DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0429
394 THE LAND OF THE MONUMENTS
Christians selected the temples of their ancestors for
their dwellings, possibly thinking that they were
desecrating the temples and showing their contempt
for the gods of Egypt, treacling them under foot,
" casting filth upon them and making them vile."
This, whether their intention or not, has been the
actual result, for their rude structures surrounded and
covered the temples. Having taken possession of a
temple and erected their houses upon it, they adapted
portions of the sacred edifice to the new form of
religious worship. They commenced by concealing
the paintings and sculptures with which the walls
were covered with a coat of mud, the surface of
which they prepared to receive fresco paintings repre-
senting saints and legends of the Christian faith. By
this method they most unintentionally preserved
from injury interesting chronicles of past ages. The
Great Temple of Medenet-Abou is an example of
this. Crosses cut upon columns and Christian
emblems evidence the purpose to which it was
devoted. When the Arabs invaded Egypt, 635 A.D.,
the Christians of Western Thebes fled to the south
and left their monasteries, towns, and villages to fall
to ruin. These temples were filled with the debris
of mud bricks which Mariette removed. M. dc
Morgan, the present director of the Museum of
Antiquities, has expressed his intention of completing
the work, and thus securing a perfect knowledge of
the inscriptions with which the walls abound. This
is important, for there are no buildings in the land
which possess records of greater interest or value.
Both of the temples face to the east of south, and
Professor Eockyer * believes that they were both
* " Dawn of Astronomy," pp. 163-120.
Christians selected the temples of their ancestors for
their dwellings, possibly thinking that they were
desecrating the temples and showing their contempt
for the gods of Egypt, treacling them under foot,
" casting filth upon them and making them vile."
This, whether their intention or not, has been the
actual result, for their rude structures surrounded and
covered the temples. Having taken possession of a
temple and erected their houses upon it, they adapted
portions of the sacred edifice to the new form of
religious worship. They commenced by concealing
the paintings and sculptures with which the walls
were covered with a coat of mud, the surface of
which they prepared to receive fresco paintings repre-
senting saints and legends of the Christian faith. By
this method they most unintentionally preserved
from injury interesting chronicles of past ages. The
Great Temple of Medenet-Abou is an example of
this. Crosses cut upon columns and Christian
emblems evidence the purpose to which it was
devoted. When the Arabs invaded Egypt, 635 A.D.,
the Christians of Western Thebes fled to the south
and left their monasteries, towns, and villages to fall
to ruin. These temples were filled with the debris
of mud bricks which Mariette removed. M. dc
Morgan, the present director of the Museum of
Antiquities, has expressed his intention of completing
the work, and thus securing a perfect knowledge of
the inscriptions with which the walls abound. This
is important, for there are no buildings in the land
which possess records of greater interest or value.
Both of the temples face to the east of south, and
Professor Eockyer * believes that they were both
* " Dawn of Astronomy," pp. 163-120.