Our first visit was to some tombs cut in the side of the mountain, overlooking the valley; they are quite extensive, and were the burial places of Lycopolis, the ancient city, which occupied the place where Siout now stands.
The present city is modern, only about twenty-five hundred years old, and it has borne its present name through that period.
One of the effects of travelling in Egypt is, that you get in the way of regarding nothing as ancient that has less than three thousand years of age.
