Egypt : handbook for travellers : part first, lower Egypt, with the Fayum and the peninsula of Sinai . Ma-riette. It is nevertheless probable that this mine of antiquities,which has so marvellously preserved everything committed to itskeeping, is still far from being exhausted. Ancient writers have recorded many interesting facts regardingthe Necropolis of Memphis, and have mentioned various parts of itby name. The Pyramids, eleven in number, have indeed beenidentified, and the Scrapeuni has been excavated, but all trace ofmany other features have been irrevocably lost. Who, for example,can po
Egypt : handbook for travellers : part first, lower Egypt, with the Fayum and the peninsula of Sinai . Ma-riette. It is nevertheless probable that this mine of antiquities,which has so marvellously preserved everything committed to itskeeping, is still far from being exhausted. Ancient writers have recorded many interesting facts regardingthe Necropolis of Memphis, and have mentioned various parts of itby name. The Pyramids, eleven in number, have indeed beenidentified, and the Scrapeuni has been excavated, but all trace ofmany other features have been irrevocably lost. Who, for example,can possibly tell where now to look for the sacred lake across whichthe mummy of Apis was conveyed by boat; or the beautiful pas-tures near it, which were once compared with Homers asphodelmeadows; or the temple of the gloomy Hecate, and the gatesoi I oeytus and of Truth ; or the site of the statue of Justice withouta head : or the multitude of sacred and profane building8 mentionedby the later Greek papyri as having belonged to this burial-ground? On the other hand, the numerous tombs within its pre-. of Cairo. SAKKAJRA. 4. Route. 379 ciucts afford sufficient information with regard to the different pe-riods at which its silent denizens were admitted. The Tombs are of two kinds, viz. Mast abas (literally benches)and Rock-Chambers. The Mastaba is a mausoleum of solid ma-sonry constructed on the surface of the earth. Its form is usuallyrectangular, and the walls slope inwards, so that the whole structureforms a kind of low truncated pyramid. Many of them are built oflimestone-blocks of moderate size, and others of Nile-bricks. While(lie pyramids are always entered from the N., the door of theMastaba is usually on the E. side. On the stone door-postsgenerally rests the drum, a cylindrical block of stone, probablyin imitation of the round section of a palm trunk, such as stillusually covers the doorways of huts built of Nile-mud or sun-driedbricks. The drum usually bears the name of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidegypthand00k, bookyear1885
