The Conservation of a Pottery Vessel (EC1376)

This blog post is written by Katie Morton, a second year Conservation Practice Masters student at Cardiff University. Katie previously completed her undergraduate in Egyptology at Swansea University. Her main interests are pottery and ceramics, but she is starting to get hands-on with other materials, such as plaster (HARGM10873).

My first encounter with EC1376 was when I was an Egyptology student at Swansea University, completing research for my dissertation into the blue painted pottery held at the Egypt Centre. EC1376 was in a box with one of my study objects. Although it was not included in my dissertation, Dr Ken Griffin and I checked to see if most of the vessel was there, then made a note to have it conserved at Cardiff. Fast forward to the summer of 2024 and Ken came across the vessel again and asked if I wanted to conserve it over the summer holidays. Of course, I accepted!

Fig. 1: Sherds of EC1376

When the vessel first came to Cardiff it was in multiple pieces, with some sherds already stuck together and almost all of them covered in an adhesive from a previous reassembly (fig. 1). When the vessel was dropped off at Cardiff, Ken mentioned the adhesive was most likely animal glue, which was commonly used in the past for sticking together objects in museums and during early excavations in Egypt. One of the properties of animal glue is that it is soluble in warm water, which means that, in theory, it should come off when brushed/soaked in warm water (fig. 2). Due to the amount of adhesive that was present on the sherds, the decision was made to give them a bath overnight. This is where things got complicated!

Fig. 2: Sherds in warm water

 

The next day I came in to find the adhesive had turned grey and hadn’t softened at all (fig. 3). At this point the decision was made to do some investigation as to what the adhesive may be. Prof. Phil Parkes (Cardiff University lecturer) and I did a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to look at the chemical composition of the adhesive. Unfortunately, the spectrum was inconclusive, showing aspects of organic as well as synthetic material. Whilst the spectrum did not yield any helpful results, when comparing my sample to those of previous students, there was a match to another vessel from the Egypt Centre. Due to time constraints, there was no time to investigate this further. However, it may make an interesting project in the future.

Fig. 3: Greying adhesive

 

The next step was to try the variety of solvents available in the lab, including acetone, IMS (Industrial Methylated Spirits), toluene, and white spirits, none of which were successful in removing the adhesive. The option of manually trying to remove the adhesive with a sharp tool was considered. However, it was deemed too damaging to the vessel. Finally, Phil suggested we try chloroform as it is a stronger solvent than the others used. Due to chloroform being a volatile liquid with severe side effects from exposure, all work was done in a fume cupboard whilst wearing gloves. We tested it out on one of the smaller sherds and it very quickly became evident that it was softening the adhesive and allowing removal without causing damage to the sherd. We decided to create a chloroform environment, where a small amount of chloroform in a beaker is placed into a sealed Tupperware box with some of the sherds and left overnight. The next morning the adhesive on the sherds was a lot easier to remove. Over the next week, I spent a total of 19 hours carefully removing the adhesive using a hard brush, a sharp tool, and some extra chloroform (fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Removing the adhesive

Once all the sherds were clean and dry, I completed an initial test run of putting the vessel back together to see how much of it was present. This was an important part of the process as some of the sherds ‘floated’ and could not be placed due to the large gaps. After a discussion with Ken, the decision was made not to complete gap fills in the voids as the vessel was structurally stable without them. Knowing all this, the reassembly process began. Due to the porosity of the material of the vessel, a layer of adhesive called Paraloid B72 at 20% was brushed over the joins of the sherds. This creates a barrier, meaning when the main layer of adhesive is applied it does not absorb into the fabric, causing the join to fail. Paraloid B72 was chosen due to its reversibility in acetone, meaning if there are any errors they can be easily rectified. The first few attempts of the initial reassembly failed due to the percentage of the Paraloid not being high enough. Once I made Paraloid B72 at 40% the joins were successful and after 14 hours of reassembly, the vessel was completed, with only one area needing to be redone due to being misaligned (fig. 5).

Fig. 5: EC1376 rim reassembled

What started as a seemingly easy task turned out to be more complicated than we imagined. Despite the issues encountered, the conservation treatment was successful. Over a four-week period, I spent a total of 42 hours working on this vessel, and it is now back at the Egypt Centre. This work means that this vessel can be studied as a complete artefact, being measured accurately, and its shape is now identifiable (fig. 6). It has been really fun working on this vessel and I look forward to working more with the Egypt Centre in the future.

