The excavations at Tell-el-Maskhutah, of which illustrations are given,
have resulted in some of the most interesting and important discoveries
that have ever rewarded the labors of archæologists. The idea of
founding an English society for the purpose of exploring the buried
cities of the Delta originated with Miss A. B. Edwards, the well-known
authoress of "One Thousand Miles up the Nile," and was carried into
effect mainly by her own efforts and the energy and zeal of Mr. Reginald
Stuart Poole, of the British Museum, aided by the substantial support of
Sir Erasmus Wilson, without whose munificent donations the work could
never have been accomplished. The "Egypt Exploration Fund," thus founded
and maintained, was fortunate in securing the co-operation of M.
Naville, the distinguished Swiss Egyptologist, who set out for Egypt
in January of this year with the object of conducting the explorations
contemplated by the society. After a consultation with M. Maspero, the
Director of Archæology in Egypt, who has throughout acted a friendly
part toward the society's enterprise, M. Naville decided to begin his
campaign by attacking the mounds at Tell-el-Maskhutah, on the Freshwater
Canal, a few miles from Ismailia. The mounds of earth here were known to
cover some ancient city, for some sphinxes and statues had already
been found; but what city it could be, archæologists were at a loss to
determine; though some, with Professor Lepsius at their head, believed
it to be none other than the Rameses or "Raamses," which the Children of
Israel built for Pharaoh, and whence they started on their final Exodus.
Any identification, however, of the sites of the Biblical cities in
Egypt was so far merely speculative. Practically nothing definite was
known as to the geography of the Israelite sojourn, except that the Land
of Goshen was undoubtedly in the eastern part of the Delta, and that
Zoan was Tanis, whose immense mounds are to form the next subject of
the society's operations. The route of the Exodus was as uncertain as
everything else connected with Israel's sojourn in Egypt. What sea they
crossed, and where, and by what direction they journeyed to it, remained
vexed questions, although Dr. Brugsch had set up a plausible theory, in
which the "Serbonian Bog" played an important part.
[Illustration: THE EXCAVATIONS PITHOM-SUCCOTH]
Six weeks of steady digging at Tell-el-Maskhutah, under M. Naville's
skillful direction, placed all these speculations in quite a new light.
The city under the mounds proved to be none other than Pithom, the
"store" or "treasure city" which the Children of Israel "built for
Pharaoh" (Exod. i. 11). Its character as a store place or granary is
seen in its construction; for the greater part of the area is covered
with strongly built chambers, without doors, suitable for the storing of
grain, which would be introduced through trap doors in the floor
above, of which the ends of the beams are still visible. These curious
chambers, unique in their appearance, are constructed of large, well
made bricks, sometimes mixed with straw, sometimes without it, dried in
the sun, and laid with mortar, with great regularity and precision. The
walls are 10 ft. thick, and the thickness of the inclosing wall which
runs round the whole city is more than 20 ft. In one corner was the
temple, dedicated to the god Tum, and hence called Pe-tum or Pithom, the
"Abode of Tum." Only a few statues, groups, and tablets (some of which
have been presented to the British Museum) remained to testify to its
name and purpose; the temple itself was finally destroyed when the
Romans turned Pithom into a camp, as is shown by the position of the
limestone fragments and of the Roman bricks. The statues, however, and
especially a large stele, are extremely valuable, since they tell the
history of the city during eighteen centuries. From a study of these
monuments, M. Naville has learned that Pithom was its sacred, and Thukut
(Succoth) its civil, name; that it was founded by Rameses II., restored
by Shishak and others of the twenty-second dynasty; was an important
place under the Ptolemies, who set up a great stele to commemorate the
founding of the city of Arsinoë in the neighborhood; was called Hero or
Heroöpolis by the Greeks (a name derived from the hieroglyphic _ara_,
meaning a "store house"), and Ero Castra by the Romans, who occupied it
at all events as late as A.D. 306. Indications are also found of the
position of Pihahiroth, where the Israelites encamped before the
passage of the "Reedy Sea," and of Clysma. All these data are directly
contradictory to preconceived theories: Pithom, Succoth, Heroöpolis,
Pihahiroth, and Clysma had all been hypothetically placed in totally
different positions. The identification of Pithom with Succoth gives us
the first absolutely certain point as yet established in the route of
the Exodus, and completely overthrows Dr. Brugsch's theory. It is now
certain that the Israelites passed along the valley of the Freshwater
Canal and not near the Mediterranean and Lake Serbonis. The first
definite geographical fact in connection with the sojourn in the Land of
Egypt has been established by the excavations at Pithom. The historical
identification of Rameses II. with Pharaoh the oppressor also results
from the monumental evidence. One short exploration has upset a hundred
theories and furnished a wonderful illustration of the historical
character of the Book of Exodus. The finding of Pithom (Succoth)
is, however, only the beginning, we hope, of a series of important
discoveries. When enough money has been collected for the proposed
exploration of Zoan (Tanis), results of the highest interest to students
alike of the Bible and of Egyptian antiquities may, with certainty, be
predicted.
The uppermost view shows a portion of the diggings; a workman is
bringing up a barrow-load of soil from one of the deep store chambers
which the Children of Israel built more than three thousand years ago.
In the foreground lie the fragments of a fallen granite statue, the head
and face of which are intact. The other illustration is taken from the
temple end of the excavations. The sculptured group of Rameses the Great
seated between divinities is one of a pair that adorned the entrance;
its companion and the sphinxes that guarded the pylon are at Ismailia.
Beyond this group, and a little to the left, is seen the great Stele of
Pithom, set up by Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoë, and containing a
mass of important information in its long hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Behind this, and on either side, the massive brick walls of the store
chambers and the inclosing wall of the temple can be traced; while on
the right hand, in the middle distance, is a heap of limestone blocks,
already collected by Rameses II. for the completion or enlargement of
the temple. The excavations were photographed for M. Naville, by Herr
Emil Brugsch, of the Boulak Museum, and our illustrations are taken from
these photographs, supplemented by sketches.--_S.L.P., in Illustrated
London News_.
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