The Persians left a magnificent record of their rule in the temple of Hibis, situated 4 kilometres north of Kharga village. Founded (or possibly only rebuilt) by Darius I. between 521 and 486 B.C., in honour of the god Ammon-Ra, it was enlarged by Nektanebos about 150 years later. In the hieroglyphics the King is mentioned as having built the temple of good white stone, and as having covered its portals, made of Libyan acacia-wood, with bronze from Asia. There are long lists and representations of the offerings made to Ammon-Ra the sun-god, commencing with the wine of the oasis. The building is situated in the midst of fields and palm-groves, and the accompanying illustrations give a good idea of its general aspect and architecture. The main portion has its long axis east and west, and measures 44 by 19 metres, the walls being about 6 metres high. To the east of the chief entrance there are three isolated pylons, one of them being at the present day almost hidden by palms. The entire building is constructed of Nubian Sandstone, believed to have been obtained locally, though the quarry has never been located. Hibis means ‘the town of the plough,’ and is referred to in the Ptolemaic inscriptions at Edfu as the capital of Kenem (Kharga). It is not certain whether the town, which probably existed into the Middle Ages, was in the immediate vicinity of the temple, or, as suggested by Rohlfs, near Nadûra, a smaller edifice on a marked eminence a little to the south-east.
THE TEMPLE OF HIBIS.
Apart from the temple of Hibis most of the antiquities in the oasis belong to the Græco-Roman period, and probably the most interesting and important of these is the temple now known as Qasr el Ghuâta, situate 6 kilometres south-east of Gennâh, on a conspicuous eminence composed of sandstones and shales. Qasr el Ghuâta dates from the time of the Ptolemies, and, as the cartouche of Ptolemy III. (Euergetes I.) appears on the entrance walls, it may be presumed that it was erected during his reign, between 247 and 222 B.C. The actual temple is of sandstone, and measures approximately 10 by 20 metres, the main entrance being richly inscribed and having ornamental columns with beautifully designed capitals. The interior consists of three courts or rooms, the first plain, the second with four ornamental columns and walls decorated with exceptionally well-cut hieroglyphics, while the third is much smaller, and contains enclosed passages and cells. The building is hemmed in by numerous crude enclosures, with partitions of sun-dried brick, the whole of which, forming a large rectangular block, was originally surrounded by a high brick wall of considerable thickness. According to Schweinfurth, the outer crude erections formed the quarters of a garrison at a later date.
It was during the sway of the Roman Emperors that the Egyptian oases attained their maximum importance. During this period, from 30 B.C. to about the beginning of the seventh century, extensive towns existed in Kharga, and the oasis was strongly garrisoned and protected by forts. Temples and other edifices were erected, while a great development of the water-supply took place. During the same period the oases were used as places of banishment, just as they were in earlier days under the Pharaohs, and have been, in a way, in quite modern times. Juvenal, the Latin satirist, was banished to Syene at the beginning of the second century, as a punishment for his attacks on the Court, and he appears also to have been for a time confined in Kharga; Athanasius, Nestorius, and other celebrities likewise made unwilling acquaintance with this portion of the Empire.
Sayce remarks that the oases under the Romans were thoroughly cultivated, a brisk trade in wine being carried on, and mentions that on one of the temple walls there are several inscriptions which lead one to infer that Kharga yielded a considerable revenue. One of the best known, dated in the first year of the reign of the Emperor Galba (A.D. 68), is a long Greek inscription on one of the pylons of the temple of Hibis; this has been carefully copied by more than one traveller, and translations have been published by Young, Letronne, and Hoskins. In it the Prefect of the oasis, Julius Demetrius, communicated the answer of the Governor of the province, Tiberius Julius Alexander, to various complaints made by the inhabitants, not only of the oasis, but of other districts under the same jurisdiction. The proclamation admits the justice of the complaints, and lays down at great length the steps to be taken in regard to the appointment of tax-gatherers, the payment of debts, and imprisonment for various offences; it deals with deeds of sale, the marriage portions of women, rents, military service, legal appeals, the punishment of libellous informers, etc.; forbids extortion and exorbitant taxes; orders the restitution of illegally exacted moneys; and ordains that taxes are to be based on the extent of the Nile inundation.
A still earlier inscription, on the southern portion of the same pylon, refers especially to the inhabitants of the oasis, and is translated by Hoskins as follows:
“Cnœus Virgilius Capito says: I have both heard long ago some unjust expenses and false charges to be made by certain persons avariciously and shamefully abusing their powers: and I have just now been informed, that in the territory of the Libyans certain things are consumed by those seizing them under pretence, as it were, because of their necessities, as being set apart for their expenses and entertainments; which charges are neither true nor admissible: and in like manner under the name of the service of couriers. Wherefore I command those travelling through the nomes, soldiers, and horsemen, and serjeants, and centurions, and tribunes, and all others, to take nothing nor to exact the privileges of couriers, except certain have my warrants; and these passing along only indeed to be accommodated with lodging: and that it be laid down, that no man do any thing, beyond what were established by Maximus. But if any individual may give, or consider any thing as given, and exact as for the public service, I will exact ten times the amount of what he has exacted from the nome, and give a fourfold portion to the informer out of the property of the condemned. The royal scribes, and the village clerks, and the clerks of the districts in each nome, shall keep a register of all, that is expended by the nome upon any one: that, if this or any thing else has been irregularly committed, they may be recorded, and may repay sixty-fold. But the inhabitants of the Thebaid may for four months come up to the tribunals of accounts: and let them address themselves to Basilides, the freedman of Cæsar, an officer of the tribunal of accounts, and to the comptrollers; that, if any thing may be adjudged or done contrary to what is just, I may in like manner put this in order.”
These are interesting side-lights on life in the oasis in those days, and show that the people were well treated by their highly gifted foreign rulers, who, as is well known, respected the customs and religion of the Egyptians and, other nations over whom they ruled.
Although there exists in the neighbouring oasis of Dakhla a temple erected during the reign of Vespasian, the earliest Roman temple in Kharga is probably Qasr Dush, the ancient Kysis, erected by Trajan in A.D. 117, and dedicated to Isis and Serapis. The temple, standing in the midst of the ruins of a town, occupies the summit of a hill a couple of kilometres north-east of Dush. The main building, constructed of stone, has its long axis north and south, and measures 15 by 7½ metres. It is preceded by a forecourt, in front of which are two pylons, the first bearing a Greek inscription relating the date of its erection. Hoskins gives the following translation of this inscription: