. A history of art in ancient Egypt . ls the northerncemetery. The tombs of Abydos have no subterranean story,properly speaking. Well, mummy-chamber, and funerary chapelare all constructed, not dug. In the few instances in which theground has been excavated down to the friable sandstone which over-lies the hard rock, the opening hasbeen lined w^ith rubble. Hence the peculiar aspect which thenecropolis of Abydos must have pre-sented when intact. Imagine a multi-tude of small pyramids live or six metreshigh, carelessly oriented or not at all, anduniformly built of crude brick. Thesepyramids alwa
. A history of art in ancient Egypt . ls the northerncemetery. The tombs of Abydos have no subterranean story,properly speaking. Well, mummy-chamber, and funerary chapelare all constructed, not dug. In the few instances in which theground has been excavated down to the friable sandstone which over-lies the hard rock, the opening hasbeen lined w^ith rubble. Hence the peculiar aspect which thenecropolis of Abydos must have pre-sented when intact. Imagine a multi-tude of small pyramids live or six metreshigh, carelessly oriented or not at all, anduniformly built of crude brick. Thesepyramids always stand upon a plinth,they are hollow, and within they areformed into a clumsy cupola by meansof roughly built off-sets. The pyramidstands directly over a chamber in its foundations which sheltersthe mummy. As soon as the latter was in place, the door ofits chamber was closed by masonry. ^ An exterior chamberwas often built in front of the pyramid, and being always left Mariette, Voyage dans la Haute-Egypte, vol. i. 1879. 2 Ji^ Fig. -Section of the abovetomb. The Tomb under the Middle Empire. 245 open, served for the performance of the sepulchral rites; butsometimes this chamber was absent and then those rites werecarried through in the open air, before the stele of the latter was sometimes erected upon the plinth, sometimes letinto its face. A little cube of masonry is sometimes found at the
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