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Diary Transcription:

microfilm: begin page 309

Immediately in the west of the entrance of G I-e there are substantial traces of brick-work. It is to be noted that the rock foundation for the pyramid has not been faced to take masonry, but left in the rough natural condition. The bricks are now on the west side of the doorway and clearly belong to an entrance construction of the pyramid.

The occurrence of an ascending passage cut in the rock in G I-e, and similar in character to that formed in the masonry of the Great Pyramid G I, tends strongly to confirm Petrie's belief of a single plan for the latter building, as against Borchardt's theory of a subsequent revision of plan, the ascending passage being added later.

Immediately to the north of the cut sloping face for the casing blocks there are rough blocks let into the ground and mortared together. These may be in order to level the ground for the floor of the temple.

With reference to the occurrence of the name of Snefru upon the golden canopy of the tomb G 7000 X it should be noticed that Dr. Fisher in his book "Minor Cemetery of Giza" (pages 157 - 166) describes the early mastaba of Snefru-hotep [Sneferu-hetep], who is described as the "Superior Libation - priest of the Pyramid Kha-Snefru".
On a long lintel (page 163) occurs the title thus:

[GLYPHS] [sHD wabw xa-snfrw (rx) nswt wr mDw Sma]

Clearly, if the inscription of [TRANSLITERATION] [dwAra] at Dahshur which by the way mentions specifically the southern pyramid [[GLYPHS] [jmj-r xa-snfrw Sma] is son of [TRANSLITERATION] [dwAnra]] (almost certainly at Meidum, and not that at Dahshur at all) (see Gauthier "Livre des Rois" I. 62) may be held to prove the existence of a pyramid of this King at Dahshur. This and other tombs already mentioned (G 7510 G 7710, and see page 307 of this Diary) may be claimed as suggesting a Snefru pyramid at Giza. The seventeenth reference to Snefru in Gauthier's catalogue shows, as also so many other references (e.g. page 61 of Gauthier) that offices existed for the supervision of a dual pyramid system [[GLYPHS] [jmj-r xawj-snfrw] are [TRANSLITERATION] [dwAra] and [TRANSLITERATION] [anxmara]] one of which seems clear to have been at Meidum and the second at Dahshur, as seems at least as probable at Giza. (c.f. reference to Maspero on page 307 of this Diary).

Dr. Reisner cleared, to the west of the Great Pyramid, the mastaba G 4240 of the Royal Son Sneferu-seneb [Snefruseneb], dating from Khafre's reign, so that this prince may himself have been son of Snefru, and brother (?) to Khufu.

microfilm: end page 309

Details

  • Classification
    Documentation-Expedition diary pages
  • Department
    Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Display Page Dates
    04/07/1925
  • Mentioned on page
    Clarence Stanley Fisher, American, 1876–1941
    Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, French, 1846–1916
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942
    Henri Gauthier, French, 1877–1950
    Ludwig Borchardt, German, 1863–1938
    Sir William Flinders Petrie, British, 1853–1942
    Khafre
    Khufu
    Sneferuhetep (G 3008)
    Snefru
    Snefruseneb (G 4240)
  • Author
    Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees, British, 1899–

Tombs and Monuments 8

People 12

Ancient People

  • Khafre

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Fourth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khufu. Builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza and probably of the Great Sphinx as well. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Khephren. A number of diorite and greywacke statues and statue fragments depicting the king have been discovered in Khafre's valley temple, including Cairo CG 9-17. The fragmentary head of an alabaster royal statue (MFA 21.351 + MFA 33.1113) is attributed to Khafre.
  • Khufu

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Second king of Dynasty 4, son of Snefru. Builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Cheops. Horus name: [mDdw] Medjedu. Full birth-name: Khnum-Khufu.
  • Sneferuhetep (G 3008)

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Owner of G 3008. South false door inscribed for Sneferuhetep, also appears in chapel wall painting, east, south, and west walls, identified as [rx nswt sS nswt sHD wabw xa-snfrw wr mDw Sma Hrj-sStA n nTr=f Hrj-sStA m kAt sxt] royal acquaintance, royal scribe, inspector of wab-priests of the pyramid of Snefru, great one of the tens of Upper Egypt, secretary of his god, secretary of works in the field; in situ in G 3008. Fragment of door jamb (UPM_E13543) inscribed for Sneferuhetep, identified as [rx nswt] royal acquaintance; found in debris of shaft G 3008 C, originally from door to offering room.
  • Snefru

