FORTY-FIVE CENTURIES AGO,

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 10, 13 January 1908, Page 2

FORTY-FIVE CENTURIES AGO,

WONDERFUL RELIC& OF ANCIENT EGPYT.

A display has been recently hejd at King's College, London, of the chief results achieved by the officers of the Egyptian Exploration Fund at Thebes during the past season. Accounts have already appeared of i the discovery made by M. Naville, at Deir .el Bahatt, of the soul-sanctuary of the great monarch Menfcu^het<ep, who lived 4500 ye^rs ago.. From 'this; as well as from the 1 tombs', of kings and ,queens and princesses, which aoouiid imthis sacred valley, there haverbeen: br<(>ught away an amazing wealth- of 'sculpture, some of, it representing the zenith of early Egyptian art, as well asa great mass of other material:7 "Here, upon one wall, a king is depicted in the act ot' holding the, hand of his queen; there il'atpriflcjess bending over a flower whose fragrance she; inhales with placid delight. Ab^ye ;the ,portjraitß,of a galaxy of queens there 4s poised a Frescoed heaven of deepest blue, bespangled .with gold©ll P ay.s> Here is a scene iportraying thelking; holding an investiture^ an^bes^^wgiw,royal favour' upon a trusty v chamberlain; close by' vy6u will noteithe: keeper .'pi the privy piirs© making an official round 01 the temple precincts. Among the funerary .models may be found the cowhide shields of the household troops, th© crews of the royal yachts, symbolic ears, prescribed by the royal artists for the cure of deafness, the artificial flowers made or rushes 'itt- the; manner; -of modern cripples. And 5 Here are sonic slabs from the rpavement of a shrine to irhich' Wniipgh pilgrims, were! wottt ;t» resort, leaving behind them the jjude ©ttttines of their sandals, inscribed within with theirj nanles. .-.;; k Another exhibition .was held in the rooms of the 1 Socieity of Antiquaries at Burlington House. It contained the objects unearthed by professor Garstang at Abydos,' jon behalf of the University of Liverpool, and during his absence in Asia Minor the display has been 1 arranged vby, the eealous -young assistants, -•'Mr. Harpld ■ Jones and Mr Tref usis,. who are to* be- congratulated upon a season of singular interest and fascination. No pilgrim (remarksi a J^QU^Ott^coh^mporaryj in quest of iiew sensations should miss the ttppOrtuhitjf ot seeihg thes» exhibits beforel they are distributed among private collections. They are less technical than most of the other results of the year's exploratipiusj, jarid their" glamour and charm ]pSay be appreciated apart' from their Special value to the student.- It was a joyous; world, the Egypt into which Abr&m led the comely Sarah 40 ceriSuries ago. Their ear-rihgl were of folid gold ; they mounted their amethyst and garnet beads into ijdecklets with silver mounts, : the handles of; their toilet ; mirrors"were choicely carved! in 5 stone; .when -they j asked in the mart for a spoon they were shown novelties fashioned in the ;shape of a Jhand holding a shell. The •art china in delicate* shades of bluo iwhich they placed, about the house included toy hedgehogs, bristling with a panoply; of spinesl, toy baboons, a i hippopotamus, a donkey playing a I lute, a pair of wrestlers, a monkey in i a cage. One of the most exquisite pieces of modelling ia a vase of. blue marble, wrought into the form of a pair of .trussed geese, a^nd there is a tiny child lifting his hand to his head in an attitude of pensive grace. ! All these may be roughly attributed to a period about 2000 B^C. Of a later time,,extending into the earliest, Christian centuries, although there is no trace as yet of Christian influence, may be seen the contents of a cemetery which appears to have been used before the rise of the Ptolemies as the last resting-place of myriads of sacred birds. The mummied remains

were interred in huge red jars, a hundred at a time, and they consist for the most part of, tiny hawks, although here and there Were found the remains 0? vultnro^;.sij3h in, a jar or-itfv^wny; In, the n||d^?&f: one^ot^the toi^Ks"'^ the hawKjsHh&reJ we^;'»l|sml ewjSps^ white.-m^B; to^servp!fa^she j^os<B^nutrime^:]:of;^sjfe .s'^edf^h-dsjinj th|J spirit woßd\ A')%^omMtotofyWsW. earthed ip'box^with^i;sliding \i@i, upori which were mouldett' the forms of a pair of mice, whilel^lfefe were preserved the bones of tM victims destined as food for the birds of prey; , ~;

In after years this hawk cemetery was used over and over again for the interment of human remains. So poor were some of the felaheen who brought the dust of their loved ones to Abydos that they could not afford to purchase even the simplest of funerary figures, those "answerers" whose destiny it. was to respond on behalf of the departed when, on the threshold of the hereafter, th^ir spirits"" came face to face with the dread judge to whom thew must account. " Nothing could be, more pKlhetic than a rudely-fashioned pisd bowl, filled with tiny bits Jtf-.^clay, each pinched untrained fingers into the" merest caricature';of human form. What a tale it tells'oi tender regard in the midst of uaiittcrable - penury. The same cemetery furnished a wonderful series of sculptured tombstones, which are destined to hold an importanut placp in the history of art. For they offer a; means of bridging over the' transition period betewen the Ibeautiful memorials of pre-Christian Greece and the art which we call Byzantine. Here you may see the bearded, short-robed figures of the catacombs standing between debased effigies of Anubis and Osiris, and surmounted by serpents ati<S other symbols of the ancient paganism of the Nile Valley. They helt> us to understand that the ungainly style of the earliest art did not arise from a neglect of beauty by the youthful Church, but was-influenced by the general decay of'the artistic impulse throughout the civilised world.