New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-30
THE BIG FIND AT KARNAK.
AMMON AND PRINCE ANTEF
DISCOVERED.

THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NJ. LEGRAlN's
DIscovERY-FEArUREs OF THE VAST
TEMPLE OF KARNAK.
| To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir Students OF art history would have re-
J joced be with to-day at the Temple OF
Karnak and The natives at work there, scrub
bling the dirt OF centuries from two OF the most
remarkable statues found. One OF these was
! in aabaster and represented the great Theban god
! Ammon; the other which is of the highest histor-
cal Importance. was set up by King Usertesen In
honor OF his father. in the days Of Abraham
The art student would not care to cast even a
passing glance upon this latter historical land
mark but he will become enthusiastic when he has
seen the aabaster god. He is Is feet high and
was made from one sold block OF stone. the
largest alabaster statue in the world. Just now he
is in three pieces but he will have his sceptre
in his hand again and II people Will considerably
overlook a few patches. cracks and other ravages
| of time they will worship him just the ancient
| Egyptians did over three thousand years ago
| Indeed he is worthy of il, because he is so beaut-
| full.
| At present the statue is broken into three main
parts with some smaller parts scattered into many
small fragments but these do not destroy the unity
| OF the whole. The head and shoulders are in one
large piece, the trunk another and the feet and
pedestal form the third. the whole when put to-
gether constituting eighteen-foot standing Image
| head
tact. except that a small piece is broken from one
side Of the nose. The features perfect In execu
ton. the ears delicate shapely and lips smi-
! ing as II Ammon speaking to a friend. The
| shoulders. which are part Of the same piece as
| the head are bold and massive. but withal SYM
| metrical. The trunk and feet in perfect har
mony with the godlike head. 1t perfect
| work Of II Il had been carved by some Greek
| Praxteles. although the hand OF the Egyptian
sculptor who hewed it was dust perhaps a thousand
years before the birth Of the Greek
The statue has doubtless been in the ruins for
long time. II the custom OF vandas. like
new line Of priests or the devotees of new relig-
ion like Christianity and Mahometanism de-
stroy or at least eface the images Of gods. Thus
at the temple OF Dendera the Christians have
scratched the face Of every image Of Hathor which
adorned scores OF capitals. So II this image OF
Ammon had been knocked down by those who were
not his followers his features. too. would doubt
less bear the mark: but, his alone is
broken the Disagreement must be attributed TO
something besides iconoclasm-p possibly OF the
columns of the hypostyle hall fell upon it, This
conjecture is supported by the fact that the statue
found close by the entrance fallen
column.
ITS AGE DEFINITELY DETERMINED.
The age OF this work of art be determined
with some degree Of defniteness. 1t will be re-
membered that before the time Of Amenhotep "
king Of the eighteenth dynasty, about 1890
r. g, Ammon the god OF Thebes. which was
the ca pital OF the New Empire Amenhotep de-
stroyed the worship Of Ammon and forced the peo-
pie TO adopt the worship OF god called "Eten"
which is a word for the He moved the capital
from Thebes. and made the place called Tel
el-Amarna the chief city of Egypt and the seat Of
his government But upon the death of this king
the priests OF Ammon Thebes regained the
power and overthrow the religious movement OF
Amenhotep. The following kings (of the nine
teenth dynasty devotedly attached 10 the
worship Of Ammon. 1t doubtless at This time
the age OF Rameses II, that the statue was made
Had IT been made before Amenhotep would have
destroyed IT, and IT is hardly possible TO assume
that the decadent Of any later than that Of
Rameses II could have produced it.
NJ Georges Legran, Frenchman one Of the
| assistant ''conservateurs" OF the Gzeh Museum.
at Cairo. found the statue. He naturally all
excitement as piece by piece. the native Arabs dug
out the fragments and washed them of. II is a
rare thing for an Psychologist to show such en-
thuslasm. But why shouldn't he? Just for fun he
asked If he going to send the god to the
British Museum. 'Jamas"' was his reply. Prob
ably no one ever said never" more vehemently;
all the nasal twang ne could muster gave a very
defiant intonation to his ejaculation. Professor
Navile who came up soon after the discovery, ex-
pressed the wish that the statue should remain
where II properly belongs not in any museum, but
in the temple where Ammon was worshipped This
seems indeed very appropriate. for the great
| q feeling OF sentiment which would incline TO
respect a statue found here. 1t has been the Gus
tom heretofore to strip the temples Of all their
decorations and hurry them away 20 England, 10
Paris TO Berlin, 10 install all great discoveries
in the Egyptian National Museum, at Gizeh. sub
urb OF Cairo In any Of these places even tires
seeing so many fine things Both NJ Legran and
Professor Naville seemed glad that 10 France be-
longed the honor Of the discovery.
AN IMPORTANT INSCRIPTION
The second statue is slightly under nfeslze and is
carved neither poorly nor artistically from black
notified granite. 1t is in sitting posture. NJ.
Isegrain found the face yesterday and the body
this morning With the exception Of being head
less this statue is perfectly preserved. 1t was
perhaps so inofensive- looking that no one cared
TO destroy It. Usertesen caused It TO be made in
honor OF his father. The important thing about
this statue is a cription carved on a slab in the
lap 1t is written in hieroglyphlcs, and the trans
latlon is follows:
The King OF Upper and Lower Egypt. Ra-
| Kheper-Ka d. e. Usertesen l. this being another
name by which he was called, has made in re-
membrance OF his father the Prince Antef. an
Offering OF a thousand loaves OF bread, thousand
oxen and fowl. a thousand garments. thousand
bolts OF CLOTH and OF incense like unto faithful
| follower OF Ammon. Lord OF the Thrones Of the
! Two Lands. The Prince Antef. son Of AkouL"
The historical significance OF this inscription IS
| great. only to Egyptoogists and special stu
dents of history but to every one who has
visited Egypt or who has read OF the Temple OF
| Karnak The great German explorer Lepsius, the
| Frenchman Marlette and others have shown that
! this vast temple was gradual growth proba bly,
reaching back in its beginnings TO the Middle EN-
pire kings. two thousand years before Christ.
| But for this date they had only late Inscription
OF the side walls OF the temple. due TO kings
who reigned five six centuries after the begin
| ming OF the temple. The finding OF this Middle En-
pire statue is highly important. therefore, con-
temporary evidence which definitely confirms the
beliefs Of Lepsius, Marietta and others and posi-
lively carries back five hundred years the date
OF the building OF this temple
! Uscrtesen ]. called Ra-kheperKa in the inscrip-
ton. the second king OF the twelfth dynasty.
| This dynasty the nucleus Of the Middle Empire
i d. .--ae