the birth of the gods were celebrated, stood in front of the great temple, to the left; it consisted of a small courtyard, hall of columns, and the shrine. It was built by Ptolemy IX., who is depicted on the walls making offerings to Sebek, Hathor, Thoth, and other deities. The best relief remaining (see de Morgan, Kom Ombos, p. 50) is on the north wall, and represents the king on a fowling expedition through marshes much frequented by water fowl. The Great Temple. The pylon of the great temple has almost entirely disappeared, and only a part of the central pillar and south half remains. A few of the scenes are in good preservation, and represent the Emperor Domitian making offerings to the gods. Passing through the pylon, the visitor entered a large courtyard; on three sides was a colonnade containing sixteen pillars, and in the middle was an altar. The large hall of ten columns was next entered, and access was obtained through two doors to another, but smaller hall, of ten columns. The shrines of the gods Sebek and Heru-ur, i.e., "Horus the elder" (Haroëris), to whom the temple was dedicated, were approached through three chambers, each having two doors, and round the whole of this section of the building ran a corridor, which could be entered through a door on the left into the second hall of columns, and a door on the right in the first chamber beyond. At the sides and ends of the sanctuary are numerous small chambers which were used probably either for the performance of ceremonies in connection with the worship of the gods, or by the priests. The reliefs on the courtyard represent Cæsar Tiberius

(1944) making

offerings to Ḥeru-ur, hawk-headed, Sebek, crocodile-headed, Osiris Unnefer, and other gods. The colouring of the relief in which this Emperor is seen making an offering to the lady of Ombos and Khonsu (Column IV) is in an

admirable state of preservation. On the façade is an

interesting scene in which the gods Horus and Thoth are

The Emperor Tiberius making an offering of land to Sebek and Hathor. (Bas-relief at Kom Ombos, Courtyard, column XVI.)

represented pouring out the water of life over Ptolemy Neos Dionysos. The reliefs in the first hall of columns are very fine examples of the decorative work of the period, and worthy of notice are:-(West Wall): The king in the company of Heru-ur, Isis, Nut, and Thoth; the king adoring four mythical monsters, one of which has four lions' heads. (East Wall): Harpocrates, seated in the Sun's disk in a boat, accompanied by Shu, Isis, Nephthys, Maat, Nut, etc.; the 14 kas or "doubles" of the king; the king making offerings to the gods. (Ceiling): The gods of

the stars in boats in the heavens, gods and goddesses, etc. Here it is interesting to note that certain sections of the ceiling are divided by lines into squares with the object of assisting the draughtsman and sculptor, and that the plan of the original design was changed, for unfinished figures of gods may be seen on it in quite different positions. In the small hall of columns are reliefs similar in character to those found in the larger hall. An examination of the great temple shows that the building was carried out on a definite plan, and that the decoration of the walls with reliefs was only begun after the builders had finished their work. The oldest reliefs and texts belong to the period of the Ptolemies, and are found in the main buildings, and begin with the shrines of the gods Sebek and Ḥeru-ur; the reliefs and inscriptions of the courtyard belong to the Roman period. The Chapel of Hathor also belongs to the Roman period, and seems not to have been completed. Drawings made in the early part of the XIXth century show that the ruins of the temples and other buildings were in a much better state of preservation than they are at present, and as the ruin which has fallen upon them since that date cannot be justly attributed to the natives, it must be due to the erosion of the bank by the waters of the Nile, which has for centuries slowly but surely been eating its way into it. The building which Amenophis I. erected there was destroyed by the encroachment of its waters, and, according to M. de Morgan, a strip of ground from the front of the temple nearly 20 feet in width has been swallowed up in the waters during the last 60 years, and with it there probably went the greater part of the Mammisi. This being so, all lovers of antiquities will rejoice that a stone platform has been built in front of the temple to prevent the further destruction of it by the Nile.

444

ASWÂN.

Aswân (or Uswân), the southern limit of Egypt proper, 583 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the river, called in Egyptian, Coptic coran, was called by the Greeks Syene, which stood on the slope of a hill to the south-west of the present town. Properly speaking, Syene was the island of Elephantine. In the earliest Egyptian inscriptions it is called

or

Åbu, z.e., "the district of the elephant," and it formed the

metropolis of the first nome of Upper Egypt,

Ta-kens.

As we approach the time of the Ptolemies, the name Sunnu, i.e., the town on the east bank of the Nile, from whence comes the Arabic name Aswân, takes the place of Abu. The town obtained great notoriety among the ancients from the fact that Eratosthenes and Ptolemy considered it to lie on the tropic of Cancer, and to be the most northerly point where, at the time of the summer solstice, the sun's rays fell vertically; as a matter of fact, however, the town lies o' 37′ 23′′ north of the tropic of Cancer. There was a famous well there, into which the sun was said to shine at the summer solstice, and to illuminate it in every part. In the time of the Romans three cohorts were stationed here,* and the town was of considerable importance. In the twelfth century of our era it was the seat of a bishop. Of its size in ancient days

It is interesting to observe that the Romans, like the British, held Egypt by garrisoning three places, viz., Aswân, Babylon (Cairo), and Alexandria. The garrison at Aswân defended Egypt from foes on the south, and commanded the entrance of the Nile; the garrison at Babylon guarded the end of the Nile valley and the entrance to the Delta; and the garrison at Alexandria protected the country from invasion by sea.

nothing definite can be said, but Arabic writers describe it as a flourishing town, and they relate that a plague once swept off 20,000 of its inhabitants. Aswân was famous for its

wine in Ptolemaic times. The town has suffered greatly at the hands of the Persians, Arabs, and Turks on the north, and Nubians, by whom it was nearly destroyed in the twelfth century, on the south. The oldest ruins in the town are those of a Ptolemaic temple, which are still visible.

The

The island of Elephantine* lies a little to the north of the cataract just opposite Aswân, and has been famous in all ages as the key of Egypt from the south; the Romans garrisoned it with numerous troops, and it represented the southern limit of their empire. The island itself was very fertile, and it is said that its vines and fig-trees retained their leaves throughout the year. kings of the Vth dynasty sprang from Elephantine. The gods worshipped here by the Egyptians were called Khnemu, Sati and Sept, and on this island Amenophis III. built a temple, remains of which were visible in the early part of this century. Of the famous Nilometer which stood here, Strabo says: "The Nilometer is a well upon the banks of the Nile, constructed of close-fitting stones, on which are marked the greatest, least, and mean risings of the Nile; for the water in the well and in the river rises and subsides simultaneously. Upon the wall

* "A little above Elephantine is the lesser cataract, where the boatmen exhibit a sort of spectacle to the governors. The cataract is in the middle of the river, and is formed by a ridge of rocks, the upper part of which is level, and thus capable of receiving the river, but terminating in a precipice, where the water dashes down. On each side towards the land there is a stream, up which is the chief ascent for vessels. The boatmen sail up by this stream, and, dropping down to the cataract, are impelled with the boat to the precipice, the crew and the boats escaping unhurt." (Strabo, Bk. xvii. chap. i., 49, Falconer's translation.) Thus it appears that "shooting the cataract" is a very old amusement.