Part Three

Troubles at Abou-Simbel (3)

At moonlight on Friday morning, August 1st, the anniversary of the battle of the Nile, we rose and went to work. We called the crew; but, as they did not appear in any hurry to come, we went up alone with lights. While making our arrangements to begin, we heard a great noise below, plainly distinguishing Hassan’s roaring Voice above all the rest; and the word backsheeish frequently repeated. The Greek servant being sent down for a lamp, returned with an account that they were all abusing us; and com Plaining that, after having worked hard for us, they only received two piastres per day, instead of four, which they merited (although their wares from the reis are only from seven to nine piastres per month). We were called christian dogs without faith; and they said we must take all our things out of the boat immediately, as they would stay no longer, having remained till they were tired, and in a place where they could get, no provisions. Mr. Belzoni now went down to find our hammer which was mislaid; but resolved to abstain from any argument with them. Immediately on seeing him they all fell down on their knees, and began praying, bowing down, and kissing the ground, according to their custom. He took no notice of them; but brought all our arms and ammunition up. The janissary also went and brought his pistols; Hassan saying in his hearing, that he must carry a soldier on his back to Derry, implying that he must murder the janissary, though it was but the day before that he came to him saying that he wished to make peace, and that what he had formerly said against him came from his warmth of temper, and not from his heart.

As soon as we had commenced working by candlelight, one of the crew came to say that we must embark immediately and depart, or land our effects and let the boat go, as they could wait no longer. We sent word that they might go whenever they pleased; but it would be to their own loss if they did, as we would pay them nothing and that for our part we were determined to remain till our work was completed. The crew now made their appearance in a body, dressed in their turbans and gowns, as at Elpha; this being their custom when they wish to appear of consequence. They were armed with long sticks, pikes, swords, daggers, and two old rusty pistols, which would be more likely to kill the person who fired, than him who was fired at. In reply to our inquiry of what they wanted, they made long complaints of being badly paid, and of never having received any adequate recompense for having brought us provisions from the neighbouring villages, and for all their other endeavours to please us; that they had waited here till the last moment, and must now go down the river; all at the same time joining in savage imprecations, and scraping the sand with their hatchets and swords. The reis, who was the foremost of the party, in a feigned paroxysm of anger, threw the sand up in his face, where the perspiration caused it to stick¹. At the same time we were accused of calling out “barout, barout,” to the Abou-Simbel people, though it was themselves that first taught us the meaning of that word.

As all this farce was performed to intimidate us, and to extort a sum of money as a reward for remaining till the temple was opened, we took care that they should see by our conduct that the scheme entirely failed. Avoiding, therefore, all passionate behaviour, we replied coolly and deliberately to all their lying imputations, telling them that if they studied their own interests, they would behave very differently; that this, of all others, was the most unlikely method to obtain any thing from us; and that, as they had stayed ninety-nine days, why not remain the hundredth? At length one of the crew stepped forward, and pretended to be a peace-maker. The janissary, meantime, had squeezed himself through the whole, and entered the temple during the debate, unknown to them; till one of the strangers, having stolen behind to see what work we had done, found it out, and apprised the crew. Seeing themselves foiled in every way, they now pretended to suffer the mediator, with some reluctance, to disarm them; and then, stripping, began to work, laughing and repeating tyep, tyep – good, good, Berby tyep (berby means temple). We deemed it our best policy to suppress our feelings, and appear reconciled. Hassan had told the cook that they could murder us all if they chose; that neither law nor justice were known in this country; that they could, after committing the crime, fly to the mountains, where no one would pursue them; that they were not the poor people we took them for; that they had kept the French at bay four years; that they kept their own slaves, cattle, &c. &c.

