V. CHAP. chopped straw: they are of the same nature as the unburned bricks in modern use in Egypt. Pococke concluded, from its present appearance, that this pyramid was built with five gradations only1 it is of the same height as the other graduated pyramid of six degrees. Descent Catacombs. Our rope-ladder was not more than fifteen into the feet in length, and yet, when placed in the mouth of a catacomb near the graduated pyramid, we found it reach low enough to enable us to descend into the first row of chambers. We entered a room containing scattered bones, and fragments of broken mummies; these, when entire, had evidently been placed horizontally, upon a sort of shelf or tier of stone, about breast high, formed in the natural rock, and extended the whole length of this subterraneous apartment. Beyond the first chamber were others on the same level, exhibiting similar remains; and below these was a series, extending, in like manner, beneath the upper range. The smell in these catacombs was so exceedingly offensive, that it speedily drove us up again; although we could not explain the cause, for it seemed very improbable that it could originate (1) Descr. of the East, Vol. I. p. 53. V. for the Ho Position of in embalmed bodies deposited there so many CHAP. ages before. We saw enough, however, to be convinced that an erroneous notion has been derived from a passage in Herodotus, which has been supposed to relate to the mode of placing mummies in these repositories'. It was impossible that the dead could have been set upright upon their feet, for there was not sufficient space between the roof the cavern and the place where the bodies were laid. From a Evidence former view of the Soros in the Djiza pyramid, and rizontal also from the appearance here, it became evi- the Bodies. dent that the position of the corpses in Egyptian sepulchres was not vertical, but horizontal; and that the passage referred to in Herodotus relates to the manner in which the bodies were placed, not in the catacombs, but in the houses of the relatives of deceased persons, after being embalmed. The testimony now given is, moreover, confirmed by many other writers. Kircher has given an engraved representation, made from a view of the Mummy Crypts, by Burattinus; delineated, as he says, with the utmost (2) Καὶ κατακληίσαντες οὕτω, θησαυρίζουσι ἐν οἰκήματι θηκαίῳ, ioráνreç öρlòv прòç тоïαоν. "Inclusumque ita, reponunt in conclavi loculis talibus dicato, statuentes rectum ad parietem." Herodot. Hist. lib. ii. c. 86. p. 143. Ed. Valcken, et Wesseling. Amst. 1762, V. CHAP. accuracy', in which the bodies are all represented cumbent, with their faces upwards. Denon's description of the Crypte to the north-east of Thebes is of the same nature". "At the bottom of the galleries, the sarcophagi stood insulated, of a single block of granite each, of twelve feet in length and eight in width, rounded at one end, squared at the other, like that of St. Athanasius, in Alexandria." And again, in his long and difficult search to discover "the manner in which a mummy was placed in its sepulchre," having ventured into crypte where the bodies had never been disturbed, he found3 them " placed upon the ground; and allowed as much space as could contain them in regular order." Pococke describing the Catacombs of Saccára, speaks of "benches about two feet above the passages," on which "he supposes they laid the mummies;" but, being desirous of adapting even these appearances to a notion of their upright posture, he adds", "Probably the inferior per (1) Vid. Edip. Egypt. syntagma xiii. c. 4. tom. III. p. 400. Rom. 1654. (2) Denon. Trav. in Egypt, vol. II. p. 174. Lond. 1803. (3) Ibid. p. 226. (4) Descr. of the East, vol. I. p. 54. Lond. 1743. (5) Ibid. V. sons were piled one upon another, and the heads CHAP. of the family set upright in the niches." The suggestion is borrowed from Maillet, who mentions "several niches," wherein the bodies" des maitres de la famille" were placed. All this is very easily said; and it is all without proof. The fact is, that no traveller, as far as we can learn, ever did succeed in observing the position of a mummy within its crypt. The Arabs, if they can avoid it, will suffer no one to behold what the French writers call a virgin mummy. (6) Déscr. de l'Egypte, tom. II. p. 21. à la Haye, 1740. (7) If any traveller could have succeeded in making observation to this effect, it would have been Mr. W. Hamilton, during his travels in Upper Egypt. In reply to the author's inquiry upon this subject, he says, "I never was in a situation to see mummies in a constructed catacomb, or crypt; but a few miles above Phile, I assisted at the opening of a common grave, full of mummies, lying upon their backs ; these were covered with the common sand of the desert. The sculptures in the Egyptian temples, which frequently represent mourners around a mummy, always place the latter in a horizontal posture." The testimony of one of Mr. Hamilton's fellow travellers at Saccára also confirms what has been said of the difficulty of making these observations. "We did not see the mummies of human bodies: those pits/ which the Arabs generally shew are filled up with sand, interspersed with bones, and not at all interesting to examine. The places in which there are perfect mummies are covered over with palmbranches and sand, with a view to conceal their situation. There is a sort of mummy trade among the Arabs; and you are much more likely to procure one at CAIRO than at SACCARA." Squire's MS. Journal. (8) See Denon, vol. II. p. 224. Vansleb (Relation d'Egypte, p. 149. Par. 1667) has a different expression, "Un puits vierge.” V. CHAP. DENON Says', "It was a particular which they concealed with the utmost obstinacy." MAILLET mentions the same difficulty. With regard to the different attitudes assigned by Maillet and by Pcoche to the bodies of the rich and the poor in Egyptian sepulchres, it may generally be remarked, that the more magnificent an Egyptian tomb is found to be, the more striking is the evidence it contains for the horizontal position of the body witness the Soros of the principal pyramid of Djiza, and the Sarcophagi mentioned by Denon in the sepulchres of Thebes3. Upon the whole, therefore, as we cannot reconcile existing facts with the common notion which has been derived from the text of Herodotus, it is more reasonable to admit that his meaning has been misunderstood, than that the text itself involves an error; that he alludes, in fact, to the position of the mummy in the private dwellings of those among the Egyptians who had no sepulchre for its reception. In their private houses the Egyptians placed the bodies upright. This we learn from Diodorus Siculus, who says1, (1) Travels in Egypt, Eng. Edit. p. 224. vol. II. Lond. 1803. (3) Voyage en Egypte, tom. I. p. 236. Paris Edit. |