Fig. 6: Completed vessel

Bibliography:

Atria. 2024. What is FTIR. Available at: https://atriainnovation.com/en/blog/what-is-ftir/ [Accessed: 4 November 2024].

Horie, C. V. 2010. Materials for Conservation: Organic Consolidants, Adhesives and Coatings. London: Routledge.

Schellmann, N. C. 2007. Animal glues: a review of their key properties relevant to conservation. Studies in Conservation 52(1), 55–66.

Science Direct. 2024. Adhesives for Packing. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/animal-glue [Accessed: 4 November 2024]

The Egypt Centre. 2024a. History of the Museum. Available at: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/history-of-the-museum/ [Accessed 4 November 2024]

The Egypt Centre. 2024b. EC1376. Available at: https://egyptcentre.abasetcollections.com/Objects/Details/2680?SavedSelections=$Search-EC1376$Page-1 [Accessed: 7 November 2024]

UK Health Security Agency. 2024. Chloroform: General Information. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chloroform-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology/chloroform-general-information [Accessed: 4 November 2024]. 

Launch of New Egypt Centre Website

The last few months have been quite busy as we have been working to update the Egypt Centre’s website. Our previous site was hosted on WordPress, whereas the new site is through CampusPress. Rather than migrating the previous site, we decided to largely start from scratch. The reason being that the old site had over 800 pages, many of which were out of date, no longer needed, or had no Welsh version (compulsory in Wales). Starting from scratch also allowed us to slim down our new site with fewer pages (56 per language). I’m delighted to announce that the new site is now available on the same URL as our previous address: egypt.swan.ac.uk (or egypt.swansea.ac.uk)!

Website homepage

The site navigation has been made much easier with the introduction of tiles. These can direct visitors to information about the Egypt Centre, such as volunteering, our learning programme, collections, and visiting us. Additionally, the text and layout are now consistent, while each image has alt text (alternative text) to assist those with visual impairments. In addition to all our pages being translated into Welsh (big thanks to our volunteer Sian Charlton!), we are also in the process of having everything translated into Arabic for the first time. This is currently around 50% complete, so please bear with us for the next month or two while this is being worked on (likewise, a big thanks to Fatin Haddad for undertaking this!). There are several new features of the site that I will present below:

Use of navigational tiles

We have introduced a new timeline page presenting a history of the collection from before it arrived in Swansea (1971) until the present day. This page, which will be continually updated as noteworthy events take place, can be found here: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/timeline/.

 

Timeline tile

The Egypt Centre has received many awards over the years, both from a museum, volunteering, or individual perspective. Chief amongst these is the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (2018), the equivalent of an MBE, in recognition of our volunteer programme. Details of all our awards can be found at the following link: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/awards/.

Awards page

We have created a new page bringing together Egypt Centre publications. Many of these are out of print, so we have made PDFs available to download for free: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/publications/.

Publications page

The Egypt Centre is proud to be an advocate of Playful Places, which supports play in museums and cultural spaces. We are committed to creating a playful environment where visitors can engage with history through hands-on experiences. Our play offerings range from formal play spaces to informal opportunities, fostering a sense of wonder and discovery. Full details of these can be found here: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/A-Playful-Museum/.

Our playful museum

Our What’s On page will provide details of current events, workshops, and courses that are taking place. This includes the Friends of the Egypt Centre lecture programme: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/friends/.

What's On

The Support Us page includes details of how visitors can support the Egypt Centre with a donation or leaving a legacy. Additionally, we are very excited to launch a new Adopt an Object scheme, which is an exciting way to support the Egypt Centre’s mission to preserve and share ancient Egyptian history. We have created three packages (Bronze Beetle, Silver Shabti, and Golden God), each with different benefits. While all 7,000+ objects in our collection are available for adoption, a selection of 30 objects to inspire you is presented here: https://egypt.swansea.ac.uk/adopt-an-object/ With the planned redevelopment of the House of Death gallery in 2025, we need your support more than ever!

Adopt an Object tiers

As with any new site, there are likely to be some teething problems, so we would be grateful if visitors reported any issues or broken links to me (k.griffin@swansea.ac.uk). We are grateful to the Digital Humanities team at Swansea University for their help and support with the creation of the new site. Finally, we hope that you enjoy exploring the site and learning new things about the Egypt Centre!

Trail-blazers!

The blog post for this week has been written by regular contributor Sam Powell. Sam is an Egypt Centre volunteer and the Director of Abaset Collections Ltd, which hosts the museum’s online catalogue. 

