Josiah Williams

HELIOPOLIS—THE SHOUBRA ROAD—BEDROSKYN—MITRAHENNY—MEMPHIS—SAKHARA—APIS MAUSOLEUM—WORSHIP OF THE BULL APIS—TOMB OF KING PHTA—MEET THE KHEDIVE—ENGAGE SERVANTS FOR THE SOUDAN.

My next visit was to Heliopolis on donkey-back. I was told that it would be a nice ride, but nothing to see except an obelisk when I got there. Notwithstanding this, I felt very desirous of visiting this ancient seat of learning, where Moses had lived and “become learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” Accordingly Ibrahim and I started off. Leaving the citadel and tombs of the Caliphs on my right, I had a pleasant ride of about two hours or so from Cairo through avenues of acacias and tamarisk trees, a large plain covered with a luxuriant growth of sugar-cane, citrons, lemons, oranges, ricinus, cactuses, olive trees and palms. Before reaching the mounds of Heliopolis is a well of fine water on the border of a grove of citrons and palms, and in the midst of these is a venerable old sycamore enclosed by palisades and regarded with veneration by the Copts, as the place where Joseph, Mary and the infant Saviour rested on their flight into Egypt. Although a very aged tree, it cannot be, of course, as old as the legend affirms. It is, however, a very pretty spot, sheltered from the busy hum of life, embowered in citron thickets, which resound with the music of birds, and with tall, waving palm trees, on the trembling branches of which large vultures rock to and fro. I approach the site of Heliopolis on a dead level, and find that it stood formerly on an artificial elevation, overlooking lakes which were fed by canals communicating with the Nile. With what history does this place teem! Here, or in the vicinity, Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations. Thales, Solon, Pythagoras and Plato studied here. From the learned priests of Heliopolis, Plato—who studied here for several years—is believed to have derived the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of a future state of rewards and punishments. This neighbourhood was probably the scene of the Exodus of the Israelites, and here was the most celebrated university in the world for philosophy and science. It was here that Potipherah, the priest or Prince of On, resided. Here Joseph married his daughter Asenath, who became the mother of Ephraim and Manasseh. Now what do I see? This once famous city of the sun, the Heliopolis of Herodotus and Strabo, the On of Joseph, the Bethshemesh of Jeremiah, the university of the world at that time, with its collection of colleges and temples, avenues of sphinxes and extensive dwellings of the learned priests, dazzling palaces, obelisks and splendid edifices has been almost blotted out, and as I stood there absorbed in thought, and feebly endeavouring to picture to myself this place as it once stood, teeming with life, wealth and power, those beautiful words of Shakespeare, our immortal bard, came floating through my mind as very descriptive of what I now saw—

All was now desolation, if I except the massive foundations of the Temple of the Sun, which are still visible in a few places. The one solitary object that serves to mark this once celebrated city is an obelisk of solid granite, 62 feet high, the last monument of a temple that once vied in magnificence with those of Karnak or Baalbeck, and which has been pointing to the sky from the time of the old monarchy for more than 4,000 years. It bears the name of Osirtesen I. (Joseph’s contemporary), the first great name in Theban history, builder of the older and smaller part of the great temple of Karnak and King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and probably where I then stood looking at, but unable to decipher the hieroglyphics on this obelisk, Joseph and Moses (who had both been admitted to the priest cast) had stood before me. Sic transit gloria mundi.

I had now seen all there was to see, and was pleased that I had made this visit, so I mounted my donkey and got back to Cairo. It happened to be Friday, the Mahomedan Sunday. On this day all the rank and fashion can be seen between four and six driving up and down the Shoubra Road. This is lined by a splendid avenue of trees, which meet over-head, thus forming a delightful shade. It was now about 4 p.m.; I performed a hasty toilet and set off for a carriage drive down this road. I found it thronged with visitors and a goodly sprinkling of officers, amongst whom I saw the now famous Arabi Pacha. Mounted sentries also were posted at intervals each side of the road as the Khedive usually takes a drive there every Friday about 4 or 5 p.m. I had not been there long ere he came sweeping down with his escort.

Next day I devoted to exploring the ancient (probably the most ancient city in the world), Memphis, the Noph of the Bible, and its necropolis, Sakhara. According to Herodotus its foundation was ascribed to Menes, the first King of Egypt. If this was so it would be about 6,000 years old, and it is said that the art of building was known centuries before his time.

It is quite a good day’s work to perform this journey in the blazing sun. I get an early breakfast and leave at 7.30 on my donkey, accompanied by Ibrahim on another donkey, in possession of my luncheon. The distance to the railway station is about two miles. Here I procure tickets for ourselves and the two donkeys, proceed to Bedrashyn, a distance of about ten miles, then remount and pass through the village of Mitrahenny, then a very fine palm-grove, on to the site of ancient Memphis, once a large, rich, and splendid city, remarkable for its temples and palaces. As late as 524 B.C., at the time of the conquest of Cambyses it was the chief commercial centre of the country, and was connected by canals with the Lakes Moeris and Mareotis. Some distance from the village of Mitrahenny I saw near the pathway a colossal statue of Rameses the Great in excellent preservation. It is composed of a single block of red granite, polished. It was originally 50 feet in length, but has been mutilated, and now does not measure more than 48 feet. It lies on its side in a pit by the wayside, which, during the inundation of the Nile, is filled with water. On its subsidence the alluvial deposit is scraped off sufficiently to show the statue to travellers. Vast mounds of broken pottery and statuary are to be seen about here and Sakhara, probably burying the ancient city. Sakhara is about two miles or so from Memphis, and the greater part of the ride lies through sandy desert. It lies, in fact, on the edge of the Lybian Desert. It is remarkable for its ancient monuments, among which are 30 pyramids. The great step pyramid is said to be even older than the pyramids of Gizeh. Besides these 30 there are the ruins of a great many others, and numberless grottoes, sarcophagi, the Ibis catacombs, and Apis Mausoleum, which was discovered by Mariette Bey. He observed the head of a sphinx protruding from the sand, and remembering that Strabo described the Serapeum of Memphis as approached by an avenue of sphinxes, he at once commenced his explorations in search of the temple in which Apis was worshipped when alive and the tomb in which it was buried when dead. The sand-drift, after immense exertions, was cleared away, and the avenue was laid bare from a superincumbent mass, which was in some places 70 feet deep. Conceive, if you can, the splendour of this imposing approach; no less than 141 sphinxes were discovered in situ, besides the pedestals of others. The temple to which they led has disappeared, but the tomb remains.

