DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4656#0008
THE TEMPLE OF THE KINGS.
through the desert pylon. This was tested by
hanging plumb-bobs from the centres of the temple
doors, and sighting along them from the centre of the
pylon gate to a mark on the N. rubbish heap ; a hole
in the chapel wall enabled a thorough sight to be got
from the rubbish heap mark to the pylon mark and
the temple roof. These sights were carefully carried
on till the temple axis was marked out on the roof
itself, and the marks then pointed to a spot a little to
the right of the centre of the desert pylon ; and a
mile and a half to the westward the axis of the
temple produced passed over the offering mound just
to the south of the royal tombs of the 1st dynasty.
We found traces of a sunk causeway leading in this
direction, just outside the desert pylon, but failed to
find any traces of it further out in the desert ; so it
was possibly only an approach to the gateway.
4. Here then is another reason for building the
temple in such a position, namely, ancestor worship.
In one of the temple passages is a list of all the
kings, and out in the desert are the tombs of some of
them. As a mark of respect the temple was built so
that those who were celebrating commemorative
services in the sanctuary should face the tombs of the
early kings.
The idea of worshipping an invisible power in a
definite form or position is no new one. The Zoro-
astrian looked—as the Parsee looks—to the rising
sun, the Muhammedan turns his face to Mecca, the
western Christian faces the east or Jerusalem (I
refrain from solar myth discussions), and the XlXth
dynasty Egyptian king turned his face to his
ancestors' tombs as the most obvious revelation of
the One Unknown.
5. The only objection to this funerary chapel idea
is that there is no door or passage in the line of axis
leading through the main west wall. Neither is there
any sign of such intention. The only passage leading
out to the westward from the temple is the com-
paratively narrow one with the staircase leading from
the corridor of the kings, in which is the great royal
list. But there seems no reasonable doubt that the
temple was used for commemorative services of the
early kings.
6. As against the theory of the situation being
chosen to fit the temple, it may be said that the
width of the main temple nearly corresponds to the
probable width inside the projecting wall flanking
the desert pylon, which is marked with dotted lines ;
there was no trace of any wall to be found here, but
it seems the most rational reconstruction, considering
the shape of the outside standing walls, which are
marked solid black. This seems to indicate that the
main block of the temple was the original design, and
that the southern portions were a later addition ; but
there is no evidence that the southern part was built
at a later date, the walls are all properly bonded at
the joints, and the design is continuous.
It is in fact an annex to the main temple, as is
shown by the fact that the vestry or " place of
assembling of the sacred barques " is in this annex,
and that the passages and staircases are so arranged
that the priests could enter or leave their own living
rooms without going into the main temple. Also
processions could be arranged in the annex, marched
through the temple, and out and back to the annex
by another route.
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE.
7. I should like to have it thoroughly understood
that I am not an Egyptologist; I am merely a rolling
stone, who spent some months turning over sand and
dragging a surveyor's chain in the neighbourhood of
Abydos. I do not guarantee the accuracy of my
observations, or the accuracy of my drawings.
Firstly, as to the measurements themselves. The
walls of an Egyptian temple are not perpendicular,
they are not straight, they are not parallel, their
corners are not rectangular ; time, tourists, and natives
have damaged them considerably, walls have bulged,
foundations have sunk, surfaces have chipped. The
measurements given in these plans are as a rule the
floor measurements. In some cases fallen columns,
or roof beams block the floor, and a line can only be
taken, say, 6 feet higher than the floor ; and the wall
at that height may have bulged inward, or be so
much flaked, that it is impossible to say where the
original surface was. In measurements taken to or
from a corner, the corner is an imaginary spot, the
actual corner being a rounded, chipped, worn and
battered piece of stone. I may safely say that my
measurements are correct within a limit of 5 centi-
metres more or less than the given figures. The
measurements were mostly taken with a 20 metre
steel chain. In all cases where it was possible, con-
tinuous readings were taken along an axis from some
..all, whe
+ \. plane
rear
sendee
[ u followed-
:n desa
; reaer
. mam
,dS.wal
aobegin with
fsotbat its left-
top c°r;
I than 1
jrfokwill run
tpd get an
the ch
575 me
•the fir
iations
trimmed
is the w;
ight, th(
iuperstr
•.emple
and
larshy s
a&nce at Abyc
lie is only c
plate, near tr
■-wuld tend
j of the temp!
regularil
-Ineed har
1 plan
ithi:
%res (4
*;buu
'i,i!Ufact
]ect
w, that
one that
Miie
tmm
through the desert pylon. This was tested by
hanging plumb-bobs from the centres of the temple
doors, and sighting along them from the centre of the
pylon gate to a mark on the N. rubbish heap ; a hole
in the chapel wall enabled a thorough sight to be got
from the rubbish heap mark to the pylon mark and
the temple roof. These sights were carefully carried
on till the temple axis was marked out on the roof
itself, and the marks then pointed to a spot a little to
the right of the centre of the desert pylon ; and a
mile and a half to the westward the axis of the
temple produced passed over the offering mound just
to the south of the royal tombs of the 1st dynasty.