As some of you may be aware, the Egypt Centre’s online catalogue had a massive overhaul in 2020. The new online catalogue (usually referred to as Abaset) was designed specifically with the Egypt Centre in mind. As a volunteer at the Egypt Centre, I used my experience of working with the collection to design a new bespoke platform that would allow it to be better appreciated virtually. Through working closely with the Egypt Centre staff, the catalogue has been honed to ensure that the user experience is as intuitive as possible and meets the needs of a diverse collection. 

One of the features that I felt was really important to include was trails. This feature can be used to group together related objects with additional descriptions specific to the theme (fig. 1). Additionally, audio recordings can be added to function as an audio tour. 

Fig. 1: A selection of some of the fantastic trails available on Abaset!

Over the last few years, we have built up a diverse range of trails, including highlights of each gallery, trails focusing on specific collectors, a selection of objects researched by Swansea University students, and thematic trails focusing on specific object types.

In addition to those aimed at the general public, trails have been created for younger audiences in in mind (‘Junior trails’). These have specific descriptions designed to be more accessible and importantly have audios recorded by children to feel more relatable. As well as the topics of animals, gods and goddesses, and others, there is a trail designed by my son Max (who was just 6 when he made the trail!), focusing on materials that are found in the game Minecraft that can also be found in the EC galleries! A big thank you to Matilda Barton, Noah Barton, Youssef Amro Hassan (and his dog Cooper!), and Max Powell for providing audios for our Junior Egyptologist trails.

Fig. 2: Max following his Minecraft trail in the galleries!

Many of the trails have been translated into a wide range of additional languages. For example, the Harrogate trail Causing Their Names to Live, is now available in twelve languages (English, Welsh, Arabic, French, Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Italian, and Ukrainian). I would like to thank everyone who has helped with the translations:

• Nassim Aarab (Dutch)
• Bérénice Bruckert (Mandarin Chinese)
• Morgane Delepeleere (Dutch)
• Dulcie Engel (French)
• Fatima Farkas (Hungarian)
• Ihab Samir Francis (Arabic)
• Kexin Fu (Mandarin Chinese)
• Ingrid Inkindi (Dutch)
• Asmae Maataoui (Dutch)
• Carla San Miguel (Spanish)
• K. Post (Dutch)
• Julia Rachfalik (Polish)
• Noura Seada (Arabic)
• Abby Richards-Williams (Welsh)
• Daniel Salava (Czech)
• Marzia Sartori (Italian)
• Shreya Shailesh Ranade (Mandarin Chinese)
• Mengjia Shi (Mandarin Chinese)
• Sophie Smith (Welsh)
• I. Vasse (Dutch)
• Olga Zapletniuk (Ukrainian)
• Zihan Zhang (Mandarin Chinese)

We are always looking for more translations for our growing collection of trails, so if you’re able to help, do please get in touch. 

Did you know that the Abaset software has the capabilities to allow you to create your own trails?

As well as the publicly available trails, you can use the online collection to curate your own selection of objects on any theme you like! Whether you want to make a list of your favourite objects, group together some objects you are researching, or just want to make a grouping of objects that are your favourite colour, the option is there! Instructions on creating your own trail can be found here.

Please check out the existing trails and enjoy creating your own, we’d love to see them!

Return of the Coffin of Ankhpakhered

On Wednesday 31st July, the anthropoid coffin of a man called Ankhpakhered was returned to the Egypt Centre after twenty-six years of conservation work at Cardiff University (fig. 1). The coffin was gifted to the Egypt Centre in 1997 from the Aberystwyth University. Details about its history are a little sketchy, although it is known that it was present in Aberystwyth by at least 1910. The museum acquisition record for 1900–1901 contains the following record, which might be related to this coffin: “An Egyptian mummy. Presented by Mr. James Wilson (Wilson Bey, Cairo), per Mr. Thomas Davies, J. P. Bootle.” The coffin was used as a storage box at one time, with other Egyptian objects placed in it for safekeeping.

Fig. 1: Lid of AB118

The coffin is made of planks of wood joined together with dowels. It is covered with textile to create a smooth surface, which was then painted with decoration. When the coffin arrived in Swansea, it was in a very poor state of preservation. The face of the lid was hanging off, the sides of the base had collapsed, and much of the textile decoration was already detached (fig. 2). It was also covered in layers of dirt and grime, including “Chambers” being written on the lid in white chalk. The coffin had to be painstakingly cleaned, reconstructed, and consolidated to prevent it from deteriorating further.   

