This view of the royal tombs at Abydos tallies to a great extent with that of M. Naville, who has energetically maintained the view that M. Amelineau and Prof.  Petrie have not discovered the real tombs of the early kings, but only their contemporary commemorative “tombs” at Abydos.  The only real tomb of the Ist Dynasty, therefore, as yet discovered is that of Aha at Nakada, found by M. de Morgan.  The fact that attendant slaves were buried around the Abydos tombs is no bar to the view that the tombs were only the monuments, not the real graves, of the kings.  The royal ghosts would naturally visit their commemorative chambers at Abydos, in order to be in the company of the great Osiris, and ghostly servants would be as necessary to their Majesties at Abydos as elsewhere.

It must not be thought that this revised opinion of the Abydos tombs detracts in the slightest degree from the importance of the discovery of M. Amelineau and its subsequent and more detailed investigation by Prof.  Petrie.  These monuments are as valuable for historical purposes as the real tombs themselves.  The actual bodies of these primeval kings themselves we are never likely to find.  The tomb of Aha at Nakada had been completely rifled in ancient times.

The commemorative tombs of the kings of the Ist and IId Dynasties at Abydos lie southwest of the great necropolis, far within the bay in the hills.  Their present aspect is that of a wilderness of sand hillocks, covered with masses of fragments of red pottery, from which the site has obtained the modern Arab name of Umm el-Ga’ab, “Mother of Pots.”  It is impossible to move a step in any direction without crushing some of these potsherds under the heel.  They are chiefly the remains of the countless little vases of rough red pottery, which were dedicated here as ex-votos by the pious, between the XIXth and XXVIth Dynasties, to the memory of the ancient kings and of the great god Osiris, whose tomb, as we shall see, was supposed to have been situated here also.

[Illustration:  065.jpg (right) THE TOMB OF KING DEN AT ABYDOS.  About 4000 B.C.]

Intermingled with these later fragments are pieces of the original Ist Dynasty vases, which were filled with wine and provisions and were placed in the tombs, for the refreshment and delectation of the royal ghosts when they should visit their houses at Abydos.  These were thrown out and broken when the tombs were violated.  Here and there one sees a dip in the sand, out of which rise four walls of great bricks, forming a rectangular chamber, half-filled with sand.  This is one of the royal tomb-chambers of the Ist Dynasty.  That of King Den is illustrated above.  A straight staircase descends into it from the ground-level above.  In several of the tombs the original flooring of wooden beams is still preserved.  Den’s is the most magnificent of all, for it has a floor of granite blocks; we know of no other instance of stone being used for building in this early age.  Almost every tomb has been burnt at some period unknown.  The brick walls are burnt red, and many of the alabaster vases are almost calcined.  This was probably the work of some unknown enemy.