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CHAPTER XXXII
Memphis, the Ancient Capital ;
IT
Pyramids of Sakkara
The Tombs and
is at Memphis, and its more visible satellite Sakkara,
that you begin to see museum things. From Memphis
to the gates of the Sudan, Egypt is an open-air museum,
where temples and tombs are arranged like shop windows
for public inspection.
There are a few stray Egyptological specimens in the
foundations and mastabas round the Pyramids. There are a
stone with something on it, and an impaired obelisk at
Heliopolis, but nothing else near Cairo till you get to
Memphis and Abusir.
Nor do first impressions of Memphis divulge much. There
are, it is true, two splendid and colossal images of Ramcses
the Great, the first you have seen in situ. But if you have
been wise enough to explore the Cairo museum before you
begin to explore the desert, you will have seen statues
of Rameses the Great ad nauseam. If photographs had
been invented in his day, he would have been the photo-
grapher's best friend. And the fact that these two Colossi of
Memphis lie where they were found is not impressive, because
they look as if they were waiting for Carter, Paterson & Co.
to send for them, being obviously out of their proper en-
vironment, though the site of the principal temple of Ptah,
the head of the Trinity of Memphis, is hiding somewhere in
the vicinity— playing hide-and-seek with Mr. Flinders Petrie.
The first of the two Colossi is the best off. Its setting
is delightful. Say that Thomas Cook & Son have taken
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