DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0351
DISCOVERIES AT ABOU S1MDEL. 333
tion ; but for hieroglyphic characters or cartouches, by
which to date the building, we looked in vain.*
Dakkeh comes next in order; then Gerf Hossayn, Den-
door and Kalebsheh. Arriving at Dakkeh soon after sun-
rise we find the whole population—screaming, pushing,
chattering, laden with eggs, pigeons and gourds for sale—
drawn up to receive us. There is a large sand island in the
way here, so we moor about a mile above the temple.
We first saw the twin pylons of Dakkeh some weeks ago
from the deck of the Philffl and we then likened them to
the majestic towers of Edfu. Approaching them now by
land, we are surprised to find them so small. It is a brill-
iant, hot morning; and our way lies by the river, between
the lontil-slope and the castor-berry patches. There are
flocks of pigeons flying low overhead; barking dogs and
crowing cocks in the village close by; and all over the path
hundreds of beetles—real live scarabs, black as coal and
busy sis ants—rolling their clay pellets up from the water's
edge to the desert. If we were to examine a score or so of
these pellets we should here and there find one that con-
tained no eggs ; for it is a curious fact that the scarab-
beetle makes and rolls her pellets, whether she has an egg
to deposit or not. The female beetle, though assisted by
the male, is said to do the heavier share of the pellet-
rolling; and if evening comes on before her pellet is safely
Stowed away, she will sleep, holding it with her feet all
Night, and resume her labor in the morning.f
col>.Y has since been identified with an ex-voto of a Roman soldier
Published in Boeckh's "Corpus Inscr. Qrtec," of which the follow-
1Mf,r is a translation:
"The vow of Verecundus the soldier, and his most pious parents,
a»d (Jains his little brother, and the rest of his brethren."
* A clew, however, might possibly be found to the date. There is
•i rudely sculptured tableau—the only piece of sculpture in the place
' on a detached wall near the standing columns. It represents Isis
worshiped by a youth in a short toga. Both figures are lumpish
j'ud ill-modeled; and Isis, seated under a conventional fig-tree, wears
her hair erected in stiff rolls over her forehead, like a diadem. It
is the face and stiffly dressed hair of Marciana, the sister of Trajan,
as shown upon the well-known coin engraved in Smith's " Die. of
Greek and Roman Biography," vol. ii, p. 939. Maharrakeh is the
j'iera Sycaminos, or place of the sacred fig-tree, where ends the
Itinerary of Antoninus.
i Sec 'I'll,: ScarabcBus Sacer, by C. Woodrooffe, B. A.—a paper
leased on notes by the late Rev. C. Johns) read before the Winchester
tion ; but for hieroglyphic characters or cartouches, by
which to date the building, we looked in vain.*
Dakkeh comes next in order; then Gerf Hossayn, Den-
door and Kalebsheh. Arriving at Dakkeh soon after sun-
rise we find the whole population—screaming, pushing,
chattering, laden with eggs, pigeons and gourds for sale—
drawn up to receive us. There is a large sand island in the
way here, so we moor about a mile above the temple.
We first saw the twin pylons of Dakkeh some weeks ago
from the deck of the Philffl and we then likened them to
the majestic towers of Edfu. Approaching them now by
land, we are surprised to find them so small. It is a brill-
iant, hot morning; and our way lies by the river, between
the lontil-slope and the castor-berry patches. There are
flocks of pigeons flying low overhead; barking dogs and
crowing cocks in the village close by; and all over the path
hundreds of beetles—real live scarabs, black as coal and
busy sis ants—rolling their clay pellets up from the water's
edge to the desert. If we were to examine a score or so of
these pellets we should here and there find one that con-
tained no eggs ; for it is a curious fact that the scarab-
beetle makes and rolls her pellets, whether she has an egg
to deposit or not. The female beetle, though assisted by
the male, is said to do the heavier share of the pellet-
rolling; and if evening comes on before her pellet is safely
Stowed away, she will sleep, holding it with her feet all
Night, and resume her labor in the morning.f
col>.Y has since been identified with an ex-voto of a Roman soldier
Published in Boeckh's "Corpus Inscr. Qrtec," of which the follow-
1Mf,r is a translation:
"The vow of Verecundus the soldier, and his most pious parents,
a»d (Jains his little brother, and the rest of his brethren."
* A clew, however, might possibly be found to the date. There is
•i rudely sculptured tableau—the only piece of sculpture in the place
' on a detached wall near the standing columns. It represents Isis
worshiped by a youth in a short toga. Both figures are lumpish
j'ud ill-modeled; and Isis, seated under a conventional fig-tree, wears
her hair erected in stiff rolls over her forehead, like a diadem. It
is the face and stiffly dressed hair of Marciana, the sister of Trajan,
as shown upon the well-known coin engraved in Smith's " Die. of
Greek and Roman Biography," vol. ii, p. 939. Maharrakeh is the
j'iera Sycaminos, or place of the sacred fig-tree, where ends the
Itinerary of Antoninus.
i Sec 'I'll,: ScarabcBus Sacer, by C. Woodrooffe, B. A.—a paper
leased on notes by the late Rev. C. Johns) read before the Winchester