ARCHEOLOGY. 



can be little doubt that they were made use of 

 by such members of the Hellenic stock as came 

 within the range of ' Mycenaean ' culture." 



The earliest Greek inscription to which a date 

 can be given is at Abu Simbel, in Egypt, and is 

 cut in the leg of one of the colossal statues which 

 guard the entrance of the Greek temple. It is 

 of the age of the Egyptian King Psammeticus, 

 about 600 B. c., and records the exploration of 

 the Nile up to the second cataract, by certain 

 Greek, Ionian, and Carian mercenaries in the 

 j service of the king. It is illustrated in Fig. 3. 

 There are other ancient inscriptions, probably 

 earlier than this, as on the tombs at Melos and 

 Thera, but no clew is given as to their date, 

 while this is fixed to within the years of a single 

 reign. It is two hundred years .earlier than 

 Herodotus. A noteworthy feature of the in- 

 scription, is that, while the boustrophedon method 

 of writing alternately from left to right and 

 right to left was in common use in the sixth 

 century B. c., this is all from left to right. In 

 usual Greek, the inscription reads : 



a<n\eos e\6ovros es 

 ravra eypafyav TOI <rvv 'Va/j./j.aTixoi roi 9eo/cA[e]os. 

 eir\ov, i)\6oi> 5e Kepmos KarvirepBe vis o irora.fj.os 

 avit]. a\oy\offos S'rj^e noTcun/rro, AIJVTTTIOS 5e A/uatrts. 

 eypcupe S'aytie Apxov A/xotjSiXo, /cat IleAepos oTSa/xo. 



Egyptian. A scheme which has been agitated 

 by some English engineers to bar the Nile at the 

 first cataract and make an immense reservoir fdr 

 irrigation in Nubia has excited much acrimoni- 

 ous discussion. If carried out it would flood 

 the island of Philae, destroying the ancient 

 temples there, and would submerge a large ex- 

 tent of country in Lower Nubia which is just 

 beginning to yield valuable treasures of ancient 

 art of great historical value. It is now under- 

 stood, however, according to a representation 

 made by Sir John Fowler at the annual meeting 

 of the Egypt Exploration Fund, that there is 

 little danger of the destruction of the temples at 

 Philae. Communications have been made to the 

 Foreign Office, which have been transmitted to 

 Egypt, and further inquiry has shown that the 

 material necessities of Egypt and the claims of 

 archaeology are capable of reconciliation. The 

 temples of Philas are now under the protection 

 of the civilized world. 



The report of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 

 made at the annual meeting, Oct. 26, showed 

 that the expenditures had exceeded the receipts 

 by 642, and that the available assets on Aug. 1 

 were 3,101. This was the first year an actual 

 deficit had been incurred. The receipt of 700 

 from American subscribers was acknowledged. 

 The society had published the first memoir on 

 the survey of Deir-el-Bahari in 1892-'93, and the 

 third memoir of the archaeological survey, " El 

 Bersheh," Part I. The " Atlas of Ancient Egypt " 

 had met a favorable reception, and a second 

 edition was in preparation. 



At the annual meeting of the fund. M. Edouard 

 Naville gave an account of his continued ex- 

 plorations at Deir-el-Bahari. After mentioning 

 what was already known of the great temple of 

 Queen Hatasu situated there, and what M. Mari- 

 ette had discovered, M. Naville said that when he 

 arrived there in 1893 he began at once with the 

 part which Mariette had not touched, the north- 



ern side of the upper platform. He soon dis- 

 covered that the middle court ended at a thick 

 wall in which there are two doors. The western 

 one leads to a long, narrow hall, in the walls of 

 which the queen is represented making offerings 

 to Ammon. Her cartouch has everywhere been 

 erased or replaced by that of Thothmes II or 

 Thothmes III, which could easily be done, since 

 she is always seen in male attire, and often with 

 a beard. The eastern door leads to one of the 

 most interesting parts of the temple. Going 

 through a vestibule, in the ceiling of which there 

 are only three columns, we find an open court, in 

 the mid'dle of which is a great altar in white stone, 

 to which access is given by a flight of steps. 

 This altar is the only one known in Egypt, and 

 it is dedicated to the god Harmakis. In 1894 

 M. Naville began with clearing the middle court, 

 which is now quite excavated. We can see now 

 the plan of the 'temple, which was restored er- 

 roneously in Mariette's work. He also obtained 

 valuable historical and artistic results, and dis- 

 covered inscriptions which would be interesting 

 if they had not been erased. A few bits have 

 been preserved, especially the portrait of the 

 mother of Hatasu, Queen Aahmes. Where the 

 original work has been left it is sculpture of the 

 most delicate and beautiful style. The north- 

 ern speos, or sanctuary, is in a perfect state of 

 preservation, with its painted ceiling and archi- 

 traves and its three rows of four columns. On it 

 opens a sanctuary dedicated to Anubis. One is 

 immediately struck by the great likeness of the 

 whole construction to a Grecian temple, and 

 this raises again the ever-recurring question of 

 the connection of Greek art with that of the 

 East, 



Hundreds of fragments of a similar relief to 

 the one already known have been found along a 

 second terrace, below the first. The pieces are 

 carefully drawn and numbered : and if a long 

 enough continuance of the research is permitted, 

 it will be possible to set them up again more or 

 less completely and obtain further accounts of 

 the career of this energetic queen. Many lesser 

 shrines an altar, etc. the works of later kings, 

 have also been unearthed. The Coptic monas- 

 tery has yielded numerous ostraka, or shards of 

 limestone, inscribed by the monks, and giving 

 additional specimens of the southern Coptic 

 language. 



The Treasure of Dashur. M. de Morgan, 

 considering that the pyramid of Dashur nearest 

 to Memphis might be an enormous mastaba, 

 built above the royal tomb, began digging in 

 February, 1894, in search of the mouth of the 

 shaft by which the burial must have been intro- 

 duced. After digging into a number of cham- 

 bers which were found empty, some appearing 

 to have been rifled, the excavators found the re- 

 mains of a silver-incrusted box the first install- 

 ment of a large and varied series of treasures. 

 Among these treasures were a long necklace of 

 amethyst beads ; a second necklace of amethyst, 

 turquoise, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and gold ; a kohl 

 pencil in exquisite gold-bead work ; a bunch of 

 gold rose petals; three finely cut scarabcei, the 

 gold face of one bearing the name of Usertesen 

 III ; couchant lions, and other tiny pieces in 

 gold; and, surpassing them all, two objects in 

 mosaic work a pendant or brooch, shaped like 



