Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/477

 DEXDERAH. 887 to bo satisfied with a slightly sulphureous liquid, which has to bo sought over a diiy's journey in the desert. The hills and pkins of the surrounding district are almost destitute of verdure, and uU along the coast little is to be seen except sands and the coral reefs that have boon slowly upheaved above the present sea-level. Old Eosscir, lying over 3 miles to the north-west, is no longer accessible to shipping. The %heh, or labyrinth of coralline rocks developed in front of the beach, has rendered the entrance of the harbour so narrow that pilots no longer venture to risk the passage Either Kosseir, or possibly some point farther north on Abu-Somer Bay, marks the site of the ancient Mi/oh Ilonnos, which during the Roman period was one of the most frequented ports on the Red Sea. Numerous tombs, inscriptions, and other remains of antiquity are found in the neighbourhood of the town and round about the wells along the routes across the Arabian desert. Rich sulphur beds were till recently worked at a place farther north near the headland of Ras-el-Gimsah, which faces the Ras Mohammed at the southern extremity of the peninsula of Sinai. Denderah. On the left bank of the Nile over against Keneh the verdant plains of Denderah^ the TentyrtH of the Greeks, afford a pleasant relief to the heaps of yellow refuse and the triple enclosure of the triple temple still marking the site of this ancient city. The inhabitants of this place were famous in former times for their skill in capturing and charming the crocodiles, which they used as mounts. At present there are no longer any crocodiles in this part of the Nile. The great temple of Deuderuh, built on the foundations of older monuments, is of comparatively recent date, as appears from the medallions of Cleopatra and the Roman emperors down to Antoninus Pius. Nevertheless in its disposition and ornamentation it reproduces the more ancient sanctuaries, although evidently under the influence of Hellenic art. Huthor, the tutelar divinity of Denderah, was a very different being as understood by the Alexandrian platonists from the same goddess as worshipped in the time of the Pharaohs. The temple of Ilathor, which is in a good state of repair, is one of the richest in documents of a religious character, ceremonial programmes, geographical tables of cities and provinces, texts of prayers and incantations, calendars of feasts, medical recipes, lists of drugs, and so forth. At Denderah was found the precious zodiac, since transferred to the National Library of Paris. Mariette has devoted a large work solely to a descrip- tion of this temple, a very " Tahuud in stone," which he himself contributed to decipher, and many a page of which he discovered.* Taken as a whole this monument unfolds in all its details a picture of the ancient ritual, revealing in succession all the ceremonies from chamber to chamber, until we reach the " holy of holies," where the king alone penetrating found himself face to face with the deity. "The portico of the temple is about 135 feet in width, and is architecturally
 * " Dendenh, deacription g£n£raIo du graad t»mpl« do cette ville."