or “Storehouse of Ibis Burials.”  The Arab invaders adapted this name to their own language in the nearest form which would have any meaning, as Shunet ez-Zebib, “the Storehouse of Dried Grapes.”  The Arab word shuna ("Barn” or “Storehouse”) was, it should be noted, taken over from the Coptic sheune, which is the old-Egyptian shenet.  The identity of sheune or shuna with the German “Scheune” is a quaint and curious coincidence.  In the illustration of the Shunet ez-Zebib the curved line of crenelated wall, following the contour of the hill, should be noted, as it is a remarkable example of the building of this early period.

It will have been seen from the foregoing description of what far-reaching importance the discoveries at Abydos have been.  A new chapter of the history of the human race has been opened, which contains information previously undreamt of, information which Egyptologists had never dared to hope would be recovered.  The sand of Egypt indeed conceals inexhaustible treasures, and no one knows what the morrow’s work may bring forth.

Ex Africa semper aliquid novi!

CHAPTER III—­MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS

Memphis, the “beautiful abode,” the “City of the White Wall,” is said to have been founded by the legendary Menes, who in order to build it diverted the stream of the Nile by means of a great dyke constructed near the modern village of Koshesh, south of the village of Mitrahena, which marks the central point of the ancient metropolis of Northern Egypt.  It may be that the city was founded by Aha or Narmer, the historical originals of Mena or Menes; but we have another theory with regard to its foundation, that it was originally built by King Merpeba Atjab, whose tomb was also discovered at Abydos near those of Aha and Narmer.  Merpeba is the oldest king whose name is absolutely identified with one occurring in the XIXth Dynasty king-lists and in Manetho.  He is certainly the “Merbap” or “Merbepa” ("Merbapen”) of the lists and the Miebis of Manetho.  In both the lists and in Manetho he stands fifth in order from Mena, and he was therefore the sixth king of the Ist Dynasty.  The lists, Manetho, and the small monuments in his own tomb agree in making him the immediate successor of Semti Den (Ousaphais), and from the style of these latter it is evident that he comes after Tja, Tjer, Narmer, and Aha.  That is to say, the contemporary evidence makes him the fifth king from Aha, the first original of “Menes.”

Now after the piety of Seti I had led him to erect a great temple at Abydos in memory of the ancient kings, whose sepulchres had probably been brought to light shortly before, and to compile and set up in the temple a list of his predecessors, a certain pious snobbery or snobbish piety impelled a worthy named Tunure, who lived at Memphis, to put up in his own tomb at Sakkara a tablet of kings like the royal