Fig. 2: The lid of the coffin c. 1998

The coffin is decorated on both the exterior and interior. On the exterior of the lid, the goddess Nut kneels with her wings outstretched across the chest of the deceased (fig. 3). Two wedjat eyes are located just beneath her. Ten deities are depicted over four registers in the lower half of the lid. In the upper register are the mummiform figures of the four sons of Horus (Qebehsenuef, Duamutef, Imsety, Hapy), two on each side. They are followed in the register below by two forms of the jackal-headed god Anubis. In the third register, Geb and Hornedjitef are represented, while in the lower Ptah-Sokar-Osiris and Thoth are shown. Beneath these gods are two further wedjat eyes, each accompanied by a protective spell. The goddess Isis, flanked by additional wedjat eyes, is depicted kneeling with her arm raised in mourning on the foot of the lid.

Fig. 3: Decoration of the lid

On the interior of the lid (fig. 4), a large polychrome figure of Nut is included. Four columns of hieroglyphs to the right of her identify the owner as Ankhpakhered, son of Padiese and Tawer. Above the figure of the goddess is a so-called “Nut Text”, emphasising the role of the goddess as a mother to the deceased. On the foot of the interior is a large shen-rings with two flails.  

Fig. 4: Interior of the lid

The interior of the trough is decorated with a large djed pillar with a crown consisting of a solar disk flanked by uraei atop the horns of a ram (fig. 5). The djed pillar represents the backbone of the god Osiris, so its location on the base of the interior of the trough is rather fitting. Hieroglyphic texts are located above and below. The one below is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the Book of the Dead, which begins “I am Djedi son of Djedi. I was born in Djedu (Busiris)”.

Fig. 5: Interior of the trough

A further djed pillar is located on the exterior of the trough (fig. 6). It is flanked by texts (the sides of the trough) ensuring that the deceased will receive nourishment in the afterlife.

Fig. 6: Exterior of the trough

The footboard of the coffin contains a depiction of the Apis Bull carrying the mummified deceased on its back. A winged sun disk is located above (fig. 7). Such scenes are standard on coffins of the First Millennium BC.

Fig. 7: Footboard of the coffin

Nephthys is represented kneeling in an act of mourning on the head end. Beneath her is a solar disk and scarab rising between the symbols of the East and West (fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Head end of the coffin

The style of the coffin indicates that it was produced in the late Twenty-fifth or early Twenty-sixth Dynasty (c. 700–660 BC). It can be pinpointed further by looking at the number of divisions on Nut’s wings. On the coffin lid she is depicted with her wings divided into three sections (fig. 9). As her wings were generally shown with four divisions after 660 BC, this indicates a date just before this change.

Fig. 9: Detail of Nut

The coffin has an interesting history with multiple occupants. At an unknown date, perhaps the Ptolemaic Period (c. 305–30 BC), the coffin was usurped for a man called Djedher, a Stolist at Akhmim, who was the son of Harsiese (also a Stolist at Akhmim) and Ibii. The usurpations are evident on the exterior of the lid only. The white patches indicate where the name of Ankhpakhered was covered over in order for the new owner’s name to be added (fig. 10). The titles of Djedher might suggest that the coffin was transferred from Thebes to Akhmim for reuse, although this is by no means certain.

Fig. 10: Detail showing the change of name

When the coffin arrived in Swansea in 1997, it contained bits of cartonnage in a very poor state of preservation (fig. 11). These were also conservated by students at Cardiff with two of the three pieces now on display within the House of Death Gallery (fig. 12–14). Stylistically, the cartonnage dates to the Ptolemaic Period, so perhaps they belonged to Djedher? If only things were so straightforward! As mentioned previously, the archives in Aberystwyth mention a mummy. This appears to have been kept in the coffin until 1963 when it was sent to St. Thomas’ Hospital in London in order to be examined. Despite the coffin belonging to two men, the body belonged to that of a woman! Could the cartonnage thus have belonged to her? The mummy was later given by Dr Dick Kittermaster, a pathologist at St. Thomas’ Hospital, to Uplands Academy (formerly Uplands Community College) in Wadhurst. While here, the body was re-examined by Professor Rosalie David of the KNH Centre in Manchester. A video relating to the body can be viewed below. What is unclear is whether the coffin and the mummy were donated to Aberystwyth at the same time.

Fig. 11: Photo of the cartonnage in the coffin c. 1998

Fig. 12: Cartonnage head covering

Fig. 13: Cartonnage chest covering

Fig. 14: Cartonnage leg covering

During its time in Cardiff, over fifty students spent more than 1,000 hours cleaning, conserving, and analysing the coffin. All of this took place under the watchful eye of Phil Parkes (Reader in Conservation), who guided the students every step of the way. Several dissertations have been written on the coffin, including an analysis of the pigments (Jenny Gosling) and the varnish layer (Deborah Magnoler).

