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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte. Vivant Denon | | | | |
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Hermontis—Tree of Miracles. (p.192)
I
could finally get off my horse: there was still a moment of daylight; I
took advantage of this to quickly take a look at it [the Temple of
Hermontis]. The figure of Typhon or Anubis is so often repeated in the
interior of this temple that one can believe that this monument was
dedicated to him; he is represented standing with a pig's belly topped
with breasts similar to those of Egyptian women today; I made a drawing
of it. To the east, a hundred toises from the temple is a fairly large
reservoir, covered in beautiful stone, into which one descends by four
staircases.
Pkate 29-1: View and plan of the Temple of Hermontis. (Denon, 1802, v1, pl.29).
"This
plate contains the plan and two views of the temple of Hermontis, now
Ermente; the first, No. 1, is a side view, taken of an ancient basin,
which receives water from the Nile at the time of the flood, and still
retains it despite the state of destruction to which it has arrived;
four stairs descend into this pool; it was undoubtedly in the middle
that the nilometer of which Aristides the sophist speaks was located;
nothing remains of the column where it is said that the degrees of the
flood were marked; above this basin is an exposed and very well
preserved staircase, the steps of which are very low, and cut from an
enormous block of sandstone; this staircase went up to a platform of
which we can still see on each side some tearing of the covering.
Apparently, this platform served as a terrace for the temple behind it;
the sanctuary is completely preserved; what was added to it, and which
was never finished, suffered more destruction: what is on the left,
near the isolated column, is a modern tomb."
"No.
2,—The plan of everything that makes up view No. 1: what is only marked
with one size is destroyed down to ground level; the part of the
portico has never been patched; the sculpture of the capitals was not
finished; and we only see the massif in which the relief of the
hieroglyphs which were to cover the panels of the entire building was
to be taken: the sanctuary, more anciently built, was completely
completed: it was divided into three parts; the first opens through a
side door onto a staircase which leads to the attic; the second room,
4, only receives daylight through the door, the sanctuary, 5, was
absolutely deprived of it, and now only receives light through a small,
very low side door; this dark room, however, is just as decorated as
everything else; No. 7 of the plan is the removal of a wall, which must
be what remains of that of the circumvallation; there is no doubt that
in the early days only sanctuaries were built, and that in later times
open porticos, circumvallations, and galleries were added, either to
make the ceremonies more august, either to house priests, or perhaps
kings." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Plate 29-3: Second view of the Temple of Hermontis (Denon, vol. 1, 1802).
Two
hundred toises further in the same direction are the ruins of a church,
built in the fourth or fifth century, from the most beautiful Egyptian
debris; superb granite columns decorate the nave: but everything is
overturned; all that remains standing is the corner of the choir and
the tearing of the walls of the enclosure: this destruction is by the
hands of men; the building was too well constructed not to have
withstood time.
The day ended, and I returned, my head dizzy
from the profusion of objects which had passed before my eyes in such a
short space of time; I thought I had been dreaming throughout this
abundant day; and in fact I (p.193) would have nourished myself
deliciously for a whole month on what I had to devour in twelve hours,
without me being able to promise myself that I would find a moment the
next day to think about it.
On the morning of the 28th, I saw a
tamarisk of enormous size, planted on the banks of the Nile; it had
been uprooted by the progressive floods, and finally overturned; the
greater part of its erect roots had produced leaves; the old branches
which had received it on the ground, and which had stuck there, served
as its feet; so that its enormous trunk, remaining suspended
horizontally due to a confusion in the traffic system, vegetated in all
directions, and gave it such a strange appearance that the Turks did
not fail to make it a miracle tree : I would have drawn it, if at that
moment I had not found myself a little behind the division, and if it
had not been necessary to scrupulously detail it in order to clearly
understand this plant phenomenon.
