DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9059#0310
288 THE MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT.
occasions we read of generals, princes, and even
kings returning from an expedition into Soudan
who have left on the rock by the wayside a last-
ing record of their passage. It is easy to realize
what valuable data may occasionally be supplied
by these memorials, which bear more upon his-
tory than on religion. Schayl, a small island
in the cataract, not always easily accessible, is,
so to speak, covered with such records, some
of which have yielded a clue to historical facts
now universally accepted.
The history of Philaj is soon told. Its most
ancient monuments precede only by a few years
the time of Alexander, as no name occurs here
of an earlier date than that of Nectanebo II.
This monarch it was who raised the little temple
situated at the extreme south of the island, and
of which only a dozen columns now remain; he
also it was who erected the large portal placed
between the piers of the first pylon. We will
not weary the reader with the enumeration of
all the Ptolemies and Caesars who subsequently
erected numerous edifices over the island.
Numbers of Greek laudatory inscriptions, es-
pecially on the first pylon, have been left by
pilgrims visiting the shrine; and from two of
occasions we read of generals, princes, and even
kings returning from an expedition into Soudan
who have left on the rock by the wayside a last-
ing record of their passage. It is easy to realize
what valuable data may occasionally be supplied
by these memorials, which bear more upon his-
tory than on religion. Schayl, a small island
in the cataract, not always easily accessible, is,
so to speak, covered with such records, some
of which have yielded a clue to historical facts
now universally accepted.
The history of Philaj is soon told. Its most
ancient monuments precede only by a few years
the time of Alexander, as no name occurs here
of an earlier date than that of Nectanebo II.
This monarch it was who raised the little temple
situated at the extreme south of the island, and
of which only a dozen columns now remain; he
also it was who erected the large portal placed
between the piers of the first pylon. We will
not weary the reader with the enumeration of
all the Ptolemies and Caesars who subsequently
erected numerous edifices over the island.
Numbers of Greek laudatory inscriptions, es-
pecially on the first pylon, have been left by
pilgrims visiting the shrine; and from two of