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In 1878 the Khedive Said Pasha authorised Professor Maspero to found a Museum at Boulak (a suburb of Cairo), for the reception of all the antiquities found in the country and calculated to throw light on Egyptian history. Under the successive direction of Professor Maspero and Professor Grébaut the collection has become one of the most valuable and most instructive in the world.

In 1881 the museum was enriched by the most important archæological discovery of modern times. On the 5th of July of that year a cave in the plain of Deir el-Bahari, near Thebes, was explored, and its rich contents were bodily removed to Boulak. They consisted of mummies of kings, queens, and princesses, and other persons of distinction, with numerous articles of clothing, papyri, vases, &c. Hieratic inscriptions on the coffins of several of the kings gave the date of the transfer of the bodies from their original sepulchres in the valley of Bab el Malook, near Luxor, to this pit or tomb, and also of the periodical inspection to which the depôt was subjected. The cave is proved to be the tomb of the Priest-Kings of Amen, the usurpers of the throne of the Ramessides, from Her-Hor to Pinotem III.

The reason for bringing so many kings of different dynasties into this tomb is not accurately known; but the following circumstances afford ground for reasonable conjecture.

"After Rameses II., the last great warrior of Egypt, had laid aside his javelin and bow, in the fourteenth century before Christ, luxury and indolence were followed by their usual concomitants, poverty and discontent. The artizans and labourers, instead of joining in one common effort to improve the condition of the country, had recourse to violence and robbery. The pillage of the tombs for the sake of their precious contents became a common practice,