Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 144
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[Page 144]
Sacred Bulls was our next objective. We went down a passage, to a gate in the sands, which opened into a large tunnel, a short distance along a downward incline it was obstructed by one of the Sarcophagi, which were told Mariette had essayed to bring to the surface that it might be placed at the museum in Cairo, he ceased his endeavour before daylight was reached, now the hugh [huge] granite block and its lid lie blocking the way. On the right and left of the main passage are chambers each of which contains a sarcophagus, no two chambers face one another.
"Some of the monolithic (cut out of a single stone) sarcophagi, 24 in all are in Synite [syenite – similar to granite], some in bassalt, and others in limestone. They are from 10 ft. to 14 ft. in height. Their length varies between 14 ft & 18 ft., with proportional width. The weight of one of them with its lid on, has been estimated by Linant Bey at nearly 70 tons. Just think of it a block of granite heavier than any railway engine you have seen. Inside it was placed the embalmed body of a sacred bull, then the lid was placed over it. These blocks and lids were fashioned from the granite quarries near Assouan, five 500 miles up the Nile river from Cairo, more than 2500 years B.C. each of them was moved to the river, embarked, brought down stream to near Memphis, (the City of the Pharoes) here the craft were brought to the bank, the load disembarked moved across the sands to the plateau, placed in the prepared chamber, & in due course received the sacred bull.
How did the people of that period do it? It is said that the land part of the moving was effected by round logs placed beneath on which the blocks were rolled onwards. How were they got into the chamber? Supposedly somewhat in the same way. Several of the sarcophagi are adorned with lines and figures of all kinds. You might see a drawing of the Serapeum and the Sarcophagi in one of the encyclopedias at home. Of all that I
[Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds (1799-1883), known as Linant Bey or Linant Pasha, was an explorer and chief engineer of Egypt's public works, including of the Suez Canal.]