A I {('I IDEOLOGY. 



15 



iat it might be a rude representation of the Cruci- 

 ixion. It is drawn on the cement in one of the 

 rooms that were used as cells for the soldiers and 

 slaves, reaches to a man's height on the wall, and is 

 marked by the style as of the first century, A. D. 

 A confused group of many words is visible on the 

 upper part of the drawing, and among them a 

 name which in its damaged condition has been 

 variously read Crestus, Cresus, Crescus, and Cres- 

 cens. Following this are an instrument resem- 

 bling a hammer, lines of verses, and disconnected 

 fragments of lines. Below these writings is a de- 

 sign of posts or poles standing upright in the 

 ground, with lateral supports at their feet, and a 

 crossbar connecting them at the top. Below this 

 crossbar are smaller individual crossbars, giving 

 the erections the likeness of crosses, from the right 

 arm of each of which hangs a rope held by a man 

 standing on the ground, and on one of them is a 

 figure seeming to hold a hammer. Other figures 

 stand on ladders leaning against the uprights of 

 the crosses. Names are written above the heads of 

 some of the figures, of which Nostumus, Eulogus, 

 and Terties have been made out, with another, 

 which is variously read Pilatus, Piletus, and File- 

 tus. The subject of the graffito is not explained. 

 The suggestion uttered at the first sight of the fig- 

 ures that it is a representation of the crucifixion 

 is not insisted upon. Some persons have supposed 

 that it represented a naval manoeuvre or the prepa- 

 ration for the launching of a vessel ; others re- 

 gard it simply as a scaffolding on which men are 

 at work. 



Greece. The Jewish Synagogue at Corinth. 

 In the excavations at Corinth, in the valley east 

 of the temple, under Prof. Rufus B. Richardson, a 

 marble block about 3 feet long was found, one of 

 the broad sides of winch was elaborately and pe- 

 culiarly carved, having a band of molding below it 

 as well as above. This was, of course, the original 

 face. On what was once its upper side or edge was 

 cut an inscription, mutilated at both ends, in let- 

 ters about two inches high, running thus : 



ArnrHEBP 



After reflection the discoverer concluded that the 

 letters represented and were all that was left of the 

 words Sunagoge Ebraion, and that the stone prob- 

 ably " came from the very synagogue in which 

 the apostle Paul reasoned every Sabbath and per- 

 suaded the Jews and the Greeks." It is not 

 likely, however, that this block marked the site 

 of the synagogue. It had probably been removed 

 from there, and even when built into the syna- 

 gogue in the first place had been taken from some 

 tructure in the old city. That the placing of it 



the synagogue was not its first use is indicated 

 3V the existence of the original front of the stone 

 with the molding. 



Egypt. Relics of the Earliest Dynasties. 

 A collection of antiquities from the excavations of 

 the Egypt Exploration Fund at Dendereh and of 

 the Egyptian Research Account, under Mr. Quibell, 

 at Hierakonpolis, exhibited by Mr. W. M. Flinders 

 Petrie at University College, London, in July, in- 

 cluded objects from" the earliest dynasties. The his- 

 tory of Dendereh as reflected in its cemetery was 

 found to have had its beginning in the fourth dy- 

 nasty, and to have included a flourishing age from 

 the sixth to the eleventh dynasties, and then a later 

 prosperity in the Ptolemaic or Roman times. While 

 the remains of primitive kings hitherto found have 

 been chiefly sepulchral, monuments of warfare and 

 of history known to belong to the earliest dynasties 

 have now, for the first time, been found at Hiera- 

 konpolis. The researches represented by these col- 

 lections appear to fill a large intermediate space 



between the aboriginal and the historical period, 

 and extend our knowledge far back of any period 

 it had distinctly reached before. Many of the most 

 ancient objects are remarkable for their beauty and 

 finish and their free and unconventional character. 

 Some of Mr. Quibell's finds at Hierakonpolis are 

 believed to date from before the fourth dvnasty, or 

 about 4000 B. c. The cemetery upon tne desert 

 yielded pottery of the types of the graves of Ne- 

 gada, of the " new race " described by Mr. Petrie 

 in 1895, which go even behind the earliest kings. 

 The later types are similar to those found in the 

 tomb of Menes, and are assigned to the first dynasty. 

 Among the objects found are slate palettes, "mostly 

 of the late square type, but one in the form of a scor- 

 pion, others with gazelles and giraffes and other 

 animals, real or mythical, delineated with wonder- 

 ful vigor and freedom. A trench found within the 

 temple area was filled with ivory carvings, buried 

 as offerings, much rotted and incrusted with lime, 

 and believed to represent the second dynasty. 

 The male figures have for the most part scanty 

 pointed beards and sharp features, like the heads of 

 the new race of prehistoric times, and are supposed 

 probably to represent the Libyans, who then inhab- 

 ited Egypt. Nearly all wear girdles, and most of 

 them have a dagger sheath in front, while only one 

 has the usual Egyptian kilt. The female figures 

 are nearly all nude, with long wavy hair to the 

 waist and two locks hanging in front over the 

 breasts, and one of a dwarf bandylegged type, 

 familiar in figures of Ptah. Other figures are out- 

 lined upon ivory cylinders and plaques, one with 

 the Ka name of King Nat-Met, holding a wand. 

 Models of boats, bowls, and stone vases, maces, ala- 

 baster dishes and porphyry bowls, green glazed ware 

 of very early date representing monkeys, pigs, 

 calves, oryxes, pelicans, scorpions, and other ani- 

 mals, were also among the objects. The great lime- 

 stone masses with relief sculptures are described as 

 being of extraordinary interest and beauty. On 

 one of them are several male figures, the king among 

 them, beautifully wrought, and at the base hiero- 

 glyphics mentioning "oxen 400,000, goats 1.422.500, 

 captives 120,000." A great palette in the part of 

 the collection that went to the museum in Gizeh 

 was represented in the exhibition in London. The 

 figures upon it exhibit a curious diversity of hu- 

 man types, only one of which is of the later Egyp- 

 tians. Two are bearded men with long hair, like 

 some men shown in the tomb of Paheri at El-Kab. 

 The design is very elaborate, with many figures of 

 men and animals, and the tablet is regarded as an 

 important historical monument of the early kings. 

 Among the fruits, extending over a vast period, of Mr. 

 Petrie's researches at Dendereh, is a stele of the third 

 or fourth dynasty of a prophet of Hathor Suten-abu, 

 which stood over an elaborately carved false door, 

 the only sculpture found in the group of great brick 

 mastabas of the earliest style. Large numbers of 

 worked flints, mostly of palaeolithic types, were 

 picked up on the surface of the desert, but statues 

 such as are common in the cemetery of the old 

 kingdom at Memphis are rare at Dendereh, and 

 only one large one of Prince Adu I was found. 

 The great mastabas of the princes of the sixth 

 dynasty proved the most important in the cemetery. 

 The series included Princes Mena and Adu under 

 Pepi II, Prince Adu II, one nameless, Prince Merra, 

 and Prince Beb. The catacombs for sacred ani- 

 mals, consisting of brickwork tunnels branching 

 from main galleries, extended over a large area. A 

 considerable quantity of blue glazed objects of 

 temple furniture appeared, by the names, to belong 

 to the eighteenth dynasty. In sculptures of Prince 

 Merra, with his wife Beba and his daughter Dudu- 

 erchetsa, of the late sixth or early seventh dynasty, 