We were now enabled to enter the temple; and thus ended all our doubts and anxiety. We built a wall to barricade the door: it was made of stones and mud, with a foundation of datetrees driven in to prevent the sand from giving way. A toad crept out of the temple while we were thus employed, and hid himself in the rubbish at the entrance. We brought down to the boat some statues of calcareous stone, which we found in the temple. There were two sphinxes, emblematical of Osiris (lion’s body and hawk’s head); a monkey similar to those over the cornice, only smaller; and a kneeling female figure, with an altar, having a ram’s head on it, in her lap. At three we went to work again. Two of the Abou-Simbel peasants came, and appeared astonished that we had succeeded. They said the country people had no idea we should have accomplished our undertaking. They appeared to think the temple would make a good hiding-place for their cattle, &c., whenever the Bedouins came to rob them.

Saturday, August 2. – We continued working at the wall before the door. Hassan asked for some of our money to go and purchase a sheep, stimulated, no doubt, by the expectation of the share they always had, viz. the entrails, skin, and head, none of the former of which the crew rejected: indeed, on one occasion, I saw one of them gnawing the raw head as they were skinning the animal. Having no provisions left but doura, a grain not unlike pearlbarley, we told Hassan it was to no purpose to bring us meat when we had no bread; and that unless he brought the latter, we did not wish for the former. He now took the money, promising to bring us bread also. We did not employ the sailors this evening, having finished the wall. Hassan was roaring and grumbling all day about money, in hopes that his bawling would induce us to give more. We took no notice of him, determined to give none until they had put the statues into the boat; for we perceived there was a great difficulty made about removing them. This day all the measurements of the temple were taken, both externally and internally; Captain Irby and I undertaking this task, while our companions were employed about their drawings. Towards the close of the evening, the man brought us some cakes of doura and a sheep, for which, however, he made us pay thirteen plastres, a third more than the articles were worth.

Sunday, August 3. – This morning some Abou-Simbel people brought us some butter and a lamb. We told them, however, that now they might keep their provisions to themselves. In the evening the crew, after much disputing with Hassan (who was against the measure), put the statues into the boat; this being the condition on which they were to receive the backsheeish. Soon after this we gave them a present of forty piastres amongst them. We had considerable difficulty in satisfying them; for the reis, on perceiving the money, snatched it up, saying it was his share. We, however, took it from him, and distributed it according to our original plan.

Abou-Simbel

I shall now give some further particulars respecting the exterior of the temple, and then proceed to notice the most prominent beauties of the interior. The four colossal figures in front of the temple are all of men; they are in a sitting posture, above sixty feet high, and the two which we have partly uncovered, are sculptured in the best style of Egyptian art, and are in a much higher state of preservation than any colossal statues remaining in Egypt. They are uncovered at present only as far as the breast. Before the recent excavations one of the faces was alone partly visible, and part of the head-dress of the other remaining two. The face of the statue, No. 2, whether taken in the front view or profile, exhibits one of the most perfect specimens of beauty imaginable. It has so far resisted the effects of time, as not to have the least scratch or imperfection; and there is that placid serenity which one admires in most of the Egyptian countenances. The face of the statue, No. 3, has a more serious aspect; the nose is not so aquiline, nor is the mouth so well turned: it is not, however, without its beauties, and perhaps a connoisseur would say the features possess more character than the former. The statues are not, however, without their imperfections; the necks are short, out of all proportion, and the ears are placed considerably too high, a defect very common amongst the Egyptian figures; the bodies also seem to lean rather too much forward for the natural position of a sitting figure. However, it is scarcely fair to pass judgment on this latter defect, as, being partly uncovered, they could not be seen to proper advantage.

Little or no space appears to have been left between the figures on either side, and scarcely more in the centre than sufficient for the door. Immediately above the door, which was formerly surmounted by a cornice, now broken, is a tablet of hieroglyphics, over which is an oblong square niche enclosing a standing figure of a hawk-headed Osiris, in full relief, projecting no more than the depth of the niche itself. On the head of this figure is a globe; and below, on each side of the legs, are two symbols, which appear suspended from its hands; one is a small female figure, the other a staff surmounted with the dog’s or fox’s head. On either side of the niche is a female figure in intaglio, presenting an offering to the deity; and there are various hieroglyphic inscriptions, probably descriptive of the oblations. The cornice above the door presents a very curious appearance; it has been broken by a fall of part of the rock above, and the chisel has since been evidently employed to form the remailing part into some other shape, or to fashion it for the reception of a new cornice, or some other ornament of that description.

The interior of the temple is 154 feet long, by 52 broad (exclusive of the side chambers); it is comprised of fourteen separate apartments, whereof the first is the principal hail, 57 feet by 52; the second an ante-chamber, 37 feet by 25; the narrow chamber, crossing the other two, 37 ft. by 9 ft. 11 in.; after which comes the sanctuary, 23 ft. 7 in. by 12 ft. 3 in.; the rest are side apartments, placed in various directions. The interior of this temple is a work not inferior to any excavation in Egypt or Nubia, not even excepting the tombs of the kings: indeed, the effect produced on first entering it is more striking than any which those can afford: the loftiness of the ceiling; the imposing height of the square pillars, and of the erect colossal statues, full 30 ft. high, attached to them; and the dimensions of the apartments, which are on a much larger scale than any of the other excavations; all contribute to render the interior of this temple not less admirable than its splendid exterior.

The sculpture on the walls is not so well finished, nor the colouring so perfeet, as in the tombs of the kings; but the composition and invention of the design, and its spirited execution, may be considered as equal to anything in Egypt. The extreme heat and closeness of the apartments, occasioned by the want of a free circulation of air, have contributed materially to injure the paint; but enough of the colouring still remains to enable the spectator to judge of what is lost, and to convince him of the original beauty of the work. The most conspicuous groups appear to represent the victories of some celebrated hero, apparently the same who is depicted at Medinet Aboo, Luxor, Carnack, and other parts of Egypt, together with the triumphant processions and consequent offerings to the deities. There is little difference in these groups from the similar sculptures in the buildings abovementioned: the hero appears in the same manner in his ear; he is of a gigantic stature, and is destroying his enemies with his arrows. The vanquished suing for mercy; the discomfiture and flight of their companions; the procession of the prisoners, and the distribution of the other parts of the groups, are likewise nearly, the same. The prisoners seem to be of different nations from those represented in other places; and it is a circumstance of no little interest to see here, thus accurately painted, the costumes of the various tribes of the interior of Africa, at a date so remote that nowhere else can we expect to find any description either of their manners or their custom. How interesting would a minute copy of these groups be to travellers in the interior of Africa, who could compare them with the inhabitants of the present day! Some of the captives are perfectly black, and have all the characteristics of the tribes of the interior of Africa – such as woolly hair, thick lips, long sleek limbs, &c.; others are of a lighter hue, not unlike the present race of Nubians. The most common dress consists of the leopard’s and tiger’s skin, fastened round the waist, while the upper part of the body remains uncovered. The cap which they most commonly wear is of a construction which I do not recollect to have observed elsewhere, and appears to consist of the leaves of the palmtree, dried and cut in slips; while the workmanship is a sort of neat plaiting, apparently worked with much ingenuity. Those who wear the caps have no hair, but some are distinguished by bushy hair and beards.

In one of the groups is represented the storming of a fortress, of very singular construction, which is defended by people of the race just mentioned. On the top are seen women, among whom, one in a sitting posture, wholly divested of drapery, and of a light complexion, bears no resemblance in character or attitude to those represented in other places by the Egyptians. The hero who directs the assault is, as usual, of gigantic stature. On the plain below are seen the peasants driving their cattle away from the presence of the conqueror, designed with much spirited action; some of the besieged party are also kneeling and imploring clemency. The arrows are flying from all quarters amongst the defenders; and some are seen plucking them from their foreheads, arms, and other parts of their body. Large stones hurled down from above, do not appear in any way to intimidate the attacking party. The group of twelve supplicating victims, which the hero is represented in another part as grasping with one hand by the united hair of their heads, while with the other he uplifts the axe to sacrifice them, is executed with much energy and force; and the marked difference of character in the several countenances of the various tribes they belonged to, is given in a masterly style: the expression of agony and despair in their several features is admirable.

