November 30, 1905] 



NA TURE 



the well known temple of Sarabit el-Khadim, in the 

 Sinaitic peninsula. Captain Weill has made the 

 Egyptian inscriptions of Mount Sinai his special study. 

 The results of the first season's work on the eleventh 

 dynasty temple at Der el-Bahari were described in 

 Nature, June ib, 1904; those of the second season 

 have been equally interesting- and important. The 

 new temple is, in fact, the oldest now known at 

 Thebes, and is the best preserved of the older temples 

 of Egypt. It is the- only temple of its period (about 

 2500 B.C.) known to us, and is therefore important 

 as telling us previously unknown facts with regard 

 to the architecture and art of that time. The temple 

 is the funerary chapel of King Neb-hapet-Ra (formerly 

 called " Neb-kheru-R a ") Mentuhetep, the first great 

 Theban king. Last year's excavations were brought 

 to an end when only a corner of the temple had been 

 uncoveied. Those of this year have resulted in the 

 clearance of the main portion of it, leaving only the 

 western end to be excavated this winter. It is a 

 symmetrical rectangular building built upon an 

 artificially levelled platform of rock. In the centre 

 is a square erection which was apparently the base 

 of a dummv pyramid of small size. Round this is an 

 ambulatory or corridor of octagonal pillars, the outer 

 wall of which was decorated with coloured reliefs. 

 The platform was approached from the east on its 

 centre line by an inclined plane or ramp, flanked by 

 colonnades of square pillars on the lower level. This 

 arrangement of platform, ramp, and flanking 

 colonnades was apparently copied by the later archi- 

 tects of the temple of Queen Hatasu or Hatshepsut 

 close by, which was excavated for the Egypt Explor- 

 ation Fund by Prof. Naville, assisted by Mr. D. G. 

 Hogarth and others, some years ago. The main 

 arrangement of the old temple, with its central 

 pyramid, &c, was not copied by Hatshepsut's 

 architects. 



A large number of fragments of the reliefs already 

 mentioned have been found this year as last, and 

 were exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Egypt 

 Exploration ,Fund in the rooms of the Society of 

 Biblical Archaeology in July of this year. The 

 brilliancy of their colouring and delicacy of their 

 workmanship were remarkable, and they form an 

 important addition to the chief known relics of 

 Egyptian art. The carving of some of the sculptured 

 hieroglyphs is of the finest style, which is not often 

 seen in Europe, and was hardly known to many who 

 had not visited Egypt and seen Abydos and Der 

 el-Bahari. 



Apart from the actual temple-buildings, the two 

 most important discoveries were those of the sarco- 

 phagi of the priestesses of Hathor who were buried 

 within the temple, and six portrait statues of the 

 King Usertsen or Senusret III. of the twelfth 

 dynasty, representing him at different periods of his 

 life. The heads of two are missing. The portraits, 

 especially the two oldest, are very fine. One of the 

 white limestone sarcophagi is most beautifully carved 

 with scenes of offerings being brought to the deceased 

 priestess, of the cows of Hathor, &c. The sarco- 

 phagus and one of the statues are illustrated in an 

 article on the temple by Mr. Hall in the August 

 number of Man, from photographs taken by Mr. 

 Ayrton. 



The small votive offerings which were such a 

 feature of last year's discoveries were not found in 

 any quantity this year, but instead a much larger 

 number of workmen's tools, hoes, baskets, mallets, 

 &c, were found. 



Prof. Petrie's work consisted in the clearance and 

 planning of Sarabit el-Khadim and the study of the 

 Wadi Maghara inscriptions. In the Wadi Maghara 



no. 1883, VOL. y$~] 



an inscription of the early King Sa-nekht, whose 

 tomb was discovered by Mr. Garstang at Bet 

 Khallaf, in Upper Egypt, a few years ago, was found. 

 The peculiarities of the plan of Sarabit el-Khadim 

 had long been known, and now that they have been 

 fully made out they appear sufficiently curious to 

 demand some explanation, which Prof. Petrie has 

 attempted to give. He explains the building as not 

 primarily an Egyptian but a Semitic shrine, with 

 kanefiya courts like those of a mosque, while the 

 peculiar stelae inscribed with records of Egyptian 

 miners and the upright stones, which are such a 

 feature of the place, he identifies as Semitic bethels 

 or baetyli. Prof. Petrie also claimed this as the only 

 Semitic temple known. His conclusions do not, how- 

 ever, seem to be altogether approved by other archae- 

 ologists, and Mr. R. C. Thompson, of the British 

 Museum, has criticised them in a recent article in 

 Man, to which Prof. Petrie has replied, with the 

 result of drawing a further reply from Mr. 

 Thompson. The point about this being the only 

 Semitic temple must undoubtedly be abandoned; 

 the Babylonian temples are far older. That they 

 are Sumerian is no argument against this, for 

 the Semites took over most of their religious ideas 

 from the Sumerians ; but to an unprejudiced critic 

 the weakest point of Prof. Petrie's argument 

 seems to be the identification of the stelae as 

 bethels. If thev were, they would, as Mr. Thomp- 

 son says, be inscribed, not with mere records of 

 Egyptian garrison and mining officials, with prayers 

 to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, as they are, but with 

 inscriptions of Semitic religious import, recording 

 dreams and prophecies, &c. Prof. Robertson Smith's 

 " Religion of the Semites " should be consulted on 

 this point. The form of the stelae is as Egyptian and 

 non-Semitic as their inscriptions ; we may compare 

 with them the stela or obelisk of Usertsen I. at 

 Begig, in the Fayyum, and the two great stelae in 

 front of the funerary temple of King Sneferu at 

 Medum, discovered by Prof. Petrie himself in 1891. 



A large number of "interesting objects were brought 

 back by the expedition, and were exhibited by the 

 Egypt Exploration Fund at University College, Gower 

 Street, in Tuly. 



Excavations have been carried on by Mr. Garstang 

 for the University of Liverpool at Kom el-Ahmar, the 

 site of the ancient Hierakonpolis, at Hissaya, south 

 of Edfu, and at Esna. At Kom el-Ahmar Mr. 

 Garstang found interesting remains of the third 

 dynasty or earlier, at Hissaya graves of the Persian 

 period,' and at Esna a series of town-remains from 

 Hyksos times until the twentieth dynasty. Two re- 

 markable tomb-structures were found, of eight or ten 

 chambers on the ground floor and a stairway leading 

 up to the first floor, where there was a similar series. 

 The site in general illustrated in an interesting fashion 

 the provincial art of Egypt at the period. Excavation 

 is to be resumed on it next year. We are indebted 

 for these details to the kindness of Mr. Garstang.^ 



In Mesopotamia the excavations of the British 

 Museum at Kuyunjik, the site of Nineveh, have been 

 brought to an end under the direction of Mr. R. C. 

 Thompson, after the departure of Mr. L. W. 

 King. The excavations have resulted in the dis- 

 covery of many interesting buildings previously 

 unknown, including a temple of the god Nabu 

 and a new palace of Sennacherib. The planning 

 of the whole mound of Kuyunjik and its ruins has 

 been carried out to its completion. Messrs. King 

 and Thompson also visited the rock of Behistun 

 or Bisutun in Persia, and re-copied the famous 

 historical inscription of Darius, originally copied by 

 Rawlinson. The text obtained by them will be the 



