A History of Sinai

by Lina Eckenstein

Outside this entrance the next king, Amen-hotep II (XVIII 7) added two small chambers (I H), which were again so constructed that their western side formed a front to the temple. He also presented menats and vases to the sanctuary. Later rulers built additional chambers, pushing the temple front out further west. These chambers measured about 6 by 10 ft. each, with a seat on either side, and they eventually extended in one long line from the pylon along the whole length of the temenos, a distance of about 200 feet. They had been built under shelter of a break in the hill and were roofed over. Loose stones were piled up against their walls from outside along the whole length, which concealed them from view and gave them a subterranean character. Their purpose is a matter of conjecture. Probably they housed the guardians of the sanctuary, and served as an adytum to the cave of Hathor. The worshipper who approached the sanctuary from the west, and entered the outermost chamber, would feel himself in proximity to the cave while he was in reality a long way off. As the treasures which were stored in the cave multiplied, the device would help to ensure their safety.

The erection of these buildings across the bed of wood-ashes put an end to the use of this space as a High Place of Burning. The site for offering the holocaust was therefore removed, probably to a site on the north side of the temple which had been squared in the course of quarrying stone for temple buildings. Corn was growing on this site in the winter of 1906, which prevented its being dug down to the rock. But the peculiar fertility of the accumulated soil which rendered the growing of corn possible, suggested that, here also, there might be an accumulation of wood ashes due to extensive burning.

His successor, Tahutmes IV (XVIII 8), further extended the mines of the Twelfth Dynasty, and recorded his doing so by a tablet which is dated to the fourth year of his reign. Tablets of the fifth and the eighth years of his reign have also been mentioned by travellers, but these were sought for in vain in the winter of 1906.

The next Pharaoh, Amen-hotep III (XVIII 9), also added further chambers to the temple approach (G F), and flanked the new entrance with two steles which record mining expeditions of his 36th year.

Fig. 12.—Amen-hotep III (XVIII) offering to Sopd. (Ancient Egypt, a periodical, 1917, Part iii.)

The fragments of many beautiful objects which dated from this reign were found in and near the cave of Hathor. They included menats and wands, and some cups in lotus form of alabaster of exquisite workmanship. There were also pieces of glazed inlay of two colours—an ancient art of Egypt which was revived at this time. A find of considerable importance was the relief, here reproduced, on which Amen-hotep III is seen offering to the god Sopd who faces him wearing the double plume; in his one hand the staff of royalty. This shows that special significance was attached to the god of non-Egyptian origin at the court of a Pharaoh who had strong Syrian affinities. The connection was further emphasised by the discovery of the head of a statuette of Queen Thyi, the consort of the magnificent monarch Amen-hotep III. This, in some ways, was the greatest find of all. In the words of Prof. Petrie, “It is strange that this remotest settlement of Egypt has preserved her portrait for us, unmistakably named by her cartouche in the midst of her crown. The material is dark-green schistose steatite, and the whole statuette must have been about a foot in height. Unfortunately no other fragment has been preserved. The haughty dignity of the face is blended with a fascinating directness and personal appeal. The delicacy of the surfaces around the eye and over the cheek show the greatest care in handling. The curiously drawn-down lips with their fulness and delicacy, their disdain without malice, are evidently modelled in all truth from life.”[88] The reader will recall that Queen Thyi also was of Syrian origin, and that Amen-hotep III and Thyi were the parents of Amen-hotep IV (XVIII 10), better known as Akhen-aten, the great religious reformer of Egypt. Signs of a connection of Sinai with the reforming king himself were not wanting, for among the work found inside the temenos of the temple was an inscribed limestone tablet, partly broken, which showed a figure carefully wrought in the peculiar style of art which was favoured by Akhen-aten as we know it at Amarna. The figure was Ramessu I, the founder of the Nineteenth Dynasty, who was described on the tablet as “prince of every circuit of the Aten,” a title which was introduced by the religious reformer.[89] The use of the term is therefore relatively late, and suggests that the adherents of the religious reformer after his downfall sought and found a refuge at the relatively remote centre of Serabit.

In the estimation of the present writer, the Exodus of the Israelites was connected with the reaction in favour of the older Egyptian religion which followed the downfall of Atenism, and Moses visited the sanctuary at Serabit before the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty. If so he saw it as it was left standing at the time of Amen-hotep III (XVIII 8); and the account of the building activity of the later Pharaohs at the sanctuary should therefore follow the account of the passage of the Israelites. But as authorities differ as to the Pharaohs who were in contact with Moses, it seems preferable here to complete the account of the Egyptian activity in Sinai before dealing with the story of the Exodus.

Many small objects similar to those brought during the Eighteenth Dynasty were presented at the shrine by the Pharaohs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, who worked extensively at the mines, where the cult of Hathor continued. No inscription mentions Sopd, whose cult, which lasted from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Dynasties, was now at an end.

Of the kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty King Sety I (XIX 2) made the usual small offerings, and erected a commemorative stele on a hillock at some distance from the temple which is still visible from afar. He added two courts (B and A) to the row of chambers which extended across the temenos, enclosing the stele which had been set up by Amen-hotep III, and carrying the row of chambers beyond the temenos wall. These now extended well nigh 200 feet beyond the actual cave, the remoteness and safety of which were thereby ensured. With the work of Sety ended the growth of the temple, His successor, Ramessu II (XIX 3), rebuilt inner parts of the sanctuary, and erected several commemorative steles. He also made a large number of small offerings. Again, Meren-ptah (XIX 4) inscribed the pylon, carving his name across that of Tahutmes III, and made the usual small offerings. Sety II (XIX 6) and Ta-usert (XIX 7) made small offerings of glazed pottery also.