ʿAin Birbīya - ʿAin Birbīya

Temple of ʿAin Birbīya

ʿAin Birbīya · ʿAin Birbīʿa ‏عين بربية‎ · ‏عين بربيعة‎

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ʿAin Birbīya

'Ain Birbiya (also Ain Birbiyeh, Ain el-Birbiya, Ain el-Birba, Arabic:عين بربية‎, ʿAin Birbīya, „Spring at the ancient temple“, ‏عين البربية‎, ʿAyn al-Birbīya) or 'Ain Birbi'a (‏عين بربيعة‎, ʿAin Birbīʿa) is the name of a spring in the east of the egyptian Sink ed-Dāchlanamed after a ruined temple. The largest temple complex in this valley is dedicated to the god Amun-Nacht and his consort Hathor and is one of the few Egyptian sanctuaries that mentions the name of the Roman emperor Galba. Archaeologists and Egyptologists are most likely to be interested in the archaeological site.

background

Sometimes the locals know more than the archaeologists. Knowledge of the existence of an ancient Egyptian temple lived on in the name of the source. The largest temple complex in the ed-Dāchla depression is located near the source. The word only used in Egyptian Arabic Birba (Arabic:بربة) Or its adjective Birbīya means exclusively ancient egyptian temple.

The Temple was the night of Amun and his consort Hathor and bore the ancient Egyptian name ʾImeretwhat I suppose Desert hill means. Other deities worshiped here were Osiris and Isis, the creator god Ptah and Sachmet ("the mighty"), the sun god Re-Harachte and his consort Hathor-Nebet-hetepet, the fertility god Amun of Hibis and Mut, the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut as well as the air god Schu and Nut.

The local temple is the only one that does God Amun night ("Amun the Strong" or "Amun the Victorious") is consecrated. He is a very young deity who has only been there since the Ptolemaic king Ptolemy IX is occupied. Representations of the Amun night can only be found in the Temple of Horus in Edfu and in the temples of this valley like the temple for Amun-Re in Deir el-Ḥagar and the temple of tutu in Ismant el-Charab. Amun night, lord of the desert, is a special form of Amun from Thebes and emerged from the merging of the god Amun with Horus, who avenged his father Osiris. He is depicted as either a ram-head or a falcon-head, often with a spear in hand. In the latter form it occurs both with and without wings. The depiction of this god e.g. as graffito on rocks along caravan routes into this valley speaks for its popularity in Greco-Roman times.

The temple was certainly built in Greek times. On the one hand, the floor plan and the room layout speak in favor of this. Second, the fact that the earliest decorations on the entrance gate from the Roman emperor Augustus (Octavian) date from 31 BC. BC to 14 AD ruled. The sanctuary was decorated about half a century later, under emperors Servius Galba Caesarwho was murdered in January 69. The emperors Titus and Domitian had the counter-temple decorated. The design, probably also the construction of the pronaos (the temple vestibule) came from the emperor Hadrian. The construction time is therefore in the first century before or first after Christianity.

Depiction of the fighting Amun night on a rock in the south of Tineida

And another specialty. It is one of the few temples where the emperor was named Galba (initially it was believed that the inscriptions refer to the emperor Commodus). Because the emperor Galba is hardly documented in Egyptian temples. Only in the temple of Deir esch-Schalwīṭ and in Hībis (in the edict of Tiberius Julius Alexander) he is still called. The use of two different and chronologically consecutive variants of the name of Emperor Galba enables the sanctuary decoration to be dated to the autumn of 68 AD.

The temple is only partially decorated: there are reliefs at the entrance gate in the surrounding wall, in the pronaos, in the sanctuary (Holy of Holies) and on the back wall of the counter-temple. There are hardly any sacrificial scenes, and most of them in the counter-temple. One of the special depictions is that of the gods Osiris and Seth side by side.

The temple was first built by Italians in 1819 Bernardino Drovetti (1776-1852) called.^[1] He reported that he was an hour from Tineida removes the foundation walls (!) of a temple in A’yn el Berbyeh on the left side of the street (Arabic:عين البربية) Had found. Less than a year later, the temple of A’yn el Birbeh was also taken over by the French Frédéric Cailliaud (1787–1869) visited.^[2] The German orientalist Bernhard Moritz (1859–1939) reported in 1900 from his excursion to the Libyan desert that after a 20-minute march through a field full of potsherds from Tineida he had seen the substructure (!) Of a large building (probably a temple).^[3] What apparently no one had recognized was that the ground-level stones were not the foundation, but the ceiling beams, because the temple was completely buried in the sand.

