Theban Empire, its ambition was more easily satisfied. So, too, the first rock-cut temples were of very modest dimensions, They date from the eighteenth dynasty. Two of them are to be found in the neighbourhood of Ipsamboul but on the other side of the river, one near the castle of Addeh, the other at Feraïg. The latter was cut by the king Harmhabi (or Armaïs). It is composed—as also is that of Addeh—of a hall supported by four columns, two lateral chambers, and a sanctuary. There is an equally small speos in Egypt which dates from the same period; it is the grotto at Beni-Hassan, which, ever since antique times, has been known as the Speos Artemidos. The goddess Sekhet, to which it was consecrated, had been identified with the Greek Artemis. It was begun by Thothmes III., carried on by Seti I., and seems never to have been finished. The temple proper is prefaced by a kind
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Fig. 234.—The speos at Addeh; plan from Horeau.
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Fig. 235.—The speos at Addeh. Longitudinal section; from Horeau.
of portico of square pillars cut, with the roof which they support, from the limestone rock. A narrow passage about nine feet deep leads to the naos, which is a quadrangular chamber about thirteen feet square, with a niche in the further wall in which an image of the lion-headed goddess probably stood.[1] The most important of the rock-cut chapels of Silsilis was also inaugurated by Harmhabi and restored and embellished by Rameses II.[2] The hemispeos at Redesieh, in the same district, is a work of Seti I.[3]
Only one subterranean temple later than the nineteenth dynasty
- ↑ Description de l'Égypte, Antiquites, vol. iv. pl. 65, Fig. 1. The French draughtsmen thought this building was a disused quarry, and give nothing but a picturesque view of the façade.
- ↑ Lepsius, Denkmæler, part i. pl. 102; Rosellini (vol. iii. pl. 32, Fig. 3) gives a view of the interior of the Silsilis chapel.
- ↑ Lepsius, Denkmæler, part i. pl. 101.
