DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27910#0019
THE WADEE EL-M(JKATTAB, SINAI.
HIS view represents a characteristic portion of the Wadee el-Mukattab. To the left is
seen the entrance of one of the natural caves in which the district abounds, the supposed
dwellings of the ancient Horim. The sharp forms of the rock, the deep shade within, and the
gradations of the lighter surface, with its strange Sinaitic inscriptions, are beautifully rendered.
Before the rock a group of thorny desert-shrubs grows from the sand, here almost free from
the masses of stone that generally strew the surface of the desert of Sinai. In the distance
is the fine mountain barrier that walls in the valley.
We shall here continue the sketch of the history of the Peninsula of Sinai, commenced in a previous
description, as the view does not offer matter for detailed comment.
From the time of the Idumsean supremacy the history of the peninsula is that of the sons of Edom,
who, though their capital Petra, and their richest valleys, lay on and beyond its eastern boundary, appear
to have dominated over the scanty population of the rest of the country. The Egyptians at the time that
their empire came to an end, seem to have lost, or given up, their mining establishments in the Sinaitic
peninsula. Henceforward the most important traffic passed, not by way of the Gulf of Suez, but by that
of El-’Akabeh, through the great Idumaean valley, until the time of the Greek kings of Egypt.
Diodorus Siculus speaks of an altar covered with old characters, in a grove of palm-trees, in the
peninsula, and is supposed thus to indicate a place of worship in the Wadee Feyrdn. He seems to have
taken this information from Agatharchides, who was well acquainted with the geography of the Red Sea,
and is a far more trustworthy writer. Bunsen supposes that the inscribed altar may have borne Sinaitic
inscriptions, but this is of course a very doubtful conjecture, so long as we cannot take back the date of any
of the inscriptions which have been read before the Christian era.
The next occurrence of interest is the visit of the Empress Helena, and the choice of the site of the
convent. It is not certain that any of the present buildings are of her time, the oldest part of the church
of which we know the date being of the reign of Justinian, under whom it is probable that the monastery
took its present form. From the time at which the first ascetics came to the seclusion of Sinai until the
decay of the Empire, they were exposed to no dangers from the wild desert tribes; but not long after the
a«-e of Constantine, as the Roman dominions gradually fell to pieces, all such assailable positions required
protection As late as the reign of Justinian it is probable that nothing but fortified monasteries remained
in the deserts, unlike the scattered settlements of the first anchorites.
HIS view represents a characteristic portion of the Wadee el-Mukattab. To the left is
seen the entrance of one of the natural caves in which the district abounds, the supposed
dwellings of the ancient Horim. The sharp forms of the rock, the deep shade within, and the
gradations of the lighter surface, with its strange Sinaitic inscriptions, are beautifully rendered.
Before the rock a group of thorny desert-shrubs grows from the sand, here almost free from
the masses of stone that generally strew the surface of the desert of Sinai. In the distance
is the fine mountain barrier that walls in the valley.
We shall here continue the sketch of the history of the Peninsula of Sinai, commenced in a previous
description, as the view does not offer matter for detailed comment.
From the time of the Idumsean supremacy the history of the peninsula is that of the sons of Edom,
who, though their capital Petra, and their richest valleys, lay on and beyond its eastern boundary, appear
to have dominated over the scanty population of the rest of the country. The Egyptians at the time that
their empire came to an end, seem to have lost, or given up, their mining establishments in the Sinaitic
peninsula. Henceforward the most important traffic passed, not by way of the Gulf of Suez, but by that
of El-’Akabeh, through the great Idumaean valley, until the time of the Greek kings of Egypt.
Diodorus Siculus speaks of an altar covered with old characters, in a grove of palm-trees, in the
peninsula, and is supposed thus to indicate a place of worship in the Wadee Feyrdn. He seems to have
taken this information from Agatharchides, who was well acquainted with the geography of the Red Sea,
and is a far more trustworthy writer. Bunsen supposes that the inscribed altar may have borne Sinaitic
inscriptions, but this is of course a very doubtful conjecture, so long as we cannot take back the date of any
of the inscriptions which have been read before the Christian era.
The next occurrence of interest is the visit of the Empress Helena, and the choice of the site of the
convent. It is not certain that any of the present buildings are of her time, the oldest part of the church
of which we know the date being of the reign of Justinian, under whom it is probable that the monastery
took its present form. From the time at which the first ascetics came to the seclusion of Sinai until the
decay of the Empire, they were exposed to no dangers from the wild desert tribes; but not long after the
a«-e of Constantine, as the Roman dominions gradually fell to pieces, all such assailable positions required
protection As late as the reign of Justinian it is probable that nothing but fortified monasteries remained
in the deserts, unlike the scattered settlements of the first anchorites.