The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-03-01
EGYPTOLOGY.
The Great Find of Royal Mummies at
Thebes-The Stone of Kom- ell Hama
dra-Two Tombs of the vi. Dynasty
Entrance to the Pyramid Maydoom.
Correspondence of tie Evening Post
CAIRO, January Is, 1882

Correspondence of tie Evening Post
CAIRO, January 16, 1882.
The past year will ever be memorable
for the valuable and remarkable dis
coveries that it has yielded to Egyptology.
M. Maspero has Just published his Of
fetal report of the great find of royal
mummies at Thebes. The narrative is
enlivened by numerous photographs,
among which are those of the mummies
of Thutmess III. and Ramses 1.-THE
grand old monarchs whose titles are in
scribed on the Central Park obelisk.
The texts of the interiors of the pyramids
of the V. and VI. Dynasties, opened at
Sakkara last spring and summer, are
also appearing in rapid succession in M.
Maspero's RecueiI, published at Paris.
Besides these discoveries, concerning
which accounts have already appeared in
your columns, three additional discov-
cries have been recently made which do
not deserve to be passed by in silence.
In the desert FIVE miles west of Kom
el-Hamadra-a village on the western
border of the Delta, and midway between
Cairo and Alexandria-the Bedaween
unearthed large stone which they de-
scribed as taller than man, and COW
cred with fine writing" Herr Emil
Brugsch, the Conservator of the Boolak
Museum, and brother of Dr. Brugsch
Pasha, proceeded at once to the spot and
found the stone to be a stella, or tablet,
used by the Egyptians to record DEGREES
and epitaphs. This newly discovered
monument is inscribed with tri-hngual
texts which prove to be copies of the
Decree of the Synod of Priests assembled
at Campus ordaining the dedication Of
Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy
Euergetes, and creating fifth order OF
priests to be called Energetic. The
decree is dated the 18th of the month Of
Tybi, of the ninth year of Ptolemy
Euergetes (B c. 238), and is consequently
nearly century older than the famous
Rosetta Stone. Another copy of this
same decree of .Canopus is inscribed upon
the stone of San or Tanis, in the Boolak
Museum, of which the British Museum
possesses a cast.
To appreciate the interest that attaches
to this new find, it may be we'll to recall
the fact that in 1892, it was the tri-
lingual Rosetta Stone that yielded to the
researches of Young and Champollion
the key to the language of ancient
Egypt and thus became, as Marietta
says, "the instrument of one of the
greatest discoveries that do honor to the
nineteenth century, Not, however, I'M
til Lepsius and Mariette, in 1866,
brought to light the Greek, hieroglyphic,
and demotic texts of the Canopic Decree
anorouoJ ,rop +ba Ctopo &c Sao ,roo a. -
accuracy Of Champollions mode OF in
terpreting hieroglyphics confirmed, and
the study of ERyptology placed on sure
and solid grounds. The Stone of Kom-
el-Hamadra- Judging from analogy,
I suppose this stella will henceforth be
called-bears the same decree as that of
San, except that the texts, inscriptions,
and representations are much fuller and
more detailed than are those Of the latter.
The stella is splendid piece of work
manship: it is of limestone and measures
eight feet high, by three feet wide and
two and half feet thick. The top is
rounded, and represents the winged disk
and pendent urea serpents together with
the upper and lower portions of the
crown pShent Below the urcej serpents
there are some twelve lines of hero
glyphs, and representations of Ptolemy
Euergetes, his queen, and his daughter
Berenice, the Queen of Virgins. Then
follows the decree in Greek, hieroglyphic,
and demotic. This stella has already been
placed in the Boolak Museum, which,
with the additions of the past year, is
now quite as rich in monuments, tablets,
mcrtuary, relics, and writings-barring
historical papyri-as are the combined
collections Of Europe. This is as it
should be, for Egyptian relics have an
artistic value here, which they lose in
the uncongenial climate and surrounding
OF Europe and America.
The second discovery that have to
announce, is that of two tombs Of the VI.
Dynasty, which present the earliest
known instances of the arch. These
tombs are Of private persons of high
rank. They were discovered near the
most southerly group of Sakkara pyra-
mids, and within stones throw Of the