only instance of foundation de- 

 posits yet observed in Egyptian soil. 



One of the chief points of interest in the dis- 

 covery of Naucratis lies in the light it throws 

 upon the progress of the ceramic art. Nau- 

 cratis was a city of potters, and, according to 

 the testimony of Athenaaus and others, enjoyed 

 a great reputation. The mound of Nebireh 

 has been found to be " a vast pile of potsherds, 

 deposited in strata as well defined and as strict- 

 ly capable of chronological classification as 

 the strata in a geological diagram. Mr. Petrie 

 has trenched through and cleared away these 

 strata, going sometimes to a depth of six feet 

 below the hard mud at the bottom. Each 

 layer has thus in turn rendered up its story, 

 and the story in each layer proves to be a 

 chapter in the history of Greek art. Now, 

 for the first time, every link that connects the 

 pottery of Greece with the pottery of Egypt is 

 brought to light. That connection is not one 

 of partnership, but one of descent." Among 

 the figured w-ares designed here are the ear- 

 liest examples yet discovered of the pattern 

 commonly known as the " Greek honeysuckle." 

 But this ornament, as shown in its most archa- 

 ic stage, proves to be no honeysuckle at all, 

 but a new and fanciful rendering of the old 

 Egyptian lotus pattern, as freshly conceived 

 and idealized by the Grecian artist. 



One very curious object in the collection is 

 a fragment of a shell, known as the 'Iridana 

 squamosa, which is not found in the Mediter- 

 ranean, but has its habitat in the Persian Gulf 

 and along the Indian coasts. This specimen is 

 engraved with the Assyrian sacred tree and 

 other cognate ornaments. Similar specimens 

 similarly decorated have been found at Nim- 

 rud, Bethlehem, Oanino, and Vulci. The dis- 

 covery of a fragment at Naucratis, says Mr. 

 K. S. Poole, adds one more link to the chain, 

 and we can hardly resist the conclusion that 

 all these shells were imported by the Phoani- 

 cians by the trade routes of the Red Sea, and 

 afterward formed articles of barter in their 

 traffic with the Greeks and Etruscans, at least 

 as early as 600 B. o., or even earlier. Among 

 other noteworthy objects is a headless figure 

 of a girl, ornamented with flower- wreaths, 

 which remind us that the weaving of garlands 

 was a well-known craft at Naucratis. Of 

 other figures in limestone, alabaster, and terra- 

 cotta, some recall Rhodes or Cyprus, others 

 are purely Greek, and others again are Grseco- 

 Egyptian. The inscriptions upon the Apollo- 

 bowls already mentioned are traced in letters 

 of that early Ionic form which is found in the 

 celebrated inscription of Psammeticus, son of 

 Theocles, on the leg of one of the colossi at 

 Abu-Simbel. The same form is again met with 

 upon the archaic sitting figures from the Sa- 

 cred Way at Branchidaa which are now in the 

 British Museum. Remark is made upon these 



resemblances as indicating that the desertion 

 of the 240,000 mercenaries and the making of 

 the Sacred Way at Branchidse were probably 

 coincident with the palmy days of Naucratis. 

 A collection of the potteries and other objects 

 found at Nebireh has been placed on exhibi- 

 tion at the rooms of the Archaeological Insti- 

 tute in London. The Egypt Exploration Fund 

 has been aided in making the explorations of 

 Naucratis by the Society for the Promotion 

 of Hellenic Studies. 



The Identification of Pithom. M. Edouard Na- 

 ville, working under the auspices of the Egypt 

 Exploration Fund, at the mound known as the 

 Tel-el- Mashlcutah (the Mound of the Statue) in 

 the Wady-et-Tumilat, in 1883 (see "Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1884), found evidence there 

 of various kinds which led him to identify that 

 place with the site of Pithom, one of the treas- 

 ure-cities that the children of Israel are re- 

 corded in the first chapter of Exodus as hav- 

 ing built for Pharaoh, and with the Heroopolis 

 of the Grecian period. The correctness of this 

 identification has been the subject of a discus- 

 sion, in consequence of which the points of evi- 

 dence in its favor have been presented in a 

 strong light. One of the last papers written 

 by Lepsius before his death was a review of M. 

 Naville's account of his excavations, published 

 in the "Zeitschrift fur aegyptische Sprache 

 und Alte'rthumskunde," maintaining that the 

 monuments discovered by M. Naville belonged 

 to Ramses, the other treasure-city built by the 

 Israelites, and not to Pithom. It had been the 

 opinion also of other Egyptologists who had 

 inquired into the location of the two treasure- 

 cities that Tel - el - Mashlcutah was Ramses : 

 among these was Miss Amelia B. Edwards, 

 who had published a series of articles sustain- 

 ing that view almost simultaneously with M. 

 Naville's excavations ; and Herr Brugsch, who 

 had located Ramses there in his Egyptian 

 geography. Both of these authors, however, 

 were convinced by M. Naville's discoveries, and 

 surrendered their own views to his identifica- 

 tion of the place with Pithom. The surrender 

 in the case of Herr Brugsch was all the more 

 significant as to the force of M, Naville's evi- 

 dences, because it compelled him partly to give 

 up and wholly to revise his theory of the route 

 of the Exodus which he had studied out with 

 much care and had published several years be- 

 fore. M. Eugene Revillout, editor of the u Re- 

 vue Egyptologique," in reviewing the question, 

 calls attention to the fact that where, in Gen. 

 xlvi, 28, the meeting of Joseph and his family 

 in the land of Goshen is described, the Septua- 

 gint reads 'Hp&xoj; TroAii/ els yr\v Papecro-rj, and the 

 Coptic, " at the city of Pithom in the land of 

 Ramses." Dr. Georg Ebers, while he admits 

 that Egyptologists, including himself, had re- 

 garded Tel-el-Mashkutah as the site of the 

 biblical Ramses, adds, " After the appearance 

 of M. Naville's book, however, there will 

 scarcely be found a single Egyptologist who 

 will still adhere to this view, and refuse to 