In 1982 the temple was found again by the Dakhleh Oasis Project team. Not just that he was buried in the sand. The area was used for agriculture and irrigated for a long time. The excavations since 1985 turned out to be difficult. The damp subsoil had made the ancient sandstone blocks brittle.^[4] Since 1988, the Dutch Egyptologist Olaf E. Kaper has participated in the excavations, which have been completed in 2010. A publication of the temple is planned.

Due to the poor state of preservation, the temple was filled in again. The temple will probably not be made accessible to visitors in the future either.

getting there

The temple is located approximately 2.5 kilometers west of Tineida. It can be reached via the trunk road to Courage. It's about 500 meters north of the road. This distance must now be bridged on foot over sandy ground.

Tourist Attractions

The site is guarded and can no longer be entered without permission from the highest antiquities authority in Cairo or the antiquities service in Mūṭ.

At this point there is only that Temple of Amun nightalmost completely buried in the sand. The area is fenced, but the temple can be clearly seen.

The temple is surrounded by a 42 meter long (east-west) and 21 meter wide perimeter wall, which was partly built from sandstone blocks and adobe bricks. The 4 meter high stone entrance gate is to the east of the wall. At the gate is the depiction of the emperor Augustus before Amun night and Hathor handing a ceremonial collar on Amun night. On the inside of the gate, the falcon-headed, winged night of Amun, accompanied by a lion, was depicted stabbing the nine-arch peoples, the enemies of Pharaoh. The special thing about this is that the enemy suppression is carried out by a god, which is actually the task of the king. Hölbl stated that the assumption of royal duties by gods or the priesthood at several temples in the valley is documented in the depictions and represents a development in Roman times. On the other hand, this representation has a parallel in the temple of Hībis. There, in Persian times, the falcon-headed god Seth, accompanied by a lion, was depicted killing the chaos-causing Apophis serpent with a spear.

The temple itself was also built from local sandstone. The temple is oriented from east to west, approx. 28 meters long including the pronaos and the counter temple, approx. 12.3 meters wide and approx. 5 meters high. The actual temple house is 19 meters long. The size of the temple exceeds that of Deir el-Ḥagar. The temple consists of an approximately 5 meter deep pronaos (the temple vestibule) with four columns and barrier walls on the facade and two further columns on the side walls. The pronaos may not have been created until the time of Hadrian, who had it decorated. The decoration by Hadrian took place about a century later than the gate.

Behind the pronaos there is a first room group with seven rooms. The middle room on the left (southern) side served as a stairwell. The transverse sacrificial hall follows. The sanctuary (the Holy of Holies) concludes with a side chapel on either side. In the left chapel there is another staircase to the roof. The decoration of the sanctuary was created under Emperor Galba.

A counter-temple about 4 meters deep was built on the back wall of the temple. Its facade was also formed by barrier walls. The pillars were built from bricks. On the back wall of the counter temple, the god Amun-Nacht was depicted again.

accommodation

Accommodation is available in courage and in Qasr ed-Dachla.

trips

The visit of the temple can be done with that of Tineida, Balāṭ and Qilāʿ eḍ-Ḍabba get connected.

literature

• Mills, A.J.: ‘A birbiyeh. In:Hope, Colin A.; Mills, A.J. (Ed.): Dakhleh Oasis Project: preliminary reports on the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 field seasons. Oxford [et al.]: Oxbow Books, 1999, Dakhleh Oasis Project; 8th, ISBN 978-1900188951 , Pp. 23-24.
• Hölbl, Günther: Ancient Egypt in the Roman Empire; 3: Sanctuaries and religious life in the Egyptian deserts and oases. Mainz on the Rhine: Babble, 2005, Zabern's illustrated books on archeology, ISBN 978-3805335126 , Pp. 75-81.
• Kaper, Olaf E.: Galba’s cartoons at Ain Birbiyeh. In:Lembke, Katja; Minas-Nerpel, Martina; Pfeiffer, Stefan (Ed.): Tradition and transformation: Egypt under Roman rule: proceedings of the international conference, Hildesheim, Roemer- and Pelizaeus-Museum, 3–6 July 2008. Suffering: Brill, 2010, Culture and history of the ancient Near East; 41, ISBN 978-9004183353 , Pp. 181-201.

Individual evidence

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25 ° 31 '22 "N. 29 ° 19 ′ 10 ″ E