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Temples of Philae near Aswan in Egypt Part II:The Approach to the Temple of Isis

The Temple of Philae in Egypt Part II:The Approach to the Temple of Isis

By Jimmy Dunn

Though the monuments of Philae Island are now located on the nearby reworked Island of Agilika, and Philae is now buried beneath the waters of the lake formed between the Old Aswan Dam and the High Dam , Philae and the neighboring island of Biggeh to the west, inancient times, formed an integrated religious comple de!oted to the cult of Osiris " The ritualfocus was Biggeh, the site of the abaton, one of the alleged tombs of Osiris" At Philae, regular!isits were paid e!ery tenth day by Isis to the island of Bigeh and the tomb of Osiris"There are many legends connected to Philae, but the most well known one tells the story ofhow Isis found the heart of Osiris here after his murder by his brother #eth" $ach e!eningthere is a #ound and %ight #how which recounts the legends against the magnificentbackdrop of the floodlit monuments & a truly magical e perience"

Tourist boats on their way to visit the Temples of Philae in EgyptPhilae was dedicated preeminently to Isis , sister&wife to Osiris , and patroness of thePtolemaic rule" Although Isis was the ma'or deity honored therein, the location of the island onthe frontier between $gypt and (ubia meant that cults of (ubia were also featured on theisland, represented by significant cult buildings"

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There was some e!idence at the actual island of Philae of cult acti!ity in honor of Amun , inthe time of )ing Tahar*a , who ruled $gypt between + - and ++. B/ in the 01th dynasty , andwho probably built an altar of granite to Amun" Perhaps the )ushites, when in!ading $gypt,established a stronghold on Philae" Traces of mudbrick houses in trenches between the stonefoundations of the later temples and the early nilometer west of the mammisi may date to thisperiod"

The monuments on the island are dominated by the great temple of Isis and its associatedstructures, which are concentrated in the west and center of the island, on, or ad'acent to, agranite outcrop which must ha!e been originally chosen as an embodiment of the prime!al hillon which the first temple was said to ha!e rested" This hill was reproduced on the newlocation of the monuments at Agilika"The Tahar*a altar to Amun is the earliest e!idence of structures on the island" The knownhistory of Philae does not go back farther than that, and it was not untilthe Ptolemaic and 2oman Periods that Philae rose to importance" The priests belie!ed theirisland had a far longer history, and as stated abo!e, an inscription at the frontier on the islandof #ehel states that as early as the 3rd Dynasty, D'oser ga!e them the country from the 4irst/ataract to the island of Derar" 5Dodekaschoinoi6 During Ptolemaic times they held the goldmines of 7adi Alaki within their administrati!e sphere"

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But the earliest known cult building in honor of Isis , known to the $gyptians as Aset, was asmall shrine erected in the #aite period by Psamtik II " This was followed by a further smalltemple on the granite outcrop, erected by Amasis " #o it now seems that the #aite kingsintroduced the cult of Isis into this area and laid the foundations for her subse*uentglorification on the island"

The ne t e!idence of building, and the earliest sur!i!ing monument of Philae, dates tothe 38th Dynasty " Beginning at the ancient *uay where boats now land at the southwesterncorner of the great temple, the first structure is the kiosk of (ectanebo I , though one may firstnotice the ob!ious seating for the sound and light show" The kiosk or !estibule of (ectanebois a hall with screen walls linked by graceful columns" Of its original fourteen Hathor pillars ,only si remain" The screens between the columns are some si feet high, crowned withconca!e cornices and rows of uraeus &serpents" The screens are car!ed with reliefs showing

(ectanebo sacrificing to the gods"

4rom (ectanebo9s monument north, there are two colonnades , one on the east side andanother on the west of an outer courtyard that leads to the first temple pylon" The western halfof the colonnade is the more complete, and is pierced with windows originally looking towardthe island of Biggeh" A nilometer descends the cliff from here" The colonnade is about onehundred yards long and contains thirty&one of the original thirty&two columns" The column

capitals tops are floral, and remarkable in their !ariety with no two being alike" :ost of thecolumns show car!ings of Tiberius offering gifts to the gods" The ceiling, which is mostly

