little temple here, to which one may walk or ride out from El Kab
over the level, gravel-covered surface of the desert, and may stand
amazed at the freshness of the colouring of the paintings on its
wall. Another little shrine was built, close by, a century and a half
later; and in Ptolemaic times a third temple was constructed. Thus
one is surrounded by shrines as one sets out over the hills away
from this land of shrines: it is as though the gods were loath to
leave one, and in solemn company came out to speed the traveller
on his way.
The road which the gold miners trod passed through the hills, and
then turned off towards the south-east; and presently it met the road
which started from Edfu, or rather from Contra Apollinopolis Magna,
which, as has been said, is ten miles distant from El Kab. Edfu
was also a city of great antiquity, and was famous as the place
where at the dawn of Egyptian history the Hawk-tribes overthrew
the worshippers of Set, the god who afterwards degenerated into
Satan. The great temple which now stands there, and which is the
delight of thousands of visitors each winter, was built upon the
ruins of earlier temples where the hawk of Edfu had been worshipped
since the beginning of things. The record of a tax levied on
Edfu in the reign of Thothmes III. (B.C. 1500) shows that it was
mainly paid in solid gold, instead of in kind; and one thus sees
that the precious metal was coming into the country at that time
along the Wady Abâd route, as indeed it was along all the great
routes. Edfu was the main starting-point for the mines in the days
when Sety I. built his temple, if one may judge from the fact that
the hawk-god of that city is one of the chief deities worshipped in
the shrine, while the vulture-goddess of El Kab has only a secondary
place there; and in Roman times the Edfu road was perhaps the only
one in general use.
This was the route which was selected for our journey; and after
spending the night at El Kab, we rode next morning along the
east bank of the river to a point at the mouth of the Wady Abâd,
opposite the picturesque town of Edfu, where the pylons shoot up
to the blue sky and dominate the cluster of brown houses and green
trees. A morning swim in the river, and a trot of somewhat over two
hours, was sufficient exercise for the first day; and the afternoon
was spent in camp, while the camelmen collected the food for the
journey and led their beasts down to the river to drink.
On the following morning, soon after daybreak, we mounted our camels
and set out over the hard sand and gravel towards the sunrise. A
fresh, cool wind blew from the north, and the larks were already
singing their first songs, as we trotted up the wady. The brisk
morning air, the willing camels, the setting out into the freedom
of the desert: how shall one record the charm of it? Only those who
have travelled in the desert can understand the joy of returning
there: a joy which, strangely enough, has only one equal, and
that the pleasure of returning to water, to flowers, and to trees
after a spell of some days or weeks in the wilderness. Here there
are no cares, for there are no posts nor newspapers; here there
is no fretfulness, for one is taking almost continual exercise;
here there is no irritation, for man, the arch-irritant, is absent;
here there is no debility and fag, for one is drinking in renewed
strength from the strong conditions around. But ever enthusiasm,
that splendid jewel in the ring of life, shines and glitters before
one’s eyes; and all one’s actions assume a broader and a happier
complexion. The desert is the breathing-space of the world, and
therein one truly breathes and lives.
[Plate XXVII:
Illustration: The main entrance of the Roman station of Wady Abâd,
looking west from inside the enclosure.—Page 164.
Illustration: The piles of stone erected opposite the Temple of
Wady Abâd.—Page 164.]
