he
architect had contrived a hiding-place, destined, no doubt, to contain
the more precious objects of the funerary furniture. Until the beginning
of this century, the vault had preserved its original lining of glazed
pottery. Three quarters of the wall surface were covered with green
tiles, oblong and slightly convex on the outer side, but flat on the
inner: a square projection pierced with a hole, served to fix them at
the back in a horizontal line by means of flexible wooden rods.

[Illustration: 356. jpg ONE OF THE CHAMBERS OF THE STEP-PYRAMID, WITH
ITS WALL-COVERING OF GLAZED TILES.1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the coloured sketch by
Sogato. M. Stern attributes the decoration of glazed pottery
to the XXVI '' dynasty, which opinion is shared by
Borchardt. The yellow and green glazed tiles hearing the
cartouche of Papi I., show that the Egyptians of the
Memphite dynasties used glazed facings at that early date;
we may, therefore, believe, if the tiles of the vault of
Zosiri are really of the Saite period, that they replaced a
decoration of the same kind, which belonged to the time of
its construction, and of which some fragments still exist
among the tiles of more recent date.

The three bands which frame one of the doors are inscribed with the
titles of the Pharaoh: the hieroglyphs are raised in either blue, red,
green, or yellow, on a fawn-coloured ground. Other kings had built
temples, palaces, and towns,--as, for instance, King Khasakhimu, of
whose constructions some traces exist at Hieraconpolis, opposite to
El-Kab, or King Khasakhmui, who preceded by a few years the Pharaohs of
the IVth dynasty--but the monuments which they raised to be witnesses of
their power or piety to future generations, have, in the course of ages,
disappeared under the tramplings and before the triumphal blasts of many
invading hosts: the pyramid alone has survived, and the most ancient of
the historic monuments of Egypt is a tomb.

[Illustration: 357.jpg TAILPIECE]

END OF VOL. I.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria,
Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12), by G. Maspero

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