Sais stands on the eastern side of the Nile, near the place where a canal, passing across the Delta, joins the Pelusiac with the Canopic branch of the Nile.

It was the metropolis of Lower Egypt; and its inhabitants were, originally, an Athenian colony.

At this place there was a temple dedicated to Minerva, who is supposed to be the same as Isis, with the following inscription:—“I am whatever hath been, and is, and shall be; no mortal hath yet pierced through the veil that shrouds me.”

In this city Osiris is said to have been buried. “They have a tomb at Sais,” says Herodotus, “of a certain personage, whom I do not think myself permitted to specify. It is behind the Temple of Minerva, and is continued by the whole length of the wall of that building: around this are many large obelisks, near which is a lake, whose banks are lined with stone. It is of a circular form, and, I should think, as large as that of Delos, which is called Trochoeides.”

To name this “personage” seems to have been an act carefully to be avoided. How very sacred the ancients deemed their mysteries appears from the following passage in Apollonius Rhodius:—

In this temple (that of Minerva) Herodotus informs us the inhabitants buried their princes; and in the area before it stood a large marble edifice, magnificently adorned with obelisks in the shape of palm-trees, with various other ornaments. This temple was erected by Amasis, who was a native of Sais.199 In magnitude and grandeur it surpassed any they had before seen; of such enormous size were the stones employed in the building and foundation. There was a room cut out of one stone, which had been conveyed by water from Elephantis by the labour of two thousand men; costing three years’ labour. This stone measured on the outside twenty-one cubits long, fourteen broad, and eight high.

Cambyses entertained a mortal hatred to the monarch just mentioned. From Memphis he went to Sais, where was the burying-place of the kings of Egypt. As soon as he entered the palace, he caused the body of Amasis to be taken out of its tomb, and after having exposed it to a thousand indignities in his own presence, he ordered it to be cast into the fire and burned; which was a thing equally contrary to the customs of the Persians and Egyptians. The rage, this prince testified against the dead body of Amasis, shows to what a degree he hated his person. Whatever was the cause of this aversion, it seems to have been one of the chief motives, Cambyses had of carrying his arms into Egypt.

The first notice of the ruins of Sais, by Europeans, occurs in the travels of Egmont and Heyman, two Dutchmen, who found a curious inscription in honour of its “benefactor,” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. They saw also a colossal statue of a female, with hieroglyphics. Fourteen camel-loads of treasure are said to have been found among the ruins.

“The village of SÉ’l Hajar,” says Dr. Clarke, “seems in the suburban district of the ancient city; for as we proceeded hence in an eastern direction we soon discerned its vestiges. Irregular heaps, containing ruined foundations which had defied the labours of the peasants, appeared between the village, and some more considerable remains farther towards the south-east. The earth was covered with fragments of the ancient terra-cotta, which the labourers had cast out of their sieves. At the distance of about three furlongs we came to an immense quadrangular inclosure, nearly a mile wide, formed by high walls, or rather mounds of earth, facing the four points of the compass, and placed at right angles to each other, so as to surround the spacious area. In the centre of this was another conical heap, supporting the ruins of some building, whose original form cannot be now ascertained. The ramparts of this inclosure are indeed so lofty as to be visible from the river, although at this distance, the irregularity of their appearance might cause a person ignorant of their real nature to mistake them for natural eminences.”

Dr. Clarke found several things at Sais well worthy attention; among which may be particularly mentioned several bronze relics; an ara-triform sceptre, a curious hieroglyphic tablet200, the torso of an ancient statue, a triple hierogram with the symbol of the cross, and several other antiquities.

On the east is another fragment of a very highly finished edifice; and the hieroglyphics which remain are perfectly well sculptured.

Many fragments of these ruins have been, of late years, taken away by Mohamed Bey, to build therewith a miserable palace at E’Sooan201.