The Egyptian Expedition

Author(s): H. E. W.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 11 (Nov., 1909), pp. 199-203
Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3253047
Accessed: 08-10-2017 18:07 UTC

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 11

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FIG. I. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

SECOND AND THIRD GATEWAYS

THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION used in Roman times as places for the

publication of official decrees by governors
O WING to the fact thatofathecom-
Oasis. Two such decrees inscribed
plete rearrangement of onthe
the second gateway still remain in an
excellent
Egyptian collection in the Mu- state of preservation. Both are
seum is to be carried out the in Greek, the one promulgated by the
present winter and that some of the mem- Strategos Posidinus in 22 A.D., during the
bers of the Egyptian expedition are to reign
be of Tiberius; and the other, the longer,
by the Strategos Julius Demetrius in 69
engaged in that work, the field-work of the
A.D., under the Emperor Galba.
expedition will be confined during the pres-
ent season to its concessions at the Oasis The temple itself was inside the inclos-
of Kharga and will center chiefly in the ure. After passing through the third gate-
clearing of one of its most important mon-way, the great sandstone portal, the way
uments, the Temple of Hibis. led through still a fourth built by Darius
The town of Hibis, a part of which has as the entrance to an earlier and smaller
been cleared by the expedition during the temenos, and thence through a portico to
last two years, was the residence of the the eastern door of the temple (fig. 2).
governor and the most important place The in portico was built by the first king
the great Oasis. Its principal temple was of the Thirtieth Dynasty, Nekht-hor-heb
built shortly after the conquest of Egypt (B.c. 378-361) at the time he "filled anew
by the Persians and was dedicated to the treasure house of the temple." It is
"Amon of Hibis," a god whose cult was an extremely interesting example of the
widespread in the oases. late Egyptian architecture immediately
The temple stood near the edge of the preceding the Ptolemaic period, when the
town on a low hill, in ancient times as- elaborate flower capitals, which play so im-
cended from the east by an avenue. Com- portant a r6le at Edfu, Esneh, and Philke
ing up this approach one passed through were in the earlier stages of their develop-
two small gateways and between two rows ment.
of sphinxes to the great sandstone portal The main structure was built entirely in
that served as the principal entrance-- the reign of the Persian King Darius I
(B.C. 521-486). Darius II (B.c. 424-405)
through the brick inclosure wall-into the
temenos (fig. i). These three outer gate- seems to have renovated it, added to the
ways appear to have been built about the decorations and erected the wooden doors,
close of the Ptolemaic period, and being but with the exception of a few repairs
easily accessible to the people they were made necessary by the settling of the foun-

199

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FIG. 2. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

GATEWAY OF DARIUS AND FACADE OF THE TEMPLE

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FIG. 4. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

RELIEFS ON WALL OF THE OFFERING-HALL

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 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

dations in Greek and Roman times, no On the exterior of the temple the reliefs
further additions were made to it. It is
were confined chiefly to the western end
where
built entirely of fine-grained sandstone, is the King was shown making offer-
ings and performing ceremonies before the
rectangular in plan, 44-5 meters (146 feet)
gods (fig. 6).
in length from east to west, and 19 meters
The entire temple is in an unusually
(62 feet) in width from north to south, and
good state of preservation. Because of
its walls rose about 8.5 meters (28 feet)
above the ancient pavement level. the dryness of the climate in the oasis the
colors on the walls inside the structure
The main entrance in the eastern facade
have
led into a large hypostyle hall, the roof of been preserved intact in many places
which was supported on twelve columns and the whole site has suffered but slightly
with palm and campaniform capitals. Thiseither from the iconoclasm of early Chris-
tians or the vandalism of Arabs. With the
hall never having been finished, the walls
exception of the roofs of the three col-
remained undecorated except at its western
end where a row of four columns, rising umned-halls and of a few of the smaller
out of a screen wall about 4 meters high,
chambers, the main structure is standing
separated the hypostyle hall from thealmost
of- complete, buried inside to a depth
fering hall (fig. 3). These columns, of from two to five meters with wind-
and
blown sand. The first purpose of the ex-
the single row of columns in the offering
hall, had campaniform capitals with an
pedition during the coming season will be
unusual ornamentation of palmettes and to remove these drifts and clear the temple
buds, the screen wall and the offering to pavement level. Then the copying and
hall
photographing of the inscriptions and
being decorated with religious inscriptions
reliefs will be undertaken and plans and
and colored reliefs showing the King mak-
ing offerings to the principal gods ofdrawings
the of the architectural details made.
Egyptian pantheon (fig. 4). Two of the The portico, the gateways and the ave-
texts are long hymns in praise of the nuegod are also buried to a depth of two or
Amon, one being of unusual interest three
be- meters in sand and earth, the more
cause of its half mythological and halfeasterly structures being at present situ-
philosophical character. ated in a grove of date palms. It is hoped
also that a beginning can be made of the
From the offering hall a doorway in the
clearing
axis of the temple led into the pronaos, a of this part of the site and that
small hypostyle hall with four columns.the foundations can be found of the brick
Through doorways on the north and southinclosure walls and of the outlying build-
sides one entered five small store chambers,
ings connected with the temple, traces of
a crypt and a stair which ascended to which
the can be seen here and there on the
floor above them. On the west side in the surface. H. E. W.
center was the door of the sanctuary, a
long narrow chamber in the axis of the
building. The bas-relief decorations of its THE OLD MARKET WOMAN
walls gave an epitome of late Egyptian
mythology, showing, as they did, practical-
ly all of the gods worshiped during the
period in all the different forms which they
THE Museum hasfromrecently
chased, with income the
Rogers Fund, an extraordinary
pur-
assumed (fig. 5). To the right of the specimen of original Greek
sanctuary was a chamber with walls in-sculpture, which is now on exhibition in
the Room of Recent Accessions, and is illus-
scribed with religious texts, and to the left
a doorway leading to a second crypt andtrated
a in the accompanying plate. This
stairway by which one reached the two is a marble statue, somewhat less than life
rooms dedicated to the Osiris mysteries.
size, of an old peasant woman who is offer-
The decorations here were inscriptions and
ing the products of her little farm for sale.
Those who are familiar with only the
scenes relating to the myths of Abydos and
Koptos. nobler creations of Greek sculpture will
201

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 ~~.i

Ar.

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161

FIG. 3. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE LOOKING TOWARD THE SANCTUARY

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 i-i~

i ~ '
! ; ' '

i1 ', : ." .- .

FIG. 5. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

RELIEFS ON WALL OF THE SANCTUARY

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s

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FIG. 6. TEMPLE OF HIBIS

RELIEFS ON EXTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE

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