Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-05

ScriptionS to funds and orders for the very
interesting publications of the association.
There are about a thousand members in
the United States scattered in forty-f1ve
differt cities, who pay fee OF 80 a year
each, which entities them to the publ!ca-
tons of the society and perm them to
distribute as many copies as they like to
libraries, museums, colleges and other in
situations of learning in proportion to their
subscriptions. Prof Thomas Day Seymour
of Yale University, Mr.. Charles L. Hutch
inson of Chicago and Mr.. William Good
win are the representatives of the organiza-
ton in the United States
Under the direction of the society Mr..
Naville of Geneva has been digging great
temple out from the desert at DER
Bachari, on the Nile, and last winter made
some brilliant discoveries. including in
scriptions and reliefs of the XII dynasty.
about $500 years B. c. The work will be
carried on even more rapidly during the
coming winter because Of the generosity of
Mr.. w. NJ. Laffan of New York, who has
given $500 PAY FnesTs Pesre Is at work
at Abydos making discoveries which throw
light upon the earliest periods Of Egyptian
history.
Many Boxes of Manuscripts.
Dr. B. P Grenfel and Prof. A. s. Hunt
each winter since 1895 have been digging at
the village of Behnesa, which covers the
ruins of OXyrhynchus, a large town on the
edge of the Libyan desert, 120 miles south
Of Cairo and eight miles from the river
Nile. Oxyrhynchus was formerly an i'm
portant city, a capital of one of the prov
inces. and the residence of many scholars
and classical students who, during the first
part Of the Christian era, when Egypt was
a center of learning and literature collected
the works of classical writer's, historians.
theologians and philosophers, written upon
papyrus. paper made of the plth OF
reed growing in the Nile valley. Some
time about the fourth or fifth century that
city was destroyed, and for 1,50O years the
ruins have gradually become buried under
sand and rubbish. In the debris are the
remains of many libraries, and for several
years DR.. Grenfell and DR.. Hunt have been
engaged with large gangs of native work.
men searching for manuscripts Of value.
They have had remarkable success and
have made discoveries of profound inter-
est. After handing over to the Egyptian
government $50 of the most complete and
best-preserved manuscripts the explorers
have brought to Oxford upwards of go
boxes of papyri covered with writing in
Greek, Latin, Coptic and Arabic, which will
require many years of study to work out.
Last winter they got ninety-one boxes of
manuscripts and DR.. Grenfell told me that
he was going back again in November to
resume the excavations. The field will be
exhausted after another years work. and
he fears that he will never be able to find
another deposit of equal importance.
The Kind Of Writings Found.
1t Is not known why these manuscripts
were thrown away, but the contents of
libraries, public archives Of the city, the
books and records of merchants and officials
of the government seem to have been
dumped unceremonously among other rub
bish to become buried under the drifting
sands. DR.. Grenfell tells me that they have
found an immense quantity of private and
official correspondence. royal ordinances,
municipal laws and regulations, reports of
offcials, records of legal proceedings. mar
rage contracts, bills of sale, leases, Wills,
agreements, contracts covering various
transactions, questions addressed to ora
cles, invitations to dinners and to weddings,
meat bills, grocery bills, and, indeed, sam
pies of everything which could be COM
United to writing by the educated popula-
ton of an Egyptian city. On small piece
of papyrus Is letter from a boy who re-
proaches his father for not having taken
him on a visit to Alexandria,; this was
found with the record of an interview with
an emperor.
Importance and represent every field of
literary activity of the time. Among them
are a considerable number of the Homeric
poems, one containing nearly all of the fifth
book of the Iliad; a hitherto unknown ode
of Sappho; bit Of "a lost tragedy Of
Aeschylus; part of the history of Thucy-
dides from the first century; parts Of Plato's
Republic and dialogues; several ora
tions of Demosthenes; a fragment of
Euclfds geometry with diagram; list
Of Olympic victors and other classics OF the
very greatest interest.
Last winter Prof. Grenfell found several
poems by Pindar and Euripides. The for
mer were paeans, odes of supplication and
thanksgiving to a god and are the first Of
that class of compositions by Pindar ever
found. He also secured copy Of a hitherto
unknown tragedy by Euripides The scene
is laid at Nema and the principal charac-
tiers are Lycurgus, King of Nemea, Hypsi-
plye, his queen, and her two sons Euneus
and Thoas. He found a symposium by
Plato, a speech by Demostheres arraigning
Boeotos and part of an hitherto unknown
history of Greece, covering the period be-
two Incidents of the Peloponnesian war not
recorded elsewhere. Last winter, Prof.
Grenfell told me, they found the remains of
another classical library, evidently collected
in the second or third century and thrown
away in the fifth century. The owner evil
IDENTIFY had fad for Sappho and other lyric
poets.
Words of the Savior.
The greatest public interest attaches to a
couple of manuscripts containing sayings Of
Jesus which are not found in the Gospels
In his room at Queens College, Oxford Dr.
Grenfell showed me a fragment of worm
eaten vellum perfectly written in minute
cept in one or two places, where a few
words are lost 1t describes conversation
between Jesus and >Pharisee In temple
The PhariSee reproacheS Jesus and His dis
ciples with their failure to perform the con-
ventional ceremonies of publication before
entering the holy place. He describes in de-
tail the formalites which he had himself
observed and Jesus replies, contrasting out
ward with inward purity. There is consid-
cradle resemblance between this dialogue
and his denunciation of the Pharisees In
Matthew xxiii:5 and Luke xi:37 but the
incident of which the account is complete
and very striking. is quite different from
anything recorded in the GOSPELS DR.
Grenfeu called my attention to the cult
waited literary style. the picturesque vigor
of ChriSt's conversation, and the fact that
he uses several words not found in the New
Testament.
.rrba or;oip a,a yol,,a +ti, g.,