The prediction of Taylor, quoted above, “that M. Mariette, though a
young man, would yet see his name inscribed beside those of Burckhardt,
Belzoni and Layard,” is in a fair way for fulfillment; for the finding
of the wonderful tombs of Sakkara, and their magnificent sarcophagi, is,
perhaps, the greatest discovery which has been made relative to the
antiquities of Egypt, since the days of Belzoni himself. The tomb, a
view of the entrance to which is given in the cut below, is situated in
the desert near Sakkara, to the north-west of and near the pyramid,
about four or five hours’ ride from Cairo, by way of Toura, where the
Nile must be crossed. Monsieur Mariette, to whose knowledge and research
this discovery is due, is employed by the French government. A passage
in Strabo having led him to infer that a line of sphinxes led to the
Serapeum, he commenced his search, under a firman from the viceroy of
Egypt, about two years and a half since, in the moving sand-hills of
Sakkara. He discovered the line of sphinxes, one of which had been found
in 1832, by Signor Marucchi; but they not being in a straight direction,
and turning abruptly at the entrance of the Serapeum, it was with
difficulty they were traced. They were one hundred and forty in number,
and sixteen feet apart. The whole avenue proved eleven hundred and
twenty feet in length. At the termination were eleven Greek statues of
Homer, Pindar, Solon, Lycurgus, Aristotle, and other poets,
philosophers, and lawgivers of Greece. One sphinx, having the name of
Apis inscribed upon it, was met with under a depth of sixty or seventy
feet of sand: stone peacocks nine feet high, and colossal lions, were
also found here. The tomb of Apis was now sought for, and discovered,
after a whole year of labor, on the twelfth of November, 1851. From the
avenue a mastaba, or bench, and passage two hundred and ninety feet
long, leads to a pylon, the entrance of the great temple. The tomb runs
from south to north, and the great gallery from east to west. This is
about five hundred and twenty yards in length, and from four to five
yards wide. The chambers are not formed throughout the whole length of
the gallery, and some passages are altogether without them. The
hieroglyphic inscriptions on the tomb are, in one instance, if not more,
unfinished; and the doors erected at the entrance are too small to have
allowed the passage of the sarcophagi, and must, therefore, have been
built after the latter were introduced. The chambers are not opposite
each other, but arranged alternately, in the usual manner of Egyptian
places of sepulture. The appearance of this long gallery, when lighted
up by numerous candles, receding in dim perspective into gloom—the
massive sarcophagi, of polished granite, each in its chamber, looking
tranquillity, is an imposing sight, as may be seen in the next following
cut. They are of enormous size and weight: one, and that not the
largest, has been estimated to weigh, including the lid, upward of sixty
tuns. To have moved these and lowered them into their receptacles, which
are some six feet below the floor of the gallery, in so confined a
space, must have required a considerable amount of mechanical skill and
power. In the walls are holes, apparently for the introduction of the
ends of beams. The chambers may, however, have been filled with sand,
the sarcophagus pushed in and gradually lowered by abstracting the sand.
The under side of one of the sarcophagi is rounded, and it was kept
steady by wooden blocks on each side. When these are removed it can be
rocked by the hand. A groove, about two feet broad and two or three
inches in depth, runs down the middle of the gallery. A wooden capstan
was found near the tombs, and is supposed to have been used for moving
the stones. The entrance is inclined. The tombs are excavated in a soft
friable limestone, containing numerous small veins of gypsum, about half
an inch in thickness. To prevent the roof from falling, it has been
coated with flagstones, cemented to it by a gypseous cement; but, either
by the hand of violence, or that of time, these have been detached, and
have fallen to the ground, encumbering, and partially choking the
galleries and rooms. The mortar, however, still adheres in several
places to the walls, and projects where the joints of the stones have
been. In one chamber is a self-sustained stone arch; another proof, if
any were now necessary, that its construction was known to the ancients.
This chamber contains a small sarcophagus, in which, probably, were the
bones of a young bull. The bones of bulls have been found in several
sarcophagi; but every one had been opened, and some heaped with stones;
an eastern mark of contempt, probably the work of the Persians. At the
entrance were numerous _ex voto_ offerings of inscribed tablets inserted
in small recesses in the walls. There are also inscriptions, in the
Demotic character, on the outer doorway. In some chambers are large
recesses to the right and left of the tomb, which in one instance
contained a large granite tablet with hieroglyphics. The number of
sarcophagi already discovered is twenty-five.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE TOMBS OF SAKKARA.]
These tombs merit the visit of all antiquaries and travelers passing
through Egypt; and M. Mariette’s work describing them is looked for with
anxiety by all _savans_. To his kindness and courtesy, which, as well as
his hospitality, are well known, the public are indebted for the greater
portion of this information. Near to Sakkara, on the site of Memphis,
Hekekyan Bey has been making excavations connected with the geological
investigations of the Nile valley, instituted at the request of Mr.
Leonard Horner and the Geological Society of London, by the viceroy, who
has very recently received from the English government, through Mr.
Murray, a letter of thanks for his liberal aid to the cause of science.
A view of the great gallery of these tombs, as it appears when lighted
up, is given on the next page.