The blog post for this week has been written by Linda Anderson, who has a PhD in biochemistry and is a retired chemistry teacher. She began her love of Ancient Egypt following a trip to Egypt in 1981. She and her sister Merlys have visited Egypt on many occasions since then. Following Merlys’ graduation in Egyptology in 2006, she herself studied for a Certificate in Egyptology in 2011, graduating in 2015.One of her greatest ambitions is to visit the New York Metropolitan Museum of Arts and she hopes that maybe the Friends of the Egypt Centre will arrange a trip the one day (hint!).
Situated on the First Cataract of the Nile, the beautiful temple complex
of Philae is dedicated in the main to Isis and also believed to be one of the
burial places of the Ancient Egyptian god Osiris (fig. 1). Temples honouring Isis have existed on
the island from at least the sixth century BC and the temple complex is
one of Egypt’s most eclectic and fascinating ancient sites. It was originally
located on Philae Island, a sacred place with connections to the cult of Isis
that dated back thousands of years. The main temple complex was started by Ahmose
III and further by the Thirtieth Dynasty pharaoh Nectanebo I—although a kiosk
attributed to an earlier pharaoh Psamtek II is also to be found. It was further
added to by the rulers of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods up until the third
century AD and was a place of pilgrimage for followers of the cult of Isis long
after Christianity arrived in Egypt. In fact, the temples were only closed or
repurposed for Christian use in the sixth century AD, making the Philae temple
complex one of the country’s last places of pagan worship.
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| Fig 1: Philae today |
In 1902, the construction of the Aswan Low Dam caused Philae Island and
its temple complex to flood for most of the year. (Fig. 2). Tourists could explore the
partially submerged ruins by rowboat and the temple foundations were strengthened
to help them withstand the annual flood damage. However, the bricks became
encrusted with river silt and the colours of the temple’s fabulous reliefs were
washed away (Fig. 3).
Fig 2: Philae in flood
When plans for the Aswan High Dam were revealed in 1954, it became clear
that Philae Island would soon be fully submerged, its ancient treasures lost
forever. As a result, UNESCO launched their campaign to save the monuments in
1960. Plans were made to relocate several of the region’s more important
temples, including the Philae temple complex. At Philae, a coffer dam was built
to keep the river water at bay while the monuments were cleaned, measured and
dismantled. The temple and its accompanying shrines and sanctuaries were moved
brick-by-brick to nearby Agilkia Island and painstakingly reconstructed on
higher ground. In the name of authenticity, Agilkia was even landscaped to
match the temple’s original setting on Philae Island.
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| Fig 3: Boat trips at Philae temple by David Roberts |
Modern tourists arrive by boat and start their tour at the oldest part of the site, the Kiosk of Nectanebo. The entrance to the main temple is guarded by the First Pylon, an 18-metre-high monumental gateway decorated with incredible reliefs (Figs 4–5). These reliefs are attributed to various pharaohs and include a famous depiction of Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos dispatching a band of enemies. Isis, Horus of Edfu, Hathor, and various other members of the Egyptian pantheon also make an appearance here.
Fig 4: First pylon and colonnade
After passing through the First Pylon,
visitors find themselves in the temple forecourt. Colonnades on either side
provide entry to various rooms including the Birth House. This intriguing
building was dedicated to Isis in honour of the birth of her son, Horus, and
contains reliefs depicting scenes from the falcon-headed god’s childhood. In
the past, pharaohs performed rituals here to celebrate the Isis legend (which
included their own descent from Horus, thereby legitimizing their divine right
to rule). A Second Pylon leads into the vestibule of the inner temple. It
features eight magnificent columns, while Coptic crosses carved into the walls
show how the temple was transformed into a place of Christian worship during the
Byzantine era. Beyond the vestibule lies the sanctuary, where granite shrines
once held a gold statue of Isis and the barque in which it travelled. These
have since been removed to museums in Paris and Florence.
