24 



ARCHAEOLOGY. 



taken only at two epochs those of the twelfth 

 and the nineteenth dynasties. They are also 

 corroborated by the inscriptions found at the 

 first cataract and deciphered hy Mr. Wilbour, 

 relating that I'sertesen I had cleared a way up 

 the rapids, in order to proceed to the conquest, 

 of the "vile negro." supplemented hy a text of 

 llameses II. which speaks of the clearing and 

 opening again of this water way. Prof. MahafTy 

 and his companions found iiutxtdlmx near Anil>e, 

 in which wall paintings of the middle empire 

 were uneoveivd without trouble. 



A study of the ancient Egyptian pigments 

 has been made by Dr. William' . I. Russell, who 

 finds that tin- red pigment used by the artists 

 from the earliest times is a native oxide of iron, 

 a ha-matite. Most of the large pieces found by 

 Mr. IVtrie are an oolit ic ha-matite. P>y experi- 

 ment, it was found that these pieces yielded a 

 paint which could be readily applied with a 

 brush, possessing remarkable adhesive proper- 

 ties; and it resembles exactly the red used in 

 the different kinds of Egyptian paintings. Be- 

 sides these usual reds there are others, finer in 

 color and smoother in texture, which were ap- 

 parently made from carefully selected pieces of 

 hematite, specially prepared. The most com- 

 mon yellow was a native ocher, the applied 

 colors of which show no evidence of having 

 changed. Some of the specimens of the very 

 earliest colors of which the exact history is 

 known appear to be an artificial mixture of 

 these two colors, producing an orange. These 

 samples were found on a tomb at Medum, of 

 Nefermat, a high ollieer of the court of Senefru, 

 of the fourth dynasty, the characters and fig- 

 ures on which are incised and filled with col- 

 ored pastes, the use of which was a special de- 

 vice of the occupant of Nefermat's tomb ; for it 

 is inscribed that " he made this to his gods in 

 his nnspoilable writing." All the pastes used are 

 dull in color, consisting entirely of native min- 

 erals ha'inatite, ocher, malachite, carbon, and 

 plaster of Paris. Another yellow pigment much 

 brighter in color orpiment, a sulphide of arse- 

 nic was u-ed when a brilliant yellow was re- 

 quired, but has not been found in monuments 

 earlier than the eighteenth dynasty. Gold was 

 largely used, with exceedingly good effect, being 

 laid in very thin sheets on a yellow ground, ex- 

 actly as is done at the present day. While the 

 mineral chessylite was known as a blue, the blue 

 color most used was an artificial pigment, an 

 imperfect glass or frit, made by heating to- 

 gether silica, an alkali, and copper ore. The 

 excellent quality of the specimens examined de- 

 notes that the materials were selected with, pre- 

 pared, and mixed, and that definite quantities 

 of eaeh were carefully taken, this necessitating 

 the accurate measuring or weighing of each 

 const it in-lit, for a slight error at any stage of 

 the work would make the substance' unfit for 

 use as a pigment. An early application of the 

 fundamental law of chemistry combination in 

 definite proportions was required. The amount 

 of copper ore added determined ihe color. If 

 there was too little alkali, a noncoherent, sand 

 resulted; if there was too much, a hard, stony 

 mass was formed, unsuitable for a pigment. 

 Then, the heating had to be precisely tempered. 

 These difficulties were all avoided, and a frit 



was formed which exactly answered all the 

 necessary requirements. By means of compara- 

 tively small alterations in the mixture or the 

 heating the frits could be obtained of a green 

 color. All the blue frits were unchangeable in 

 hue. The pink, in its various shades, was an 

 artificial pigment of vegetable origin. It was 

 usually gypsum stained with organic coloring 

 matter madder or munjeet. For white the 

 Kgyptians used gypsum or carbonate of lime, of 

 which they had supplies of remarkably pure 

 quality. 



Palestinian. The Palestine Exploration 

 Fund obtained from the Turkish Government 

 early in the year permission to carry on archaeo- 

 logical excavations in Jerusalem for two years. 



In the excavations of the walls of Jerusalem, 

 Dr. Bliss, of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 

 besides making several interesting discoveries at 

 a higher level, has found a gate which is clearly 

 a part of the earliest wall, having thus opened 

 the foundations of the times of the kings. Four 

 large square towers have also been uncovered 

 near the same corner of the wall. The recent 

 discovery by Herr Schick of the gate called in 

 the twelfth century the Leper's Gate, defining 

 its situation with reference to other points, has 

 an important bearing on the question of the lo- 

 cation of the sepulchre. 



A very ancient palimpsest manuscript of the 

 old Syriac version of the gospels.Miscovered and 

 photographed by Mrs. Agnes S. Lewis in St. 

 Catherine's Convent, Mount Sinai, in 1892. has 

 been transcribed and published at the Cambridge 

 University Press. The photographs taken by 

 Mrs. Lewis were identified by the late Prof. 

 Bensly and Mr. Burkitt as containing a text, 

 closely allied to that published by Cureton in 

 1858. The palimpsest, which is now reproduced 

 line for line as far as it is possible to read it, 

 was deciphered by these two scholars and by Mr. 

 Rendel Harris during a visit of forty days to the 

 convent of St. Catherine in the early part of 

 1893. A considerable number of leaves have 

 been lost from the manuscript, arid many places 

 are no longer legible, but the portions deci- 

 phered amount to about three quarters of the 

 whole. When first found, the writing was sup- 

 posed to date from the earlier part of the sec- 

 ond century, but this supposition is not either 

 confirmed or disproved. The colophon is illegi- 

 ble, and the internal evidence is scanty, but 

 there is no doubt that the codex is of great an- 

 tiquity. The manuscript presents several inter- 

 esting variations from other versions, among the 

 most important of which are the omission of the 

 disputed verses from the end of St. Mark's Gos- 

 pel, and passages that bear apparent evidence of 

 efforts to eliminate the dogma of the miraculous 

 conception of Jesus. St. Mark's Gospel ends at 

 the words "for they were afraid 'Averse 8), and 

 immediately after occurs the note, "The Gospel 

 of Mark is ended." In Matthew i, 16, the read- 

 ing occurs: "Jacob begat Joseph; Joseph, to 

 whom was betrothed Mary the virgin, begat 

 Jesus -who is called Christ.'' Other indications 

 occur that it was the intention of the writer of 

 t he codex to represent Jesus as the son of Joseph. 

 Hut this intention was only partially carried 

 out ; and the occurrence of the word virgin, 

 which in the Syriac is always used in its strict 



