Democratic messenger., 1894-07-14
A GREAT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.
An Account of the Excavations That Have
Been Made at Deir ell Bahari.


Been Made Mt neir el Bahari.
Built fer the worship of dead man,
like all the great fancs on the left bank
of the Nile at Thcbcs, the temple at
Deir el Bahari has no progressive ma
tional character. Successive dynasties
have not altered nor enlarged il. 1t re-
mains an expression of n single period.
the zenith of Egyptian greatness. Its
histor. - "a building is comprised in the
additions that the queen herself made
to her own plan and the mutilation of
her names and titles by order of her
vengeful nephew. The hereto Ameno-
phis hacked out here. as everywhere.
the figures and names of Amen Ra: here
as everywhere. the inevitable Rameses
ii restored them in style unworthy of
the first hand. In neglectful times the
mountain was allowed to slip and break
in roofs and fill up courts. A Coptic
convent, built over part Of the highest
terrace, added its rubbish to the mounds
formed already over the lower levels.
Hardly n third of the whole temple was
visible two years ago. and the rest
bCCAitu uOOulNA W AOiCNCA Nv
feet of earth and stone.
The Egypt exploration fund. howev-
er, came to the rescue in the early part
of last year, and with 200 men and
Decauville tramway succeeded in clear
ing the greater part of the highest ter
race before the hot season began The
finds made in the process were rs re-
markable as unexpected. The buried
north end, instead of being symmetrical
with the south, as Mariette had sup
posed. upheld the general character Of
Egyptian buildings by being utterly I'M
symmetrical and abnormal. To balance
the small chambers Of offerings" ON
the south there was found ON the north
q large hall, i'll the inner part Of which
rose high altar dedicated to Harmachis
by the queen. The displaced stones have
been built in again now. and the great
platform of brilliant white limestone,
with its friczc Of hieroglyphics and its
graduated ascent, stands almost as com
plete as it ever did, the only such altar
extant in all Egypt. Beside it little
funerary chapel runs into the rock. its
walls q marvel Of brilliant coloring.
During the present season operations
have been carried on with larger staff.
including two artists. to reproduce the
sculptures for publication. Two hun
drcd and fifty men have been set TO work
on the great mounds under which the
northern half Of the central terrace was
buried. and bit by bit they are being
carried away in the Decauville cars to
deep pit quarter Of mile away. Pillar
by pillar the graceful colonnade which
ran round the north side and northwest
corner of the terrace is emerging from
the earth Until this year not one per-
son in n hundred who visited DER el
Bahari knew that il existed, and still
fewer suspected that it ended in one of
the finest painted halls in Egypt soon
to be opened to light and air.
1t is always interesting to watch an
excavation in Egypt at any stage Of its
progress, for SO n.any treasures Of SO
many kinds lie everywhere in the pre-
serving sands Here at Deir el Bahari
the diggers. drawn from Theban viii
lages. have been tomb robbers to a man
and have lynx eyes for small antiquities.
Pecking away at the lower layers of the
mounds. they let hardly minute pass
without picking up scarabs. amulets.
beads or bits of that wonderful blue
glazed ware which ranks among the
finest products Of the ancient world
Here fragment Of potsherd. inscribed
with Coptic writing. slides down the
earth slope; there rolls limestone chip
covered with Demotic characters These
are the archives and. it seems. also the
library catalogue of the monastery built
here in the early days Of Christianity.
Now and then a refuse heap is reached,
and bits of papyrus. Greek, Demotic
and Coptic. are taken out in handfuls,
together with broken objects of every
sort and kind and many precious frag
ments of sculptured walls.
Ttuas