DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3989#0051
PORTICO OF THE TEMPLE OF GERF HOSSAYN, NUBIA.
BOUT sixty-six miles above the First Cataract, at a considerable elevation above the plain,
upon a rude platform excavated from the limestone rock, stands the temple, the area and
portico of which I give in the present illustration. The commanding position of this ruin,
the bold and massive character of its sculptured columns, and above all, the aspect of
extreme antiquity which its design and time-worn condition impart—all render a visit to
Gerf Hossayn of great interest to the Nile traveller. It is a scene which takes hold of
the mind, and is not easily effaced. With the exception of the portico, it is entirely an excavated
temple, of the time of Ramescs the Great. At the upper end of the adytum are several sitting
Y figures in high relief. In the great hall there are also eight niches, containing similar figures. There
are several chambers with a variety of emblematic sculpture. The total depth of the excavation is about
130 feet. Sir G. Wilkinson says:—"The Osiride figures in the hall are very badly executed, ill according
with the sculpture of the second Rameses; nor are the statues of the sanctuary of a style worthy of that
era. The deity of the adjoining town (the ancient Tutzis) was Pthah—'the Creator, and Lord of Truth,'
to whom the dedications are inscribed."
Our party was observed by the Arabs of the village as we scrambled over the hot glaring rocks
towards the ruin, and presently, nolens-volens, we were escorted by a host of half-naked importunate "guides,"
carrying torches of dried palm-leaves. These, as we entered the temple, they prepared to light, but by the
time they were in full smoke, we had finished our hasty inspection of the interior. It was truly amusing
to see the blank astonishment of the Arabs—standing in the doorway with their torches—when, instead of
the minute examination of the interior sculptures, in which they had been accustomed to "assist" travellers,
we proceeded rapidly and silently to arrange and point the camera towards them from the outer area.
Silently and rapidly they too " went about their business."
I prepared my pictures by candle-light in one of the interior chambers of the temple. It was a most
unpleasant apartment—the hole in which I worked. The floor was covered to the depth of several inches
with an impalpable, ill - flavoured dust, which rose in clouds as we moved; from the roof were suspended
groups of fetid bats—the most offensively smelling creatures in existence; in some tombs the odour which
they emit is so powerful as to render the place " impossible." Add to all this, that the Arabs seem to have
been industriously smoking this wretched temple from time immemorial—even, in places, to the complete
effacement of the sculptures upon the walls—and you have a picture of the interior of Gerf Hossayn: but
without beside this quaint old portico, are the sun and sky of Nubia, and the groves of the palm-trees,
frmgin0, with long miles of green, the banks of the glorious old river.
BOUT sixty-six miles above the First Cataract, at a considerable elevation above the plain,
upon a rude platform excavated from the limestone rock, stands the temple, the area and
portico of which I give in the present illustration. The commanding position of this ruin,
the bold and massive character of its sculptured columns, and above all, the aspect of
extreme antiquity which its design and time-worn condition impart—all render a visit to
Gerf Hossayn of great interest to the Nile traveller. It is a scene which takes hold of
the mind, and is not easily effaced. With the exception of the portico, it is entirely an excavated
temple, of the time of Ramescs the Great. At the upper end of the adytum are several sitting
Y figures in high relief. In the great hall there are also eight niches, containing similar figures. There
are several chambers with a variety of emblematic sculpture. The total depth of the excavation is about
130 feet. Sir G. Wilkinson says:—"The Osiride figures in the hall are very badly executed, ill according
with the sculpture of the second Rameses; nor are the statues of the sanctuary of a style worthy of that
era. The deity of the adjoining town (the ancient Tutzis) was Pthah—'the Creator, and Lord of Truth,'
to whom the dedications are inscribed."
Our party was observed by the Arabs of the village as we scrambled over the hot glaring rocks
towards the ruin, and presently, nolens-volens, we were escorted by a host of half-naked importunate "guides,"
carrying torches of dried palm-leaves. These, as we entered the temple, they prepared to light, but by the
time they were in full smoke, we had finished our hasty inspection of the interior. It was truly amusing
to see the blank astonishment of the Arabs—standing in the doorway with their torches—when, instead of
the minute examination of the interior sculptures, in which they had been accustomed to "assist" travellers,
we proceeded rapidly and silently to arrange and point the camera towards them from the outer area.
Silently and rapidly they too " went about their business."
I prepared my pictures by candle-light in one of the interior chambers of the temple. It was a most
unpleasant apartment—the hole in which I worked. The floor was covered to the depth of several inches
with an impalpable, ill - flavoured dust, which rose in clouds as we moved; from the roof were suspended
groups of fetid bats—the most offensively smelling creatures in existence; in some tombs the odour which
they emit is so powerful as to render the place " impossible." Add to all this, that the Arabs seem to have
been industriously smoking this wretched temple from time immemorial—even, in places, to the complete
effacement of the sculptures upon the walls—and you have a picture of the interior of Gerf Hossayn: but
without beside this quaint old portico, are the sun and sky of Nubia, and the groves of the palm-trees,
frmgin0, with long miles of green, the banks of the glorious old river.