Egypt Exploration Society

Les Temples de KarnakReview by: Alan W. ShorterThe Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 16, No. 1/2 (May, 1930), p. 160Published by: Egypt Exploration SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3854343 .

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160 NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Exactly how Dr. Yahuda proposes to attack this view will not appear until he has stated more definitely when and under what conditions the accounts of the sojourn and exodus were written down. He will certainly have to find some explanation of the fact that while the archaeological detail is both late and inaccurate the marks of Egyptian linguistic influence have been, according to his theory, perfectly pre- served in the minutest detail. Further than this, in order to convince us that these marks are so numerous and so unmistakable, he will have to produce linguistic arguments which are much more resistant to criticism than the greater part of those in the present volume. For my part, while I do not deny the possibility of the direct survival of an occasional Egyptian word or phrase in the oral tradition, yet I find in the story of the sojourn and exodus no Egyptianisms (sit venia verbo) which could not be adequately explained as due to the same authors who ine ninth century and later committed the story to writing and gave to it its anachronistic geography and its pseudo-archaeological colouring.

T. ERIC PEET.

Les Temples de Karnak. Fragment du dernier ouvrage de GEORGE LEGRAIN. Brussels, Fondation tgypto- logique Reine Elisabeth, 1929. Pp. viii + 270.

One of the greatest services rendered to Egyptology was the work of Georges Legrain, Director of Works for the Service des Antiquites de l'Egypte. Twenty-two years of his life, from 1895 to 1917, were spent in the patient exploration and restoration of the mightiest of Egypt's ruins, the temples of Karnak, and his death occurred when he was preparing for the final publication of his titanic labours. This final work was to have been preceded, so Professor Capart tells us in his Preface, by a general account of the Karnak temples and their history, but after his sudden death certain of his manuscripts were unfor- tunately lost, and the present book represents the only surviving fragment, carrying us no further than the third pylon of the great temple of Amon. But this book, fragment though it is, makes us mourn all the more its unhappy incompleteness, for it is a truly magnificent account of the greatest of all Egyptian buildings, the shrine of the Lord of Karnak.

Beginning with the quay and the avenue of sphinxes which leads up to the west pylon, M. Legrain describes first the appearance presented by these ruins in the early days of archaeology, and the various interpretations put upon them by students of that time, supplementing his account with highly interesting photographs which illustrate the gradual emergence of these monuments from the soil of centuries. This is the method followed by the author throughout, up to the great Hypostyle Hall, with which he ends, in every case leading up to the results of present-day investigation.

He does not, however, stop here, but enlarges the value of his descriptions for the general reader by a good account of the splendid scenes witnessed by the various portions of the temple in ancient times, as for instance the arrival at the quay of Amin's sacred boat "User-hat-Amun," and the impressive receptions given to the Divine Votaress. These reconstructions of historical and religious events are strengthened by clear descriptions of sculptured scenes, and translations of the most important accom- panying inscriptions in all parts of the building.

Probably the most valuable part of the book is the account of constructional methods employed anciently in erecting the temple, e.g. M. Legra.in's remarks on the masses of brickwork built against the Great Pylon (35 ff.), useful analogies from methods utilized by the Service in restoration work (168 and many photographs), and reports on the foundations on which columns were set (165-6 and Figs. 99-100).

Amid the undoubted general excellence of this book, however, there are several points which call for comment. On page 16, in speaking of the two small obelisks flanking the quay, to which great barques were quite possibly tethered, M. Legrain suggests that the real prototypes of obelisks were wooden poles to which divine barques were fastened in early times. This idea seems to us very far-fetched, and indeed impossible when we recall the tradition of the Sun-god and the Benben stone, unless of course the tall obelisks of the later period were sundered in origin from the early squat forms found in the sun-temples of Fifth Dynasty kings.

The old transliteration of the lHeretic's name as "Khouniatonou" (165) is also rather surprising, and most of all the concealment of the name of Osorkon II's son X )' i eJ under the form "Nimrod" (57)! Dr. Hall informs me that the actual vocalization is shown by the Assyrian reproduction of the name of the prince of Hermopolis in Ashurbanipal's record as Lamnintu to have been Namilt, and not Namlot as often given.

