Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/807

783 ADFOO.] E G Y P T 78; able as illustrating history as ^ell as everyday life, hus bandry, ifoc. ; and in one of them is the very curious inscription of its occupant Aahines, chief of the mariners, recording his services to early kings of Dynasty XVIII. The fort is a large inclosure of crude-brick, 1 which was a place of importance as early as the Shepherd war, for it is mentioned as the &quot; Fort of Suben,&quot; that is of Eileithyia, in a part of the inscription above mentioned, relating to the time of that war. The goddei3 of the place was Suben or Lucina (Eileithyia), who was especially regarded as the protector of Upper Egypt. Having proceeded about twelve miles to the southward we reach the large village of Adfoo or Edfu, which represents the town called by the Greeks Apollinopolis Magna, the great temple of which yet stands in a comparatively perfect state, and is one of the most stately monuments of ancient Egypt, although of a time at which art had greatly declined. It was dedicated to Har-hut, the god of the place, whom the Greeks called Agathodiemon. Mounds of rubbish around it, as well as the huts of the village, injured its effect, until it was lately cleared by M. Mariette. The great propylou which forms the front of the temple measures about 226 feet in width, and is, like the rest of the edifice, in a good state of preservation. The sculptures upon its face represent acts of worship by Ptolemy Auletes, who is portrayed slaying prisoners. The portal between the wings of this propylon is the entrance to the temple, of which the first part is a great court about 161 feet long and 140 broad, with a colonnade along its front and each side, of columns with various capitals supporting covered galleries. At the end is a portico having eighteen columns, six in front and three deep, about 82 feet broad arid 46 long, measured within, beyond which are a hall and passages and other chambers, the most im portant of which is an isolated sanctuary. The wall of the great court is continued so as to inclose the further portion of the temple, leaving a passage around it. The sculptures show that it was begun by Ptolemy Philopator and completed at the end of the Greek monarchy, though an insignificant additional subject was added by Claudius. Not far from the great temple is a smaller one of the sort called Typhonia, containing two chambers, around which runs a gallery supported by Typhonian columns. About twenty-three miles above Adfoo the mountains on either side, which had for some distance confined the valley to a narrow space, reach the river and contract its course. They are low, but steep and picturesque, and in their western side are seen the entrances of excavations. They are called Gebel-es-Silsileh, a name derived from the earlier Silsilis. The most interesting of the excavations is a rock- temple in which is portrayed the defeat of a negro nation by King Har-em-heb, or Horus, of Dynasty XVIII. ; here, also, are subjects depicting acts of worship paid to Nilus and Sebek. To the southward of this, and also facing the river, are the entrances of several excavated tombs, the representations in which are not of a remarkable character. Beyond these are three chapels of the time of Dynasty XIX. On the opposite side are very important quarries, where much of the materials of the great temples was cut, especially under the Eighteenth and subsequent Dynasties. Beyond Gebel-es-Silsileh, although the mountains recede, the tract of cultivated land is extremely narrow, and some times the desert touches the river : this is partly owing to the sinking of the level of the stream, which, as already mentioned, was very anciently restrained by some barrier at Silsilis. About eleven miles above that place is the 1 For an account of the Egyptian system of fortification, see Wilkin son in Trans. Soc. Lit., n. s., iv. ; and Popular Account of Ancient Egyptians, i. 407-409. extremely picturesque temple of Ornbos, placed on a rocky eminence called &quot; K6m-Umboo,&quot; &quot; the Hill of Umboo.&quot; It stands within a great inclosure of crude-brick walls, which we see on every side, except that towards the river. There is a portal in this wall of the time of Queen Hat- shepu and Thothmes III. The great temple is double, one- half having been dedicated to the worship of Sebek, and the other to that of Har-oer, or Aroeris. It consists of a portico of fifteen columns, of which two have fallen, the foremost being connected by a wall of intercolumnia- tion having two entrances, and behind, there is a smaller portico and remains of chambers, including the two sanctuaries. The earliest name here is that of Ptolemy Philometor (Modern Egypt and Thebes, ii. 282), unless Champollion be right in saying that the name of Epiphanes is also found in the temple (Lettres, 173), and it appears to have been completed by Ptolemy Auletes. There were also remains here of a smaller Ptolemaic temple which have been washed away by the river. Nothing remarkable occurs between Ombos and Syene, a distance of about twenty miles. The valley is confined to a very narrow space by the mountains, which take bold forms on both sides near the latter place. Just before we reach it, we see the island of Elephantine, where is the famous Nilometer of the lloman time. The town of Aswan, which represents the ancient Syene, stands amid palm-trees on the eastern bank opposite to Elephantine. It is a considerable place, of greater political than commercial importance, and has succeeded to an older town of the same name, the ruins of which occupy the river s bank and a granite hill to the south. Among them may be mentioned a pier, which has a well, most probably the Nilometer constructed by Amr, the Muslim conqueror of Egypt. In the ruined town is also a small temple of Roman date. Farther to the south is its extensive Arab cemetery, which is full of curious tombstones bearing in scriptions in Cufic characters. In the granite hills to the eastward are the quarries whence were taken the obelisks and very many of the statues which adorned the Egyptian temples. The bed of the river above Aswan is obstructed by numerous rocks and islands of granite, one of the latter of which, that of Saheyl, is interesting on account of the numerous hieroglyphic tablets and inscriptions at its southern part. This island is almost a mile and a half above Aswan, and at the distance of another mile from it begin the rapids called the First Cataract, caused by the granite rocks, which almost entirely choke the river. The cataract is so inconsiderable, that during the inundation boats favoured by a strong northerly wind can pass it without aid, though at other times it is necessary to hire natives, who drag them through, but then the principal rapid has a fall of only five or six feet (Modern Egypt and Thebes, ii. 294), and that is not perpendicular. Never theless the roaring of the troubled stream, and the red granite islands and rocks which stud its surface, through which the boat threads its way, give the scene a wild picturesqueness, until we reach the open stream, less than two miles farther, and the beautiful isle of Philse suddenly rises before the eyes, completely realizing our highest idea of a sacred place of ancient Egypt. Philse is beyond the proper limits of Egypt, but as it is usual to describe it in noticing Aswdn and the rapids, some account will here be given of its very beautiful and interesting monuments. The island is very small, being only a quarter of a mile long, and about 500 feet broad. On its granite rock is a little alluvial soil and some vegeta tion, with a few date-palms, but its verdure has been exaggerated, and to this it little owes its beauty. It was highly reverenced by the aiicieut Egyptians as a burial-