I go down hill, nearly up to my knees in sand, with my guide. A great door is unlocked and thrown open, we then light our candles and explore. We proceed a considerable distance through a passage or tunnel, and then find ourselves in a large vault or tunnel some 200 or 300 yards in length. Chambers lead out of it on either side as large as an ordinary sitting-room, and about 12 feet high, in each of which is a ponderous granite sarcophagus, polished. Placed on the sarcophagus like a lid was a granite slab of great size and weight, the whole weighing about 20 tons. Near the subterranean cemetery of the bulls are the groves or pits of the sacred Ibis also formerly worshipped. These are enclosed in earthenware vases; the bones and broken urns now lie scattered all around. These huge blocks of granite were actually transported from the quarries near Syene to Memphis, a distance of nearly 600 miles! I carefully examined one sarcophagus containing the embalmed dead deity. It was carved all over with sacred hieroglyphics, sharp and clear in their outlines, and the polish on the marble bright as it was 3,000 years ago. I saw between 30 and 40 of these sarcophagi here.

The worship of the bull Apis was celebrated with great pomp and splendour, and he was regarded as the representative of Osiris.

His interment would cost as much as that of any king or conqueror. It was necessary that he should be black with a triangle of white on the forehead, a white spot in the form of a crescent on the right side, and a sort of knot like a beetle under his tongue. When a bull of this description was found he was fed four months, in a building facing the east. At the new moon he was led to a splendid ship with great solemnity and conveyed to Heliopolis, where he was fed 40 days more by priests and women, who performed before him various indecent ceremonies. After this no one was suffered to approach him. From Heliopolis the priests carried him to Memphis, where he had a temple, two chapels to dwell in, and a large court for exercise. He had a prophetic power which he imparted to the children about him. The omen was good or bad according as he went into one stable or the other. His birthday was celebrated every year when the Nile began to rise; the festival continued seven days. A golden patera was thrown into the Nile, and it was said that the crocodile was tame as long as the feast continued. He was only suffered to live 25 years, and at his death he was embalmed and buried in these sarcophagi amidst universal mourning till the priest had found a successor.

When I emerged once more from this mausoleum and struggled up through the sand I paid a visit to the tomb of King Phty or Phta, said to be 5,400 years old. His sarcophagus is similar to those I had just visited, and is contained in a nice lofty room, the walls of which, as are the walls of the chapel outside, plentifully and excellently sculptured, and quite fresh in appearance, though so ancient. I do not remember all I saw represented on the walls and tombs, but amongst other things there were lions, giraffes, ostriches, sacred Ibis, owls, crocodiles, elephants, buffaloes, a boat floating on the water with a man in it, and in the water fish of different kinds, Egyptians fishing, harpooning the hippopotamus, agricultural pursuits, ploughing and sowing, treading out the corn just as they do now, the butcher sharpening his knife, the butcher killing the animal whilst another holds him down, hunting, battle scenes, &c., &c. Some figures on the wall had been painted red; the paint is still good and not at all frayed. In another excavation, after leaving this tomb, I saw a mummy; but I must not expend too much time over this place, although I feel quite disposed to keep on talking of it. We cannot leave the plain of Memphis without recurring to the most memorable event in all its eventful history. It was probably here that Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh and demanded that he should let the people go. This was the spot where “Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.”

Ruminating on the mutability of human affairs, I mounted my donkey, had a long ride through beautiful palm groves, and finally emerged from the village of Gizeh on to the main road from the pyramids and over a handsome bridge across the Nile to my hotel. When half-way across the Nile, I observed the Khedive and his escort coming along, so I got off my donkey to watch him pass. I took off my hat to him, and he acknowledged my salutation with a gracious bow. As I returned homewards, in imagination I saw these glorious cities of old Egypt peopled. I tried to picture to myself—feebly, I dare say—the splendour and wealth of those people, the magnificence of the designs carried out, the result of which was that neither before nor since has the sun shone on anything like such superb, massive, and imposing temples, palaces, and tombs in the world. Thebes, with its hundred gates, was perhaps the most splendid city in the world for many centuries. Then there were Luxor, Karnak, PhilÆ, Elephantine, Baalbeck, Dendera, Aba-Simbal, Abydos, Esneh, Edfau, Silsilis, and other places, all decorated with palaces, temples, pyramids, tombs, and sphinxes, &c., on the same magnificent scale; but all have shared the same fate, and their stupendous ruins are all that remain to strike the stranger with awe and wonder.

About two days after our arrival in Cairo, our party was augmented by the arrival of Mr. W. D. James, Mr. A. James, and Mr. Percy Aylmer, Mahoom, a black boy; who had been rescued from the Soudan some years beforehand; Jules, George, and Anselmia, the three latter European servants. Here we engaged Suleiman as a sort of general manager for the caravan; he had travelled through the Soudan with Sir Samuel Baker; Ali, a very good cook, and Cheriffe, who made a very good butler, and had been accustomed to travel as a kind of steward on the Nile boats.