In this temple we found several detached statues of calcareous stone; one of which, a little larger than life, is executed in a better style than is generally to be met with in Egyptian sculpture; the head and lower part of the legs are wanting, as well as one of the arms; but the remaining parts sufficiently attest the skill and good taste of the sculptor. The figure is an upright one, and seems to have represented Osiris, or the hero depicted on the walls. The surface of what remains is scarcely injured; but the substance of the stone is so decayed by time, that any attempt to remove it would probably occasion its total destruction. The statues which we brought away, and which I have already mentioned, were found in different parts of the temple.

How long this temple has been buried is a question which must ever remain unanswered. Forty feet of sand had accumulated above the top of the door, before the recent excavations, which were carried no further than 3 feet below the top of the entrance. There is reason to suppose that the temple was deserted before any sand had collected in front of it; but there is nothing either in the interior or exterior which indicates the age in which it was abandoned. Very little sand was found in the temple compared with what might have been expected: it did not reach beyond the second pilaster, and was not much broader than the door-way. This, no doubt, was partly, owing to the great depth (18 ft. 11 in.) of the entrance-passage. A light black substance, which seemed to be decayed wood, was found in every apartment, in some places of the depth of 2 ft.; its substance, at the surface, was not unlike that of snow when it has been frozen over by one night’s frost; it cracked under the foot, leaving the impression. Many small pieces of wood were strewed about, apparently little injured by time, but which, on being touched, crumbled into dust. The wooden pivots on which the doors traversed still remain in the upper corner of all the entrances to the different chambers; and we also found fragments of wood in many places. Some of these appeared so perfect, that we thought of bringing them away; but they mouldered at the first touch: we were, therefore, very careful in leaving what remained for the benefit of future travellers. A broken brass socket, for the pivot of a door to traverse on, was also found.

The extreme heat of the temple was such, that Mr. Beechey spoiled his drawing-book while only copying one of the groups, the perspiration having entirely soaked through it: it produces the same sensation and effects as the hottest vapour-bath. In the centre of the sanctuary is a bench with four sitting statues: the one on the right is Osiris, with the hawk’s head and globe; the others are human figures: two have the crux ansata in their hand.

The eight standing figures of Osiris, 30 ft. high, which ornament the outer hail, and between which is the passage into the interior of the temple, are as well proportioned as they are highly finished: the drapery reaches nearly half-way down to the knees, and is striped like that of the figures without. The features of the countenances are perfect, and they all have the hook and scourge (the usual emblems of Osiris) in their hands, which are crossed on the breast.

I shall now describe what, speaking comparatively, we may call the small temple of Abou-Simbel. The direction of the river here is W.S.W. and E.N.E. Both the temples are situated on the left bank, at the ends of the two mountains which form the valley, through which the sand which has buried the great temple found its passage: both are cut out of the solid rock, which is of a sandy or calcareous nature. The easternmost and smallest appears to have been made before the other, as the style of the colossal statues which are sculptured in the front of it, are ruder than that of the large one, and have been cut in a less advanced state of the art. The front of the temple is not perpendicular, but sloping from the top to the bottom. Six square spaces are excavated in the surface, serving as niches to the same number of colossal figures, the remaining part being left in the form of huttresses projecting 10 ft. at the base beyond the inside of the niches. The door is in the centre, with three erect figures, one a female (Isis), with a male figure on each side of her: these latter represent Osiris. On either side, between these colossal statues, are two figures of about 6 ft. high, which reach nearly to the knees of the former: those supporting the male figures appear to represent Horus, while the others near Isis are females. The space left in the centre, and in which the door is cut, is more than twice the breadth of the other projections between the figures, and slopes on the same plane with them for about onethird from the top: it then descends somewhat more perpendicularly; and in this lower plane the door is cut, without any other projection. The points of the projecting buttresses are covered with hieroglyphics; and a single line of them extends along the top of the niches for the whole breadth of the temple, of which it forms the ornamental summit. Immediately above the door is an offering to Osiris; and on each side of it are hieroglyphics as on the other projections: a line of serpents and globes surmounts the offering, similar to what is often met with over the doors of Egyptian temples. The height of the projecting buttresses nearest the door is 34 ft. 7 in.; taken in the angle that of the others is 38 ft., their projection at the base 10 ft., that of the door only 7 ft. 6 in.; the distance between each buttress, 8 ft. 3 in.; breadth of the buttresses, 4 ft. 7 in. The height of the female figures is 24 ft. 6 in., not including the head or nament, which reaches to the top of the buttress. The male figures are 25 ft, 8 in. high, and their head-dresses 4 ft. 10 in. The height of the doorway is ii ft. 6 in.; width, 4 ft. 10 in.; the length of the passage into the temple, 12 ft. 9 in. The whole width of the ornamented front of the temple is 88 ft., and its height, in a perpendicular line, may be about 40 ft.

