hands in adoration to Amen-Ra; secondly, he worships Harmachis; thirdly, there is a much-damaged figure of the king offering to Ptah and Sekhmet; lastly, Sety is shown offering a figure of Truth to Osiris of Edfu, and to Isis.

At the south end of both this and the opposite wall there is an empty and undecorated recess. In the south wall of the hall there are three recesses, the middle one forming the axial sanctuary of the temple. At the back of that on the right or west side there are three seated statues carved from the living rock. They are now much damaged, but appear to have represented Horus of Edfu, Isis, and perhaps the king. In the left or east recess there are likewise three statues, representing Ptah, Osiris, and perhaps Sekhmet. The middle recess is approached by three steps. At the back are again three damaged statues, representing Harmachis, Amen-Ra, • and Sety Ist. On either side of the entrance to this recess there is a figure of the king. On the left he wears the crown of Upper Egypt, and holds in his hand a mace and staff. On the right he wears the royal helmet, and burns incense and pours out a libation.

On the pillars there are smaller figures, in each case representing the king offering to some god. These gods are Amen-Ra, Horus of Edfu, Harmachis, Khonsu, Ptah, Osiris Unnefer, Tum, Mut, Isis, Hathor of Edfu, and Nekheb.

The ceiling in the middle aisle is decorated as before with winged vultures, and that of the side aisles with stars. The architraves bear inscriptions giving the titles and cartouches of the king. The floor of both the hall and the portico is covered with sand and loose stones; and amongst this in the hall there is a square block of grey granite, part of which lies in the portico. In the portico there is a square block of pink granite. Both these were perhaps used as altars. Outside the temple, lying on the sand which slopes up towards the entrance, there is a part of a round Greek altar of sandstone.

The temple seems to have been built towards the end of the reign of Sety, for it was left unfinished. It was open in Ramesside times, for on one of the columns the cartouche of Rameses IInd is written. No later king added to it; and the neatness of the Greek graffiti suggest that it was still regarded as a sacred place then.

The walls are much damaged by the writing of names, for every mining engineer or prospector has recorded the event of his coming, from Cailliaud, who discovered the temple in 1816, to the miners of 1908.

·

The inscriptions state that the temple was built by Sety as a shrine at which the gold-miners might worship on their way to and from the mines. As Professor Breasted has pointed out, the gold was to be used for the upkeep of the king's great temple at Abydos; and it is interesting to notice that just as that temple fell on evil days at the death of Sety Ist, as is there recorded by Rameses IInd, so also this temple was deserted and left unfinished when the king died. It may be asked why Sety selected this spot for his temple; for, except that it lies on the route to the mines, the reason of its location is not apparent. The explanation is, however, not far to seek. On the great bluff of rock in which the temple is excavated there are many drawings of boats and animals which undoubtedly date from archaic times. Some of these boats are evidently sacred barques, for in some of them the shrines are shown, while in one case the god Min, with flail raised, stands before the shrine in the vessel. Thus it seems that already in archaic times this was a sacred spot, dedicated to Min. There are graffiti of the XVIIIth dynasty here, notably one which gives the cartouche of Amenhotep IIIrd; and thus Sety was but carrying on the old tradition in constructing a shrine here. In Greek times many ex-votos dedicated to Pan, with whom Min was identified, were written on these rocks.

FROM EDFU TO GEBEL SILSILEH ON THE EAST BANK

Bueb.

Between Edfu and Serag there are no ancient sites of importance, The forthough some stone tumuli at Ghretag are of interest. Behind the tress of station of Serag there are the mounds of an old town, and near it are the remains of its cemeteries. The rocks now come close down to the river, and presently, about half-way between Edfu and Gebel Silsileh, one reaches the great Byzantine fortress of Bueb, built on the side of a hill which slopes rapidly to the river. It consists of a number of closely-built houses, surrounded by strong walls, at the corners of which are round towers. The church is the most conspicuous building in the enclosure, the walls still standing to a height of twenty feet or so. At the foot of the town there are some quarries dating from the XVIIIth dynasty. About half a mile to the north of this fortress there is another fortified town lying in a hollow on top of the hills; but it cannot well be seen from the passing trains or steamers, and is not of much interest. Between Bueb and Gebel Silsileh there are not many places of interest. A few quarries, a few graffiti, and one or two cemeteries are alone to be seen.

Method of

visiting Gebel

Silsileh.

Early history of Gebel

Silsileh.

CHAPTER XVI

GEBEL SILSILEH, WEST BANK

GEBEL SILsileh, EAST BANK FROM GEBEL SILSILEH TO KÔM OMBO

To visit the quarries and shrines of Gebel Silsileh the visitor,

who is not travelling by steamer or dahabiyeh, should take the early train from Aswân, which arrives at Kagoug station before 9 A.M., returning to Aswân by the express in the early afternoon. There are no donkeys to be had at Kagoug, except by arrangement with the villagers, and a dragoman, therefore, should be sent to obtain them and also a ferry-boat, on the previous day. The ancient remains are about three miles or so from the station, a point of rocky hills to the south-west being one's objective. To the traveller the wonderful quarries on the east bank will not fail to be of interest, and the shrine of Horemheb on the west bank deserves a visit; while to the archæologist there are numerous small shrines, tombs, and rock steles which are worth visiting.

