St.

Simeon's cave.

The main building.

in gorgeous robes, and raising His hand in the sign of benediction. The face is much damaged, but otherwise the painting is not in bad preservation. On either side of this figure stand two angels, the two main angels being winged, long-haired, and robed in elaborate garments. On either side of the recess are seven seated figures. There is a small vaulted chamber to right and left. At the west end of the church is a small recess with damaged paintings. Leading from the north-west corner of the chapel is a highly decorated cave, with an elaborate ceiling pattern. There have been paintings of saints all around the walls, but in each case the faces are intentionally damaged. This cave was evidently considered to be of great importance, and one may suppose that it was here where the patron saint originally dwelt as a hermit amidst the ruins of the Roman fortress before founding the monastery. There are several other caves farther along, some filled up, but none are decorated. It is possible that originally

they were tombs of the Pharaonic age.

The visitor should now ascend to the upper level by the steps on the north side of the church. Entering the main building through a small chamber, and turning to the right, he will find himself in a long and wide corridor, with vaulted roof partly fallen in. This corridor was lighted by windows at the north end. On either side small chambers lead off, and one perceives that this was the monks' dormitory. The third room, from the south on the left-hand side of the passage should be selected for examination, as being the best-preserved example of the series. In this room mud brick benches are built around the walls, capable of resting about six persons lying in a somewhat cramped attitude. Six little cupboards are let into the walls, each with a small shelf in it. Three narrow windows, or slits, light the room. The walls are whitewashed, and are decorated with ornamental bands of colour, and with geometrical designs. The decoration has evidently been left unfinished, as though the painter had been interrupted in his work by the news of the approach of Shems-edDulah's army. On one of the walls of the corridor is a painting of Christ, an angel, and six apostles; but the faces are all damaged. A passage leading from the west side takes one into a large hall, originally roofed by a series of domes. This was probably the refectory or common-room.

Returning now to the entrance and ascending a further flight of steps, another corridor is reached, which ran immediately above the lower one. This, however, is inaccessible owing to the

enclosure.

damaged state of the floor. The steps now continue to the top of the building-a somewhat dangerous climb, but well worth undertaking for the sake of the view from the roof. Looking down the valley up which the visitor has come, he will see the river in the distance; and he will here obtain a comprehensive view of the intricate buildings of the monastery. Descending the The west stairs again and walking to the west end of the enclosure, the of the battlements should now be climbed by way of the steps at the north-west corner. From here a fine view may be obtained of the rugged and desolate wilderness in which the monks lived. The wide, sweeping sand-drifts are particularly striking in the afternoon light; and the soft blue shadows, contrasting with the billowy, sunlit surfaces, form a scene of almost mystic beauty. The main building, looked at from this side, is imposing. The tower-like walls rise to a height of thirty feet or more, the plastered surface being relieved here and there by narrow windows. It is unfortunate that nothing is being done for the preservation of this interesting building, with its fine paintings and well-preserved fittings. The Coptic monasteries are not under the charge of the Department of Antiquities, and they do not interest the present heads of the Coptic Church; but private enterprise might do

much.

TOMBS AND INSCRIPTIONS

In returning to the river the path along the top of the cliffs on the south side of the valley should be followed; and presently the visitor arrives at a point where the rock tombs, mentioned above as being near the river, are overlooked. Here there is a cemetery mainly consisting of rock chambers approached by sloping passages and of deep shaft-tombs. Lady William Cecil and Mr. Howard Carter conducted a small excavation here in 1901, but nothing of importance was found. The date of the cemetery is late dynastic and Ptolemaic. A wonderful view of the river and of the town can be obtained at various points along this road from the monastery. The path now descends to the valley at the point where the boat has been moored; and the return journey to Aswân or Elephantine, with a favourable wind, is performed in a few minutes.

A few inscriptions are to be found on the rocks overlooking the water not far to the north and south of the valley leading to the

monastery. Some of these have been written by priests of Khnum, Salet, and Anuket, and most of them date from the New Empire.

Inscriptions on the boulder.

