Apollonopolis Magna
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Apollonopolis Magna or Apollinopolis Magna (Greek: πόλις μεγάλη Ἀπόλλωνος, Strabo xvii. p. 817; Agartharch. p. 22; Plin. v. 9. s. 11; Plut. Is. et Osir. 50; Aelian. Hist. An. x. 2; Ptol. iv. 5. § 70; Ἀπολλωνία, Steph. Byzant. s. v.; Ἀπολλωνιάς, Hierocl. p. 732; It. Ant. p. 160, 174; Not. Imp. Orient. c. 143; Latin: Apollonos Superioris [urbs]), the modern Edfu (Edfoo), was a large ancient city of the Thebaid, Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, in latitude 25° North, and about thirteen miles below the lesser cataract. Ptolemy (l. c.) assigns Apollinopolis to the Hermonthite nome, but it was more commonly regarded as the capital town of the nome Apollopolites. Under the Roman emperors it was the seat of a bishop's see, and the head-quarters of the Legio II Trajana. Its inhabitants were enemies of the crocodile and its worshippers.
The ancient city derived its principal reputation from two temples, which are considered second only to the Temple of Dendera as specimens of the sacred structures of Egypt. The larger temple is in good preservation, and is being excavated (see Edfu). The smaller temple, sometimes, but improperly, called a Typhonium, is apparently an appendage of the latter, and its sculptures represent the birth and education of the youthful deity, Horus, whose parents Noum, or Kneph and Athor, were worshipped in the larger edifice. The principal temple is dedicated to Noum, whose symbol is the disc of the sun, supported by two asps and the extended wings of a vulture. Its sculptures represent (Rosellini, Monum. del Culto, p. 240, tav. xxxviii.) the progress of the Sun, Phre-Hor-Hat, Lord of Heaven, moving in his bark (Bari) through the circle of the Hours. The local name of the district round Apollinopolis was Hat, and Noum was styled Hor-hat-kah, or Horus, the tutelary genius of the land of Hat. This deity forms also at Apollinopolis a triad with the goddess Athor and Hor-Senet. The members of the triad are youthful gods, pointing their finger towards their mouths, and before the decipherment of the hieroglyphics were regarded as figures of Harpocrates.
The entrance into the larger temple of Apollinopolis is a gateway (πυλών) 50 feet high, flanked by two converging wings (πτερά) in the form of truncated pyramids, rising to 107 feet. The wings contain ten stories, are pierced by round loop-holes for the admission of light, and probably served as chambers or dormitories for the priests and servitors of the temple. From the jambs of the door project two blocks of stone, which were intended, as Ddnon supposes, to support the heads of two colossal figures. This propylaeon leads into a large square, surrounded by a colonnade roofed with squared granite, and on the opposite side is a pronaos or portico, 53 feet in height, and having a triple row of columns, six in each row, with variously and gracefully foliaged capitals. The temple is 145 feet wide, and 424 feet long from the entrance to the opposite end. Every part of the walls is covered with hieroglyphics, and the main court ascends gradually to the pronaos by broad steps. The whole area of the building was surrounded by a wall 20 feet high, of great thickness. Like so many of the Egyptian temples, that of Apollinopolis was capable of being employed as a fortress. It stood about a third of a mile from the river. The sculptures, although carefully and indeed beautifully executed, are of the Ptolemaic era, the earliest portion of the temple having been erected by Ptolemy VI Philometor in 181 BC.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).