A trot of about two hours brought us to the well known as Bir
Abâd. The well is but a small, stagnant pool of brackish water,
around which a few trees grow. There are six acacias, three or
four small palms, a curious dead-looking tree called _Heraz_ by
the natives, and a few desert shrubs. Some attempt has been made to
cultivate a small area, but this has not met with success, and the
native farmers have departed. The sand under the acacias offers a
welcome resting-place, and here in the shade we sat for a while,
listening to the quiet shuffle of the wind amongst the trees and
to the singing of the sand-martins. While playing idly with the
sand an objectionable insect was uncovered, which the natives
call a “ground-gazelle.” It is a fat, maggot-like creature,
about an inch in length, possessing a pair of nippers similar
to those of an earwig. It runs fast upon its six or eight legs,
but, whenever possible, it buries itself by wriggling backwards
into the sand. A more loathsome insect could not well be imagined;
and, since the species is said to be by no means uncommon, one will
not delve with the fingers so readily in the future as one lies in
the shadow of the trees. A ride of about half an hour’s duration
along the valley and past a Shêkh’s tomb, known as Abu Gehâd,
brought us to the ruined Roman fortified station named after this
tomb. It is much like other stations of this date, and consists
of an enclosure in which a few chambers are to be seen. One enters
from the west, and in the open area forming the courtyard there is
a cemented tank in which a supply of water was stored for the use
of travellers. The south wall of the enclosure to this day looks
formidable from the outside, still standing some twelve feet in
height, and being solidly built of broken stones. On this side of
the station there are traces of an outbuilding, which may have been
the animal lines. In the main enclosure a block of sandstone was
found bearing the cartouches of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen (B.C. 1350),
one of the successors of the “heretic king” Akhnaton, and by
its form it seems to have been part of a shrine which perhaps had
stood at this spot. The road from El Kab here joins the Edfu route,
and the Pharaoh may have marked the meeting of the ways by a little
wayside temple at which the gold miners might offer a prayer to
the gods of the wilderness.
In Roman days when this station was built it is probable that the
gold mines no longer formed the main objective of the caravans which
passed along this road. Emeralds, almost unknown to the ancient
Egyptians, were now deemed an ornamentation of worth and beauty; and
the emerald mines of Gebel Zabâra, which are most easily approached
along this route, were vigorously worked by the Romans. It was on
his way to these mines that Cailliaud in 1816 discovered the temple
of Sety I. There was also a road from Edfu to the Græco-Roman port
of Berenice on the Red Sea, which was much used at this period;
and stations similar to that of Abu Gehâd are to be met with at
fairly regular intervals for the whole distance to the coast.
Trotting on for another two hours and a quarter, we camped under the
rocks of the Gebel Timsah, a well-known landmark to travellers. A
head of rock projects into the level valley, and upon it the people
of the desert for untold generations have set up small heaps of
stones, the original idea of which must have been connected with
religious worship. The two tents were no sooner pitched than a
gale of wind, suddenly rising, tore one of them down, and almost
succeeded in overthrowing the other. A tempest of dust and sand
beat in at the doorway, and covered all things with a brown layer,
so that one knew not where to turn nor how to escape. Fortunately,
however, like all things violent, it did not last for long; and a
calm, starlit night followed.
The distance from Gebel Timsah to the temple which was our
destination may be covered in about an hour and a half of
trotting. We set out soon after sunrise; and presently a low ridge
was crossed, the path passing between two piles or beacons of
stones, set up perhaps in Roman days to mark the road; and from
this point a wide, flat valley could be seen, stretching between
the low hills, and much overgrown with bushes and brambles. Over
the plain we jogged in the cool morning air, directing the camels
to a high bluff of rock in the east, in which, the guide told us,
the temple of Sety was excavated. Soon a Roman fortress came into
sight, and later we were able to discern the portico of the temple
sheltering under the rocks. Slowly the features became more distinct,
and at last we dismounted at the foot of the cliffs and scrambled
up the slope to explore the picturesque shrine.
It is strange that of the many Egyptologists who have travelled
in Egypt, only two, Lepsius and Golénischeff, have visited this
spot. It may be that the statement of the old Baedeker, which says
that the wandering Ababdeh tribes “assume a hostile attitude” to
travellers, has confined them to the banks of the Nile; or perhaps
the reported antics of the much-maligned camel have induced them to
leave unvisited this pearl of the past. For that matter, however,
the place might be reached upon the back of the patient ass, there
being water at Bir Abâd, and, for the last few years, at the temple
itself. When one sees this building, one of the best preserved of
all the Egyptian temples, one is amazed at the lack of enterprise
which has caused it to be uncared for, unprotected, and unvisited
for all these years. A few mining engineers and prospectors alone
have seen the shrine; and, since they have disfigured its walls
with their names, one could wish that they too had stayed at home.
[Plate XXVIII:
Illustration: INSCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS IN AND NEAR THE TEMPLE OF
WADY ABÂD.
