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

DURING 19 CENTURY: EGYPT (J71
overshadowed by three other discoveries, which Petrie also
fortunately made in the "Sea-country" of the Fayum.
To the north of the pyramid of Hawara, a large cemetery
extends in which the inhabitants of Shedet (Crocodilopolis =
Arsinoe), from the times of the Egyptian Middle Ages (2000
b. a), had buried their dead. The graves of the earlier
generations have been destroyed, while those of the Graeco-
Roman epoch, which were built under the Ptolemaic kings
and Roman emperors, are in a remarkably fine state of
preservation. Many bodies have been brought to light in
them, including over sixty, which bore the portrait of the
deceased painted on thin cedar wood in wax colors, placed
over their faces. These mummy pictures from Hawara
agree in style and workmanship with the Graf portraits,
which came from Ruba'at, and some of them compare in
beauty and execution very favorably with the latter. Besides
those bodies, which were ornamented with portraits,
also a large number of others have been found, furnished in
the pure Egyptian style, which, like the former, date from
the second or third century before our era.
Quite different is the picture of a second ruined site in
the Fayum, which is situated only about six miles to the
southeast of Hawara. There, near the present El-Lahun,
on the borders of the desert, King Usertesen II. of the
Twelfth Dynasty built a residence, in which he lived, together
with all his court. Near this town, which received
the name Hetep-Usertesen ("Satisfied is Usertesen "), he
built also his pyramidal tomb, in which he wished to find
his last resting-place.
Soon after the death of the king this
place — now called Kahun— was abandoned and deserted
by its
inhabitants, so that it was not inhabited for more than
a century. This city ruin Petrie also discovered and excavated,
succeeding even in making a ground plan of it.
A first glance at the arrangement of the town shows
that it is not the result of a gradual growth, but that it arose