At our stop we found another
constriction of the Nile, of which I made a drawing. The Libyan chain,
suddenly turning to the east, presses the Nile against the Arabian
chain; pressed between these two obstacles, the river triumphed over
the one which offered it the least resistance; the current in its
increases undermined and degraded a bed of gravel that it found under
the plateau of the Libyan shore; the upper part, lacking a base,
tilted, and from its tear formed the two points of rock that we see in
the print, where I represented the stop we made there. This rock,
called Gibelin or the two Mountains, serves as the limit of a
subdivision of Upper Egypt, and, under the last government, had become
a barrier for the rebel beys who were relegated to upper Said, a
barrier that the exiles could not cross without being outside the law.
This
is how in recent years Osman-bey, after having been sent to Cosséir
accompanied by men who were secretly responsible for killing him, this
(p.194) instead of taking him to Mecca where he was supposed to being
exiled, warned his assassins, stole the richly loaded ship, fled to
Upper Egypt, gathered enough Mamluks to force Mourat to treat, and cede
to him the sovereignty of all the space between Gibelin and Syene.
After this constriction of the course of the Nile the valley widens
without the culture gaining anything; vast fields chapped by the stay
of waters have waited in vain for someone to lend them what they would
have returned at such high interest.
Chapter 38: Esné, the ancient Latopolis. (p.194)
On
the 29th, we arrived quite early in the morning at Esne, the last,
somewhat considerable city of Egypt; Mourat had been obliged to abandon
it the day before a few hours before the arrival of our cavalry, to
burn part of his tents there, and the large baggage which could have
slowed down his march. We therefore had to judge that he was determined
to leave Egypt and penetrate into Nubia, in the hope of tiring us out
and dispersing us; the country not offering the means of mass feeding
our army, he could hope to gather forces and come by. the desert attack
our detachments.
Plate 30-1: Temple near Latopolis.
"No.
1.—View of an isolated temple, one mile northwest of Esnê. This part of
the portico is the most preserved; some subsidences have however
brought changes to the level of the columns, and disturbed the
flowerbeds which formed the ceiling: the stones which one sees in
front, are the rubble of a courtyard which was in front of this
portico, and which is entirely destroyed, as well as the sanctuary
which was behind; the bas-reliefs, sculpted on the ceiling of the
portico, are astronomical paintings, the work of which is very
neglected." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Esne
is ancient Latopolis; we can still see on the banks of the Nile some
remains of its port or quay, which has often been restored, and which,
although some repairs have been made, is in a deplorable state. There
is also in the city the portico of a temple, which I believe to be the
most perfect monument of ancient architecture: it is located near the
bazaar, on the main square, and would make an incomparable ornament, if
the inhabitants could suspect its merit; instead, they masked it with
nasty (p.195) ruined hovels, and gave it up to the most abject uses:
the portico is very well preserved and of great richness of sculpture;
it is composed of eighteen columns with flared capitals; these columns
are slender, and appeared to me as elegant as they are noble, although
their effect can only be judged in a way that is most disadvantageous
to architecture; it would be necessary to clear it up, to know if any
part of the Cella remained: I made the best I could of the picturesque
view and a plan of this monument; the hieroglyphs in relief, with which
it is covered inside and out, are carefully executed; we notice a
zodiac, large figures of men with crocodile heads; the capitals,
although almost all different, have a beautiful effect, and what could
add to the proof that the Egyptians borrowed nothing from other nations
is that they took all the ornaments from which these capitals are
composed of the productions of their country, such as the lotus, the
palm, the vine, the rush, etc., etc.
Plate 31-1: Temple of Latopolis
"View
of the portico of the temple of Latopolis in Esne, taken as we found it
the first time we arrived in Esnê-, that is to say cluttered with
rubbish, and the most wicked constructions, which seemed to be there to
enhance the magnificence of this building, which I believe to be the
most perfect in proportion, and the purest in execution of all the
temples of Egypt, one of the most beautiful monuments of antiquity.
(See the Plan and the Geometric View, Plate XXXII.) To give the type of
Egyptian architecture it would be necessary to measure with the
greatest accuracy all the parts of this temple, their relationship; the
arrangement of the stones, and the details of the ornaments with which
they are all covered, the varieties of the capitals, the beauty of
their execution; all the scientific and mysterious paintings which line
the exterior and interior of this monument: every time that
circumstances brought me to Esnê, I occupied all the time that the army
stayed there, drawing some parts of these only remains of ancient
Latopolis. (See various Capitals, Plates XLIV: Nos, 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, and 12.)"
