Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/261

 The Tomr under the Ancient Empire. 171 " At Sakkarah the outward faces of the mastaba are not smooth. Each successive course is sHghtly set back from the one below it. At Gizeh the walls form a smooth plane gently inclined from the perpendicular. "There are mastabas of all sizes. That of Sabou measures 172 feet by 84 ; that of Ha-ar, 149 by 74; that of Ra-en-ma 169 by Si, and that of Hapi no more than 25 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 6 in. In height they vary less. The highest are not more than from 26 to 30 ft. high, the smallest about 12." The roof of the mastaba is a plain surface without irregularity of any kind ; but the soil above it is sprinkled with vases buried at a slight depth. These vases are pretty evenly distributed, but Fig. 1 10. — Entrance to a Mastaba at Sakkarah. Marictte. they are rather more numerous in that part of the soil which covers the ceilings of the chambers, a circumstance of which Mariette often made use to guide him in his excavations. Like all the vases of this epoch, those which are found upon the roof of the mastabas are roughly made, pointed at the bottom and without handles. They each contain a thin film of yellow clay deposited by the water with which they were filled. They were placed in their curious position under the notion that the water which they contained would quench the thirst of the dead man below, l^he mouths of the jars were covered with flit stones, and the water would last long enough to satisfy at least the immediate necessities of the inhabitant of the tomb.