Memphis (of ancient) Eygpt (3)
Where the kings of the XIIIth Dynasty and the Hyksos or "Shepherds" were buried, we do not know. The kings of the restored Theban empire were all interred at Thebes. There are, in fact, no known royal sepulchres between the Fayyem and Abydos. The great kings were mostly buried in the neighbourhood of Memphis, Abydos, and Thebes. The sepulchres of the
"Middle Empire"--the XIth to XIIIth Dynasties--in the neighbourhood of the Fayyem may fairly be grouped with those of the same period at Dasher, which belongs to the necropolis of Memphis, since it is only a mile or two south of Sakkera.
It is chiefly with regard to the sepulchres of the kings that the most momentous discoveries of recent years have been made at Thebes, and at Sakkera, Abusir, Dasher, and Lisht, as at Abydos. For this reason we deal in succession with the finds in the necropoles of Abydos, Memphis, and Thebes respectively. And with the sepulchres of the "Old Kingdom," in the Memphite necropolis proper, we have naturally grouped those of the "Middle Kingdom" at Dasher, Lisht, Illahun, and Hawara.
Some of these modern discoveries have been commented on and illustrated by Prof. Maspero in his great history. But the discoveries that have been made since this publication have been very important,--those at Abusir, indeed, of first-rate importance, though not so momentous as
those of the tombs of the Ist and IId Dynasties at Abydos, already described. At Abu Roash and at Geza, at the northern end of the Memphite necropolis, several expeditions have had considerable success, notably those of the American Dr. Reisner, assisted by Mr. Mace, who excavated the royal tombs at Umm el-Ga'ab for Prof. Petrie, those of the German Drs. Steindorff and Borchardt, the latter working for the Beutsch-Orient Gesellschaft and those of other American excavators. Until the full publication of the results of these excavations appears,
very little can be said about them. Many mastaba-tombs have, it is understood, been found, with interesting remains. Nothing of great historical importance seems to have been discovered, however. It is otherwise when we come to the discoveries of Messrs. Borchardt and Schefer at Abusir, south of Geza and north of Sakkera. At this place results of first-rate historical importance have been attained.
The main group of pyramids at Abusir consists of the tombs of the kings Sahuri, Neferarikari, and Ne-user-Ri, of the Vth Dynasty. The pyramids themselves are smaller than those of Geza, but larger than those of Sakkera. In general appearance and effect they resemble those of Geza,
but they are not so imposing, as the desert here is low. Those of Geza, Sakkera, and Dasher owe much of their impressiveness to the fact that they are placed at some height above the cultivated land. The excavation and planning of these pyramids were carried out by Messrs. Borchardt and Schefer at the expense of Baron von Bissing, the well-known Egyptologist
of Munich, and of the Deutsch-Orient Gesell-schaft of Berlin. The antiquities found have been divided between the museums of Berlin and Cairo.
