Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/157

 NOTICE OF SOME SUPPOSED EGYPTIAN REMAINS, HITHERTO UNDESCRIBED, IN UPPER NUBIA. Egypt proper ended at Sycne, now called Asouan, or the first cataract of the Nile. It appears however that the kings of Egypt held for ages the sway over the narrow skirting of land which stretches above the first cataract. According to Mr. Birch, there arc traces of this conquest as early as the 12th dynasty a. The remains of antiquity are very numerous indeed throughout this district, mostly of a date varying from the Ptolemies to the Roman emperors. There are however exceptions, such as Beyt al Wallee, Derr, Seboua, Aboo- Sembel, Samneh, Isle of Argo, and Gebel Barkal. These ruins have been determined to belong to the era of Barne- ses II., and other kings of the eighteenth dynasty. At Gebel Barkal, or Napata, the remains are very extensive, and were at one time supposed to represent the site of the ancient ]Ieroe. ]Iajor Eelix and the present duke of North- vunberland had, however, ascertained the connexion of Thoth- mes IV., Amenophis III., and Barneses II., all kings of the eighteenth dynasty, with this city, but until the late Prussian expedition the date of no Egyptian monument further to the south had been positively ascertained and communicated to the public. There are it is true some very interesting monuments of the same style described by Cailliaud at Assiu', Me^aou at, and Naga. The pyramids and extensive ruins at the former place, combined with geographical calculation, leave no doubt of its identity with the ancient Meroe. He has given very minute and elegant representations of these buildings, but un- fortunately was not aware of the value of the cartouches for the purpose of fixing their period. In one of his notes he states this circumstance with great regret. Professor Lep- sius has supplied this deficiency, as he appears to have examined carefully all the liieroglyphical inscriptions beyond Gebel Barkal. He pronounces the ruins of Assur, Naga, and Mefaourat to be all comparatively recent, not reaching beyond the time of the Ptolemies. At Wady Kerbekan (Cailliaud's Naga), they found a fine statue of one of the kings of the » See his communication to the Royal Society of Literature on the 25th Jmic, 18-16.