1, 6, 7. North face of cliff, east of Temple.—Page 158.
2. Façade of Temple, east side.
3. Two examples of five similar inscriptions, on cliff east of
Temple.
4. On face of cliff just west of Temple.
5. Face of cliff, west of Temple.—Page 163.
8. On face of cliff just east of Temple.—Page 162.
9-14. Façade of Temple, west side.
15, 16. South-east pillar of Portico.—_Drawings in red paint_.
17. East wall of Portico.—_Drawings in red paint_.]
The little temple consists of a rectangular hall excavated in the
rock, the roof being supposed to be supported by four square pillars,
though in reality these also are part of the living rock. At the
far end there are three shrines in which the statues of the gods
are carved. In front of this hall there is a built portico, the
roof of which rests upon four columns with lotus-bud capitals. One
enters from the north, up the slope of fallen stones and driven
sand, and so passes into the shade of the portico. Through a hole
in the roof, where a slab of stone has fallen in, one may look up
at the towering rocks which overhang the building. Then, through a
beautifully ornamented doorway, one passes into the dimness of the
rock-cut hall, where one may be conscious that the whole height of
the hill rests above one’s head. Both this hall and the portico
are richly decorated with coloured reliefs, and in the inner portions
of the temple one stands in wonder at the brightness of the colours
in the scenes which are seen on all sides. It has been said that
the brilliancy of the painting in the temple of Amonhotep III. at
El Kab is surprising; but here it is still fresher, and has even
more admirably held its own against the assaults of time. We see the
Pharaoh smiting down his negro and Asiatic enemies in the presence
of Amen Ra and Horus of Edfu; we watch him as he makes offerings
to the gods; and to the ceiling the eye is attracted by the great
vultures with spread wings which there hover above one, depicted in
radiant colours rendered more radiant by contrast with the browns
and the yellows of the scenery outside. In the niches at the end
of the hall the gods sit in serenity; and, though these figures
have been damaged almost beyond recognition by pious Musslemans,
there still clings around them their old majesty, and still one may
find something solemn in their attitude, so that one almost pays
heed to the warning inscribed on the doorway that a man must be
twice purified before entering the little sanctuary where they sit.
[Plate XXIX:
Illustration:
1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9. North face of cliff, east of Temple.—Page 157.
3. Smaller of two large fallen rocks, east of Temple.—Page 157.
6, 7, 10. Larger of two fallen rocks, east of Temple.—Page 157.]
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 for its
location is not at once apparent. The explanation, however, is not
far to seek. This great bluff of rock has a smooth cliff-like surface
on its north side, and for the earliest travellers, as for those
of the present day, it has cast a welcome shadow in which one might
take the midday siesta in comfort. Here, scratched or chiselled on
the rock, there are very many drawings which undoubtedly date from
archaic, and even prehistoric, times. Numerous representations
of curious boats are seen, and their character justifies one in
supposing them to be the sacred arks which formed in ancient times
such an essential part of Egyptian religious ceremonial. In most
of these vessels one sees the shrine which contained the god, and
in one drawing a figure with flail raised, before which an animal
is being sacrificed, is certainly the god Min himself, the patron
of the desert. A few animals and figures are also drawn, and when
human beings are represented in or near the arks their arms are
shown held aloft in the regular Egyptian attitude of worship.
Thus it seems that, from being a place to rest and to dream in,
the rock had already in archaic times become a sacred spot, at
which early man bowed himself down before the representations of
the ark of Min. From this period until Dynasty XVIII. it seems,
from the lack of inscriptions here, that the mines were not much
used. Amonhotep III., however, sent his Viceroy of the South out
here, whose name, Merimes, is written upon the rocks near the
temple; and his temple at El Kab, at the beginning of the route,
is a further indication of his interest in the gold workings. Just
as this king had built his temple near the sacred rock at “the
Mouth of the Wilderness,” so Sety I., following half a century
later, decided to erect his shrine at the foot of this more distant
sacred rock, the half distance having been already adventured by
the intermediate Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Since the place was just
about a day’s express ride from Edfu and El Kab, its situation
was convenient; and, moreover, there was no other head of rock in
the neighbourhood which offered so fine a position for a rock temple.
