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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

look of inquietudeand love. On this frail
crafta greathope is loaded.
"This touchingfigurecalls up her companion, 'Paris pressingto her heart the
carrier pigeon which brings good news.'
To give to her the correctexpression,M.
Puvis de Chavannes has but to think of
MademoiselleFavart recitingThe Pigeons
of the Republicin hergownlustredlike the
plumage of a turtledove. It will be his
distractionwhen next he is on guard to
see our featheredpostmenpassing in the
air pursued but not caught by the falcons
of MonsieurBismarck."
The pictures were sent to America in
1873 or '74 as giftsto a lotterywhichwas
organized to help the sufferersfromthe
Chicago fire,and until recentlywere lost
sight of, though they were well known
through reproductions. It is opportune
that theyshouldcome to lightat this time
when the spiritthat inspiredthemis again
so splendidlymanifest.
B. B.
THE LATE THEODORE
EXCAVATIONS

IN

ED )
n

,|

::

M. DAVIS'S

AT THEBES

vm

I9I2-i31

I. THE EXCAVATION OF THE REAR CORRIDORS

AND SEPULCHRAL CHAMBER OF THE TOMB
OF KING SIPHTAH

k- -

HE Tomb of Siphtahwas discovered by Mr. Davis, assisted by

the late Edward R. Ayrton,inE
1905 and their Report published
in I9o8.
interest
of Mr. Davis,
'Throughthefriendly
our Museumreceivedas giftsduringhis lifetimemanyobjectsofgreathistorical
and archaeological importancefromthe excavations
whichhe conductedforsometwelveyearsat
Thebes. This was thecase particularly
in the

years 1912 and 1913 when he cleared the Sepul-

chralChamberof theTombof Siphtah,in the

Valleyof the Kings,and excavatednear the
great Mortuary-Temple
of Rameses III, at
MedinetHabu. In orderto giveto readersof
the BULLETINa descriptionof these excava-

tionswhichyieldedimportant
objectsnowinour
Mr.HenryBurton,
Egyptian
collection,
whowas
inchargeofMr. Davis'sexcavations
at thetime
andis nowa member
oftheMuseum'sEgyptian
has contributed
Expedition,
an accountof the
workat bothplaces. The firstof his articles
thesecondwillappearina laternumber
follows;
of the BULLETIN.
13

co

BULLETIN

OF THE

METROPOLITAN

MUSEUM

OF ART

Ayrtonpenetratedas far as the second alabaster sarcophaguswhichwe foundthe

firstday we enteredthe corridor,convinced
chamber (fig. I, I), but owingto the bad
state of the rockhe abandoned it as being us that destructionwould pervade the
"most unsafeto workin." He also states tomb. We thereforeabandoned the exin his report:"We knewthat the mummy cavations."1
Mr. Davis and I inspectedthe tomb in
of the King had been foundby Loret some
February,I912, and as no furthercollapse
had occurredsinceAyrtonabandonedit,we
decided to completeits excavation. Ayrton cleared the flightof steps at the entrance, the first three corridorsleading
into the vestibule (A-E), and fromthere
he made a narrow passage through the
debris which filledthe vestibule and the
wide
nexttwo corridors(F-H), sufficiently
to allow his men to proceed to the antechamber(I). This he partlycleared,digging some trenchesin an effortto findan
outlet,but the rubbishwas so hard and the
chamberthoughtto be so unsafe that he
did not excavate any farther.
We commencedoperationsin the vestibule (F), whichproved to have a flightof
stairs descending to the fourth corridor
(G), but workherewas veryslow owingto
the hardnessof the limestonedebris and
the mud silted into the tomb by the torrentialfloodswhich occasionallyvisit the
valley. At the end of the fourthcorridor
we found the upper half of an alabaster
ushabti-figure,and later on, half-way
down the fifthcorridor (H), the lower
halfof the same figure,withthe prenomen
of Siphtah writtenin black ink. It was
not until February23 that we were able
to completethe antechamber(I) and begin
to dig our way into the sixthcorridor(J).
There the rubbishwas so tightlypacked
and tough that it was scarcelypossible to
distinguishit fromthe livingrock,and this
doubled our difficulties.A week later the
excavationsended forthe season.
LID OF THE SARCOPHAGUS
FIG. 2.
Work was recommencedon December
FROM A WATER-COLOR DRAWING
i6, but it was not until January 2 that
BY LANCELOT CRANE
we wereable to piercethroughto the Sepulchral Hall (L). From the sixth corridor,
years ago in the Tomb of AmenhotepII.
In additionto this,it was evidentthat the it was interestingto find,a passage had
tomb had been completelyplundered in been commencedto the left but disconancienttimes,and if any objects had been tinued when it was found that it broke
left in the room, they must have been into the end of the uninscribedtomb,
crushedbeyond recognitionby the weight
M. Davis's Excavations:Bibanel
1Theodore
of the mass of rockthat filledthe chamber. Moluk. The TombofSiphtah(London,1908),
p. II ff.
"The discovery of a fragmentof an
14

