“For the fortune of the Lord Emperor Cæsar Nero. . . . Trajan Optimus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus, under Marcus Ruffinus Lupus, Governor of Egypt, to Serapis and the supreme gods, those of [Cyrene?] having written, erected from a principle of piety this building. The nineteenth year of the Emperor Cæsar Nero Adrian Optimus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus.”
There appears originally to have been a colonnade between the first and second pylons, but only fragments of the columns exist at the present day. The front of the forecourt is covered with hieroglyphics, while the interior is unsculptured except at the portal leading to the main hall, the latter measuring 6 by 5½ metres, and having four columns. On the west side there is an entrance leading to an inclined passage. The northern part of the building consists of a central semi-divided portion flanked by two elongated chambers, all of which have arched roofs. A parapet is formed by the external walls of the temple, while the roof over the three southern chambers is at a lower level than that of the main hall.
THE TEMPLE OF HIBIS (INTERIOR).
The temple proper is in the western portion of an immense rectangular enclosure bounded by very thick walls of sun-dried brick; these walls at the present day are in a very bad state of preservation, but appear to have been of the type common in some similar buildings in the north of the oasis— i.e., hollow at the top, so as to enclose a passage by means of which the custodians could make the circuit of the building without descending, and from which, unobserved from the exterior, they had the advantage of a splendid view of the surrounding country. The measurements and details which I have given above are largely taken from Dr. Ball’s report, to which the reader is referred for plans and sections of this and other temples.
One of the most conspicuous ruins in the oasis is the little temple of Nadûra, situated on a hill 1 kilometre south-east of the temple of Hibis. The inner building is of sandstone, and roughly measures 8 by 11 metres, while the outer portion, bounded by walls of unburnt brick, is very much larger. According to Sayce, the temple was built by Hadrian between A.D. 117 and A.D. 138. Brugsch, however, refers it to a somewhat later date, considering it to have been erected by Antoninus Pius. Several smaller ruins in the neighbourhood are probably referable to the same period as the temple itself.
The ruins of Qasr Zaiyan, 5½ kilometres north-east of Bulaq, enclose a small sandstone temple of somewhat doubtful age, though a Greek inscription over the entrance records that the building was restored by Antoninus Pius and dedicated to Amenebis (Ammon of Hibis), god of Tchonemyris, the ruins of which town exist in the vicinity. The inscription is translated by Hoskins as follows:
“To Amenebis, the supreme god of Tchonemyris, and to the associated gods of the temple, for the eternal preservation of Antoninus Cæsar our Lord, and his whole house. The cell of the temple and the vestibule were repaired and renewed under Avidius Heliodorus, governor of Egypt; Septimius Macro being commander-in-chief, Plinius Capito being general of the forces, in the third year of the Emperor Cæsar Titus Ælius Adrianus Antoninus Augustus, the Pious. Mesore the eighteenth.”
The Emperor Antoninus Pius reigned from A.D. 138 to A.D. 161, but antiquities unearthed from the ruins show that the town dates from the time of the Ptolemies and flourished into the Byzantine period.
In addition to the above the dilapidated ruins of what were doubtless once imposing buildings exist at various points within the depression. One worthy of attention will be noted at Ain Amûr by travellers to Dakhla along the upper road. The exact age of the building is uncertain, though Wilkinson discovered thereon a portion of the name of one of the Cæsars. The small stone temple stood, like so many others in the oasis, in a courtyard enclosed by thick walls of unburnt brick, the fragmentary remains of which are visible in the illustration. The names of the principal deities inscribed on the temple walls are Kneph, Ammon, and Mut. Both Edmonstone and Wilkinson came to the conclusion that the temple is of greater antiquity than the majority of the monuments of the oasis; but I am inclined to believe, with Hoskins and Rohlfs, that its somewhat crude design is explicable on other grounds than that of age.