Video on the mummy

This is not the end of the story though. Since the coffin returned to the Egypt Centre, it has been photographed and 3D scanned. While it is now in storage, future plans are for the coffin to go on display in the House of Death gallery at the Egypt Centre. Additionally, a full publication on the assemblage (coffin, cartonnage, and human remains) is planned, bringing together research on the history, construction, decoration, conservation, scientific analysis, palaeography, and other disciplines.

3D scan of the complete coffin (exterior decoration only): https://skfb.ly/p6QG8

3D scan of the lid: https://skfb.ly/p6OL8

3D scan of the trough: https://skfb.ly/p6P9y

We would like to thank the following present and former students who worked on the coffin over the past twenty-sixth years:

Jenny Gosling, Stefanie White, Deborah Magnoler, Gemma McBader, Susie Sandford, Sophie Alcock, Jerrod Seifert, Olivia Silverstein, Eloise Lovejoy, Anna Dembicka, Chloe Pearce, Aliza Taft, Stephanie Whitehead, Dean Smith, Emily Franks, Joanne Hoppe, Sarah Dunn, Angela Leersnyder, Sean Billups, Rachel Coderre, Deirdre Ellis, Celia Godfrey, Naomi Hadfield, Leah Hammon, David Jacobs, Rosie Jones, Wanlei Liang, Jess MacLean, Maria Meerson, Jessie Morgan, Tia Ryder, Domonkos Szabo, Liz Trump, Nancy Wender, Hannah Willett, Zoe Bell, Kwan Yu Chow, Kimberley Dowding, Alexandra Meek, Katie Morton, Aron O’Shea, Carmen Cooper, and Gabrielle Wright.

Thank you!

Saved from the Murky Depths: The Temples at New Sebua

The blog post for this week has been written by Linda Anderson. Linda is a retired research biochemist and science teacher. She first became interested in Ancient Egypt in 1992 following a trip from Cyprus to Cairo. After a further visit to Egypt in 1998, her sister Merlys became a volunteer at Swansea’s newly opened Egypt Centre, which further fuelled their romance with all things ancient Egyptian and subsequently several more excursions to Egypt as a family. One of the trips involved a week on Lake Nasser visiting the various rescued temples. This trip was so good that Merlys and Linda went back for another look in 2009. Linda now holds a Certificate in Egyptology and is a regular attendee of courses and lectures hosted by the Egypt Centre.

The construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s resulted in the formation of Lake Nasser, which would have submerged many of the temples near the banks of (or on islands in) the course of the Nile. Fortunately, many of the threatened temples were dismantled and relocated to higher elevations thanks to a coordinated international effort by UNESCO. Not all were lucky, however, as there were many Egyptian temples built in this area of Nubia and sadly many disappeared under the waters of the lake, lost forever.

Whilst most of the Nubian temples are of traditional Egyptian design, some incorporate the more exotic features of the region and honour deities not usually seen in other areas of Egypt. In this blog, we will travel 85 miles south of the Aswan Dam to the site of New Sebua to visit three temples relocated there. These are the temples of Wadi es-Sebua (fig. 1), the Temple of Dakka, and the Temple of Maharraqa. Three temples from three different eras, not originally together, but now within walking distance from each other in this lonely area of the Sahara Desert.

Fig. 1: Wadi es-Sebua

The Temple of Wadi es-Sebua

Wadi es-Sebua was built in the reign of the Nineteenth Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II and dedicated to Amun-Re, Re Horakhty, and the deified Ramesses. The temple was originally situated 4km further east. The pylons and courts are (or were) free-standing whilst the twelve-pillared hypostyle hall and sanctuary are a form of speos and are cut into the surrounding rock (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Plan of Wadi es-Sebua

The temple originally had three pylons, (only the third remains), plus three courts in addition to a rock-cut hypostyle hall and inner sanctuary, which has four side chapels. The trip to Wadi es-Sebua can only be done by boat. On approaching the temple from the boat, we first encounter an avenue of leonine sphinxes. Hence the name given by the locals, Wadi es-Sebua - The Valley of the Lions. These consist of human-headed sphinxes of the pharaoh and formed the first court (fig. 3). The second court features four falcon-headed sphinxes representing four different forms of Horus; namely Horus of Maha, Miam, Baki, and Edfu.

