Fig. 10.—Temple ruins at Serabit.
Thus, on some of these offerings, beginning with the reign of Hatshepsut (XVIII 5), a feline animal appears, which is sometimes a cheetah and sometimes a serval, and which was directly associated with the goddess Hathor, as was shown by a ring-stand on which the head of the goddess appeared with a cat on either side.
This animal, considering its varying form, can hardly be intended for an Egyptian nome-animal, such as the cat of Bubastis. Rather should we look upon it as intended for a local animal associated with the temple.
In other parts of the world, the early totem animal was sometimes associated by a later age with the mother-divinity. Possibly the animal in the offerings in Sinai was of this kind. No traditions on the subject are preserved, but the chief gorge along which the plateau of the temple is approached from the north is called the Wadi Dhaba, a word which signifies wild beast or panther in Arabic.
Of the smaller cult objects which now accumulated in the sanctuary, many were carried off before the winter of 1906, and are scattered in various museums. But the mass of the objects that remained was so great that their fragments covered the ground of the sanctuary and the portico in front of the larger cave, in a layer two or three inches thick. Fragments also strewed the ground outside the temple precincts. Of these fragments several hundredweights were conveyed from the temple to the camp, where they were laid out and fitted, but although days and weeks were spent in fitting them, and many objects had a distinctive appearance, no complete specimen of any kind was recovered. The explanation is that the objects were intentionally smashed, and their fragments scattered outside the cave where they gradually disintegrated. It was doubtless done from the same lust of iconoclastic zeal which caused the smashing of the statuettes of Hathor, but whether during some ancient upheaval or by the Moslim, who can tell?
Among the masses of fragments as many as 447 bore cartouches of the Pharaohs, and this enables us to date them.
Thus Aahmes (XVIII 1), first ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, was named on a sistrum and on menats; his daughter Merytamen was named on a menat; and his successor Amen-hotep I (XVIII 2) was named on a sistrum, a menat and a plaque of Hathor. The same Pharaoh’s queen, Aahmes Nefertari, was named on a menat.
Of these kings, Amen-hotep I restored the portico of the cave of Hathor, as was shown by a perfect lintel slab with a cavetto cornice, 22 inches high and 50 inches long, bearing his name which was found in front of the entrance. His successor, Tahutmes I (XVIII 3) gave a menat of himself and his queen, a wand, and an alabaster vase, and pottery vases. There was no mention of Tahutmes II (XVIII 4).