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks First king of Dynasty 4. Father of Khufu.
  • Snefruseneb (G 4240)

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Owner of G 4240. False door tablet (Cairo JE 43292) depicting Snefruseneb seated at offering table, identified as [sm xrp SnDt aD-mr dp r p nb smr sA nswt n Xt=f] sem-priest, director of the kilt, administrator of Dep, mouth of all Pe, companion, king's son of his body; found in G 4240. Reserve head (13-11-60 = Cairo JE 46215) attributed to Snefruseneb; found in G 4240 A.

Modern People

  • Clarence Stanley Fisher

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1876–1941
    • Remarks Archaeologist and architect. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Gaston Camille Charles Maspero

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates French, 1846–1916
    • Remarks Sir; Egyptologist. Director of the Service des Antiquities. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1846-1916) French Egyptologist, of Italian origin; he was born in Paris, 24 June 1846, son of Miss Adèle Maspero; he was naturalized when very young and educated at the Lycée Louis- le-Grand, 1853-65, and the Ecole Normale, Paris, 1865-7; he was made Professor of Egyptoloy Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 1869, he gained Doct.-ès 1873; appointed professor of Egyptian Philology and Archaeology, Coll. de France, 1874; Maspero became interested in hieroglyphs at the age of 14 while still at school, and in 1867 met Mariette (q.v.), who gave him two newly discovered hieroglyphic texts to study which, he then translated in less than a fortnight; he published these the same year, but his career was temporarily interrupted when he went with a French family to Montevideo and worked on the Inca language Quichua; he returned to France and studied with de Rougé (q.v.); he married 1. Harriet Yapp, 1871 (d. 1873) 2. 1880 Louise Justine Elisabeth Madeleine Catherine Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant de Rebecque; he went to Egypt in 1880, as head of an archaeological mission which later became the IFAO, and organized the work of recording scenes and inscriptions in many important tombs, espec. in the Valley of Kings; he was appointed Director of the Bulaq Museum, succeeding Mariette, 1881-6; also of the Antiquities Service; Mariette when dying had been interested in the opening of the smaller pyramids and Brugsch (q.v.) had discovered and copied the texts in Pepi I and Merenre; Maspero continued this work and opened three more; in all he copied and translated 4,000 lines of inscription, making the first edition of these famous Pyramid Texts ; he was also involved in the removal of the Deir el-Bahari collection of mummies to Cairo Museum, 1881; it is impossible to list all of his great achievements here but the following must be cited: he arranged and catalogued the immense collections in Cairo Museum, regulated excavation throughout Egypt, inaugurated the systematic clearance and preservation of Karnak, and with Lord Cromer's help built up the then embryonic Antiquities Service with five inspectorates for different areas; Maspero returned to France 1886-99, and was again Director in Egypt, 1899-1914, when illness forced him to go back to France in July; under his direction Reisner (q.v.) undertook the Archaeological Survey of Nubia, 1907-9; he acquired many honours, Acad. des Inscriptions, 1883; Hon. Fellow, The Queen's College and Hon DCL, Oxford 1887; Hon. KCMG, 1909; Sec. Perpétuel, Acad. des Inscr., 1914; his activity, industry and learning were enormous, and he held the premier place in Egyptology in his generation; he edited the gigantic Cairo Catalogue which had reached 50 vols. at the time of his death, and the Nubian temples vols. which then numbered 12; he wrote on a very wide variety of subjects and the number of his published works listed in his bib. exceeds that of any other Egyptologist, c. 1200 items; many of these were small or else reviews, his principal works being, L'Inscripion dédicatoire du Temple d'Abydos, 1867; Hymne au Nil 1868; Une Enquête judiciaire à Thébes au temps de la XXe dynastie (i.e. Papyrus Abbott), 1871; Des formes de la conjugaison en égyptian antique en démotique et en copte 1871; Les Pronoms personnels en égyptien, 1872; Du genre épistolaire chez les Eyptiens de I'époque pharaonique, 1872; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient, 1875, and many later- eds.; Mémoire sur quelques Papyrus du Louvre, 1875 Etudes Egyptiennes-Romans et poésies du papyrus Harris no. 500..., 1879; Etudes Eg.- Etude sur quelques peintures et sur quelques texts relatifs aux funérailles, with le conte d'Apôpi et de Soknouri, 1881; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, with E. Brugsch, 1881; Les Contes populaires de L'Egypte ancienne ..., 1882; Guide du visiteur au musée de Boulaq, 1883; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, 1883; L' Archéologie éyptienne, 1887, trans. by A. B. Edwards; Les Momies Royales de Deir-el-Bahari, fol., 1889; Trois années de fouilles dans les tombeaux de Thèbes et Memphis, fol., 1889; Catalogue du Musée Egyptien de Marseille, 1889; Histoire ancienne Egypte, Assyrie. 1890, trans. by A. Morton; Fragments de manuscrits coptes-thèbains provenant de, la Bibl. du Deir Amba-Shenoudah. 1892; Les Inscriptions des pyramides deSaqqarah, 4°, 1894; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, 3 vols., 4-, 1895, 1897, 1899, (trans, and ed. A. H. Sayce as The Dawn of Civilization -Egypt and Chaldea, 1896; The Struggle of the Nations - Egypt, Syria and Assyyia, 1896; The Passing of the Empires, 1900); Fouilles autour de la pyramide d'Ounas, with A. Barsanti, 1900; Guide du visiteur au musée du Caire, 1902; and many eds.; Causeries d'Egypte, 1907; Les Mémoires de Sinouhit..., 1908; New Light on Ancient Egypt, trans. E. Lee, 1908 Sarcophages des époques persane et ptolémaïque, Cairo Cat., 4°, 1908; Egypt: ancient sites and modern scenes, 1910; Essai sur I'art égyptien , 1912; Etudes de mythologie et d'archéologie ég., 8 vols., 1893, 1898, 1900; 1911, 1912, 1913, 1916; Les enseignemets d'Amenemhaît l et à son fils Sanouasrît Ier 1914; he also translated Ebers Egypt, 1880,1881, edited the works of Renouf (q.v.) and as a young man transcribed Champollion's Notices, Maspero's second wife died Paris, 22jan. 1953 aged nearly 100; he died in Paris whilst about to address a meeting of the Academy, 30 june 1916 H. Cordier, Bibliographie de Gaston Maspero, 1922, 127-35, enumerates a long list of obituary notices of Maspero, many with portraits; H. Cordier, Maspero en Amérique, 1920; AE (1916), 145-9 (W. M. F. Petrie); ASAE 16 (1916), 129-40 (portr. Daressy) BSAC I (I 936) 'Gaston Maspero et les études coptes', 27-36 (portr.) (H. Munier); (CRAIBL, 1918 (1917), 445-82 (R. Cagnat); EB IIth ed., 17, 848; EB 1968 ed., 14, 1023 (W. R- Dawson); JEA 3 (1916), 227-34 (portr.) (E. Naville); JEA 33 (1947), 'Letters from Maspero to Amelia Edwards', 66.-89 (portr.) (W. R. Dawson); JMEOS 1915-16,104 (W. M. Crompton); JRAS 1917, 629-31 (L. W. King); La Grande Enc. 23, 362-3 (H. M.); Larousse 7, 144 (portr.); Mélanges Maspero, 3 vols. (I934-53) Mem. IFAO tom. 66-8, Nation 103 New York (I 916), 176-7( J. H. Breasted); Petrie, 27 and passim; PSBA 38 141-5 (G. F. Legge); Réc. (1916), Ric. Trav. 38 (1916), 211-25 (portr.) (E, Chassinat); Rev. Arch. 5e ser., iv (I916), 172-6 (portr.) (E. Naville); Rev. de L'hist. des religions, Nov.-Dec. 1916, 031-264 (A. Moret); Rev. Hist. 1916, 434-40 (A. Moret); Sphinx 21 (1924), 1-11 (G. jéquier); WWWii, 710
  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1867–1942
    • Remarks Egyptologist, archaeologist; Referred to as "the doctor" and "mudir" (Arabic for "director") in the excavation records. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Henri Gauthier

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates French, 1877–1950
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Ludwig Borchardt

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1863–1938
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1863-1938) German Egyptologist; he was bom in Berlin, 5 Oct. 1863, son of Herman B. and Bertha Levin; he trained as an architect at the Technische Hochschule, 1883-7; he assisted in the Egyptian section of Berlin Museum 1887-8; between 1890 and 1897 he was in charge of building works at Konigsberg; Doctor hon. c. 1897; he studied Egyptology under Erman (q.v.) and first visited Egypt in 1895, working at Philae under Capt. Lyons(q.v.); following de Morgan's great project to catalogue the standing monuments of Egypt ,he inaugurated a less grandiose scheme in conjunction with Maspero (q.v.) for the great (Catalogue Général of Cairo Museum; he became attaché to the German Consulate in Cairo; Borchardt founded and directed the German Institute of Archaeology, 1907-28, on his retirement, he founded his own institute which later became the Swiss Institute; he also contributed a great many texts and much useful information to the Berlin Dictionary; using methods partly derived from Dorpfeld he excavated the sun temple of King Nyuserre at Abu Gurab, 1898-1901, and the pyramids of Abusir; he also excavated and established reconstructions of Amarna houses, 1913-14; Borchardt was the first person to make an intensive study of Egyptian architecture as a subject on its own; he also discovered the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose at Amarna and enriched Berlin Museum with many fine objects from this excavation; another interest of his was chronology; he was a member of the German Arch. Institute, 1898, and a bibliography of his writings, 214 nos., was issued in 1933 to celebrate his 70th birthday; he published, Die aegyptischen,.-, Pflanzensaule1897; Denkmaeler des Alten Reiches (ausser den Statuen) im Museum von Kairo, pt. 1, Cat. Gén., 1901; Das Re- Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-re (Rathures), pt. 1, Der Bau, 1905; Zur Baugeschichte des Amonstempels von Karnak, 1905; Nilmesser und Nilstandsmarken, 1906; Das Grabenkmal des Konigs Ne-user-rec , 1907; Works of Art from the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. With explanations by L. Borchardt, 1908; Das Grabenkmal des Koenig Nefer-ir-ke3-rec, 1909; Das Grabdenkmal des Konigs S'a3hu-rec, 3pts, 1910, 1913; Statuen und Statuetten von Koenigen und Privatleuten im Museum von Kairo, Cat. Gén., 1911-36; Die Annalen und die zeitliche Festlegung des Alten Reiches der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 1917; Quellen und Forschungen zur Zeitbestimmung der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 3pts. 1917, 1935, 1938; Die Altaegyptische Zeitmessung 1920; altaegyptische Festungen an der zweiten Nilschnelle, 1923; Portraets der Koenigin Nofret-ete aus den Grabungen 1912/13 in Tell el-Amarna, 1923; Agypten. Landschaft, Volksleben, Baukunst, with H Ricke, 1930; Allerhand Kleinigkeiten ... zu seinem 70. Geburtstage am 3. Oktober 1933, 1933 Beitraege zur Aegyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde, with Ricke, 1937; Die Entstehung des Generalkatalogs und seine Entwicklung in den Jahren 1897-1899, 1937; Aegyptische Tempel mit Umgang, 1938; he died in Paris, 12 Aug. 1938, and was buried in Cairo. ASAE 39 (1939), 43-7 (portr.) U. Leibovitch); Chron. d .Eg. 14 (1939), 141-3 U. Capart) JEA 24 (1938), 248 (G. Steindorff); NDB 2, 455 (H. Ricke).
  • Sir William Flinders Petrie

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1853–1942
    • Remarks Father of British Egyptology.
  • Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees

    • Type Author
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1899–
    • Remarks Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees, born South Africa, Sivaratri, March 10, 1899. British subject with a Scottish father and an English mother. For a brief period during 1925 he was a staff member of Harvard University--Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, who later joined the Theosophist movement in India. Greenlees received his MA degree in 1922 from Oxford, where he studied Egyptian, Coptic and Arabic. April 2,1925, Greenlees appointed Assistant Curator of Egyptian Art at MFA.