The interior of the temple is composed of three principal apartments; the first and largest supported by six pilasters, three on each side, (surmounted with the head of Isis in the front,) is 36 ft. by 34; the space in the centre between the pilasters is 14 ft. 6 in., and they are 7 ft. 8 in. from the wall: the distance between the pilasters 5 ft. 9 in.; their dimensions 3 ft. 7 in. by 3 ft. 3 in. The breadth of the second chamber 8 ft. 5 in.; its length is the same as the first, taken at right angles with the line of entrance: the sanctuary is 7 ft. 10 in. by 8 ft. 9 in.: on each side of the second chamber is a small side apartment 6 ft. square.

I shall describe the decorations of the interior rather minutely, as there is more uniformity, and evident allusion to the deity to whom the temple is dedicated (Isis), than is generally met with. The interior of the porch is ornamented on each side by an offering to Isis from a human figure. Within the chamber, on each side of the entry, is a large figure having an axe in one hand, whilst with the other he grasps a bow, and holds a kneeling victim by the hair of the head. On either side are two human figures: that in front has a knife upheld, and appears to command the sacrifice; while that behind seems to preside over it with the lotus flower in her hand: the opposite side is the same, excepting that the figure commanding the sacrifice is Osiris. On the left, as you enter, the wail is embellished with, first, an offering to Isis; secondly, the initiation, by Jupiter Ammon and Osiris, of a young priest; thirdly, an offering by a female figure, of a small sistrum, surmounted by the head of Isis and the serpent, together with the lotus flower, to a male figure; fourthly, art offering to a male figure of a small sitting figure, with the crux ansata on its knees, which are raised up. On the right hand the wall is ornamented with, first, an offering of provisions to Osiris, with the scourge in his hand; secondly, an offering of the lotus flower and three water-pots, pouring water on other flowers, to Jupiter Ammon; thirdly, an offering to Isis of two small heads of that deity surmounting two short handles or staffs; fourthly, an offering to Osiris of two small water vases. At the end, on one side of the door, is an offering to Isis of the lotus; and opposite is the same offering to a female figure. The inner chamber has offerings to Isis and Osiris, and the initiation of a priestess by two Isides; the sanctuary has a small figure, in alto-relievo, in a recess at the end.

Monday, August 4. – Early this morning we started on our return, and soon saw, on the eastern bank, Mahommed and Ali Cashief, together with the band of thieves that had attempted to plunder us. They hailed us, and asked if we had opened the temple, and how much money we had found in it. In the evening we called on Daoud Cashief, who protested his innocence of the transactions at Abou-Simbel, even before we had mentioned the subject. This was certainly not very wise in him; as nothing could tend more to prove his guilt: and, if further evidence were necessary, we saw amongst his train several of the principal spies and bullies that had annoyed us. It was, however, necessary to dissemble, and appear to credit him, as a contrary line of conduct could lead to no good; and, after receiving a present of a sheep, goat, and some bread, together with his promise to keep the temple open for Mr. Salt, we took our leave. When near Derry, we met Halleel crossing the water to be present at our interview with his brother, and thus get his share of anything else that could be squeezed out of us: he was, however, too late.

From Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria, and the Holy Land
by Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles, 1823

Notes

¹ “They cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air.” – Acts, xxii. 23.