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destroyed, is decorated with stars and and flying !ultures, while the rear wall has two rows ofbas&reliefs of Tiberius and Agustus offering to the gods"The eastern colonnade was ne!er completed" On the south it abuts the temple of Arsenuphis ,or Iry&hemes&nufer 'ust to the north of the !estibule of (ectanebo" Arensnuphis was anobscure (ubian lion&god !enerated as the companion of Isis " The temple was builtby Ptolemy I; Philopator and e tended by Ptolemy ; $piphanes " Here, the reliefs depictPtolemy ; before Isis and other gods, and also Ptolemy I; before Isis, Horus and reat Pylon of the Temple of Isis is the >ateof Ptolemy II Philadelphus , with depictions of the Ptolemaic Pharaoh being led forward by Isis"=ust before the main gateway to the first pylon are two 2oman style lions car!ed from pinkgranite that ha!e been re&erected on this island from their fallen position on the old Island ofPhilae" Two obelisks once also stood here, erected by Ptolemy ;III $uergetes II and hissecond wife, /leopatra III 5who by the way is not the more famous /leopatra ;II 6" On the

base of the eastern obelisk was the inscription complaining to the royal that the priestsof Isis at Philae were being forced to refund the e penses of ci!il and military authoritiesincurred during their stay on the island"

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These obelisks made of pink granite are not lost to us, but may now be found at )ingston%acy in Dorset in the reek"4romthese inscriptions, it was possibleforthe4rench $gyptologist =ean&4rancois /hampollion toidentifythe hieroglyphic form of thename,by usingthesamemethod,Bankespointedoutthehieroglyphic form of the name, /leopatra, which was unknown before" But theseobelisks, or at least the eastern one, has a more interesting history than this"Two of the most a!id collectors of anti*uities in $gypt around this time 5@ @-6 were the British/onsul, Henry #alt , and the /onsul&>eneral of 4rance, Bernardino Dro!etti" They both ga!emoney to local chiefs throughout $gypt who then saw to it that other collectors were eitherwarned off or not supplied with labor" It was #alt, of course, who actually obtained theobelisks for 2alph Bankes, and #alt was lucky enough to ha!e as his agent the giant Italianad!enturer, >io!anni Bel oni , nicknamed the strongman of $gyptology"On hearing of this matter concerning the obelisks at Philae, Dro!etti claimed that theybelonged to him, but grandly ceded the ownership to Bankes" Bel oni, who #alt tasked withtheir transport, thought that Dro!etti had found it impossible to find ways of transporting thefirstobelisk 5the complete, eastern one6 through the cataract and had relin*uished his claimfor this reason" >i!en the si e of the obelisk, he may ha!e been right"

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The obelisk was le!ered and pushed on rollers to a stout wooden pier for shipment, But,alas, writes Be oni, when the obelisk came gradually from the sloping bank and all itsweight rested on it, the pier, with the obelisk and some of the men, took a slow mo!ement,and ma'estically descended into the ri!er"(e!ertheless, Bel oni and his men hauled it out of the mud and got it loaded onto a boat forits 'ourney to /airo " Cet the story does not end there, for Dro!etti had, it seems, not gi!en up"Dro!etti9s men intercepted Bel oni on his way to Aswan and it was only after a longaltercation which ended in gun&fire and the arri!al of Dro!etti himself that the monument wasallowed to proceed on its way" It was shipped to $ngland on the Despatch in :ay, @ 0@ andnot erected in Bankes garden until @ 0?" In the inter!al, Bankes returned to $gypt in @ 00 tocollect the broken western obelisk"This leads us up to the first pylon, beyond which is the temple of Isis proper"

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