But these are small errors in an otherwise excellent book. ALAN W. SHORTER.

160 NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Exactly how Dr. Yahuda proposes to attack this view will not appear until he has stated more definitely when and under what conditions the accounts of the sojourn and exodus were written down. He will certainly have to find some explanation of the fact that while the archaeological detail is both late and inaccurate the marks of Egyptian linguistic influence have been, according to his theory, perfectly pre- served in the minutest detail. Further than this, in order to convince us that these marks are so numerous and so unmistakable, he will have to produce linguistic arguments which are much more resistant to criticism than the greater part of those in the present volume. For my part, while I do not deny the possibility of the direct survival of an occasional Egyptian word or phrase in the oral tradition, yet I find in the story of the sojourn and exodus no Egyptianisms (sit venia verbo) which could not be adequately explained as due to the same authors who ine ninth century and later committed the story to writing and gave to it its anachronistic geography and its pseudo-archaeological colouring.

T. ERIC PEET.

Les Temples de Karnak. Fragment du dernier ouvrage de GEORGE LEGRAIN. Brussels, Fondation tgypto- logique Reine Elisabeth, 1929. Pp. viii + 270.

One of the greatest services rendered to Egyptology was the work of Georges Legrain, Director of Works for the Service des Antiquites de l'Egypte. Twenty-two years of his life, from 1895 to 1917, were spent in the patient exploration and restoration of the mightiest of Egypt's ruins, the temples of Karnak, and his death occurred when he was preparing for the final publication of his titanic labours. This final work was to have been preceded, so Professor Capart tells us in his Preface, by a general account of the Karnak temples and their history, but after his sudden death certain of his manuscripts were unfor- tunately lost, and the present book represents the only surviving fragment, carrying us no further than the third pylon of the great temple of Amon. But this book, fragment though it is, makes us mourn all the more its unhappy incompleteness, for it is a truly magnificent account of the greatest of all Egyptian buildings, the shrine of the Lord of Karnak.

Beginning with the quay and the avenue of sphinxes which leads up to the west pylon, M. Legrain describes first the appearance presented by these ruins in the early days of archaeology, and the various interpretations put upon them by students of that time, supplementing his account with highly interesting photographs which illustrate the gradual emergence of these monuments from the soil of centuries. This is the method followed by the author throughout, up to the great Hypostyle Hall, with which he ends, in every case leading up to the results of present-day investigation.

He does not, however, stop here, but enlarges the value of his descriptions for the general reader by a good account of the splendid scenes witnessed by the various portions of the temple in ancient times, as for instance the arrival at the quay of Amin's sacred boat "User-hat-Amun," and the impressive receptions given to the Divine Votaress. These reconstructions of historical and religious events are strengthened by clear descriptions of sculptured scenes, and translations of the most important accom- panying inscriptions in all parts of the building.

Probably the most valuable part of the book is the account of constructional methods employed anciently in erecting the temple, e.g. M. Legra.in's remarks on the masses of brickwork built against the Great Pylon (35 ff.), useful analogies from methods utilized by the Service in restoration work (168 and many photographs), and reports on the foundations on which columns were set (165-6 and Figs. 99-100).

Amid the undoubted general excellence of this book, however, there are several points which call for comment. On page 16, in speaking of the two small obelisks flanking the quay, to which great barques were quite possibly tethered, M. Legrain suggests that the real prototypes of obelisks were wooden poles to which divine barques were fastened in early times. This idea seems to us very far-fetched, and indeed impossible when we recall the tradition of the Sun-god and the Benben stone, unless of course the tall obelisks of the later period were sundered in origin from the early squat forms found in the sun-temples of Fifth Dynasty kings.

The old transliteration of the lHeretic's name as "Khouniatonou" (165) is also rather surprising, and most of all the concealment of the name of Osorkon II's son X )' i eJ under the form "Nimrod" (57)! Dr. Hall informs me that the actual vocalization is shown by the Assyrian reproduction of the name of the prince of Hermopolis in Ashurbanipal's record as Lamnintu to have been Namilt, and not Namlot as often given.

But these are small errors in an otherwise excellent book. ALAN W. SHORTER.

This content downloaded from 193.142.30.77 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:50:37 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions