DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4142#0008
VESTIBULE AND ALTAR COURT.
The Vestibule.
The Vestibule is approached by a door 3 feet
8 inches wide by 9 feet high in the north-eastern
corner of the Inner Court, and itself gives access
through an opening in its western wall to the Altar
Court. It is a small hypostyle hall, such as often pre-
cedes sanctuaries or funerary chapels, and measures
31 feet 6 inches long by 14 feet wide. Formerly
a stone ceiling, painted blue with yellow stars, rested
on the sixteen-sided columns, of which only truncated
remains survive. These are set at irregular intervals,
two to the north, one to the south of the entrance to
the Altar Court; they are 31 inches in diameter just
above their low circular bases, and taper slightly.
There is no doubt that their height and character
were the same as those of the pillars of the Northern
Colonnade and of the Hathor Shrine, and that each
of them supported a low square abacus, flush with the
shaft and without any intervening echinus.1 A single
band of hieroglyphs, expressing a dedication to Amon,
appears on the west side of each.
North of the west doorway is a large slab 8 feet
6 inches long, 3 feet wide, and 12 inches thick, which
we raised in 1894, in order to assure ourselves that
it did not cover a pit, and that point settled, replaced
it where it now lies. Originally it may have supported
a statue or small naos.
The pavement is well preserved, but the walls were
found by us in a ruinous condition. Of the eastern
wall, only the three lowest courses remain, except in
the southern angle, where there is one block with fine
hieroglyphs, and at the northern end where five
blocks with brightly-coloured signs and symbols
are still in situ. The wall when complete bore
sculptures everywhere above the dado; and in the
middle there was certainly a niche similar to that in
the northern wall and to the niches in the Altar
Court; but only a few sculptured fragments were
found lying on the pavement below. The northern
wall was ruined hardly less grievously. One course
of a sculptured scene survives at the western end,
showing the legs of a king, who is evidently making
offerings to a god. To the east of this is a niche, of
1 The dotted lines on the longitudinal section looking south (pi. i.)
show a column of the height of those in the Northern Colonnade with
an architrave upon it, proving that the ceiling of the Vestibule was
on the same level as that of the north-western Hall of Offerings and
coincided with the bottom of the cornice in the Altar Court.
which all the upper part was reconstructed by Mr.
J. B. Newberry in 1894 from the original stones
discovered in the hollow between the wall and the
rock.
The western wall, pierced by a doorway leading to
the Altar Court, is destroyed down to a single course,
except at its northern end, where a fragment with fine
colouring remains. The southern wall to the west of
the doorway leading to the Inner Court has been
largely built by the Copts ; but abutting on the inner
jamb, four courses of original sculpture remain,
showing the figure of a king up to his shoulders.
He stands before Amon Khem, of whom only the legs
are to be seen. No cartouche has survived.
The walls of the Vestibule are not vertical; they
have a latter, and slope outwards as they rise. On
the western wall, where it is most marked, it is as
much as 1 in 12 (see pi. ii.).
The door into the Inner Court is surrounded on the
side of the Vestibule by a double band of hieroglyphs,
in which appear the cartouches of Thothmes I. and II.,
but not those of the Queen. Right and left inside the
jambs, sculptures were probably contemplated, but
only the western inner jamb has been carved (see
pi. ii.). This door seems to have been the Coptic limit
in the northerly direction, for no Coptic graffiti, and
no other traces of the Copts appear in the Vestibule
itself or in the Altar Court. It is probable that the
Vestibule had been wholly filled up before Coptic
times by a fall from the cliff, and that the doorway,
backed by a solid bank of debris, served the monks as
a niche. It is covered with pious graffiti, Coptic
devices, starlike objects with thirteen rays, heads of
Christ (see pi. ii.), crosses, and on the eastern jamb
a Coptic inscription in eight lines, describing the
cardinal virtues of the Christian.
The Altae Couet.
The Altar Court is approached from the east by a
doorway 3 feet 9 inches wide, pierced in the western
wall of the Vestibule. It is 47 feet long, 31 feet 7
inches wide, and was open to the sky, the sloping walls
being finished (as we see in the case of the west wall,
which is well preserved) by an overhanging cornice.
The pavement is everywhere in good condition.
The eastern wall, which shuts off the Vestibule,
has been described already. Like all the other walls
of this court, it was not sculptured or ornamented in
I
The Vestibule.
