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

DURING 19 1" CENTURY : EGYPT 665
Concerning the old town of Memphis, situated near
the
modern villages of Bidrashen and Mitrahena, only little is
known. The enormous mound which marks its site has
been little, if at all, explored; and of the great sanctuary of
Ptah which adorned the town, little more is left than the
fcwo colossal statues of Rameses II.,
which once stood at its
entrance, one of which was discovered by Caviglia and
Soane in 1820, and the other in more recent times.
We will now leave the ancient metropolis and turn to
another district, which has for a long time been neglected
by archaeologists, but which during the last decade has
yielded us rich treasures, namely, the Fayum.
Ill
THE
FAYUM
The Fayum is a depression in the desert plain, situated
on the western edge of the Nile valley, which even in ancient
times had been turned into most fertile land by a
branch of the Nile. The ancient capital of this district was
Shedet. The Greeks of older times called it Crocodilopolis,
because the crocodiles, sacred to the local deity Suchos,
were held in veneration there. Under the Ptolemies its
name was changed to Arsinoe.
Up to the middle of the seventies important finds of
monuments had not been made in it. But in the year 1878
were offered for sale large and small papyrus fragments,
some of which were covered with Greek, Coptic or Arabic
characters; others with Latin, Persian and Hebrew,- comprising
literary fragments and letters of various kinds.
Arab peasants had hit upon the archives and dust bins of
the old provincial town and had brought these manuscripts
to the market at Cairo, whence they found their way into
different European museums, for the most part those of