In the inscriptions near the mouth of the excavated portion of
the shrine, Sety caused to be recorded the story of the building
of the temple; and parts of this are of sufficient interest to be
quoted here:—
In the year 9 (B.C. 1304), the third month of the third season,
the twentieth day. Lo! his majesty inspected the hill-country as
far as the region of the mountains, for his heart desired to see
the mines from which the gold is brought. Now when his majesty had
gone out from the Nile valley, he made a halt on the road, in order
to take counsel with his heart; and he said, “How evil is the way
without water! It is so for a traveller whose mouth is parched. How
shall his throat be cooled, how shall he quench his thirst?—for
the lowland is far away, and the highland is vast. The thirsty man
cries out to himself against a fatal country. Make haste!—let
me take counsel of their needs. I will make for them a supply for
preserving them alive, so that they will thank God in my name in
after years.” Now, after his majesty had spoken these words in
his own heart, he coursed through the desert seeking a place to
make a water-station; and lo! the god led him in order to grant
the request which he desired. Then were commanded quarrymen to
dig a well upon the desert, that he might sustain the fainting,
and cool for him the burning heat of summer. Then this place was
built in the great name of Sety, and the water flowed into it in
very great plenty. Said his majesty, “Behold, the god has granted
my petition, and he has brought to me water upon the desert. Since
the days of the gods the way has been dangerous, but it has been
made pleasant in my glorious reign. Another good thought has come
into my heart, at command of the god, even the equipment of a town,
in whose midst shall be a settlement with a temple. I will build
a resting-place on this spot, in the great name of my fathers the
gods. May they grant that what I have wrought shall abide, and that
my memory shall prosper, circulating through the hill-country.”
Then his majesty commanded that the leader of the King’s workmen
be commissioned, and with him the quarrymen, that there should be
made, by excavation in the mountain, this temple. Now after the
stronghold was completed and adorned, and its paintings executed,
his majesty came to worship his fathers, all the gods; and he said,
“Praise to you, O great gods! May ye favour me forever, may ye
establish my name eternally. As I have been useful to you, as I
have been watchful for the things which ye desire, may ye speak
to those who are still to come, whether kings, princes, or people,
that they may establish for me my work in this place, on behalf of
my beautiful temple in Abydos.”
The last words tell us for what purpose this route to the gold
mines had been bettered. A second long inscription is devoted to
blessings on those who keep up this shrine and the mines with which
it was connected, and to curses on those who allow it to fall into
neglect. A third inscription is supposed to give the speech of the
travellers who have benefited by the king’s thoughtfulness:—
Never was the like of it (the temple and the well) made by
any king, save by the King Sety, the good shepherd, who preserves
his soldiers alive, the father and mother of all. Men say from
mouth to mouth, “O Amen, give to him eternity, double to him
everlastingness; for he has opened for us the road to march on,
when it was closed before us. We proceed and are safe, we arrive
and are preserved alive. The difficult way which is in our memory
has become a good way. He has caused the mining of the gold to
be easy. He hath dug for water in the desert far from men for the
supply of every traveller who traverses the highlands.”
Sety dedicated his temple to Amen Ra, whom he identified with Min,
the old god of the place, and to Harmachis, the sun-god, whom he
seems to have identified with the hawk, Horus of Edfu. He also here
worshipped Ptah, the Egyptian Vulcan, and his lion-headed consort
Sekhmet; Tum; Hathor, the Egyptian Venus; Nekheb, the vulture-goddess
of El Kab; Osiris and Isis; Mut, the mother goddess; and Khonsu,
the moon-god who was the son of Amen Ra and Mut, and with them formed
the royal trinity at Thebes. All these gods one sees upon the walls
of the temple, and before them Sety is shown offering incense, wine,
flowers, and food. Some inscriptions on the rocks near the temple,
written by high officials of this period who visited the mines,
make mention of two other deities: Ra, the sun-god, and a strange
goddess who rides a horse and brandishes a shield and spear.
