The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-25

seems as perfect a work of art as if It
had been carved by some Green Praxiteles
although the hand of the Egyptian sculp,
tor who hewed it was dust perhaps 1000
years before the birth of the Greek The
statue has doubtless been in the ruins for
a long time. Possibly one of the columns
of the hypostyie hall fell upon il long ago
This conjecture is supported by the fact
that the statue was found close by the en-
trance near the fallen column, The age
of this work Of art can be determined with
some degree of detiniteness. Before Am
enhotep ", King of the eighteenth dy-
nasty, about 1900 b c., Ammon was the
god of Thebes. Amenhotep destroyed the
worship of Ammon, but upon his death
the priests of Ammon at Thebes overthrow
the religious movement of Amenhotep. The
following Kings (Of the nineteenth dynas-
ty) were devotedly attached to the wor,
ship of Ammon 1t was doubtless at this
time, the age of Rameses II, that the
statue was made Had it been made be-
fore Amenhotep would have destroyed it,
and it is hardly possible to assume that
the decadent art of any later age than that
OF Rameses II could have produced it,
statue Made in POO ID. C.
The second statue, though less beauti-
full, is of greater archaeological interest,
bearing this inscription in hieroglyphics:
THE King of Upper and Lower Egypt
Ra-k heper-ka ii. e., Usertesen l, this be-
ing another name by which he was Called
has made in remembrance of his father,
the Prince Antef, an Offering of a thou
sand loaves of bread, a thousand oxen and
fowl, a thousand garments, a thousand
bolts of cloth, and of incense like unto a
faithful follower of AmmOn, lord of the
thrones of the two lands. The Prince An
tef, son of Akoui"
The historical significance of the inscrip-
ton is great, for the finding of this mid
die empire statue positively carries back
over 500 years the date of the building
of this temple. Usertesen I, called RAJ
kheper-Ka in the inscription, was the
second King of the twelfth dynasty This
dynasty was the nucleus of the middle
empire period, beginning in the twenty
second century before Christ. Usertesen
lived not later than POO B. c. No monu-
ment or inscription ever before found in
the temple was carved before 1900 B. C.
Mr.. Legrain unearthed it in the very part
of the building which had been supposed
TO belong to the twelfth dynasty. Those
who have visited Karnak will remember
the two beautiful granite columns in front
of the granite sanctuary of Thothmes III
At the base of these the statue was found
The cause of the fall of the present col
umns is undoubtedly the same which has
made the work of restoration even per-
ilous, the fact that the bases of the col
umns have crumbled. They are composed
of sandstone and the surrounding dust of
the ruins, containing as it does much nj
ire, so impregnates the waters of the in
undation that they become solution of
nitre, which enters into the stone and dis
integrates it. 1t is then turned into simple
sand, which may be brushed aside with
the hand.
The work of restoration in progress Is
under the supervision of Mr.. Legrain. He
has already spent four years here, and to
complete his work with the present. force
Will require ten years more. The labor
goes on during the six cooler months of
the year and 700 men are employed These
karnak excavations are the greatest task
ever attempted in Egypt The clearing be-
gan in the hypostyle hall of the temple
of Ammon. During the excavation the av-
enue Of rams head sphinxes was cleared
and many walls bearing interesting scuIp-
lures were here brought to light One of
the most important discoveries was I'M
doubleday that of the "Nilometer of Kar-
max" which, in contradiction to certain
expressed opinions, gives the level of va
rious floods of the Nile. By the inscrip-
lions and dates on this nilometer modif-
cations are made in the chronology of some
dynasties; the level of the floods and the
dates of the reign under which they oc-
CURED are documents of the highest his
tOrical Importance. A good deal of the
Egyptian chronology Is based on a flood
which took place in the third year of the
reign of King Osorkon II. This flood is
mentioned again on the "Karnak Nilome-
ter discovered my Mr.. Legratn The
Importance of this discovery will fully an
pear when the dates inscribed on the Milo
meter have been compared with other ac-
cepted chronological facts.