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| Fig 5: Lion statue in first pylon colonnade |
One notable absentee removed from the front of the First Pylon is the
Philae obelisk, one of a pair of twin obelisks erected in
the second century BC. It was ‘discovered’ by William Bankes in
1815, who had it brought to Kingston Lacy in Dorset England, where it still
stands today (Fig. 6). Like the Rosetta Stone, the Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic
inscriptions on the obelisk played a role in unravelling the hitherto
unreadable Egyptian hieroglyphs. Bankes believed that the bilingual
inscription would help with the decipherment of hieroglyphs in general. Its
transportation, and that of a single, large broken piece of its twin, was
carried out by the famous explorer Giovanni Belzoni. The obelisk arrived
in London in December 1821, making it the
first Egyptian obelisk to be brought to the United Kingdom. Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, provided
a gun carriage that transported the obelisk to Kingston Lacy in
Dorset in 1829 and George IV provided Libyan granite that
was used to repair the base of the obelisk’s shaft. The obelisk was set up as a
central feature of the gardens in 1830; nineteen horses were required to raise it
into position. The broken piece of the twin was set into the lawn nearby
as a romantic ruin.
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| Fig. 6: Kingston Lacy obelisk |
The obelisk was described as “in effect a second Rosetta Stone” and several lithographs of the obelisk and its inscriptions were produced while it was in London. Bankes distributed these lithographs to various contemporaries interested in deciphering hieroglyphs. In his studies of the Rosetta Stone, the scholar Thomas Young had already realised that cartouches contained the names of a pharaoh and he had identified the name ‘Ptolemy’. Bankes proposed to identify the name ‘Cleopatra’ in cartouches on this inscription. However, further progress was stymied by the fact that the Greek and Egyptian texts were not exact parallels of one another and by Bankes and Young’s incorrect belief that all Egyptian hieroglyphs were logographic, where each symbol represented a whole word.
In France, Champollion had constructed a hypothetical hieroglyphic
text for the name 'Cleopatra'. On being sent
a copy of the lithograph of the Philae obelisk, he confirmed that his
reconstruction was correct and announced the decipherment of hieroglyphs in
the Lettre à M. Dacier in 1822. Subsequently Bankes, Young,
and their circle responded to this announcement with great hostility, claiming
that Champollion had not given them proper credit for the discovery!
Hieroglyphs were still in use in the Macedonian, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods of Egypt, but the circle of people who used and understood them declined. During this period, only the priests studied the hieroglyphs. However, all this changed when Egyptians converted to Christianity. In the second and third centuries AD, traditional polytheistic religion was replaced with monotheistic Christianity, so Egyptians were forced to incorporate the Greek alphabet into the Egyptian language, and general knowledge of them quickly declined and eventually disappeared. Ironically, as it played a major role in understanding hieroglyphs, the last writing using hieroglyphs was during the rule of Theodosius I in 394 CE, on the island of Philae.
Although the Temple of Isis is the complex’s main attraction, there are a series of other worthwhile monuments. These include the Temple of Hathor, which was built by Ptolemy VI Philometer and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and later added to by the Emperor Augustus. The Gateway of Hadrian features reliefs commissioned by Roman emperors Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus, while the unfinished yet undeniably beautiful ‘Trajan’s Kiosk’ (also known as the Pharaoh’s bed in Arabic) was a favourite subject of Victorian painters. It is attributed to Trajan and was the original entrance to the temple complex and possibly served as a barque station. His depiction as pharaoh is seen on reliefs in its interior. However, the majority of the structure dates to an earlier time, possibly to the reign of Augustus (Fig. 7). Later Christian ruins are also found on the island and include the remains of a monastery and two Coptic churches.
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| Fig 7: Trajan’s kiosk |
Philae temple complex is in my opinion one of the highlights of any Nile cruise and I would urge anyone visiting Egypt to head south from Luxor to Aswan to explore the wonders there and, indeed as we did, even further again to explore not just Philae but the other beautiful temples rescued from the ravages of the rising waters of Lake Nassar.
Bibliography
Belzoni, G. B. (2007) Travels in Egypt and Nubia. White Star Publishers: Italy.
Shafer, B. E. (ed) (2005) Temples of Ancient Egypt. I.B. Taurus: London. New York.
Tripsavvy.com. Egypt, the Temple of Philae. Accessed November 2021. Available from: https://www.tripsavvy.com/egypt.
Wikipedia. Philae Obelisk. Accessed November 2021. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae_obelisk.
Wilkinson, R. H. (2000) The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson Ltd: London.
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