Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

The Oasis of Siwah

387

solar disk and uraeus on his head. In his right hand he holds
a sceptre, in his left the symbol of life, which he extends to a man
kneeling before him. The deity is ' Amen-Ra, the lord of the
councillors1, the great god, who dwells in the Oasis.' His suppliant,
Un-Amon, has an ostrich-feather upright on his brow, therein
resembling the Timihu or Libyans as depicted in Egyptian art2.
Behind Amen-Ra stands his wife Mut, the ' Mother '-goddess,
wearing the united crowns of the South and the North. Behind
Un-Amon are seen several other deities including the human-
headed Amen-Ra of Thebes (Zeus Thebaietis)* and his consort
Mut. The next tier of reliefs shows a god with the head of a
sparrow-hawk, Shu (Herakles)4 representing the dry atmosphere
and his wife the lion-headed Tefnut representing the moisture of
the sky, Set (Typhon), the earth-god Seb with his wife the sky-
goddess Nut, and another goddess whose name is lost. The lowest
tier figures Horos with the head of a sparrow-hawk, Uatchit and
Nekhebet, and the ram-headed Khnemu of Elephantine. Steindorff
notes that Un-Amon appears to have built this temple in the reign
of Nehtharheb (Nektanebes), a king of the thirtieth dynasty, who
reigned 378—361 B.C., and points out that it was therefore standing
in all its glory at the time of Alexander's visit.

The chief temple of Ammon was however that situated on the
Akropolis of the Ammonians, now known as Agernii*. This lime-
stone hill has on its summit an open piazza surrounded by houses,
in one of which lives the sheikh, the richest man of the whole Oasis.
H. von Minutoli caught a glimpse of the temple wall, which
crowns the precipitous northern side of the hill, but was prevented
from entering the place and did not discover its true character.
J. Hamilton made his way into the building, and was the first to
report that it is an Egyptian temple with pronaos and nads com-
plete. He also found near by an ancient well some 50 ft deep. A
more detailed account of this temple was given by G. Rohlfs,
who recognised in it the great temple of Ammon. He had many
obstacles to overcome. Grime, smoke and darkness combined to
make investigation difficult. And, worse still, the temple had
been largely filled in and blocked by the houses of a crowded
modern population. Nevertheless this indefatigable explorer con-
trived to make out the main outlines of the ancient structure. Its

1 This title marks Amen-Ra. as a giver of oracles.

2 C. R. Lepsius Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien Berlin 1846—1856 vi pi. 136,
G. Maspero The Struggle of the Nations London 1896 pp. 220 fig. (cp. id. p. 430), 767 fig.

3 Supra p. 347 f. 4 Supra p. 348.

5 This identification was first made by the French consul-general Drovetty in 1820.

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