THE NUBIAN HIGH ROAD

The Prince of Elephantine, Herkhuf, whose tomb has been described in this chapter, states that on his second journey to the land of Aam he set out by the "Elephantine road," and descended at Arthet, which is, as will be seen in the next chapter, the district around Tomâs in Lower Nubia. Large numbers of inscriptions written by caravan conductors are found on the rocks at Tomâs, and it is obvious that these persons had come thither along the great highroad which still runs from Egypt to this part of Lower Nubia along the western desert. Now if the visitor will climb the hills on the south side of the valley leading to the monastery of St. Simeon, and will make his way southwards towards a prominent Shêkh's tomb and a conspicuous boulder just west of it, he will soon come upon an ancient road which sweeps up from the valley and mounts the hill by a well-built causeway. Following this road he will find that it passes about thirty yards to the west of the above-mentioned rock, bends to the right, and so runs over a ridge. This road, starting as it does from a point immediately opposite Elephantine, and leading up to a point where it meets the caravan road to Tomâs (i.e. Arthet) which is still used, is evidently the Elephantine road" referred to by Herkhuf. The visitor should now examine this conspicuous rock more closely, and he will find that upon it many inscriptions have been cut, most of which date from the XVIIIth to the XXVth dynasties. The following are amongst the persons who have left their names here: An Erpa-ha Prince, Superintendent of the Priests of Khnum, Salet, and Anuket, named Thoth-hotep; a High Priest of the same gods; a Second Priest, and an official of the temple of these gods; a Scribe of the Province of Elephantine and of the Account of the Gold of the Province; a Scribe of the Gold of Wawat; a Scribe of the Account of the Gold of Amen; another Scribe of the Gold of Wawat; a Chief Builder of Amen; a Chief Builder in the Temple of Amen; a Chief Builder and Sculptor of Amen; another Chief Sculptor; a Captain of the Archers; and various Libation-Priests. A wall of rough stones has been erected around the rock, and one sees that it has been used as a kind of shrine marking the beginning of the road. To the west of

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the rock for a wide area on either side of the route the ground bristles with little heaps of stone, some surmounted by a block set upright. Both in this area and around the rock there are many fragments of broken pots. It is thus clear that we have here the terminus of a much-used roadway, the travellers along which were wont to leave a small heap of stones and a pot of water (?) as an offering to the gods when setting out from or returning to Elephantine, while it became customary for some of the more important officials in the New Empire to inscribe their names here.

As the visitor stands here and looks down at these indications of ancient travel and adventure he will not fail to be stirred by the thoughts which they arouse. Here Prince Sabna marched on his way to rescue the body of his father; here Prince Herkhuf set out on his adventurous expeditions to Aam ; and here countless other Egyptians have passed, some bent on exploration, some to make war on the negroes, some to trade with the merchants in the Land of the Ghosts, and some, as one sees in their rock inscriptions, to collect the gold from the Nubian mines. The road, here paved with stones, passes over the ridge and down into the boundless hills and valleys of the desert; and there will be a few at least of the readers of this guide who will follow into the country to which it leads.

The extent of the country.

IN

CHAPTER XXI

THE HISTORY OF LOWER NUBIA

N ancient times the country of Lower Nubia extended northwards as far as the neighbourhood of El Kâb. It is at about this point that the aspect of the country changes, and instead of the wide fields of Middle Egypt there are only narrow strips of cultivated land at the water's edge, alternating with stretches of rock and desert. In the XVIIIth dynasty and onwards the Viceroy of Kush, or Ethiopia, ruled from El Kâb southwards, but as the title of this official is always "Viceroy of Kush and Governor of the Southern Lands" it is not necessary to suppose that the country called Kush extended any farther north than the Second Cataract. From Wâdy Halfa to Aswân the territory was known as Ta-kens, "The Bend-Land," or "The Land of the Bow"; and, as will be seen, there were three or four principalities included in this district, while between Aswân and El Kâb there was the nome of Edfu. The Egyptians were always at war with “Kush the Vile," but seldom in dynastic history is a war recorded with Lower Nubia. In the viceroy's title the country north of the Second Cataract was included in the "Southern Lands," and is quite distinct from Kush. When, therefore, in the following history one reads of the king smiting Kush, one must remember that it was above Wâdy Halfa that the war took place, unless the people of Kush had invaded Lower Nubia. Throughout almost the entire history of the Nile Valley the people of Lower Nubia were the faithful allies of the Egyptians, and assisted the Pharaoh to keep the Kushites under control and in their own territory. When Senusert IIIrd drove these Kushites back from the land north of the cataract, which they had invaded, the people of Lower Nubia celebrated his victories and converted him into a national hero, worshipping him in a deified form for several hundreds of years afterwards. In the following account of the history and antiquities of Lower Nubia, therefore, one has nothing