Facsimile · p. 634
THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN " ES}T> the natural lake which spread itself out at the east of the " valley, occupied a far larger surface than that which it has in " our days, and its level was sufficiently high that at the moment of " the rise of the Nile the whole country seemed to form only a single " sheet of water [extending] from the mountain to the desert. The " Labyrinth itself was not the wonderful palace which Herodotus " described, but the town which Amenemhat founded as a depend-"ance of his pyramid, the ruins of which are visible near the modern " village of Hawara.'
The identification proposed by Linant is a matter which, after all, can only be discussed satisfactorily by irrigation experts, and if Major Brown declares the existence of Lake Moeris as described by Herodotus to be impossible, and gives good reasons for his opinion, the Egyptologist must, bscause he lacks the necessary expert knowledge, be content to defer coming to a decision until the engineers have threshed out the subject. The two greatest Egyptologists of modern times, Lepsius and Brngsch Pasha, accepted Linant's identification of Lake Moeris, and the former " n'a pas hsit a declarer dans un Memoire special que le " savant fran9ais avait fait la decouverte la plus brillante et la ** plus indubitable quant a la veritable position topographique " du fameux lac Moeris." Lepsius, the Egyptologist, examined the site personally, and was convinced that Linant was correct in his views; Major Brown, the eminent irrigation engineer, also examined the site, and is certain that Linant was wrong. Here we have another instance of the Egyptologist passing judgment on a question which lies outside his province, and of the very patent fact, which is even at the present time only partially recognized by Egyptologists and Egyptian archaeologists, namely, that a knowledge of hieroglyphics does not necessarily make its possessor a competent authority on irrigation questions, or on architecture and the mechanical arts of ancient Egypt.
Of Amenemhat IV., the successor of Amenemhat III., but little is known. During his short reign records were kept of Nile levels in Nubia, as the inscription on the rocks at Kumma, dated in the fifth year of his reign, testifies. We have no evidence to show that he made any expeditions into the Sudan, and, when we remember ' His/. Ana'enne, p. 132.
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