154 



ACCOUNT AND RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION TO EGYPT, &c 



1854. 



eessors in the same Dynasty had already founded the town of 

 Crocodilopis, in the centre of the Faium, which is proved by 

 some ruins that still exist belonging to tl>at period; and they 

 probably conducted the Nile Canal, Bahv-Jusef, which branches 

 off from DeriU-Scherif, into the basin of the desert. That 

 part of the basin which is most advanced and situated highest, 

 terminated in a lake formed by means of gigantic dams, many 

 of which still exist; and the connection of the canal was regulated 

 by sluices in such a manner, that in the dry season the reserved 

 •water could flow back again into the valley of the Nile, and irri- 

 gate the country around the capital long after the Nile had 

 retreated within its banks. Amenemhe built his Pyramid upon 

 the shore of the lake, and a splendid temple in front of it. It 

 afterwards formed the centre of the Labyrinth whose many 

 hundred chambers, forming three regular masses of buildings, 

 surrounded the oldest portion, and according to Herodotus, were 

 destined by the Dodccarchs for the general diets. The ruins of 

 the Labyrinth had never yet been correctly represented, not even 

 in their general arrangement. An Arabian canal, which was car- 

 ried through it at a later period, had drawn away the attention of 

 passing travellers from that portion of the chambers which was in 

 best preservation. We have made the most exact ground plan, ac- 

 companied by sections and views. A journey round the province, 

 as far as Birqet-el-Qorn, and beyond it, to the ruins of Dimeh and 

 Qasr Queun, induced us to remain several months in this neigh- 

 bourhood. 



On the 23rd August we embarked at Beni-suef, visited a small 

 rock temple of King Sethos 1st, at Surarich, on the eastern 

 shore, and farther on the remains of later monuments in the 

 neighbourhood of Tehneh. At Kum-ahmar, a little to the south 

 of Zauiet-el-meitin we examined a series of nineteen rock-tombs 

 belonging to the 6th Manethonic Dynasty. The group of tombs 

 which are scattered about a few days' journey to the south, at 

 Schech-Said, El-Harib, Wadi-Selin, and still farther on, at 

 Qasr-e-Saiat, also belonging to this period, which, in point of 

 age, was immediately connected with the flourishing time of the 

 great builder of the Pyramids. If we judge by the remains 

 now extant, it appears that there were, at that early period 

 especially, in this portion of Central Egypt a number of flourishing 

 cities. Royal kindred are frequently met with among the ancient 

 possessors of the tombs, but no sons or daughters of the king, 

 because there was no royal residence in that neighbourhood. 

 But we found the last flourishing period of the old Monarchy, 

 the 12th Manethonic Dynast}', represented in this part of Egypt 

 by the most beautiful and most considerable remains. The 

 rock-tombs of Beni Hassan, so remarkable for their architecture, 

 as well as for the various paintings on their walls, peculiarly 

 belong to this period. The town to which they appertained, the 

 residence of a governor of the eastern province, has entirely 

 disappeared all except the .name, which is preserved in the 

 inscriptions. It appears that it only flourished a short time 

 during this Dynasty and again declined at the invasion of the 

 Hyksos. In the neighbouring Berscheh also, and farther on, 

 among the Lybian rocks, behind the town of Siut, which was as 

 important 4000 years ago as it is at present, we again found the 

 same plans of tombs on as magnificent a scale, whose period of 

 erection might be recognised even at a distance. 



It is a singular fact, that in point of age the greater proportion 

 of the remains of the Egyptian monuments become more modern 

 the higher we ascend the Nile valley, the reverse of what might 

 have been expected from a large view of the subject; according 

 to which the Egyptian civilization of the Nile valley extended 

 from south to north. While the Pyramids of Lower Egypt, with 

 the monuments around them, had displayed the oldest civilization 



of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Dynasties in such wonderful abundance, 

 we found the 6th Dynasty, and the most flourishing period of 

 the 12th, the last of the old Monarchy, especially represented in 

 Central Egypt. Thebes was the brilliant capital of the new 

 Monarchy, especially of their first Dynasties, surpassing all other 

 places in the number of its wonderful monuments, and even now 

 it offers us a reflection of the splendour of Egypt in her greatest 

 times. Art, which still created magnificent things even in its 

 decline, under the Ptolemies and the Roman Emperors, has left 

 considerable monuments behind it, consisting of a series of stately 

 temples in Dendera, Erment, Esneh, Edfu, Kum-Ombo, Debod, 

 Kalabscheh, Dendur, Dakkeh, which are all, with the exception 

 of Dendera, in the southern part of the Thebaid, or in Lower 

 Nubia. Lastly, those monuments of the Nile valley which are 

 situated most to the south, especially those of the "Island" of 

 Meroe, are the latest of all, and most of them belong to the 

 centuries after the Christian era. 



We hastened immediately from the monuments of the old 

 Monarchy in central Egypt to Thebes, and deferred till our return 

 the examination of the well-preserved, but modern temple of 

 Dendera, the ruins of Abydos, and several other places. But of 

 Thebes also, we took but a preliminary survey, for we only 

 remained there twelve days, from the 6th to the 18th of October. 



We were impatient to commence immediately our second fresh 

 task, which consisted in the investigation of the Ethiopian coun- 

 tries, situated higher up the river. The French-Tuscan expedition 

 did not go beyond Wadi Haifa; Wilkinson's careful description 

 of the Nile land and its monuments, which contains so much 

 information, only extends a little higher up, as far as Semneh. 

 The most various conjectures were still entertained concerning 

 the monuments of Gebel, Barkal, and Meroe, with reference to 

 their age and their signification. It was necessary to obtain a 

 general view of the true relation between the History and civi- 

 lization of Egypt and Ethiopia, founded upon a complete exami- 

 nation of the remains which are still extant. Therefore, after a 

 cursory visit to the temple ruins, as far up as Wadi Haifa, we 

 returned to Korusko, from which place we started on the 8th of 

 January, 1844, through the great desert to Abu-Hammed, and 

 the upper Nile countries, on the 16th of January we arrived at 

 Abu-Hammed, on the other side of the desert; on the 28th, at 

 Begerauieh, near to which the Pyramids of Meroe are situated. 

 From Schendi, which lies more to the south, we visited the 

 temple ruins of Naga and Wadi e Sofra, far on in the interior 

 of the eastern desert. On the 5th of February we reached 

 Chartum at the confluence of the White and the Blue Nile. 

 From this place, accompanied by Abeken, I descended the Blue 

 River, passed the ruins of Soba and Sennar, as far as the 13° of 

 N. Lat. ; whilst the other members of the expedition returned 

 from Chartum to the Pyramids of Meroe. The tropical countries 

 of the Nile, when contrasted with those northern ones devoid 

 of rain, extending south as far as the 17°, and the plants and 

 animals now almost exclusively confined to South Ethiopia, when 

 compared with individual representations of the ancient Egyptian 

 monuments, were rendered still more interesting by the discovery 

 of some monuments, with inscriptions upon them, near Soba, by 

 which we obtained traces of the ancient vernacular language of 

 those districts in a written character resembling the Coptic. 



I also made use of our residence in these districts to be in- 

 structed by the natives of the adjacent countries in the grammar 

 and vocabulary of their languages. 



On the 5th of April, I returned with Abeken to the other 

 members of the expedition at Begerauieh. After drawings had 

 been made of all that still existed which peculiarly represented 



