Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-11-16
The Esyptian Mummies,


No doubt whatever exists as to the
identity of two-thirds of the thirty
zine mummies discovered at Driyel-
Bahart, near Thebes. In two Of these
mummies New Workers are particularly
interested, those of Thothmes III. i
and Rameses H., the powerful and
distinguished sovereigns in whose honor
were shapen and carved the obelisks
now standing in our own Central Park
and upon the Thames Embankment.
That of Thothmes the Great, the fourth
King Of the Eighteeth dynasty, and the
most glorious monarch Of Pharaonic
history, had unfortunately been desc
Grated by the hand of some ancient de-
stroyer, the case being badly mutilated
and the mummy itself broken into three
separate pieces. though the miniature rep
reservations of the gods, as well as por-
ton Of the names and titles of the mon
arch, were left intact. The respect shown
to these indicates that the ancient priests
must have been engaged in the sacrilege,
and it is we'll known that In the British
Musuem there is a papyrus of the time of
Rameses IN, containing report on the
operations of an organized band Of The
ban tomb-robbers and receivers, Of whose
thirtv-nine members seven were priests
and eight sacred scribes. Inside the
winding sheets was found by Herr
Emil Brugsh long funeral inscription
in most exquisite and dis -lnct characters
upon linen roll, which contains the full
names and titles OF Thoihmes of the obe-
lisk, and it is expected that when the
text of this is fully translated it viii prove
an important contribution to our know
ledge of that interesting and eyentful
epoch. The other mummy in which New
Workers are more particularly concerned
is that of Rameses H., the third King of
the Nineteenth dynasty, the Sesestris of
Herodotus, who, in his eagerness to
render his name universal, not only APP
piled himself to the lavish construction
of temples and magnificent sculptures,
but appropriated the obelisks and other
memorials of his Industrious predecessors
as when, for instance, he added his two
lines to the central inscription of Thoth-
mes upon the New York obelisk. The
mummy is in perfect state of preser-
walton, though only one of the three
cases remaiDs-of plain sycamore wood,
| implanted and unvarnished. 1t is carved
to represent Rameses in the position of
Osiris "The crossed arms rest upon
the breast In the right hand is the
royal whip and in the left is the royal
hook. The features are most beautifully
and delicately carved and arc surmount-
ed by the crown OF Upper and Lower
Egypt, with the uraus serpent. The
mummy-case is a most graceful and ami
mated specimen Of sculpture, displaying
in all its purity the firm and flowing lines
of the period of the Egyptianrenaissance.
The mummy itself was wrapped in rose
colored and yellow linen of a texture
finer than the finest Indian muslin, upon
which lotus flowers are strewn. There
is also an inscription recording that this
mummy was concealed in pit at time
when foreign army invaded Egypt. Be-
sides these precious discoveries there
have been found the mummy of King
Raskenen, of the Seventeenth dynasty;
that of Ashmes l. (Amosis), the founder
of the Eighteenth dynasty, who drove
the Shepherd Kings out of Egypt and
suppressed the rebellion in Nubia those
Of his wife, son and daughters that of
Amenhotep |. (Amenophis), the second
King of the Eighteenth dynasty that of
Thothmes H.; those Of three Queens and
a Princess of that dynasty that of Ra-
meses l., founder of the Nineteenth
dynasty, father of Set /. and grandfather
of Rameses of the obelisk. whose tomb
was opened by Belzoni; that of Seti l.,
whose sarcor hagus, carved from single
block of alabaster and covered with in
cised hieroglyphic texts and several
hundred figures descriptive of the pas
sage of the sun through the hours of the
night, is in Sir J. Soane's museum those
of high priest and two queens of the
Twenty-frst dynasty, one OF these being
accompanied by her infant daughter
that of Pinotem, third Sovereign of this
dynasty, who was laid III the mummy
case of Thothmes l. and those of his
three daughters and two sons. The fine
preservation of the bodies, the copious-
ness and perfection of the Inscriptions,
the beauty of the carvings and decora-
tons, the freshuess of the flower, the
viyidness of the painting and gliding,
the fineness of the textile fabrics and the
notable technical excellence of all the
processes combine to make this discovery
one of the most important in the whole
history of Egyptology. - Nca0 York
Times.