DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4644#0016
HADJAR SILSILIS, OR THE ROCK OF THE CHAIN.
The Nile uere flows through a channel narrowed by the approach of the bases of the Arabian and
Libyan ranges of mountains, between which, at some very distant period, the river forced its way.
The name of Hadjar Silsilis is Arabic, and has been derived from a tradition that the navigation was
>nce guarded by a chain, which in this place was extended across the river: a highly improbable
tale. The mountains are of sandstone, and the proximity to the river of a material so fitted for
building and for ready conveyance, led to the vast excavations quarried on this spot, and of which
the ancient Egyptians so extensively availed themselves, that Hadjar Silsilis is one of the most
remarkable places for the traveller to visit on the Nile. The view is taken looking down the river;
and it will be seen that the rocks are much higher on the right, or eastern, than on the western
bank. It was on the eastern side, and near the commencement of the quarries, that the ancient town
of Silsilis stood; but of this no trace remains except the substructions of what was probably a temple:
on this side the elevation of the rocks is from sixty to one hundred feet above the river, and they
are excavated to a much greater extent than on the western side, on which a strange form of rock
appears. Mr. Roberts supposes that among the fantastic cuttings this was left; but he did not visit
it. The lofty cliffs are composed of a rock of fine and continuous texture, admirably fitted for the
purpose to which it has been so largely applied. The quarries extend two or three miles along the
river, and in many places roads have been carried into the heart of the mountain, and here we find
the quarries which furnished the vast blocks for most of the great works of the Theba'id. Some of
the excavations are six hundred feet long, three hundred feet wide, and from seventy to eighty feet
high; but they nowhere appear to have been worked below the level of the Nile. Quarries upon
so enormous a scale would attest the architectural grandeur of ancient Egypt, even if the ruins of
the structures raised in Thebes and other cities, by the materials furnished from Hadjar Silsilis, no
longer existed.
Though on the eastern side the quarries are the most extensive, they are less interesting to the
antiquary than the ancient works, which may be traced on the western bank. I i^ ires and hieroglyphics
are inscribed on the rocks, and the bright colours with which they have been painted are in many
places distinct and fresh. Here many curious grottoes and tablets of hieroglyphics have been executed
in the early time of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty ; one of these grottoes consists of a long
corridor, supported by four pillars, cut in the face of the rock, on which, as well as on the interior
wall, are sculptured several tablets of hieroglyphics, bearing the names of different kings: it was
commenced by the successor of Amunoph III., the ninth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, who
here commemorated his defeat of the Ethiopians, by sculptured designs. Other excavations and
tablets, hieroglyphics and sculptures, illustrate the reigns of others of the early Pharaohs, and of
Remeses II. and his successors, to the nineteenth dynasty.
The durability of the sandstone of these quarries is shewn, not only in the fine and sharp work
executed on the columns, walls, and entablatures of the temples, and where, when uninjured by man,
the forms left by the sculptor are still preserved, but in the quarries where the stones were hewn,
the splinters lie about as fresh in appearance, says Dr. Richardson, " as if the labourer had left his
work only the evening before and might be expef ed to return and resume it, but that evening was
two thousand years ago."
Wilkinson's Egypt and Thebes. Colonel Howard Vyse. Wathen's Egypt. Dr. Richardson's Travels.
The Nile uere flows through a channel narrowed by the approach of the bases of the Arabian and
Libyan ranges of mountains, between which, at some very distant period, the river forced its way.
The name of Hadjar Silsilis is Arabic, and has been derived from a tradition that the navigation was
>nce guarded by a chain, which in this place was extended across the river: a highly improbable
tale. The mountains are of sandstone, and the proximity to the river of a material so fitted for
building and for ready conveyance, led to the vast excavations quarried on this spot, and of which
the ancient Egyptians so extensively availed themselves, that Hadjar Silsilis is one of the most
remarkable places for the traveller to visit on the Nile. The view is taken looking down the river;
and it will be seen that the rocks are much higher on the right, or eastern, than on the western
bank. It was on the eastern side, and near the commencement of the quarries, that the ancient town
of Silsilis stood; but of this no trace remains except the substructions of what was probably a temple:
on this side the elevation of the rocks is from sixty to one hundred feet above the river, and they
are excavated to a much greater extent than on the western side, on which a strange form of rock
appears. Mr. Roberts supposes that among the fantastic cuttings this was left; but he did not visit
it. The lofty cliffs are composed of a rock of fine and continuous texture, admirably fitted for the
purpose to which it has been so largely applied. The quarries extend two or three miles along the
river, and in many places roads have been carried into the heart of the mountain, and here we find
the quarries which furnished the vast blocks for most of the great works of the Theba'id. Some of
the excavations are six hundred feet long, three hundred feet wide, and from seventy to eighty feet
high; but they nowhere appear to have been worked below the level of the Nile. Quarries upon
so enormous a scale would attest the architectural grandeur of ancient Egypt, even if the ruins of
the structures raised in Thebes and other cities, by the materials furnished from Hadjar Silsilis, no
longer existed.
Though on the eastern side the quarries are the most extensive, they are less interesting to the
antiquary than the ancient works, which may be traced on the western bank. I i^ ires and hieroglyphics
are inscribed on the rocks, and the bright colours with which they have been painted are in many
places distinct and fresh. Here many curious grottoes and tablets of hieroglyphics have been executed
in the early time of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty ; one of these grottoes consists of a long
corridor, supported by four pillars, cut in the face of the rock, on which, as well as on the interior
wall, are sculptured several tablets of hieroglyphics, bearing the names of different kings: it was
commenced by the successor of Amunoph III., the ninth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, who
here commemorated his defeat of the Ethiopians, by sculptured designs. Other excavations and
tablets, hieroglyphics and sculptures, illustrate the reigns of others of the early Pharaohs, and of
Remeses II. and his successors, to the nineteenth dynasty.
The durability of the sandstone of these quarries is shewn, not only in the fine and sharp work
executed on the columns, walls, and entablatures of the temples, and where, when uninjured by man,
the forms left by the sculptor are still preserved, but in the quarries where the stones were hewn,
the splinters lie about as fresh in appearance, says Dr. Richardson, " as if the labourer had left his
work only the evening before and might be expef ed to return and resume it, but that evening was
two thousand years ago."
Wilkinson's Egypt and Thebes. Colonel Howard Vyse. Wathen's Egypt. Dr. Richardson's Travels.