We found traces of a sunk causeway leading in this
direction, just outside the desert pylon, but failed to
find any traces of it further out in the desert ; so it
was possibly only an approach to the gateway.
4. Here then is another reason for building the
temple in such a position, namely, ancestor worship.
In one of the temple passages is a list of all the
kings, and out in the desert are the tombs of some of
them. As a mark of respect the temple was built so
that those who were celebrating commemorative
services in the sanctuary should face the tombs of the
early kings.
The idea of worshipping an invisible power in a
definite form or position is no new one. The Zoro-
astrian looked—as the Parsee looks—to the rising
sun, the Muhammedan turns his face to Mecca, the
western Christian faces the east or Jerusalem (I
refrain from solar myth discussions), and the XlXth
dynasty Egyptian king turned his face to his
ancestors' tombs as the most obvious revelation of
the One Unknown.
5. The only objection to this funerary chapel idea
is that there is no door or passage in the line of axis
leading through the main west wall. Neither is there
any sign of such intention. The only passage leading
out to the westward from the temple is the com-
paratively narrow one with the staircase leading from
the corridor of the kings, in which is the great royal
list. But there seems no reasonable doubt that the
temple was used for commemorative services of the
early kings.
6. As against the theory of the situation being
chosen to fit the temple, it may be said that the
width of the main temple nearly corresponds to the
probable width inside the projecting wall flanking
the desert pylon, which is marked with dotted lines ;
there was no trace of any wall to be found here, but
it seems the most rational reconstruction, considering
the shape of the outside standing walls, which are
marked solid black. This seems to indicate that the
main block of the temple was the original design, and
that the southern portions were a later addition ; but
there is no evidence that the southern part was built
at a later date, the walls are all properly bonded at
the joints, and the design is continuous.
It is in fact an annex to the main temple, as is
shown by the fact that the vestry or " place of
assembling of the sacred barques " is in this annex,
and that the passages and staircases are so arranged
that the priests could enter or leave their own living
rooms without going into the main temple. Also
processions could be arranged in the annex, marched
through the temple, and out and back to the annex
by another route.
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE.
7. I should like to have it thoroughly understood
that I am not an Egyptologist; I am merely a rolling
stone, who spent some months turning over sand and
dragging a surveyor's chain in the neighbourhood of
Abydos. I do not guarantee the accuracy of my
observations, or the accuracy of my drawings.
Firstly, as to the measurements themselves. The
walls of an Egyptian temple are not perpendicular,
they are not straight, they are not parallel, their
corners are not rectangular ; time, tourists, and natives
have damaged them considerably, walls have bulged,
foundations have sunk, surfaces have chipped. The
measurements given in these plans are as a rule the
floor measurements. In some cases fallen columns,
or roof beams block the floor, and a line can only be
taken, say, 6 feet higher than the floor ; and the wall
at that height may have bulged inward, or be so
much flaked, that it is impossible to say where the
original surface was. In measurements taken to or
from a corner, the corner is an imaginary spot, the
actual corner being a rounded, chipped, worn and
battered piece of stone. I may safely say that my
measurements are correct within a limit of 5 centi-
metres more or less than the given figures. The
measurements were mostly taken with a 20 metre
steel chain. In all cases where it was possible, con-
tinuous readings were taken along an axis from some
..all, whe
+ \. plane
rear
sendee
[ u followed-
:n desa
; reaer
. mam
,dS.wal
aobegin with
fsotbat its left-
top c°r;
I than 1
jrfokwill run
tpd get an
the ch
575 me
•the fir
iations
trimmed
is the w;
ight, th(
iuperstr
•.emple
and
larshy s
a&nce at Abyc
lie is only c
plate, near tr
■-wuld tend
j of the temp!
regularil
-Ineed har
1 plan
ithi:
%res (4
*;buu
'i,i!Ufact
]ect
w, that
one that
Miie
tmm