44 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES; &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEGM. 



(10.) Six painted wooden figures, representing a deceased person adoring Osiiis and the 

 gtnii of the Amenti ; apparently from a carved box in open work, 



(11.) Two hieioglyphical papyri, containing portions of rituals. 



(12.) Part of a Hieratic litual, written on linen ; from the outer bandage of a mummy. 



XIV. — Oriental and Mediaval MSS. and Aniiquities. 



The Blacas Collection contains several Oriental MSS., of which the most important are 

 two fragments of Egypto- Aramaean papyri, which present almost unique specimens of the 

 language and form of writing used by the Jewish settlers in Egypt under the Ptolemies. 

 The only other fragments of the same class known in Europe are those preserved in the 

 Propaganda at Rome, in the Vatican, at Turin, and in the Lnuvre, none of which are 

 equal in extent and interest to she Blacas papyri. The two fragments here described were 

 discovered at Rome in 1825, among a number of Egyptian pai:iyri from Sakkareh,bythe well- 

 known Orientalist, Abbate Lanci, who presented theui to the elder Due de Blacas, then 

 Ambassador at the Court of Naples; and tliey have ever since engaged the attention of 

 Oriental palaeographers. Their discoverer was also their first decipherer, and only paved 

 the way tor Gesenius, E. F. Beer, and others. The comments of Gesenius upon theui form 

 one of the most interesting, chapters of his Scripturse Linguaeque Phceniciae Monumenta. 



The contents, although too fragmentary to admit of a connected translation, appear to 

 refer to the Jewish legends regarding the Pharaohs. The language is Aramaean, with an. ad- 

 mixture of Hebrew words or sentences, which gives them a close resemblance to the legendary 

 developments oi biblical narratives called Midrash. 



Their greatest importance, however, lies in the peculiar form of writing which they pre- 

 sent, and in the light they throw on one of the most curious and most perplexed questions 

 of Eastern palaeography — the substitution of ilie new or square Hebrew character for that 

 old ?emi-Phoenician writini: which has been preserved on the Maecabaean coins, and, in a 

 modified form, in Samaritan MSS. The Blacas papyri show us the steps throuoh 

 which this c'range was brought about. Most of the letters appear in an intermediate 

 or transitional stage : indeed, the close approach of some of them to the square 

 Hebrew characters, taken in connection with the fact that words are systematically 

 divided by blank spaces, and that two elongated final letters are introduced, might 

 at first sight induce us to i^ive to these fragments a date posterior to the Christian era. 

 But, on the other hand, the shape of some characters, which are decidedly older than 

 the corresponding foims of Palmyrene inscriptions of the second and third centuries, and 

 the colour and texture of the papyrus itself, support the opinion of the palaeographers 

 already referred to, who unanimously assign them to the age of the Ptolemies. 



At all events, they present us with as near an approach as we can hope to find to the cha- 

 racter of the Hebrew texts which the learned men employed on the Septuagint version had 

 before them, and thus acquire no unimportant bearing on biblical criticism; for all conjec- 

 ture as to possible misreadings arising from the confusion of similar letters must be nuga- 

 tory without the assistance of some such evidence as to the particular form of writini^ in 

 use at that time. 



Oriental Bronzes. — A collection of Mahommedan bronzes, 23 in number, which have 

 been published by Reinaud, " Description des Monumens Musulmans du Cabinet du Due de 

 Blacas." Paris," 1828. 



Among these the most remarkable are — 



(1.) An ewer made, according to its inscription, by Shodja, son of Hanfar, at Mosul in 

 Mesopotanda, in 629 of the Hegira, A. d. 1232, covered with very curious engravings, repre- 

 senting hunting or domestic scenes of the period. In the former, we see tigers, lions, 

 panthers, and falcons, employed to run down the prey, and they are therefore represented 

 with eyes bandaged till the moment for letting them loose. Ladies deeply veiled and borne 

 in litters appear as spectators. Other scenes represent dancing girls or fighting matches. 

 Interspersed vfith these scenes are pious or glorifying inscriptions in Arabic writing ; the 

 whole is a curious and intricate composition. 



(2.) A tray, about two feet in diameter, on which is a beautifully finished Arabic inscrip- 

 tion in praise of the Mameluke Sultan, Shaban, who ruled over Egypt during the single 

 year a. d. 1343. 



(3.) A cup, formerly in the collection of M, Magnan, inscribed with Arabic and Magic 

 characters; The interior exhibits the Caaba and its surrounding buildings. On twelve 

 medaUions round the inner circle are engraved weapons, animals, human figures, interspersed 

 with texts from the Koran, supposed to be of beneficent power. The outer rim is covered 

 with an Arabic inscription, enumerating the various ills from which this cup will preserve 

 its proprietor. 



(4.) A mirror, on which are two winged sphinxes, and a Cufic inscription invoking bless- 

 ings on the proprietor. Another mirror, with a similar inscription, bears the figures of a 

 Hon, a hare, a dog, and a rabbit. 



. (5.) Two oblong stone chests, covered with strange grotesque figures and symbols, and with 

 ' ' inscriptions 



