4 
TANIS. 
CHAPTEE I. 
SAN BEFOEE THE EMPIEE. 
4. The earliest knowledge of San that we at 
present have, is in the well-known statement in 
the Book of Numbers (xiii. 22), that Hebron was 
built seven years later than Zoan. This coupling 
of it with a Palestinian city shows that the build¬ 
ing must refer to a settlement by Shemites, and 
not by Egyptians ; and, considering the age of 
Hebron, it probably refers to the settlement before 
the eleventh dynasty. At the time of its settlement 
it was a saddle-shaped sandy island or “ gezireh ” 
in the midst of the delta mud ; it lay beside the 
river, and the sea may then have reached up to it. 
The highest parts were on each side of the 
present temple, north and south of it, and rose 
some thirty or forty feet above the plain; this 
being the highest islet for many miles around. 
In the hollow between these dunes was a sandy 
plain, in which the temple of the twelfth dy¬ 
nasty stood, and which was probably the site of 
the earliest settlement. The temple of the first 
town being a sacred site, later temples would 
occupy it again, and as they spread in size and 
magnificence, they most likely obliterated the 
traces of the primitive town. Hence we can 
hardly expect to find much of any town before 
the twelfth dynasty, by which time the temple 
was of considerable size. 
5. Among the ruins of the temple of San are, 
however, two blocks bearing inscriptions of Merira- 
Pepi; one known since the time of Burton (Plan, 
113, inscription No. 2), while the other I observed 
this year (Plan, 96, inscr. No. 1). It does not 
seem to be quite certain that these belong to the 
well-known Pepi of the sixth dynasty, as it is 
possible another king in the eighth dynasty may 
have adopted the throne name, and employed the 
variant of the personal name which is here used; 
since there was another king Pepi-Sneb in that 
later period. But this is, on the whole, unlikely, 
and we may accept these blocks as havin*^ 
belonged to a building of Pepi, in the sixth 
dynasty. The titles also are the same as in 
the lower line of the horizontal inscription in 
the pyramid of Pepi. This, however, does not 
at all prove that there was a building of that 
age at San; and two circumstances render it 
more probable that these blocks (which have 
been reworked in later times) were brought down 
from ruins rather than from a quarry in Upper 
Egypt, and that their first use was before, and 
not after, their long journey to the coast. In 
the first place, Pepi is here called “ son of 
Hathor, the lady of Ant,” the modern Dendera. 
Now this variant is not at all usual; it nowhere 
occurs in the pyramid of Pepi (at Memphis, 
between Dendera and San), and the only instance 
of it that I can localize is an alabaster lid (see 
plate xii., fig. 1) which Prof. Sayce obtained at 
Keneh, just opposite the town named on it. This 
renders it more likely that this inscription 
belonged to Dendera or its neighbourhood, than 
to the far-distant San. Another point is that 
the quality of the granite is peculiar; it is very 
hard and unalterable, with green nuclei in it, and 
there is scarcely any other block of the same 
quality. If there had been a temple here, built 
by Pepi, the granite would probably be alike 
throughout, and there would be many pieces of 
the same nature, though re-used. Hence it seems 
that, until some more decisive proof of Pepi’s 
work here can be obtained, it is most likely that 
the ruthless appropriator of obelisks and statues, 
Ramessu II., did not object to having a few 
convenient blocks looted from a ruined temple 
at Dendera, of which the founder had been then 
dead one or two thousand years. 
6. The first piece of work as yet known to 
belong to San is the red granite colossus of 
Amenemhat I., the first king of the twelfth 
dynasty (Plan, 103). This is broken in three 
pieces, the head (pi. xiii. 1), chest, and throne. 
The granite is of a dull brick-red, and somewhat 
badly weathered on the feet, though the head 
is perfect. On the back Amenemhat is named 