HISTORY OF SILSILEH

Gebel Silsileh, "the Hills of the Chain," is the name given to the rocky defile through which the river passes on its way from Kom Ombo to Edfu, and to the sandstone hills which come down to the water's edge here for about a mile on either side. Long before the dawn of history the Nile seems to have passed from Daraw to Silwah along the valley through which the railway line now runs; but, changing its course, it burst a way between the rocks, and åt the beginning of Egyptian history it probably rushed down the present channel in a series of rapids, if not in a regular cataract. It thus formed something of an obstacle to shipping, and was a natural frontier between the territory under the sway of Elephantine (Aswân) and that belonging to Edfu. In some cases travellers of the Middle Kingdom seem to have preferred to avoid

the navigation of this part of the river, and to have gone overland to Aswân by way of the Shutt er Rigâl road, as the inscriptions there indicate. A town grew up on the west bank of the river between Shutt er Rigâl and Gebel Silsileh, which was named Khennui; and here the Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty are said to have had a residence.

Silsileh

It is not, however, until the XVIIIth dynasty that we obtain Gebel any information regarding this rocky pass. At that time there in the New seems to have developed the custom of cutting small shrines in the Empire. rocks at certain points on the upper river, where the cliffs came down to the water's edge, and where the stream ran rapidly. It was a form of Nile-worship: an adoration of various gods, local and general, at the brink of the river, which was, in a way, the father of them all. Amenhotep IInd, Thothmes IIIrd, Hatshepsut, and a Viceroy of Ethiopia, excavated little shrines overlooking the water at Kasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia, where a magnificent head of rock falls almost sheer down to the water. Amenhotep IInd constructed a shrine overlooking the rushing waters of the cataract at Sehel, an island just above Aswân. King Ay, and a Viceroy of Ethiopia under Horemheb, caused somewhat similar rock shrines to be made at Gebel Addeh, not far from Abu Simbel, at a point where the cliffs in the same manner as at Kasr Ibrim boldly slope to the water. At Abahudeh, close to Abu Simbel, Horemheb made a more elaborate rock-cut temple, only able to be approached from the water. The temple of Abu Simbel, designed by Sety Ist and Rameses IInd, was a vast elaboration of the same idea. Under Rameses IInd another rock shrine was added to the group at Kasr Ibrim. At Gebel The shrines Silsileh, where the Nile seemed to pass through a gigantic gate of at Gebel rock, and where, for the last time before entering Egypt proper, it was obstructed by natural barriers, it is not surprising to find that kings and nobles of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties cut these little chamber-like shrines into the rocks, as tokens of their reverence for the great river.

Although but scanty remains of these monuments on the east bank of the river are preserved, on the west bank there are numerous shrines and steles to be seen. In the XVIIIth dynasty shrines were cut in the cliffs under Thothmes Ist, Hatshepsut, Thothmes IIIrd and Hatshepsut, Thothmes IIIrd, and Horemheb. The last-named king constructed a beautiful speos or small temple here, the decoration of which was never finished. Rameses IInd, Merenptah, Septah, Sety IInd, Rameses IIIrd, and Rameses Vth,

Silsileh.

The forms

all left steles of a religious nature on the rocks of the west bank; and there are many other inscriptions which attest to the veneration in which the place was held. The west bank was as usual the more holy side, but the east bank was, as has been said, also much venerated.

From the various inscriptions one is able to discern something of worship. of the form that this worship took. The main deity of the place seems to have been the crocodile god Sebek, “Lord of Khennui”; but Hapi, the Nile, received a large share of the offerings. The great Cataract trinity- Khnum of Elephantine, Satet of Elephantine and Sehel, and Anuket of Sehel-were also venerated, and this is an indication that there was still, or was within the memory of history, a cataract or series of rapids here. "Seb and Nut who are in the Waters of Libation," are invoked, other gods are stated to be "within the Waters of Libation," and once a prayer to the "holy water" itself is made. Horuar, of the Sacred Eyes, and Sebek, the twin gods of Ombo, are often referred to. Taurt, the hippopotamus goddess, was held in much esteem here, and is one of the main deities of the speos of Horemheb. Sety Ist caused a hymn to the Nile to be inscribed on these rocks, and instituted two Nile festivals to be celebrated at this spot each year. Rameses IInd and Merenptah confirmed the endowments of these festivals. After this period, however, the gradual cessation of the rapids, and the turning of the neighbourhood into a huge quarry works, caused the religious aspect of Gebel Silsileh to be forgotten, and one hears no more of that side of its character.

The quarries.

The quarrying of the sandstone commenced here in the XVIIIth dynasty, when the extensive use of that material for the building of temples first began. In the temples at the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty, and at all times earlier, limestone and granite were the chief materials employed, and sandstone was used only in very small quantities. At about the time of Thothmes IIIrd its use became general; but the temple of Luxor, erected by Amenhotep IIIrd, is the first great building in which it was entirely employed. No point offered such facilities for quarrying sandstone as did Gebel Silsileh, where the blocks of stone had to be transported only a few yards to the boats; and moreover it was felt that the sacred nature of the rocks here gave an increased value to the stone. It was right that holy stone should be employed in the building of holy places. The quarrying seems to have begun on the east bank; and by the reign of Amenhotep IIIrd the cliffs and the town of Khennui were swarming with workmen,