Abydos, Egypt

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Name of Abydos in hieroglyphs

Abydos (Arabic: أبيدوس, Greek Αβυδος), one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, is about 11 km (6 miles) west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N. It was the capital of the eighth Nome of Upper Egypt. The Egyptian name of both the Nome and its capital city was Abdju (technically, 3bdw, hieroglyphs shown to the right), "the hill of the symbol or reliquary," in which the sacred head of Osiris was preserved. The Greeks named it Abydos, like the city on the Hellespont; the modern Arabic name is el-'Araba el Madfuna (Arabic: العربة المدفونة‎ al-ʿarabah al-madfunah).

Considered one of the most important archaeological sites of ancient Egypt (near the town of al-Balyana), the sacred city of Abydos was the site of many ancient temples, including a royal necropolis where early kings were entombed.^[1] These tombs began to be seen as extremely burials and in later times it became desirable to be buried in the area, leading to the growth of the town's importance as a cult site.

Today, Abydos is notable for the memorial temple of Seti I, which contains an inscription known as the Abydos King List, a chronological list showing cartouches of most dynastic pharaoh of Egypt from the first, Narmer/Menes, until Ramesses I, Seti's father.^[2] The actual Great Temple and the ancient town are largely buried under the modern buildings to the north of the Seti temple.^[3]

Location of Abydos on the map of Egypt.

[edit] History

Abydos was occupied by the rulers of the Predynastic period,^[4] whose town, temple and tombs have been found there. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the 30th dynasty, and the cemetery was used continuously.

The kings of the first dynasty, and some of the second dynasty, were also buried here, and the temple was renewed and enlarged by them. Great 'forts' (actually funerary enclosures) were built on the desert behind the town by three kings of the second dynasty, the most complete is that of Khasekhemwy.^[5]

From about the 5th Dynasty, the deity Khentiamentiu (literally translated as foremost of the Westerners) became to be seen as a manifestation of the dead king in the underworld. Pepi I (6th Dynasty) constructed a funerary chapel which evolved over the years into the Great Temple of Osiris, the ruins of which still exist within the town enclosure. Abydos became the centre of the worship of Osiris.

During the First Intermediate Period, the principal god of the area Khentiamentiu, began to be seen as an aspect of Osiris, and the deities gradually merged and became regarded as one and the same, with Osiris taking the epithet, Foremost of the Westerners. In the 12th dynasty a gigantic tomb was cut in the rock by Senusret III. Associated with this tomb was a cenotaph, a cult temple, and a small town (known as Wah-Sut) used by the workers for these structures.^[6]

Part of the Abydos King List

The 18th dynasty began with a large chapel of Ahmose I, and then Thutmose III built a far larger temple, about 130 × 200 ft. He made also a processional way past the side of the temple to the cemetery beyond, with a great gateway of granite.

Seti I, in the 19th dynasty, founded a temple to the south of the town in honor of the ancestral kings of the early dynasties; this was finished by Ramesses II, who also built a lesser temple of his own. Merneptah added the Osireion just to the north of the temple of Seti.^[6]

Ahmose II in the 26th dynasty rebuilt the temple again, and placed in it a large monolith shrine of red granite, finely wrought. The foundations of the successive temples were comprised within about 18 ft. depth of ruins; these needed the closest examination to discriminate the various buildings, and were recorded by over 4000 measurements and 1000 levellings.^[7]

The latest building was a new temple of Nectanebo I in the 30th dynasty. From Ptolemaic times the place continued to decay and no later works are known.^[8]

[edit] Cult Centre

Tomb relief depicting the vizier Nespeqashuty and wife KetjKetj making the journey of the dead to the holy city of Abydos. From Deir el-Bahri, Late Period, Dynasty XXVI, reign of Psammetichus I.

From earliest times, Abydos was a cult centre, first of the local god Khentiamentiu, and later from the end of the Old Kingdom Osiris. The Early Dynastic cemetery was identified as the burial place of Osiris, and the tomb of Djer was considered to be his tomb. Tomb decoration throughout Egypt show journeys to and from Abydos, as an important pilgrimage.

[edit] Major constructions

[edit] Great Osiris Temple

Temple of Seti I, Abydos

The temples successively built here on one site were nine or ten in number, from the 1st dynasty to the 26th dynasty. The first was an enclosure, about 30 × 50 ft., surrounded by a thin wall of unbaked bricks. Covering one wall of this came the second temple of about 40 ft. square in a wall about 10 ft. thick. An outer temenos (enclosure) wall surrounded the ground. This outer wall was thickened about the 2nd or 3rd dynasty. The old temple entirely vanished in the 4th dynasty, and a smaller building was erected behind it, enclosing a wide hearth of black ashes.

Pottery models of offerings are found in the ashes, and these were probably the substitutes for sacrifices decreed by Khufu (or Cheops) in his temple reforms.

A great clearance of temple offerings was made now, or earlier, and a chamber full of them has yielded the fine ivory carvings and the glazed figures and tiles which show the splendid work of the 1st dynasty. A vase of Menes with purple inlaid hieroglyphs in green glaze and the tiles with relief figures are the most important pieces. The noble statuette of Cheops in ivory, found in the stone chamber of the temple, gives the only portrait of this greatest ruler.

The temple was rebuilt entirely on a larger scale by Pepi I in the 6th dynasty. He placed a great stone gateway to the temenos, an outer temenos wall and gateway, with a colonnade between the gates. His temple was about 40 × 50 ft. inside, with stone gateways front and back, showing that it was of the processional type. In the 11th dynasty Mentuhotep I added a colonnade and altars. Soon after, Mentuhotep II entirely rebuilt the temple, laying a stone pavement over the area, about 45 feet square, besides subsidiary chambers. Soon after Senusret I in the 12th dynasty laid massive foundations of stone over the pavement of his predecessor. A great temenos was laid out enclosing a much larger area, and the temple itself was about three times the earlier size.