Fig. 3: Sphinx of Ramesses II

Onto the third and surviving pylon, which was originally fronted by four colossi of the pharaoh. Only one remains in situ, which features the pharaoh with his daughter Bint-Anath. One other lies a short distance away alone in the desert (fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Fallen statue of Ramesses II

The surviving pylon is decorated in the conventional way with Ramesses smiting his enemies and making offerings to the gods. Passing through the pylon we reach an open colonnaded court with ten Osirid pillars of the pharoah decorated with various processions of princes and princesses and further offering scenes.

Ascending a ramp, we enter the rock-cut part of the temple (fig. 5). This was used as a Christian church at one point and had, until it was restored, a double doorway with arches. The twelve pillars of the hypostyle hall were adorned with even more statues of the pharoah but were chiselled off by the Christians. However, in some respects they did us a favour, as by plastering over the decoration, the offering scenes remain and have retained their colour both here and in a vestibule with two side chapels. The vestibule then gives access to the richly decorated inner sanctuary flanked by a further two chapels.

Fig. 5: The entrance to the temple

It seems the nearer you get to the sanctuary we lose the smiting scenes and family processions and gain more worshipping and offerings to the gods scenes (fig. 6). In addition, we see depictions of the sacred barques of Amun-Re and Re-Horakhty (fig. 7).

Fig. 6: Ramesses offering to the gods

Fig. 7: The sacred barque

 

In the inner sanctuary is the traditional central niche where the statues of the gods reside. These were hacked away and replaced with an image of Saint Peter wearing a halo and holding the key to Heaven. A bizarre sight indeed as here the pharaoh seems to be offering flowers to the saint (fig. 8)!

Fig. 8: Ramesses offering to St. Peter

 

This photo doesn’t do it justice, but a colour reproduction painting exists, which was actually once used as an image for a stamp issued by the Vatican (fig. 9)!

Fig. 9: Vatican stamp (https://www.stampcommunity.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=79712&whichpage=3)

 

The Temple of Dakka

Only a short walk (or camel ride) from the above temple, on a small hill, can be found an unlikely neighbour, the Ptolemaic temple of Dakka (fig. 10). Originally situated 40km further south at the ancient city of Pselkis, it was built in the third century BC by the Kushite king Arkamani or Eurgamenes. Dedicated to Thoth of Pnubs (an unidentified Nubian city translated as ‘Sycamore tree’), it was decorated by the Ptolemies but enlarged in Roman times by the addition of a 12m pylon separated from the rest of the buildings. Its innermost sanctuary was also refurbished in the age of the emperor Augustus.

Fig. 10: Dakka Temple

 

Throughout the temple the Ptolemies are depicted worshipping many of the Egyptian gods. Interestingly, when the temple was moved several reused blocks were found from an earlier temple dedicated to Horus of Baki (Quban) by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.

Fig. 11: Offering to the gods

 

The Temple of Maharraqa

 

At a lower elevation to the temple of Dakka stands the small temple of Maharraqa (fig. 12), usually visited on the way back to pick up the tender to return to your boat. It was originally located 50km further north near the Graeco-Roman city of Hierasykaminos, ‘the place of the sacred sycamore tree’. The temple was built in the time of Augustus and dedicated to Serapis, (a mixture of the gods Osiris, Apis, Isis, and the Greek god Zeus). However, it was never finished. It contains a spiral staircase, the only example attested in ancient Egypt. Sadly, the temple is almost completely devoid of wall decoration. Importantly the temple was located at the extreme southern frontier of Roman Egypt. It was converted into a Christian church in the sixth century CE.

Fig. 12: Maharraqa Temples

Although not originally located together, these three temples are well worth a visit on your way to Abu Simbel, (go by boat, not plane!) and represent a combined span of over 1200 years of ancient Egyptian temple design and decoration. Additionally, from an aesthetic point of view, they form a lovely setting against the backdrop of the lonely Sahara Desert (fig. 13).

Fig. 13: Camel ride at Wadi es-Sebua

Bibliography

Oakes, L. (2014) Pyramids, temples and tombs of ancient Egypt. London: Hermes House, Anness Publishing Ltd.

Shafer, Byron E. (ed.) 1997. Temples of ancient Egypt. Ithaca NY; London: Cornell University Press; I.B. Tauris.

Siliotti, Alberto 2000. Abu Simbel and the Nubian temples. Egypt Pocket Guide. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. 

Wilkinson, Richard H. 2000. The complete temples of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.