Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

EGYPT.
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,t became a prey to intestine divisions, and has long been pie, the massive grandeur of which is so imposing, bears, Egypt.
O reduced to a state of the utmost wretchedness.1 * nevertheless, several indications of the decay of Egyptian -v'*-
Descending the Nile about twenty-seven or twenty-eight art under the Ptolemies, to whose epoch it entirely belongs;
miles below Assouan, we reach Koum-Ombo, which stands no trace of the ancient simplicity is discernible ; and a
on the site of the ancient Ombos, upon the right bank of profusion of elaborate but ill-conceived ornaments marks
the river. All the lower part of the ancient town, however, the transition from the noble gravity of the Pharaonic mo-
excepting that which has been washed away by the river, numents to the fatiguing and endless papillotage of later
is now covered with a mound of sand, as its modern name times. The most ancient part of the decorations, namely,
indeed implies. But two temples, surrounded by a brick the interior of the naos and the right exterior side, be¬
wail of great thickness, have escaped the general destruc- long to the reign of Philopater : the work was continued
tion and both belong to the Greek epoch. The larger, under Epiphanes, whose legends cover part of the shafts
which is of beautiful architecture, and has a fine effect, of the columns and the interior tablets of the right parti-
was commenced by Ptolemy Epiphanes, continued under tion of the pronaos ; and it was at length completed under
Philometor and Euergetes II., and appears to have been the reign of Euergetes II. The sculptures of the exterior
completed during the reign of Soter II., whose name, with frieze and on the exterior walls of the pronaos were exe-
that of Cleopatra his queen or sister, may still be detected cuted under Soter II. to whose reign also belongs the gal-
on some of the bas-reliefs. This temple, which is formed lery on the right of the court before the pronaos : the
of a greyish sandstone, differs from every other building gallery on the left, and indeed all the sculptures upon the
of the same kind in Egypt, in having two entrances, and two massive pylons, are of the age of Philometor. The
consisting of two connected though distinct and perfectly wall of the enciente which surrounds the naos is entirely
symmetrical structures. It appears to have been conse- covered with sculptures, which (particularly those of the
crated to two triads, each of which had a distinct divi- interior face) date from the reign of Soter II. and of Plo¬
sion or compartment allotted to it; the one, composed of lemy-Alexander I. and contain the names of their re-
Sevek-Ra, with the crocodile’s head (the primordial form of spective queens, Cleopatra and Berenice. Ihis magnifi-
Kronos or Saturn), Hathor or Venus, and their son Khons- cent edifice was consecrated to a triad composed of the
Hor; the other, consisting of Aroeris, the goddess Tsone- god Harhat, or celestial science and light personified, the
nufre, and their son Pnevtho ; and both together consti- goddess Hathor, the Egyptian Venus, and their son Har-
tuting the saviour gods of Ombos. The crocodile ob- sont-Tho or Horns, answering to the Eros of the Greek
served on the Roman medals of the Ombite nome is the and Homan mythologies. The lesser temple of Edfou,
sacred animal of the principal god Sevek-Ra. In the called the Typhonium,4 is one of those smaller edifices
dedications, and in the cartouches or elliptical rings sculp- called Mammisi, which were always erected beside the
tured on the cornice of the pronaos, Cleopatra the wife of great temples where a triad was adored. 1 he Mammisi
Philometor has a surname which can only be the Greek of Edlou represents the infancy and education of Harsont-
Tryphtene or Dropion? but the former is considered as Tho, with whom flattery has associated Euergetes II.
the more probable interpretation. This surname is re- as sharing the caresses of the gods of every order. Ihe
peated thirty times. The smaller temples of Ombos, like large temple of Edfou is dedicated to Aroeris, the Apollo
one of those at Philae and the temple of Hermonthis, was of the Greeks.5
a Mammisi, or sacred edifice representing the birth-place Six miles lower down the river, on the opposite or right
of the young god of the local triad ; in other words, a bank, is El-kab, the ancient Elethya; but the remains of
terrestrial image of the spot where the goddesses Hatl’dr its two temples have disappeared, these structures having
and Tsonenufre had given birth to their sons Khons-H6r lately been demolished in order to repair the quay of Es-
and Pnevtho. From i.gnorance of the local mythology, neh,orfor some other recent erection. Not so much as a
the authors of the Description de VEgypte supposed that column has escaped ; and the entire temple, situated out-
this temple had been dedicated to Isis and her son Horus. side the town, has shared the same fate. It appears, hovv-
Edfou or Edfu, the Apollinopolis Magna of the Greeks, ever, from fragments of inscriptions, that the temple ot
is situated on the western or left bank of the Nile, about Elethya, dedicated to Sevek or Saturn, and So wan or Lu-
thirty-three miles below Koum-Ombo, and two miles from cina, belongs to different Pharaonic epochs, and that those
the water’s edge. An ancient quay, with a flight of steps included in the city had been constructed and decoiated
down to the river, and two temples at right angles to each under the reign of Queen Amenseh, under that of hei »on
other, but half buried in the sand, still remain. The larger Thouthmosis III., called also Moeris, and under the I ha-
of these is twice as long as it is broad, measuring about raohs Amenophis-Memnon and Rhamses the Great. Amyr-
440 by 220 feet; its largest columns are six feet four teh and Achoris, two of the last kings of the Egyptian
inches in diameter, twenty-one feet in circumference, and race, repaired these ancient edifices, and added some new
forty-two feet in height; and, as at Philse, Denderah, and constructions; but nothing attributable to the Greek oi
other places, its roof is covered with peasants’ huts, whilst Roman periods has yet been discovered. Ihe small penp-
the openings originally intended for the admission of light teral temple which stood in the sandy plain about a nu e
serve as sinks for the reception of filth. The two lofty and a half to the north of the town belonged to the age
pylons, which are conspicuous from the river, and the of Mceris. But by far the most remarkable antiquities o
thirty-two columns of the peristyle to which they lead, Elethya are the sepulchral caverns or hypogcBa, e's.ccc- ate
form altogether a magnificent perspective.3 But this tern- in an insulated hill, of the common sandstone of the coun-
1 Burckhardt, Naim, pp. 131, 395, 516. „ , . ,,,.
“ Un fait curieux, c’est le surnom de TnjphcrnR donne constamment a Cleopatre, femme de Philometor, soit dans le grande ded -
cace hieroglyph ique sculp tee sur la frise anfetfrieure du pronaos, soit dans les bas-reliefs de Tinterieur; c est a vous autres Grrecs
d’hgypte d’expliquer cette singularite.” (Champollion, Lettrcs d'Egypte, p. 110.)
3 Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 86, et seqq. Eucyciopcedia Mctropolltana, art. Egypt.
4 Jomard, Description dc'l'Egyptc, i. 5, 30. . . , , TT„m;i
‘ Champollion, Lcttres d'Egypte, pp. lOp and 191. Both the temples at Edfou are in a high state of preservation ; but Mr Ha -
ton, in his learned work upon Egypt, has entirely mistaken the meaning of the sculptures (Egyptiaca, p. >7) * i*n h
111V be observed of Jomard in the Description de VEgypte.