son of Khnemu and Osiris, born of Sati and Isis, nursed by Aneq and Nephthys," etc. According to Diodorus, the priests of Meroë in Ethiopia were in the habit of sending, "whensoever they please, a messenger to the king, commanding him to put himself to death; for that such is the pleasure of the gods; . . . and so in former ages, the kings without force or compulsion of arms, but merely bewitched by a fond superstition, observed the custom; till Ergamenes (Arq-Åmen), a king of Ethiopia, who reigned in the time of Ptolemy II., bred up in the Grecian discipline and philosophy, was the first that was so bold as to reject and despise such commands. For this prince . . . marched with a considerable body of men to the sanctuary, where stood the golden temple of the Ethiopians, and there cut the throats of all the priests." (Bk. III., chap. vi.) Many of the Ptolemies and some Roman emperors made additions to the temple at Dakkeh. On the east bank of the river opposite Dakkeh is Kubbân, called Baka, in the hieroglyphics, a village which is said to mark the site of Tachompso or Metachompso, "the place of crocodiles." As Pselchis increased, so Tachompso declined, and became finally merely a suburb of that town; it was generally called Contra-Pselchis. A The name Tachompso is derived from the old Egyptian name of the town, Ta-qemt-sa, or Tachompso was the frontier town which marked the limit on the south of the district which lay between Egypt and Ethiopia, and derived its name, "Dodecaschoenus," from the fact that it comprised twelve schonoi; the schoinos is said by Herodotus (ii. 6) to be equal to sixty stades, but other writers reckon fewer stades to the schoinos. The stade equals one-eighth of a mile. During the XIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties this place was well fortified by the Egyptians, and on many blocks of stone close by are found the names of Thothmes III., Heru-em-heb, and Rameses II. It appears to have been the point from which the wretched people condemned to labour in the gold mines in the desert of the land of Akita set out; and an interesting inscription on a stone found here relates that Rameses II., having heard that much gold existed in this land, which was inaccessible on account of the absolute want of water, bored a well in the mountain, twelve cubits deep, so that henceforth men could come and go by this land. His father Seti I. had bored a well 120 cubits deep, but no water appeared in it. of Dakkeh, on the west bank of the river, are the remains of a temple which was built in Roman times upon a site where a temple had stood in the days of Thothmes III. Opposite Miharrakah, about 675 miles from Cairo, on the west bank of the river, lie the ruins of Hierasycaminus, the later limit on the south of the Dodecaschoenus. About 20 miles from Dakkeh, and 690 from Cairo, on the west bank of the river, is Wâdi Sabû'a, or the "Valley of the Lions," where there are the remains of a temple partly built of sandstone, and partly excavated in the rock; the place is so called on account of the dromos of sixteen sphinxes which led up to the temple. On the sculptures which still remain here may be seen Rameses II., the builder of the temple, "making an offering of incense to father Åmen, the king of the gods," who says to him, "I give to thee all might, and I give the world to thee, in peace." Elsewhere the king is making offerings to Tefnut, lady of heaven, Nebt-ḥetep, Horus and Thoth, each of whom promises to bestow some blessing upon him. On another part is a boat containing a ram-headed god, and Harmachis seated in a shrine, accompanied by Horus, Thoth, Isis, and Maat; the king kneels before him in adoration, and the god says that he will give him myriads of years and festivals; on each side is a figure of Rameses II. making an offering. Beneath this scene is a figure of a Christian saint holding a key, and an inscription on each side tells us that it is meant to represent Peter the Apostle. This picture and the remains of plaster on the walls show that the chambers of the temple were used by the early Christians as chapels. Kuruskau (Korosko), on the east bank of the river, 703 miles from Cairo, was from the earliest times the point of departure for merchants and others going to and from the Sûdân, viâ Abu Hamed; from the western bank there was a caravan route across into north Africa. In ancient days the land which lay to the east of Korosko was called Uaua, and as early as the VIth dynasty the officer Unå visited it in order to obtain blocks of acacia wood for his king Pepi I. An inscription, found a few hundred yards to the east of the town, records that the country round about was con quered in the XIIth dynasty by Âmenemḥāt I. (。 || e A capital idea of the general character of Nubian scenery can be obtained by ascending the mountain, which is now, thanks to a good path, easily accessible. At Amâda, sole, on the west bank of the river, 711 miles from Cairo, is a small but interesting temple, which appears to have been founded in the XIIth dynasty by Usertsen II., who conquered Nubia by setting fire to standing crops, by carrying away the wives and cattle, and by cutting down the men on their way to and from the wells. This temple was repaired by Thothmes III. and other kings of the XVIIIth dynasty. At Dêrr, on the east bank of the river, 715 miles from Cairo, is a small, badly executed rock-hewn temple of the time of Rameses II., where the usual scenes representing the defeat of the Ethiopians are depicted. The king is accompanied by a tame "lion which follows after his maȧu śesi en majesty, I hen-f, to slay . . . . . .” Close to the temple is the rock stele of the prince Amen-em-ḥeb of the same period; the temple was dedicated to Amen-Ra. The Egyptian name of Thirteen miles beyond Dêrr, 728 miles from Cairo, also on the east bank of the river, stands Ibrîm, which marks the site of the ancient Primis, or Premnis, called in the Egyptian inscriptions Määmam. This town was captured during the reign of Augustus by Petronius on his victorious march upon Napata. In the first and third naos at Primis are representations of Neḥi, the governor of Nubia, with other officers, bringing gifts before Thothmes III., which shows that these caves were hewn during the reign of this king; and in another, Rameses II. is receiving adorations from Setau, prince of Ethiopia, and a number of his officers. At Anibe, just opposite Ibrîm, is the grave of Penni, the governor of the district, who died during the reign of Rameses VI. About three miles off is the battle-field of Toski, on the east bank of the Nile, where Sir Francis Grenfell, G.C.B., slew Wad en-Negûmî and utterly defeated the dervishes on August 4, 1891. ABÛ SIMBEL.* Abu Simbel, on the west bank of the river, 762 miles from Cairo, is the classical Aboccis, and the place called *The spelling of this name is doubtful. |