3 D(r,7l3 



1854.] 



ACCOUNT AND RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION TO EGYPT, &c. 



153 



%k €mA\i SnnrnnL 



TORONTO, FEBRUARY, 1854. 



Preliminary Account ancl Results of tlie Expedition of I3r« 



RicUard Ijepsius to Egypt, Ethiopia^ and tlie 



Peninsula of Sinaio* 



In the year 1S42, in accordance with the proposal of Eichhovn, 

 at that time Minister of Instruction, and at the recommendation 

 of M. M. Alexander, V. Humboldt, and Bunsen, his Majesty 

 King Frederic William 4th, of Prussia, determined to send a 

 scientific expedition to investigate the remains of ancient Egyptian 

 and Ethiopian civilization still in preservation in the Nile valley 

 and the adjacent countries. The direction of the undertaking 

 was entrusted to me, after the detailed plans of the proposed 

 expedition had been minutely examined by the Royal Academy 

 of Sciences, and in all points graciously approved by the King. 



The land-surveyor, G. Erbkam, from Berlin, and the draughts- 

 men and painters, Ernest and Max Weidenbach, from Naumberg, 

 and J. Frey, from Basle, were appointed to make the drawings 

 and colored representations, as well as those architectonic plans, 

 which had to be executed on the spot. When J. Frey was 

 obliged to return to Europe from Lower Egypt, on account of 

 the injurious climate, he was replaced by the painter 0. Georgi, 

 from Leipzig. Two English artists, also J. Bonomi, who, from 

 the interest he took in the journey, became attached to our party 

 while we were in London, and the architect J. Wild, who joined 

 us of his own accord, took an active part in the expedition as 

 long as it remained in Lower Egypt. Lastly, during nearly the 

 whole of the journey we enjoyed the society of the present 

 Counsellor of Legation, H. Abeken, who accompanied us volun- 

 tarily and on an independant footing, and who in various ways 

 promoted the antiquarian objects of the journey. We were also 

 provided with the means of obtaining plaster casts of those 

 representations that were best qualified for the purpose, by the 

 addition of Franke the moulder. 



The different members of the expedition arriving by various 

 roads, met in Alexandria on the 18th September, 1842. On the 

 9th November we encamped near the great Pyramids of Gizeh. 

 What we obtained on that spot as well as from the adjoining 

 Pyramid fields of Abusir, Saqara, and Daschur, which are situated 

 to the south, occupied us exclusively and uninterruptedly for 

 more than six months. The inexhaustible number of important 

 and instructive monuments and representations which we met with 

 in these Necropoli, the most ancient that have existed in any coun- 

 try, surpassed every expectation we had been entitled to hold 

 concerning them, and accounts for our long abode in this partof the 

 country, which is the first approached and visited, but has, not- 

 withstanding, been very little investigated. If we except the 

 celebrated and well known examination of the Pyramids in the 

 year 1837, by Colonel Howard Vyse, assisted by the accomplished 

 architect Perring, little had been done to promote a more minute 

 investigation of this remarkable spot ; the French-Tuscan expe- 

 dition in particular did little more than pass throu»h it. Never- 

 theless, the innumerable tombs of private individuals grouped 

 about those royal Pyramids, partly constructed of massive square 

 blocks, partly hewn into the living rock, contain, almost exclusively, 

 representations belonging to the old Egyptian Monarchy, which 



* Extracted from " Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai,'' by 

 Dr. Richard Lepsius. 



Vol. II. No. 7, Febetjart, 1854. 



terminated between two and three thousand years before Christ; 1 

 indeed, most of them belong to the fourth and fifth Manethonic 

 Dynasties, therefore between three and four thousand years 

 before Christ. The wonderful age of these Pyramids, and of 

 the surrounding tombs, is no longer generally denied by intelli- 

 gent enquirers, and in the first volume of my "Egyptian 

 Chronology," which has lately appeared, I have endeavoured to 

 furnish a critical proof of the certain foundations we possess for a 

 more special determination of time as far back as that period. But 

 were any one only to believe in the lowest acceptation of modern 

 scholars concerning the age of the first Egyptian Dynasties, he 

 would still be compelled to yield priority to those monuments 

 before any other Egyptian remains of art, and generally before 

 all artistic remains belonging to the whole race of man, to which 

 we can historically refer. It is only to this that we can attribute 

 the wonderful growth in the interest which we attach partly to 

 the monuments themselves, as proofs of the earliest activity 

 shewn in art, partly to the various representations of the manner 

 of living in those primitive times. 



On the western border of the desert, which stretches from the 

 most northerly groups of Pyramids at Abur Roasch, past the 

 ruins of the old capital of Memphis, to the Oasis-peninsula of 

 the " Faium," we discovered the remains of sixty-seven Pyramids, 

 which with a few exceptions, were only destined for kings, and 

 in the neighbourhood of the principal groups we investigated 

 still more minutely 130 tombs of private individuals, which 

 deserve to be more particularly recorded. A great many of 

 these sepulchral chambers, richly adorned with representations 

 and inscriptions, could only be reached by excavations. Most 

 of them belonged to the highest functionaries of those flourishing 

 Dynasties, among whom were also thirteen princes and seven 

 princesses. 



After we had taken the most careful topographical plans of all 

 the fields of the Pyramids, and had noted down the architectonic 

 ground plans, and sections of the most important tombs, and 

 after we had, in the most complete manner, drawn or taken 

 paper impressions of their pictures and inscriptions, as far as 

 they were accessible to us, we had accomplished more completely 

 than we ever hoped to do, the first and most important task of 

 our journey, since we had acquired a basis for our knowledge 

 concerning the monuments of the oldest Egyptian Monarchy. 



On the 19th May, 1S43, we proceeded still farther, and 

 encamped on the 23rd in the Faium, upon the ruins of the 

 Labyrinth. Its true position was long ago conjectured ; and our 

 first view dissipated all our doubts concerning it. The interesting 

 discovery of the actual site of the ancient Lake Moeris was made 

 about the same time, by the distinguished French architect 

 Linant, which we had the opportunity of confirming on the spot. 

 This greatly facilitated the means of comprehending the topo- 

 graphical and historical conditions of thi? province, so remarkable 

 in all its features. The magnificent schemes which converted 

 this originally desolate Oasis into one of the most productive 

 parts of Egypt, were intimately connected with each other and 

 must have belonged, if not to a single king, still to one epoch of 

 time. The most important result we obtained by our investiga- 

 tions of the Labyrinth and of the adjoining Pyramids, was the 

 determination of the historical position of the original founder; 

 this we obtained by excavations which occupied a considerable 

 time. We discovered that the king, who was erroneously called 

 Moeris by the Greeks, from Lake Mere, (i. e.,) from the Lake of the 

 Nile inundation, lived at the end of the 12th Manethonic Dynasty, 

 shortly before the invasion of the Hyksos, and was called Ame- 

 nemhe by Manetho Amenemes the third of his name. His prede- 



