volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

Insinger's attack in " Le Phare." 365
June 3rd, 1903, that Monsieur X's conduct amounted
to " une manque de surveillance qui ressemble a une
complicity, permettant I'expedition clandestine en Europe
d'antiquites subrepticement enlevees aux fouilles mal
gardees." Mr. Insinger called the man who committed
the theft, to the success of which Mr. X's " manque de
surveillance" contributed, "Monsieur Y." Mr. Insinger's
letter to Le Phare was the subject of a long article in
the Egyptian Gazette for June 5th, 1903. And the
editor informed his readers that the initials " X " and
" Y " in Mr. Insinger's letter " evidently " represented
Mr. Carter and " Dr. Budge, the well-known Egyptologist."
In the first paragraph of his article, the editor of the
Egyptian Gazette refers to " the ravishment of the
tomb of Amen-hetep II," and in the second he attempts
to defend Mr. Carter, and trusts that " Lord Cromer will
take the matter up, and call upon our contemporary for
a written apology for such an unwarranted aspersion."
Before referring to the third paragraph, which the
editor devotes chiefly to my alleged " theft," it may
be well to mention a few facts concerning the " ravishment
of the tomb of Amen-hetep II," which most people
win have forgotten. This tomb was cleared out by M.
Loret in 1899, ^^'^ i^ ^^ v/ere found not only the mummy
of the king and the bodies of some of his ladies who
were killed, voluntarily or otherwise, and buried with him
in his tomb, but the mummies of several other kings, viz.
those of Thothmes IV, Amen-hetep III, Menephthah,
Rameses IV, Rameses V and Rameses VI. M. Loret
removed aU the contents of the tomb to Cairo, and it
was generally felt that he had committed an error of
judgment when he distmrbed the mummy of Amenhetep
II, and the bodies of his ladies. After M. Loret's
resignation. Sir William Garstin insisted that Maspero
should replace the mummy of Amen-hetep II and
the bodies of his ladies in the royal tomb, together
with most of the funerary equipment. When this had
been done, Sir William Garstin, Maspero, and several
high officials, both British and Egyptian, visited the
tomb to see that everything had been done as they