When Sety died the temple was still not quite finished, and
for some reason or other which we shall probably never know, it
so remained. His temple at Abydos, too, was neglected, and the
revenues ceased to be collected. Thus, in spite of the curses
inscribed on the walls of the desert shrine, the king’s plans
for the continual working of the mines, in order to pay for the
maintenance of his great masterpiece, were not carried out. At
Abydos Rameses II., in an inscription written a few years later,
states that he found the temple of Sety there unfinished, and that
it had not been “completed according to the regulations for it of
the gold-house.” He, however, finished the building, and perhaps
re-established the gold workings along the Wady Abâd route, for
on one of the pillars of the hall of the desert shrine there is
an inscription written by an official which reads: “Bringing the
gold for the festival in the temple of Rameses II.”
Since that time until the present day the gods in the sanctuary
have looked out at a long stream of travellers, soldiers, miners,
and officials. Upon the rocks and on the walls of the temple there
are several hieroglyphical and Greek inscriptions which tell of
the coming of all manner of people. A chief of the custodians of El
Kab here records his name, and a scribe of the king’s troops is
immortalised near by. Many of the Greek inscriptions are ex-votos
dedicated to Pan, with whom the old Min had been identified; and
as the latter was the god of desert travel, so the sprightly Pan
becomes the sober patron of the roads. Miners from Syracuse and from
Crete tell of their advent; and one traveller describes himself
as an Indian, a voyager, perhaps, in one of those trading vessels
which brought to the port of Berenice the riches of the East, to be
conveyed across this great desert to the markets of Alexandria. A
man named Doriōn states that he had returned in safety from an
elephant hunt, probably in the south. Two inscriptions are written
by Jews, thanking God for their safe journeys; and it is interesting
to notice that one of them is called Theodotus, son of Doriōn, and
the other Ptolemy, son of Dionysius—all pagan names. A troop of
Greek soldiers have recorded their names in the temple, and state
that they kept a watch before “Pan of the Good Roads.”
[Plate XXX:
Illustration: ARCHAIC DRAWINGS OF SACRED BOATS, ANIMALS, ETC.,
ON ROCKS NEAR TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD.
1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14. North face of cliff, east of Temple.
—Page 157.
2, 3, 6, 10, 15, 16, 17. Larger of two fallen rocks, east of
Temple.—Page 157.
5. West face of cliff projection, east of Temple.—Page 157.
13. Smaller of two fallen rocks, east of Temple.—Page 157.]
These travellers, besides, or instead of, writing their names,
seem often to have piled a few stones at conspicuous points as a
memorial of their passage. At various places in the neighbourhood,
and especially at the foot of the hills opposite the temple, there
are many such piles of stones; and when well built they rise from
the rocks like altars, three feet or so in height, and perhaps two
feet in diameter. In one or two cases there are fragments of old
Egyptian pottery lying beside them, and there seems no question that
they are connected with religious worship. The same custom still
prevails amongst the desert people, though now its significance
is not remembered; and yet its meaning is not entirely forgotten,
for on a hill-top near the temple we found, near such a pile of
stones, three pairs of gazelle horns and a collection of Red Sea
shells pierced for stringing, a modern offering to the old gods.
In Græco-Roman times a large fortified station was constructed near
the temple, and this still stands in fairly good preservation. It is
built in the plain in front of the temple, not more than a hundred
yards from the foot of the cliffs. The enclosure is somewhat larger
than is usual in these stations, but the greater part of the area has
never been built upon. The enclosing wall still stands to a height
of ten feet or so in parts, but here and there it is almost entirely
ruined. It is built in three thicknesses, so that on the inside there
are two heights at which one might walk around the rampart without
showing above it. One enters through a well-built masonry doorway,
and on either side one may see the hole into which the beam was shot
to close the wooden door at nights. On one’s right there is a group
of small chambers; and here an isolated house, in one wall of which
a window is still intact, forms the best-preserved portion of the
ruin. On one’s left there is a large hall, in which there was a
tank, parts of which, now half-choked with sand, can be seen. The
next building on one’s left is also a hall of considerable
size—the common mess-room, probably, of the travellers. One
then passes into the open courtyard, which bears off to the left,
or north, and does not contain more than a trace or so of walls.