Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

638 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
Further may be mentioned a rather mutilated temple of
Rameses II., a smaller chapel founded by the same ruler in
the town, as well as the large temple of the god Osiris.
Enormous finds were made in the different burying-places
in
the neighborhood of the town, dating from the earliest to
the latest times. Over fifteen thousand monuments are
reported to have been discovered, and the catalogue alone
published by Mariette shows over eight hundred tombstones,
most of which belong to the Middle Empire and
bear important inscriptions. At Dendera, the Greek Tentyra,
the great sanctuary of the goddess of love, Hathor,
built under the last Ptolemies, was in the main cleared of
rubbish, and numerous other temples and chapels in the
neighborhood were laid open. The numerous inscriptions
and sculptures found covering the temple were copied and
afterwards published in
large volumes.
On the ground of ancient Thebes there was hardly a
known monument which was not examined. On the east
bank of the Nile, in the royal temple of Karnak, extensive
excavations were undertaken, which were productive of
numerous finds of inscriptions and other monuments. The
discovery of the oldest part of the temple, which dates from
the Middle Empire, being also a success, Mariette was in a
position to fix the architectural history of these temple buildings
from their foundation in the time of the Ptolemies down
to the latest periods. On the west bank of the Nile, at
Thebes, there were laid open in the south the temple buildings
of Medinet Habu, and partly cleared of rubbish.
the north, near Drah Abu'l-Nagga, the tombs belonging
to the Middle Empire were examined, and the matchless
terrace temple of Der el-Bahri was partly uncovered. In
connection with the latter, on the middle terrace the interesting
relief sculptures representing an expedition in ships
to the incense countrv of Punt were discovered.
In Edfu, the ancient Apollonopolis Magna, Mariette had
In