Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/385

 The Tomb under the New Empire. 295 was, however, an essential difference between the two. At Abydos the nature of the subsoil compelled the architect to contrive the mummy chamber in the interior of his own structure ; at Thebes, on the other hand, there was nothing to prevent him from being faithful to a tradition which had manifest advantages, and to intrust the corpse to the keeping of the earth, at a depth below the surface which would ensure it greater safety both from violence and from natural causes of decay. At Thebes the rock was soft enough to be cut with sufficient ease, and yet firm enouo-h to be free from all dano-er of settlement or disinteera- tion. The soil of all this region is honeycombed with mummy pits, which have long ago been pillaged and are now filled up with sand. The super- structure was built above the well and inclosed the funerary chapel. Some- times it was surmounted by a small pyramid ; sometimes it was a quad- rangular mass standing upon a surbase, with a pilaster at each angle and a boldly projecting cornice at the top. The oldest of the known tombs of Apis may be taken as specimens of this latter class, which must also have been represented at Thebes. These are contemporary wifh the eighteenth dynasty, and were discovered by M. Mariette at Sakkarah.^ These little monuments have either been destroyed since 185 1 or covered by the sand (see Fig. 190). The other type is that of the Speos. Fig. 189. — Theban tomb from a bas-relief. (From Wilkinson, cli. xvi.) We have here seen that it dates from the Ancient Empire, but came into general employ- ment and obtained its full development under the First and Second Theban Empires. We have already given some idea of the architectural character and of the decoration of the royal sepulchres, we must now indicate the peculiarities which in these respects distinguish the tombs of the kings from those of their subjects. One of the points of difference has already been noticed ; the ' At/iencet/in Francais, 1855, p. 55 {Renseignemenis si/r les soixante qttotre Apis troiivh dans le Scrapeum de Memphis).