DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0072
CHAP. I.—POSITION AND HISTOJRY.
delta (owing to Uati being its goddess), and had
otherwise been placed at Pelusium. Now it is
safely fixed by the monuments, both in and out
of the temple, to the region of Nebesheh, and
most probably to the mounds themselves.
5. Founded in the twelfth dynasty, or earlier,
the temple of Am underwent, like Tanis, a
complete rearrangement by Ramessu II. How
far he redecorated the temple, or founded a new
building, we cannot learn until Ave extract the
foundation deposits of the great temple ; but it is
certain that he practically appropriated the place,
as he did Tanis, and re-established the worship
of Uati, dedicating a beautiful statue of that
goddess in highly polished black syenite. He
also dedicated a pair of colossi of himself, in the
same material, beside covering the walls with
his inscriptions, and erecting clustered columns
like those of Gurneh. In fact, the temple of
Gurneh may very likely enable us to realize that
of Nebesheh as to general appearance. Private
persons apparently also offered monuments, as a
large crouching figure was found here in this
temple. Merenptah continued to favour the
place, as a unique monument of a free-standing
column was placed by him at some distance in
front of the pylon, by the side of the roadway.
Setnekht and Ramessu III. placed their names
on a sphinx here, but throughout the decadence
of the empire the place appears to have been
neglected. The tombs of this time are poor, and
no monuments of Siamen, or the Bubastites,
have been found. The flourishing time of the
Renascence at last brought favour to Am, though
strange to say it did nothing for Tanis. It
rather seems as if two cities were too much to
support in this district in later times. Tanis
rose again under the Bubastites, while Am was
effaced; then Am was re-established under the
Saites, while Tanis was neglected; again Tanis
flourished under the Ptolemies and Romans,
while Am sunk to be a mere village, and the
temple was finally ruined.
Though no monuments of the earlier part of
the twenty-sixth dynasty have been found in
the temple, yet this place arose by the time
of Aahmes to be of considerable importance.
Apparently some Cypriote mercenaries were
stationed here in the military reorganization of
Psamtik I., when he established the Greek garrison
at the fortress of Tell Defenneh, seventeen miles
to the east. Tombs with Cypriote pottery and
spears have been found here, and in one case
earlier than a tomb which is of the twenty-sixth
dynasty, and therefore early in that dynasty.
Aahmes undertook the rebuilding of the temple,
but apparently considering the old site in the
middle of the temenos as too large to refill, and
perhaps too much encumbered with rubbish, he
adopted a new site at right angles to the old one,
and at the north-east corner of it (see pi. xvii.).
Here he erected a new temple to Uati, of large
blocks of limestone, with a pavement two courses
in thickness. Bringing from the old temple the
beautiful statue dedicated by Ramessu II., he
placed it in a great monolithic shrine of red
granite, which weighed nearly sixty tons. The
remains of the Ramesside temple were doubtless
largely used up for this new temple, as they were
for the pylon which Aahmes constructed in the
entrance to the temenos. The other statues
which adorned the early temple were removed
and placed in the later temple, though not all ol
them.
At the same time the tombs here rose in
splendour; in place of small chambers of crude
brick, with rudely formed pottery coffins, we find
fine limestone chambers, and sarcophagi of the best
class sculptured in basalt, and even encased in
outer cases of limestone. The place, however,
seems to have suffered severely at the Persian
invasion; and it is most likely that the great
destruction of the statues and shrine happened at
that time, since we find that the temple was
desecrated in the Ptolemaic times, and small
workshops and houses established in the temenos,
even just in front of the temple of Aahmes. The
delta (owing to Uati being its goddess), and had
otherwise been placed at Pelusium. Now it is
safely fixed by the monuments, both in and out
of the temple, to the region of Nebesheh, and
most probably to the mounds themselves.
5. Founded in the twelfth dynasty, or earlier,
the temple of Am underwent, like Tanis, a
complete rearrangement by Ramessu II. How
far he redecorated the temple, or founded a new
building, we cannot learn until Ave extract the
foundation deposits of the great temple ; but it is
certain that he practically appropriated the place,
as he did Tanis, and re-established the worship
of Uati, dedicating a beautiful statue of that
goddess in highly polished black syenite. He
also dedicated a pair of colossi of himself, in the
same material, beside covering the walls with
his inscriptions, and erecting clustered columns
like those of Gurneh. In fact, the temple of
Gurneh may very likely enable us to realize that
of Nebesheh as to general appearance. Private
persons apparently also offered monuments, as a
large crouching figure was found here in this
temple. Merenptah continued to favour the
place, as a unique monument of a free-standing
column was placed by him at some distance in
front of the pylon, by the side of the roadway.
Setnekht and Ramessu III. placed their names
on a sphinx here, but throughout the decadence
of the empire the place appears to have been
neglected. The tombs of this time are poor, and
no monuments of Siamen, or the Bubastites,
have been found. The flourishing time of the
Renascence at last brought favour to Am, though
strange to say it did nothing for Tanis. It
rather seems as if two cities were too much to
support in this district in later times. Tanis
rose again under the Bubastites, while Am was
effaced; then Am was re-established under the
Saites, while Tanis was neglected; again Tanis
flourished under the Ptolemies and Romans,
while Am sunk to be a mere village, and the
temple was finally ruined.
Though no monuments of the earlier part of
the twenty-sixth dynasty have been found in
the temple, yet this place arose by the time
of Aahmes to be of considerable importance.
Apparently some Cypriote mercenaries were
stationed here in the military reorganization of
Psamtik I., when he established the Greek garrison
at the fortress of Tell Defenneh, seventeen miles
to the east. Tombs with Cypriote pottery and
spears have been found here, and in one case
earlier than a tomb which is of the twenty-sixth
dynasty, and therefore early in that dynasty.
Aahmes undertook the rebuilding of the temple,
but apparently considering the old site in the
middle of the temenos as too large to refill, and
perhaps too much encumbered with rubbish, he
adopted a new site at right angles to the old one,
and at the north-east corner of it (see pi. xvii.).
Here he erected a new temple to Uati, of large
blocks of limestone, with a pavement two courses
in thickness. Bringing from the old temple the
beautiful statue dedicated by Ramessu II., he
placed it in a great monolithic shrine of red
granite, which weighed nearly sixty tons. The
remains of the Ramesside temple were doubtless
largely used up for this new temple, as they were
for the pylon which Aahmes constructed in the
entrance to the temenos. The other statues
which adorned the early temple were removed
and placed in the later temple, though not all ol
them.
At the same time the tombs here rose in
splendour; in place of small chambers of crude
brick, with rudely formed pottery coffins, we find
fine limestone chambers, and sarcophagi of the best
class sculptured in basalt, and even encased in
outer cases of limestone. The place, however,
seems to have suffered severely at the Persian
invasion; and it is most likely that the great
destruction of the statues and shrine happened at
that time, since we find that the temple was
desecrated in the Ptolemaic times, and small
workshops and houses established in the temenos,
even just in front of the temple of Aahmes. The