miaim
INTRODUCTION.
1. The temple of Sety I at Abydos was cleared in
most parts by Mariette in 1863. He published a
large part of the inscriptions, but did not concern
himself so much with the archaeological or archi-
tectural peculiarities. Some portions of the temple
that were uninscribed, and therefore from his point of
view uninteresting, he left almost untouched. Sub-
sequent digging has only revealed one inscription (in
the chamber of the Barques) that he did not notice,
although he knew of the existence of the stone bench
round which the inscription was cut. These chapters
are intended to supplement Mariette's work by giving,
more or less accurately, the architectural details, and
the results of excavations outside the temple, which
disclosed the temenos wall, or boundary of the sacred
enclosure.
2. The temple is irregular in shape. Mariette
says that this is due to the rock formation which had
to be cut into to lay the foundations, and that to
avoid excessive labour, the builders altered the
original plans. The nearest rock is at least a mile
and a half away, and the foundations of the temple
simply follow the outline of the desert surface. No
excavating for foundations was attempted.
Sety I wanted a temple with a priests' dwelling-
house and store-rooms attached to it. The temple
required large halls and a high roof; the priests only
required rooms big enough to live in, and the con-
ventional theory of sacred building required the
sanctuary to be on a higher level than the entrance.
Here then was a place fitted by nature to fulfil
these three conditions. The natural slope of the
desert surface beneath one horizontal roof was fit for
(1) a temple whose floor was to rise from front to
back ; for (2) high courts and halls for an entrance
and approach to the sanctuary; and (3) a convenient
hill on which smaller halls for sacristies and offices
could be built, adjoining the main temple and still
under the same roof, without having to make an
unsightly break in the line of the roof.
Instead of the temple being altered to suit the
position, I should say that the position was specially
selected to suit the necessities of the design, and
particularly the purpose for which the temple was
built.
3. To the westward of the temple is the desert
pylon in the temenos wall. A mile and a half
further to the westward are the royal tombs of the
1st dynasty. At first sight the whole temple and
enclosure seem hopelessly unsymmetrical; none of
the walls are parallel, none of the angles are right
angles. The desert pylon is not in the middle of the
temenos wall, and there seems to be no correspon-
dence between the pylon and the temple. Now the
temple itself is practically hidden by the mounds of
rubbish thrown out from it by Mariette's excavations;
so that the surveying of the general plan meant
establishing sighting points on the top of these
rubbish mounds, and setting out the relative position
of walls and temple by a somewhat complicated
system of cross-bearings. For instance, the desert
pylon is invisible except from the highest point of the
temple roof; and from the N.W. corner of the
temenos the only part of the temple that is visible is
part of the roof about 10 metres back from the N.W.
corner of the outer court; so while I was drawing the
plans I failed to see any symmetry at all in the
arrangement. However, when Plan No. 1 was
finished I showed it to Mr. Petrie, remarking sadly
on the painful lack of symmetry. Mr. Petrie looked
at it for a bit; suddenly he seized a piece of string,
stretched it across my drawing, and behold the string
passed through the desert pylon, the centre door of
chapels, the centre door of the main court, the main
east door and the courtyard pylon gate. Thus the
axis of the main temple produced to the W. passed
B
INTRODUCTION.
1. The temple of Sety I at Abydos was cleared in
most parts by Mariette in 1863. He published a
large part of the inscriptions, but did not concern
himself so much with the archaeological or archi-
tectural peculiarities. Some portions of the temple
that were uninscribed, and therefore from his point of
view uninteresting, he left almost untouched. Sub-
sequent digging has only revealed one inscription (in
the chamber of the Barques) that he did not notice,
although he knew of the existence of the stone bench
round which the inscription was cut. These chapters
are intended to supplement Mariette's work by giving,
more or less accurately, the architectural details, and
the results of excavations outside the temple, which
disclosed the temenos wall, or boundary of the sacred
enclosure.
2. The temple is irregular in shape. Mariette
says that this is due to the rock formation which had
to be cut into to lay the foundations, and that to
avoid excessive labour, the builders altered the
original plans. The nearest rock is at least a mile
and a half away, and the foundations of the temple
simply follow the outline of the desert surface. No
excavating for foundations was attempted.
Sety I wanted a temple with a priests' dwelling-
house and store-rooms attached to it. The temple
required large halls and a high roof; the priests only
required rooms big enough to live in, and the con-
ventional theory of sacred building required the
sanctuary to be on a higher level than the entrance.
Here then was a place fitted by nature to fulfil
these three conditions. The natural slope of the
desert surface beneath one horizontal roof was fit for
(1) a temple whose floor was to rise from front to
back ; for (2) high courts and halls for an entrance
and approach to the sanctuary; and (3) a convenient
hill on which smaller halls for sacristies and offices
could be built, adjoining the main temple and still
under the same roof, without having to make an
unsightly break in the line of the roof.
Instead of the temple being altered to suit the
position, I should say that the position was specially
selected to suit the necessities of the design, and
particularly the purpose for which the temple was
built.
3. To the westward of the temple is the desert
pylon in the temenos wall. A mile and a half
further to the westward are the royal tombs of the
1st dynasty. At first sight the whole temple and
enclosure seem hopelessly unsymmetrical; none of
the walls are parallel, none of the angles are right
angles. The desert pylon is not in the middle of the
temenos wall, and there seems to be no correspon-
dence between the pylon and the temple. Now the
temple itself is practically hidden by the mounds of
rubbish thrown out from it by Mariette's excavations;
so that the surveying of the general plan meant
establishing sighting points on the top of these
rubbish mounds, and setting out the relative position
of walls and temple by a somewhat complicated
system of cross-bearings. For instance, the desert
pylon is invisible except from the highest point of the
temple roof; and from the N.W. corner of the
temenos the only part of the temple that is visible is
part of the roof about 10 metres back from the N.W.
corner of the outer court; so while I was drawing the
plans I failed to see any symmetry at all in the
arrangement. However, when Plan No. 1 was
finished I showed it to Mr. Petrie, remarking sadly
on the painful lack of symmetry. Mr. Petrie looked
at it for a bit; suddenly he seized a piece of string,
stretched it across my drawing, and behold the string
passed through the desert pylon, the centre door of
chapels, the centre door of the main court, the main
east door and the courtyard pylon gate. Thus the
axis of the main temple produced to the W. passed
B