ARCHAEOLOGY. (PALESTINE.) 



disappointed. They contained little else than 

 funeral rituals. 



Two wooden statues of Isis and Nephthis were 

 found in the galleries. They were 38 inches 

 high, and alike except in the features of the 

 face; were carved with correct anatomical ap- 



F1GUHES DISCOVERED AT THEBES. 



preciation and artistic feeling, symmetrically 

 proportioned, and in expressive attitudes. The 

 wood was covered with a coating of color, the 

 flesh being painted with a light-yellow ochre; 

 the head coverings and robes white, with dark- 

 red fillets and ribbon ornaments; the necklets, 

 amulets, and bracelets two different greens ; and 

 the borders of the robes, near the feet, red and 

 blue. The eyebrows and lids were dark blue, 

 the eyeballs black, and the outlines of the nostrils, 

 lips, and ears were delicately shown in red. 



Egyptian Dogs. In a paper on the dogs of 

 ancient Egypt, Mr. Maspei-o speaks of cemeteries 

 of dogs and their mummies at Syout, Sheikh- 

 Fad], Feshn, and Sakkarah, and describes one 

 of the mummies, which has recently been opened 

 by the German Herr Beckmann. It was a har- 

 rier, about eighteen months old, of which only 

 the skin and bones were left, with remains of 

 muscular tissue reduced to dust. Over the wrap- 

 pings of bitumenized linen had been placed a 

 thin mat of dried reeds, bound with cords of 

 twisted grass. Over the part of the bundle thus 

 made up which answered to the body was cast 

 a network of fine cloth, so arranged as to deline- 

 ate parallel rows of superposed squares along its 

 length. The head was covered by a pasteboard 

 mask, reproducing the physiognomy of the ani- 

 mal as far as possible. It was painted dark 

 brown, except around the eyes, lips, and nostrils, 

 which were white. The half-opened mouth 

 showed the points of the teeth, and the ears 

 rose above the head. Mr. Maspero suggests that 

 it is desirable to study these dog mummies be- 

 fore they are destroyed, in order to determine 

 their species and learn their anatomical struct- 

 ure, and what changes, if any, it has undergone. 



Miscellaneous. An inscription called the 

 Minean inscription No. 535 in Halevy's list 

 recording a battle between the south Egyptian 

 people Madoy, and the Egyptians (Misr), or rul- 

 ers and inhabitants of the Delta, is interpreted 

 by Dr. Edward Glaser, from some of its allusions, 

 as a contemporary record pointing to the presence 

 of the Hebrews in the Delta during the Biblical 

 period of their sojourn in Egypt. 



In a stone discovered by Mr. Wilborn at Luxor 

 mention is made of seven years of want in conse- 

 quence of the failure of the inundations of the 

 Nile and of the attempt of the sorcerer Chit-net 

 to overcome the calamity. This record is treated 

 by Herr Brugsch as evidence of the existence of 

 a tradition of a famine corresponding with the 

 one described in Genesis in connection with the 

 story of Joseph. The stone is of late date. 



A picture of Rameses II dedicating the edifice 

 to Amun Ra, found on one of the walls of his 

 temple at Luxor, furnishes a representation of 

 the completed building. Both the great obelisks 

 are shown, and the four masts with their flags 

 displayed, and six colossi two seated and four 

 standing outside of the pylons. 



Palestine. The King of Salem. From the 

 study of tablets from Tel-el-Amarna relating to 

 the affairs of southern Palestine Prof. A. H. 

 Sayce has found that the local name of the deity 

 worshiped " in the mountain of Jerusalem," ac- 

 cording to Ebed-tob, the governor of the city in 

 the time of the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt, was 

 Salim. This reveals the origin of the name of 

 Jerusalem itself. A cuneiform tablet has already 

 informed us that uru signifies city, the Assyrian 

 alu ; uru-Salim, or Jerusalem, must therefore be 

 " the city of Salem," the god of peace. We can 

 thus understand why Melchizedek, the royal 

 priest, is called " King of Salem " rather than of 

 Jerusalem ; and we may see in the title " Prince 

 of Peace," conferred by Isaiah on the expected 

 Saviour, a reference to the early history of the 

 city. In the letters sent by Ebed-tob to Egypt, 

 he says that he had succeeded to his royal dig- 

 nity not by right of inheritance, nor by the ap- 

 pointment of the Egyptian king, but by virtue 

 of an oracle of the god who is called in Genesis 

 El Elyon. A comparison is suggested by this 

 account of his priestly-royal tenure, with the 

 characterization of Melchizedek in Hebrews vii, 

 3. At the same time he was a tributary and 

 " vassal " of Egypt, and the district of which 

 Jerusalem was the capital, which extended on 

 the west to Mount Seir and Rabbah, and on the 

 south to Keilah and Carmel, was the "country 

 of the king " of Egypt, who had established his 

 name in it " forever." 



Babylonia. Discoveries by Dr. Peters at 

 Nift'er. Dr. Peters, of the American expedition 

 to Babylonia, has communicated to Mr. Theodore 

 G. Pinches the discovery at Niffer of two stamps 

 of Naram-Sin and two of his father, Sargon I ; 

 three door sockets with votive inscriptions of 

 Sargon of Agade ; and several inscriptions of an- 

 other king, apparently of about the same age 

 with Sargon I (B. c. 3800), who seems to be un- 

 known. In this inscription Mr. Pinches reads 

 the name Erimus or Urumus. The same name 

 occurs on some fragments from Sippara (or Abu- 

 habbah), which Dr. Jensen has copied. These 

 discoveries prove that the city of Niffer was one 