FIG.

FIG.

3.

4.

HALL

SEPULCHRAL

SARCOPHAGUS
WITH

IN THE
LID

BEFORE

SEPULCHRAL

REPLACED

15

CLEARING

HALL

BULLETIN

OF THE

Number32, on theoppositeside of the spur

of the hill. The corridor,passage, and
entrance of the Sepulchral Hall were all
completelyblocked by fallen stone and
water-washedrubbishwhichfilledthemto
the roofin frontbut slopedgraduallydown
toward the fartherwall of the hall, where
the depositwas about 2.50 m. deep (fig.3).
The aspect of this chamberwas alarming.
It looked as ifthe ceilingmightfall at any

FIG.

5.

MUSEUM

METROPOLITAN

SIDE
WITH

week's hard work we were rewarded by

findingthat the SepulchralHall contained
the sarcophagusof the King. We therefore removed our temporarycolumn and
pulled down all the threateningparts of
the roof. This enabled us to clear the hall
and expose the magnificentsarcophagus
hewn out of rose granite,the lid of which
lay face downwardby its side (fig. 4).
The sarcophagus itselfwas intact with

VIEW

OF

THE

LID

IN

POSITION

momentand we were obliged to build a

strong column of stones to support the
most dangerouspart, afterwhichwe continued excavating without so much fear
of accident.
The Sepulchral Hall measured 9.30 x
13.50 m. The flat roofof the frontpart
had been originally supported by four
square pillarsarrangedtransverselyto the
axis. The ceiling of the remainingpart
was vaulted. Except forone large crack,
the vault was in good condition,though
the flat portion, togetherwith the four
pillars, had collapsed. At the end of a

OF ART

SARCOPHAGUS

the exceptionof small portionsof the sides

whichhad been brokenaway when the lid
was forcedoffby the plunderersin ancient
times. It measures 10 ft. 3 in. long by
5 ft.3 in. wide,is in theformofa cartouche,
and has its outer surfacecompletelycovered with inscribedreligiousformulaeand
figuresof the mourninggoddesses, Isis
and Nephthys,at the head and feet(fig.5).
It containednothingmorethan a fewscattered human bones, which could not be
those of the King, since, as stated above,
his mummy was found in the tomb of
AmenhotepII. The lid, which proved to

