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

DURING 19 CENTURY : EGYPT 657
insight into the oldest construction and inflexion of the
verbs ; in short, nearly every branch of grammar has been
most unexpectedly enriched with the numerous examples
which these newly discovered sayings offer. But it will take
decades in order to raise the whole linguistic
treasure which
they contain, and to put it to use. The value which these
pyramid texts have for Egyptology will perhaps be better
understood if we compare them with the Vedas, the oldest
literary monuments of India, with which in their contents
they are closely related. Imagine what would be the state
of the science of Indogermanic Philology and Indogermanic
Archaeology without a knowledge of these oldest literary
productions of India! In this wav we can appreciate the
treasure which has been handed down to the science of
Egyptology, and in fact to history in general, by the unlocking
of the pyramids of Saqqara.
The good fortune which accompanied Maspero in his
opening of the Onnos pyramid and its neighbors caused him
to attack four others lying in the cemetery of Saqqara, but
without result. They contained no inscriptions. Besides
the excavations of the pyramids the examination of the private
tombs, the so-called mastabas, was continued, which had
been begun by Lepsius and Mariette. Near Saqqara a large
number of well preserved tombs of the Old and Middle
Empires was discovered by Maspero, while De Morgan had
the good fortune to lay open the greatest of the known mastabas
near the pyramid of Othoes. It belonged to a certain
Mereruka, who lived under the first kings of the Sixth
Dynasty, and consists of not less than thirty-one chambers
and passages, most of which were furnished with fine reliefs
and inscriptions.
The group of pyramids of Dahshur which joins those
of Saqqara on the south, and which consists
of three pyramids
of limestone and two of Nile mud bricks, had up
to that time defied all attempts to explore their interior or to