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~Marie Parsons~
The island of Philae, measuring 500 yards from north to south and 160 yards from east to west was the center of the cult of the goddess Isis and her connection with Osiris, Horus, and the Kingship, during the Ptolemaic period of Egyptian History. It is almost covered with temples, courts and ancient constructions of one kind or other; and the banks of the river are largely built up with quay-walls and high terraces.
Before the Aswan Dam was built, the temples and structures on Philae were flooded each year from December to about April, and had to be visited during this time by boat, passing through the Kiosk of Trajan and into the court of the Temple of Isis. In the 1970s, the architectural structures of the original island were moved to their present position on the island of Agilkia, to the northwest, when Philae was going to be flooded by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The new location was carefully landscaped to make it resemble Philae as much as possible.
Philae is situated at the frontier between Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia, at the beginning of the First Cataract of the Nile. From there the river descends on its way to the sea. At the southern end of the First Cataract, before the Aswan dam was built, the river gathered speed, dropping sixteen feet in swirling eddies and turbulent falls of white water, for three miles, until the Cataract ended, and the Nile resumed its calmer flow through seven hundred miles of desert, to the Delta and the Mediterranean.
Philae and the neighboring island of Biggeh to the west formed an integrated religious complex devoted to the cult of Osiris. The ritual focus was Biggeh, the site of the abaton, one of the alleged tombs of Osiris. At Philae, regular visits were paid every tenth day by Isis to the island of Bigeh and the tomb of Osiris.
The priests of Philae claimed the Nile’s source lay beneath Biggeh, and the priests of Elephantine alternately claimed the source lay with them. Hence these two traditions were rivals.
On the island of Sehel are more than 250 inscriptions from pilgrims coming to the area, dating from the fourth dynasty down to Ptolemaic times. Pepi I cut canals through the cataract to assist boat crews o n their way to the calm water above Philae. Harkhuf passed through here on his way to Nubia during the reign of Pepi II. Also here on Sehel is the so-called Famine Stela, inscribed during Ptolemaic times but related to the reign of King Djoser in the Third Dynasty. It states that the king decreed that large tracts of land on both sides of the river stretching from Elephantine south should be given to Khnum’s temple, along with one-tenth of all produce and livestock raised as well as taxes on caravans and gold mining. There is an identical decree in the temple of Philae, carved at the base of the eastern tower of the second Great Pylon.
Such was the power of the gods, or at least the belief therein, that according to an inscription on the base of the eastern obelisk standing in front of the Great Pylon, during the reign of Ptolemy VIII, Euergetes II, and Cleopatra III his second wife, the priests complained that they were being forced to refund the expenses of civil and military authorities incurred during their stay at Philae. The priests were not being left enough resources with which to continue sacrifices and libations for the welfare of the royal family. Euergetes II released the priests from further payments.
Philae was dedicated pre-eminently to Isis, sister-wife to Osiris, and patroness of the Ptolemaic rule. Although Isis was the major deity honored therein, the location of the island on the frontier between Egypt and Nubia meant that cults of Nubia were also featured on the island, represented by significant cult buildings.
Philae is an approximate Greek rendering of the local name "Pilak" known from hieroglyphic texts and which may be Nubian in origin. The ancient Egyptians saw in their name for Philae an etymology with the meaning "island of the time [of Ra], i.e. creation, but the island’s history is later than that.
There is some evidence at Philae of cult activity in honor of Amun, in the time of King Taharqa, who ruled Egypt between 689 and 664 BCE in the 25th dynasty, and who probably built an altar to Amun. Perhaps the Kushites, when invading Egypt, established a stronghold on Philae. Traces of mudbrick houses in trenches between the stone foundations of the later temples and the early nilometer west of the mammisi may date to this period.
The monuments on the island are dominated by the great temple of Isis and its associated structures, which are concentrated in the west and center of the island, on, or adjacent to, a granite outcrop which must have been originally chosen as an embodiment of the primeval hill on which the first temple was said to have rested.
The Taharqa altar to Amun is the earliest evidence of structures on the island. The known history of Philae does not go back farther than that, and it was not until the Ptolemaic-Roman Period that Philae rose to importance. The priests believed their island had a far longer history, and as stated above, an inscription at the frontier at the island of Sehel states that as early as the 3rd Dynasty, Djoser gave them the country from the First Cataract to the island of Derar. (Dodekaschoinoi) During Ptolemaic times they held the gold mines of Wadi Alaki within their administrative sphere.
But the earliest known cult building in honor of Isis, known to the Egyptians as Aset, was a small shrine erected in the Saite period by Psamtik II. This was followed by a further small temple on the granite outcrop, erected by Amasis. So it now seems that the Saite kings introduced the cult of Isis into this area and laid the foundations for her subsequent glorification on the island.
