The system of Prof.
Petrie's publications has been often, and with justice, criticized, but
he at least tells us every year what he has been doing, and gives us
photographs of everything he has found. For this reason the epoch-making
discoveries at Abydos have been coupled chiefly with the name of Prof.
Petrie, while that of M. Amelineau is rarely heard in connection with
them. As a matter of fact, however, M. Amelineau first excavated the
necropolis of the early kings at Abydos, and discovered most of the
tombs afterwards worked over by Prof. Petrie and Mr. Mace. Yet most of
the important scientific results are due to the later explorers, who
were the first to attempt a classification of them, though we must
add that this classification has not been entirely accepted by the
scientific world.
The necropolis of the earliest kings of Egypt is situated in the great
bay in the hills which lies behind Abydos, to the southwest of the main
necropolis. Here, at holy Abydos, where every pious Egyptian wished to
rest after death, the bodies of the most ancient kings were buried. It
is said by Manetho that the original seat of their dominion was This,
a town in the vicinity of Abydos, now represented by the modern Grirga,
which lies a few miles distant from its site (el-Birba). This may be a
fact, but we have as yet obtained no confirmation of it.
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