The Vestibule is approached by a door 3 feet
8 inches wide by 9 feet high in the north-eastern
corner of the Inner Court, and itself gives access
through an opening in its western wall to the Altar
Court. It is a small hypostyle hall, such as often pre-
cedes sanctuaries or funerary chapels, and measures
31 feet 6 inches long by 14 feet wide. Formerly
a stone ceiling, painted blue with yellow stars, rested
on the sixteen-sided columns, of which only truncated
remains survive. These are set at irregular intervals,
two to the north, one to the south of the entrance to
the Altar Court; they are 31 inches in diameter just
above their low circular bases, and taper slightly.
There is no doubt that their height and character
were the same as those of the pillars of the Northern
Colonnade and of the Hathor Shrine, and that each
of them supported a low square abacus, flush with the
shaft and without any intervening echinus.1 A single
band of hieroglyphs, expressing a dedication to Amon,
appears on the west side of each.
North of the west doorway is a large slab 8 feet
6 inches long, 3 feet wide, and 12 inches thick, which
we raised in 1894, in order to assure ourselves that
it did not cover a pit, and that point settled, replaced
it where it now lies. Originally it may have supported
a statue or small naos.
The pavement is well preserved, but the walls were
found by us in a ruinous condition. Of the eastern
wall, only the three lowest courses remain, except in
the southern angle, where there is one block with fine
hieroglyphs, and at the northern end where five
blocks with brightly-coloured signs and symbols
are still in situ. The wall when complete bore
sculptures everywhere above the dado; and in the
middle there was certainly a niche similar to that in
the northern wall and to the niches in the Altar
Court; but only a few sculptured fragments were
found lying on the pavement below. The northern
wall was ruined hardly less grievously. One course
of a sculptured scene survives at the western end,
showing the legs of a king, who is evidently making
offerings to a god. To the east of this is a niche, of
1 The dotted lines on the longitudinal section looking south (pi. i.)
show a column of the height of those in the Northern Colonnade with
an architrave upon it, proving that the ceiling of the Vestibule was
on the same level as that of the north-western Hall of Offerings and
coincided with the bottom of the cornice in the Altar Court.
which all the upper part was reconstructed by Mr.
J. B. Newberry in 1894 from the original stones
discovered in the hollow between the wall and the
rock.
The western wall, pierced by a doorway leading to
the Altar Court, is destroyed down to a single course,
except at its northern end, where a fragment with fine
colouring remains. The southern wall to the west of
the doorway leading to the Inner Court has been
largely built by the Copts ; but abutting on the inner
jamb, four courses of original sculpture remain,
showing the figure of a king up to his shoulders.
He stands before Amon Khem, of whom only the legs
are to be seen. No cartouche has survived.
The walls of the Vestibule are not vertical; they
have a latter, and slope outwards as they rise. On
the western wall, where it is most marked, it is as
much as 1 in 12 (see pi. ii.).
The door into the Inner Court is surrounded on the
side of the Vestibule by a double band of hieroglyphs,
in which appear the cartouches of Thothmes I. and II.,
but not those of the Queen. Right and left inside the
jambs, sculptures were probably contemplated, but
only the western inner jamb has been carved (see
pi. ii.). This door seems to have been the Coptic limit
in the northerly direction, for no Coptic graffiti, and
no other traces of the Copts appear in the Vestibule
itself or in the Altar Court. It is probable that the
Vestibule had been wholly filled up before Coptic
times by a fall from the cliff, and that the doorway,
backed by a solid bank of debris, served the monks as
a niche. It is covered with pious graffiti, Coptic
devices, starlike objects with thirteen rays, heads of
Christ (see pi. ii.), crosses, and on the eastern jamb
a Coptic inscription in eight lines, describing the
cardinal virtues of the Christian.
The Altae Couet.
The Altar Court is approached from the east by a
doorway 3 feet 9 inches wide, pierced in the western
wall of the Vestibule. It is 47 feet long, 31 feet 7
inches wide, and was open to the sky, the sloping walls
being finished (as we see in the case of the west wall,
which is well preserved) by an overhanging cornice.
The pavement is everywhere in good condition.
The eastern wall, which shuts off the Vestibule,
has been described already. Like all the other walls
of this court, it was not sculptured or ornamented in
I