Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

476 PARTS OF THE TEMPLE. [Chap.VII.

whereas from Contra Syene to Pselcis, according to
the same work, is 72 m.p.; but Pliny only allows
54 m. p. for the whole distance.*

The ruins consist of a temple, founded apparently
either by Ashar Amun, an Ethiopian monarch, or
by Ptolemy Philometor, whose name, with that of
his queen Cleopatra, was once traced in the inscrip-
tion over the central pylon. It was dedicated to Isis,
who, as well as Osiris and her son Horus, were prin-
cipally worshipped there; Amun being one of the
chief contemplar deities. Augustus f and Tiberius
added most of the sculptures, but they were left
unfinished, as was usually the case in the temples
of Nubia. The main building commences with a
portico or area, having four columns in front, con-
nected by intercolumnar screens; a central and two
lateral chambers, with a staircase leading to the
upper rooms; and to these succeed another central
apartment immediately before the adytum, and two
side chambers. On one side of the portico a wing
has been added at a later period; and in front of
the temple are three pylons in succession, but not
equidistant from each other; the whole enclosed by
a wall of circuit, of which the front pylon forms the
entrance.

The adytum is unsculptured, but two monoliths

* " A% Syene Hierasycaminon 54 m.p."—lib. vi. 29.

t In one instance his name is followed by the expression, god
Philometor, though in the other ovals is " beloved of Pthah and
Isis."