|
 At the Temple of Isis formerly on Philae Island, the gate
of the Second Pylon gives way to a small open court, which is
part of a hypostyle hall.
Amelia Edwards said of it:
"Here is a place in which time seems to have stood
as still as in that immortal palace where everything
went to sleep for a hundred years. The bas-reliefs on
the walls, the intricate paintings on the ceilings, the
colours upon the capitals are incredibly fresh and
perfect. These exquisite capitals have long been the
wonder and delight of travellers in Egypt. They are all
studied from natural forms - from the lotus in bud and
blossom, the papyrus, and the
 palm. Conventionalised with
consummate skill, they are at the same time so justly
proportioned to the height and girth of the columns as
to give an air of wonderful lightness to the whole
structure."
The court at one time had a colonnade on its east and
west sides, but today contains only ten columns. The little court was separated from the
vestibule beyond it by screen walls uniting four columns,
behind which four other columns helped support the roof of
the hall. On the east site, the reliefs have been replaced
by
Coptic Christian crosses before which a Christian altar
was erected in about 500 AD. At that time there were
dedicated several churches here, including one to the Virgin
Mary and one to Saint Stephen, the former being the standard
Christian substitute for Isis and the second a highly
appropriate replacement for Harendotes. On the side doorway
leading to a room on the right is another inscription to
Bishop Theodorus, made during the reign of Justinian 527-565
AD), claiming credit for this "good work". A similar
inscription commemorates the archaeological expedition
 of
1841 sent by Pope Gregory XVI.
Three small antechambers, flanked by dark rooms, leads to
the sanctuary which is lit by two small windows. It still
contains the pedestal placed here by
Ptolemy III Euergetes I
and his wife Berenice for the image of Isis in her sacred
bark. The granite shrines (naos) were removed to European museums
during the 19th century. From her sanctuary, the statue of
Isis would have been carried out in processions from the
temple on her ceremonial barque to make the short crossing
to the island of Bigeh to visit the tomb of her spouse,
Osiris.
Surrounding the sanctuary are the
Osiris chambers reached
by a short staircase on the west side of the temple which
leads to the roof. Having Osirian rooms on the roof of the
temple was standard during the
Graeco-Roman Period, though
here they are sunk well below the level of the roof at each
of its four corners. The Osiris room has its own vestibule
with scenes of gods bewailing the dead Osiris, and the inner
room contains scenes relating to the collection of the god's
sacred limbs. To reach these, after ascending the stairs,
one then descends to the first room where the
Nile-god
offers libations of
 milk to the soul or
Ba of Osiris,
sitting before him in the form of a bird. In the second room
is the falcon-headed mummy of Osiris. In the third room the
god Shu and the Emperor Antoninus, who built the room, stand
before Osiris and his two sisters
Isis and
Nephthys. Still
another room on the roof shows Isis and Nephthys by the nude
body of Osiris, lying on a bier. The frog-headed Heket and
the falcon-headed Harsiesis stand by the bier beneath which
are depicted four
canopic jars for the entrails of the god.
The other walls show the corpse of Osiris among marsh plants
with a priest pouring consecrated water. The jackal headed
Anubis stands by the bier of Osiris beside which kneel Isis
and Nephthys.
Once these scenes were bright with brilliant colors, the
columns and capitals scintillating in the clear sunshine
against vivid blue skies. As Robert Curzon rote, "Excepting
the Pyramids, nothing struck me so much as when on a bright
moonlight night I first entered the court of the
 great
temple of Philae".
The outside walls of the temple are covered with reliefs
largely dating from the reign of Tiberius. On the west side
of the temple itself are several other structures that must
be considered a part of the overall structure. Just to the
west o the second Pylon stands a gateway and a ruined
vestibule built by Emperor Hadrian. On the lintel of the
gate Hadrian stands before
Osiris,
Isis and Harsiesis.
Within the gateway, Marcus Aurelius stands before Osiris and
below this scene, he offers grapes and flowers to Isis.
The
uncompleted vestibule shows
Nephthys presenting the crown of
Lower Egypt and Isis the Crown of Upper Egypt to Horus. On
one wall is a relief of Isis watching Osiris being carried on the back of
a crocodile across the Nile. Another relief on the north
wall shows Isis, Nephthys,
Horus,
Amun and
Hathor
worshipping the Hawk-god rising over the river beneath the
island of Bigeh. This island has a vulture perched on it and
beneath this is a cave surrounded by a serpent holding the
figure of
Hapi, the Nile God, representing the source of the
Nile.
Also, at the northern end of the western colonnade that
fronts the temple is one of the few ancient nilometers
remaining in Egypt, which was used to measure the Nile flood
in ancient times.
The Temple of
Isis, which was moved from old Philae
Island due to the building of the
High Dam south of
Aswan to
its present location on Agilkia Island, beautiful as it is,
has one further distinction. it was the last surviving
outpost of the
old Egyptian pagan religion. Some say that
Christianity and the pagan religion, for a time, were
practiced here side by side until the pagan priesthood was
officially disbanded by Justinian in about 550 AD.
Back | Home | Next
See Also
Sources:
- The Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt ed.
By Katherine Bard
- Island of Isis, Philae, Temple of the Nile by William
MacQuitty
- A Guide to the Antiquities of Ancient Egypt by Arthur
Weigall
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
- Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt by Richard Wilkinson
Archives
|