"This beautiful portico currently decorates the
main square of Esne: this embellishment, due to the care of General
Belliard, is perhaps the only monument that we will have left in Upper
Egypt; and it was carried out by clearing this fragment of the hovels
which covered and masked it, and by building shops on the right and
left which form a beautiful bazaar: I saw the inhabitants, charmed by
this project, contribute with pleasure to the expense of its
execution." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Plate 32: Portico of the Temple of Latopolis.
"No.
1 (top).—Geometric view of the portico of the temple of Latopolis, cleared of
everything that prevented it from being seen when we arrived at Esnê.
(See the description of this portico in the Explanation of Plate 31, No. 1.)"
No.
2 (bottom).—The plan of the beautiful portico of Latopolis, which undoubtedly
preceded a series of rooms which made up the temple: when I measured
it, it was not yet cleared, and I could not know if the portico
communicated with the rest by one or three doors, and what was the
width of their opening, which prevented me from marking anything on the
plan; the entire rear part is destroyed, as far as I was able to judge
in the state of burial in which this monument still stood when I left."
(Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
I
only left this temple when it was necessary to set out again: we left
half of our infantry and our artillery in Esne, to march more nimbly in
a country whose resources diminished with each league, and were
becoming almost worthless. ; we came to sleep three and a half leagues
from Esné. On the 30th, after three hours of walking, three-quarters of
a league from the river, on the edge of the desert, we found a small
pyramid [2] of fifty to sixty feet in base, built of rubble, too small to
have preserved their base; also the covering is degraded from top to
bottom.
Plate 31-2: Temple of Contra-Latopolis.
No. 2: View
of the ruin of a temple built opposite Latopolis, on the eastern bank
of the Nile; it is one of the crudest monuments of Egypt, it is the
only portico where I saw capitals with the head of Isis [1], as at
Tintyra, and flared capitals together.
(Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Chapter 39: Hieraconpolis. (p.196)
At
half past two hours, ahead of Edfu, we found the ruins of
Hieraconpolis [3], which consist of the remains of a gate of a considerable
building, judging by the size of the stones, the extent of the debris,
and the diameter of the crude capitals which are found scattered here
and there on the ground; the nature of the sandstone of which the
temple of Hieraconpolis was built is so friable that the building has
preserved no form, and the details are completely lost. A few toises
further on, we can barely distinguish another one that is even more
degraded: the remains of the city are nothing more than heaps of very
burnt bricks, and a few fragments of granite. I drew what I could of
these almost erased ruins; I pictured myself there with all my
entourage and in the dilapidation to which the fatigue of the road had
reduced me,
Fig.1: A (left): Map of sites described in text (red dots) (Denon
1802 vol.3, plate 1); B (right):
Archaeological site map of the early 20th century showing sites in same area (Atlas of the Egyptian
Exploration Fund, ca. 1910). Note that the location of Contra has been added
to Denon's map A opposite Latopolis (not being originally marked there
nor on Map B). Note also the differences in latitude, with the
later map (B) the more accurate.
Footnotes:
1.
[Editor's note:] As at Dendera, the heads on the capitals at Contra-Latopolis are of the female deity Hathor, not of Isis.
2. [Editor's note:] Very likely the Pyramid of El Kuleh, shown on fig.1, map B.
3.
[Editor's footnote:] Hierakonpolis (modern Nekhen) is the largest known
pre- and proto-dynastic site in Egypt. Remains at the 1.5 km long site
include complex settlements with dwellings, temples, and cemeteries.
The Predynastic occupation of the site dates between about 3800 and
2890 BC. It was first excavated in the late 1890s by John Quibell who
discovered the well-known Narmer palatte of ca. 3100 BC, incised with
hieroglyphs representing Narmer as an early Egyptian king. Later
excavations in the 1970s by Michael Hoffman and Barbara Adams uncovered
numerous tombs, some containing animal burials, and many showing luxury
items.
,
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