In the court between the two
temples were found a large number of small votive offerings, consisting
of scarabs, beads, little figures of cows and women, etc., of blue
glazed _faience_ and rough pottery, bronze and wood, and blue glazed
ware ears, eyes, and plaques with figures of the sacred cow, and other
small objects of the same nature. These are evidently the ex-votos of
the XVIIIth Dynasty fellahin to the goddess Hathor in the rock-shrine
above the court. When the shrine was full or the little ex-votos broken,
the sacristans threw them over the wall into the court below, which thus
became a kind of dust-heap. Over this heap the sand and debris gradually
collected, and thus they were preserved. The objects found are of
considerable interest to anthropological science.
The Great Temple was built, as we have said, in honour of Thothmes I
and II, and the deities Amen-Ra and Hathor. More especially it was the
funerary chapel of Thothmes I. His tomb was excavated, not in the Dra'
Abu-l-Negga, which was doubtless now too near the capital city and not
in a sufficiently dignified position of aloofness from the common herd,
but at the end of the long valley of the Wadiyen, behind the cliff-hill
above Der el-Bahari. Hence the new temple was oriented in the direction
of his tomb. Immediately behind the temple, on the other side of the
hill, is the tomb which was discovered by Lepsius and cleared in 1904
for Mr.
Pages:
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371