[ [57] The famous capitals are not the only specimens of admirable coloring in Philæ. Among the battered bas-reliefs of the great colonnade at the south end of the island there yet remain some isolated patches of uninjured and very lovely ornament. See, more particularly, the mosaic pattern upon the throne of a divinity just over the second doorway in the western wall; and the designs upon a series of other thrones a little farther along toward the north, all most delicately drawn in uniform compartments, picked out in the three primary colors, and laid on in flat tints of wonderful purity and delicacy. Among these a lotus between two buds, an exquisite little sphinx on a pale-red ground, and a series of sacred hawks, white upon red, alternating with white upon blue, all most exquisitely conventionalized, may be cited as examples of absolutely perfect treatment and design in polychrome decoration. A more instructive and delightful task than the copying of these precious fragments can hardly be commended to students and sketchers on the Nile.
[ [58] It has since been pointed out by a writer in The Saturday Review that this credence-table was fashioned with part of a shrine destined for one of the captive hawks sacred to Horus. [Note to second edition.]
[ [59] In the time of Strabo, the Island of Philæ, as has been recently shown by Professor Revillout in his “Seconde Mémoire sur les Blemmys,” was the common property of the Egyptians and Nubians, or rather of that obscure nation called the Blemmys, who, with the Nobades and Megabares, were collectively classed at that time as “Ethiopians.” The Blemmys (ancestors of the present Barabras) were a stalwart and valiant race, powerful enough to treat on equal terms with the Roman rulers of Egypt. They were devout adorers of Isis, and it is interesting to learn that in the treaty of Maximin with this nation, it is expressly provided that, “according to the old law,” the Blemmys were entitled to take the statue of Isis every year from the sanctuary of Philæ to their own country for a visit of a stated period. A graffito at Philæ, published by Letronne, states that the writer was at Philæ when the image of the goddess was brought back from one of these periodical excursions, and that he beheld the arrival of the sacred boats “containing the shrines of the divine statues.” From this it would appear that other images than that of Isis had been taken to Ethiopia; probably those of Osiris and Horus, and possibly also that of Hathor, the divine nurse. [Note to second edition.]
[ [60] The Emperor Justinian is credited with the mutilation of the sculptures of the large temple; but the ancient worship was probably only temporarily suspended in his time.
[ [61] These and the following particulars about the Christians of Nubia are found in the famous work of Makrizi, an Arab historian of the fifteenth century, who quotes largely from earlier writers. See Burckhardt’s “Travels in Nubia,” 4to, 1819, Appendix iii. Although Belak is distinctly described as an island in the neighborhood of the cataract, distant four miles from Assûan, Burckhardt persisted in looking for it among the islets below Mahatta, and believed Philæ to be the first Nubian town beyond the frontier. The hieroglyphic alphabet, however, had not then been deciphered. Burckhardt died at Cairo in 1817, and Champollion’s discovery was not given to the world till 1822.
[ [62] This inscription, which M. About considers the most interesting thing in Philæ, runs as follows: “A’ An VI de la République, le 15 Messidor, une Armée Française commandée par Bonaparte est descendue a Alexandrie. L’Armée ayant mis, vingt jours après, les Mamelouks en fuite aux Pyramides, Desaix, commandant la première division, les a poursuivis au dela des Cataractes, ou il est arrivé le 18 Ventôse de l’an VII.”
[ [63] About two-and-sixpence English.
[ [64] See previous note, p. 181.
[ [65] The story of Osiris—the beneficent god, the friend of man, slain and dismembered by Typhon, buried in a score of graves: sought by Isis; recovered limb by limb; resuscitated in the flesh; transferred from earth to reign over the dead in the world of shades—is one of the most complex of Egyptian legends. Osiris under some aspects is the Nile. He personifies abstract good, and is entitled Unnefer, or “The Good Being.” He appears as a myth of the solar year. He bears a notable likeness to Prometheus and to the Indian Bacchus.
“Osiris, dit-on, était autrefois descendu sur la terre. Étre bon par excellence, il avait adouci les mœurs des hommes par la persuasion et la bienfaisance. Mais il avait succombé sous les embûches de Typhon, son frère, le génie du mal, et pendant que ses deux sœurs, Isis et Nephthys, recueillaient son corps qui avait été jeté dans le fleuve, le dieu ressuscitait d’entre les morts et apparaissait à son fils Horus, qu’il instituait son vengeur. C’est ce sacrifice qu’il avait autrefois accompli en faveur des hommes qu’ Osiris renouvelle ici eu faveur de l’âme dégagée de ses liens terrestres. Non seulement il devient son guide, mais il s’identifie à elle; il l’absorbe en son propre sein. C’est lui alors qui, devenu le défunt lui même, se soumet à toutes les épreuves que celui-ci doit subir avant d’être proclamé juste; c’est lui qui, à chaque âme qu’il doit sauver, fléchit les gardiens des demeures infernales et combat les monstres compagnons de la nuit et de la mort; c’est lui enfin qui, vainqueur des ténèbres, avec l’assistance d’Horus, s’assied au tribunal de la suprême justice et ouvre à l’âme déclarée pure les portes du séjour éternel. L’image de la mort aura été empruntée au soleil qui disparait à l’horizon du soir: le soleil resplendissant du matin sera la symbole de cette seconde naissance à une vie qui, cette fois, ne connaîtra pas la mort.