The next evidence of building dates to the 30th Dynasty. Beginning at the ancient quay where boats now land at the southwestern corner of the great temple, the first structure is the kiosk of Nektanebo I, oldest structure still standing. There is also a gate built by the same king, embedded in the first pylon of the main temple. The gateway clearly formed part of an enclosure wall, but all these were embellishments to the pre-existing Saite temple enclosure. To the north, the processional way leads to the main temple of Isis.
The western half of the colonnade is the more complete, and is pierced with windows originally looking toward the island of Biggeh. A nilometer descends the cliff from here.
The eastern side of the colonnade was never completed, and reaches only to the destroyed temple just opposite. This was the temple of the obscure Nubian lion-god Arensnuphis, who was venerated as the companion of Isis. Other structures also stand behind the eastern colonnade, notably the ruined chapel of Mandulis, another Nubian deity, at the southern end, and the better preserved chapel of the deified vizier-architect Imhotep to the north.
Isis was worshipped here as Isis of Philae, of Abaton, of Senem, of Elephantine, of the Southern Countries, of Koptos, and of Memphis. She was a member of the following triads: Osiris/Wennefer, Isis and Harendotes, Isis hathor and Harcopcrates, Wennefer, Isis an dNebt-Het, Isis Horus and Hathor, Isis, Nit and Maat, Isis Horus and Nebt-Het, and Wennefer, Isis and Harpocrates. Those connected with the myth of Osiris, Isis and Horus predominate.
Osiris’ name is generally written within a cartouche, with the words indicating "Deceased" thereafter, and Isis’ name was also written within a cartouche. In this region they were seen as deified rulers.
The building work in the main Isis temple is overwhelmingly Ptolemaic and forms part of the Ptolemaic policy of promoting the Isis cult throughout the kingdom and beyond. The core of the Isis temple, everything north of the vestibule, was built by Ptolemy II, just behind the ancient shrine of Amasis, which was then demolished.
The entrance to the main temple is fronted by the pylon of Ptolemy XII, which is decorated with the canonical scenes of the king dispatching enemies and which contains both a main portal and a subsidiary gate in the west tower, leading into the birth house of Ptolemy VI and later rulers. The mammisi is similar in plan and decoration to those of Dendera and Efu, but here, shares roughly the same axis as the main temple.
In the Sanctuary of the mammisi or birth-house of Isis, the hawk of Horus is shown wearing the Double Crown and standing in a thicket of papyrus. Below that scene, Isis carries the newly born Horus in her arms, surrounded by the gods Thoth, Wadjet, Nekhbet and Amun-Ra.
The second pylon opens to the hypostyle hall of the main temple, the first part left open. Beyond are the chambers of the inner temple, and the sanctuary, which still contains the pedestal, dedicated by Ptolemy III and Berenike, of the barque of Isis, though the granite shrines were removed to European museums. The roof holds an Osiris room and other chambers, sunk well below the level of the roof at each corner. The Osiris room has its own vestibule with scenes of the gods bewailing the dead Osiris, and the inner room contains scenes relating to the collection of the god’s scattered limbs
Just to the south is the kiosk of Trajan, with fourteen columns, connected by screen walls, supporting the architraves, which once served as the formal entrance to the island.
The sanctuary of the temple, the holiest of holy places, was lit by two small windows, and still contains the pedestal placed by Ptolemy III, Euergetes I, and Berenice, for the image of Isis in her sacred barque. Surrounding the sanctuary are the Osiris chambers, reached by a short staircase on the west side of the temple which leads to the roof and then descends to the rooms.
Throughout the temple of Isis, its pylons and other buildings, there are reliefs of the Egyptian and Ptolemaic Kings being purified by priests, making offerings to Isis and the other gods, even in some cases dancing before the gods. And there are the usual "Smiting of Enemies" reliefs known throughout Egyptian history.
In 451-452 ACE, the Byzantine general Maximinus had to conclude a contract with the Blemmyes and the Nobadae confirming their ancient right of free access to the sanctuary of Isis at Philae, and were even allowed to take her image upstream to their homelands in festive seasons. An end to the cult was made in 535 ACE by Justinian who ordered its forceful suppression.
No picture or eyewitness experience today can faithfully describe how the Isis temple, or any other temple of Egypt, might have actually looked. The Egyptians used colors in their reliefs, and here and there traces of greens and pinks and golds can still be seen.
Fortunately, earlier travelers left their own descriptions, and we can just catch a glimpse in our mind’s eyes. Amelia Edwards described Philae like this:
I see the sun set for the last time from the roof of the Temple of Isis. Then, when all that wondrous flush of rose and gold has died away, comes the warm afterglow. No words can paint the melancholy beauty of Philae at this hour. The surrounding mountains stand out jagged and purple against a pale amber sky. The Temples have turned to a subdued golden bronze, and the pylons are peopled with shapes that glow with fantastic life, and look ready to step down from their places.
I look; I listen; I promise myself that I will remember it all in years to come – all those solemn hills, those silent colonnades, these deep, quiet spaces of shadow, these sleeping palms.