BULLETIN

OF THE

METROPOLITAN

MUSEUM

OF ART

be littledamaged by its fall,was replaced longed. Aside fromthese,the onlyobjects

on the sarcophagusby M. Barsanti of the yieldedby the workwerea numberoflarge
limestonelids of jars,
Service des Antiquites. On top thereis
decoratedwitha con_
ventionalized lotus
a recumbentOsiride
figure of the King,
design. Five of the
with three figuresin
ushabti figureswere
reliefon eitherhand:
retainedby the Cairo
on the one side, Isis,
Museum, three were
a goddesswithuraeus
kept by Mr. Davis,
and ten were given
body and tail, and a
serpent;on the other
by himto the Metropolitan Museum (fig.
side, Nephthys,with
a similargoddessand
8); while the latter
museumalso received
a crocodile(figs.2 and
threeof the limestone
6). The closest parallel to thissarcophajar-lids(fig.7), as well
as all the fragments
gus so far as is yet
of the alabaster furknownwas thatin the
tomb of Merenptah,
nishingsof the tomb.
I twashopedthatfrom
of whichonlythe lid,
these fragmentsthe
bearingtherecumbent
objects of whichthey
figure,is now extant.
were a part mightbe
In the lower layer
of debris we found
reconstructed, but
HEA
many complete and
FIG. 6.
aftera longand careDPHOF SIPHTAH
broken alabaster usON SARCO PHIAGUS LID
ful study of them
this has proved imhabti figuresof the
King, similar to the one found at the possible thus far.
Unfortunately,
beyond the part of the
beginningof our work,togetherwithnumerous fragmentsof alabaster funeraryfur- tomb already excavated and describedby

FIG.

7.

JAR-LIDS

FROM

THE

TOMB

OF

SIPHTAH

nitureincludingthe Canopic box, to which Ayrton,its walls bore no signs of decorathe alabaster fragmentfound by Ayrton tion. Althoughthis may possibly be the
at the entranceto the tombmusthave be- resultof its deterioration,
personallyI am
17

BULLETIN

OF THE

METROPOLITAN

HENRY BURTON.

FIG.

OF ART

largerexamples(see fig.9) but moreor less

abbreviated on the smaller ones. In arrangementof ideas this version presents
little variationfromthe commonestform
of the chapter; in orthographythere are

inclined to think that, like the tomb of

Hor-em-hebdiscovered in 1908, it was
never completed.
Florence, Italy.

MUSEUM

FIGURES
8.
USHABTI
IN THE METROPOLITAN

OF SIPHTAH
MUSEUM

USHABTI FIGURES OF SIPHTAH.-The

slight and unimportantvariants among
ten alabaster ushabti figuresof Siphtah the ten specimens. The longerformreads:
"Osiris illuminates King 'Splendor-ofin the MetropolitanMuseum', mentioned
by Mr. Burton in the precedingarticle, Re-the-elect-of-Re,Son of Re 'Siphtahthebeatified. He (Siphbeloved-of-Ptah,'
vary in height from 20.5 cm. to 29.4 cm.
All representthe Kingin mummyformwith tah) says: 0 thou Shabti, if I am counted,
and if I am draftedto
arms crossed on the
fulfil
breast and hands ex- ,
_a...
any tasks in the
^^_^
to till
Under-world:
,rt
L" VJ
posed, wearing the
.S.
T
~
.
linenhead-dress-the \
_<=h
,~r.
the fields,to irrigate
L
o,
e
the banks, or to
f iL
Nems-with the ur- \
t^
,
M
>
transportsand from
aeus on the forehead. \
*^^^
I][
'
The eyes, the mouth,
f
' east to west; since
[Iz
and the inscriptions
hardshipscomein the
IC ALI
of one's duties
course
on the lower part of
\
k
9
?
"r5JJLJL
-if I am sought at
the bodyare drawnin
, 7*
,
with black ink. The
any time; say thou
?
'Behold I am pretext, arranged in a
^4.r"
:L 9r -,
1 sent!'"
verticalcolumndown
_ll , ' In other words
thefrontofeachfigure
and in from three to
FIG. 9. INS(,RIPTIONS ON
Siphtahcalls uponthe
to take his
ushabti
five horizontal bands
USHABTI FIGURES
place whenthe rollof
around the back, is
a versionof the familiarChapterVI of the spiritsis called for labor in the life hereBook of the Dead, fairlycompleteon the after.
H. E. W.
'M. M. A. 14.6.172-181

Ll