[edit] Temple of Seti

Horus presents the royal regalia to Pharoah

The temple of Seti I was built on entirely new ground half a mile to the south of the long series of temples just described, at 26°11′5.50″N, 31°55′7.96″E. This is the building best known as the Great Temple of Abydos, being nearly complete and an impressive sight. A principal purpose of it was the adoration of the early kings, whose cemetery, to which it forms a great funerary chapel, lies behind it. The long list of the kings of the principal dynasties carved on a wall is known as the "Abydos King List" (showing the cartouche name of many dynastic pharaohs of Egypt from the first, Narmer/Menes, until the pharaohs of the last dynasty)- with the exception of those noted above. So rare as an almost complete list of pharaoh names, the Table of Abydos, re-discovered by William John Bankes, has been called the "Rosetta Stone" of Egyptian archaeology, analogous to the Rosetta Stone for Egyptian writing, beyond the Narmer Palette.^[2] There were also seven chapels for the worship of the king and principal gods. At the back of the temple is an enigmatic structure known as The Osirion thought to be connected with the worship of Osiris (Caulfield, Temple of the Kings); and probably from those chambers led out the great Hypogeum for the celebration of the Osiris mysteries, built by Merenptah (Murray, The Osireion at Abydos). The temple was originally 550 ft. long, but the forecourts are scarcely recognizable, and the part in good state is about 250 ft. long and 350 ft. wide, including the wing at the side.

Pharoah ready to rope the sacred bull

Excepting the list of kings and a panegyric on Ramesses II, the subjects are not historical but mythological. The work is celebrated for its delicacy and refinement, but lacks the life and character of that in earlier ages. The sculptures had been mostly published in hand copy, not facsimile, by Auguste Mariette in his Abydos, i.

[edit] Ramesses II temple

The adjacent temple of Ramesses II was much smaller and simpler in plan; but it had a fine historical series of scenes around the outside, of which the lower parts remain. A list of kings, similar to that of Seti I, formerly stood here; but the fragments were removed by the French consul and sold to the British Museum.

The outside of the temple was decorated with scenes of the Battle of Kadesh.

[edit] Tombs

Main article: Umm el-Qa'ab

The Royal necropolis of the earliest dynasties were placed about a mile into the great desert plain, in a place now known as Umm el-Qa'ab, The Mother of Pots. The earliest is about 10 × 20 ft. inside, a pit lined with brick walls, and originally roofed with timber and matting. Others also before Menes are 15 × 25 ft. The tomb probably of Menes is of the latter size. After this the tombs increase in size and complexity. The tomb-pit is surrounded by chambers to hold the offerings, the actual sepulchre being a great wooden chamber in the midst of the brick-lined pit. Rows of small tomb-pits for the servants of the king surround the royal chamber, many dozens of such burials being usual.

By the end of the 2nd dynasty the type changed to a long passage bordered with chambers on either hand, the royal burial being in the middle of the length. The greatest of these tombs with its dependencies covered a space of over 3000 square yards (2,500 m²). The contents of the tombs have been nearly destroyed by successive plunderers; enough remained to show that rich jewellery was placed on the mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones from the royal table service stood about the body, the store-rooms were filled with great jars of wine, perfumed ointment and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of ebony were engraved with a record of the yearly annals of the reigns. The sealings of the various officials, of which over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into the public arrangements.^[9]

The cemetery of private persons begins in the 1st dynasty with some pit-tombs in the town. It was extensive in the 12th and 13th dynasties and contained many rich tombs. A large number of fine tombs were made in the 18th to 20th dynasties, and later ages continued to bury here till Roman times. Many hundred funeral steles were removed by Mariette's workmen, without any record of the burials.^[10] Later excavations have been recorded by Edward R. Ayrton, Abydos, iii.; Maclver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah.

[edit] "Forts"

The structures referred to as "forts" lay behind the town. Known as Shunet ez Zebib is about 450 × 250 ft. over all, and still stands 30 ft. high. It was built by Khasekhemwy, the last king of the 2nd dynasty. Another nearly as large adjoined it, and is probably rather older. A third fort of a squarer form is now occupied by the Coptic convent; its age cannot be ascertained.^[11]

[edit] Other

Some of the hieroglyphs onsite have been interpreted in certain esoteric mysticist and ufological circles as showing a helicopter, submarine, and U.F.O., but these are commonly explained as the result of erosion and later adjustments to the original inscriptions. This concept was adopted in the plot of the Stargate series.^[12]

[edit] See also

• Abydos offering formula

[edit] Note and references

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Ayrton, Abydos, iii.
• Mariette, Auguste, Abydos, ii. and iii.
• Murray, Margaret Alice, The Osireion at Abydos (Egyptian Research Account, 9 Ninth Year), Hardcover, reprint edition, June 1989 (from 1904), ISBN 1-85417-041-4.
• William Flinders Petrie, Abydos, i. and ii.
• William Flinders Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii.
• Stephen Harvey (Spring 2004). "New Evidence at Abydos for Ahmose's funerary cult". Egyptian Archaeology 24. EES. 

[edit] Online resources

• Abydos. Digital Egypt. UCL. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online, "Abydos" search: EncBrit-Abydos, importance of Abydos.

[edit] External links

• The Mortuary Temple of Seti I at Abydos

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Coordinates: 26°11′N, 31°55′E