 Shanhūr archaeological site | ||
| Shanhūr · شنهور | ||
| Governorate | Qinā | |
|---|---|---|
| Residents | 9.314 (2006) | |
| height | 80 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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Shanhur (also Shanhor, English too Shanhur, Shenhur, French too Chenhour, Chanhour, Arabic:شنهور, Shanhūr) is a modern village in the egyptian Governorate Qinā. It is located on the eastern side of the Nile about 25 kilometers north of Luxor, 20 kilometers south of Qift and six kilometers south-southeast of Qūṣ. In the village there are the remains of a temple which was dedicated to the trinity of the gods Isis, Min and Hor-pa-chered-wer-tepi-en-Amun.
background
The present village rises to the east of the ancient Pa-schen-Ḥor (P3-š-n-Ḥr, "The Lake of Horus", Coptic: ⲡ ϣ (ⲉ) ⲛ ϩ ⲱⲣ, Psch (e) nhor) or. Psenyris and thus bears the ancient pharaonic name to this day. Horus was, as it were, the patron god of this settlement. In ancient times the place was located in the border area between the former 4th (Thebes) and 5. (Coptus) Upper Egyptian districts.
The archaeological remains of the Temple of Isis that are visible today only date back to Roman times. The names of the Roman emperors can be found in the inscriptions Augustus (30 BC-14 AD), Tiberius (14–37), Caligula (37–41), Claudius (41–54), Nero (54-68) and Trajan (98-117). However, few remains of earlier inscriptions and reliefs have been found on site. In addition, under the counter temple north of the temple, below the level of the foundation, there is a screed that could belong to an earlier temple building.
Coptic ceramic finds prove the existence of a Christian population since Roman times.[1]
The temple complex has been known since the first half of the 19th century and was built by Nestor L’Hôte (1804–1842) in 1839[2] and Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884) May 17, 1845[3] visited and briefly described. Other travelers also visited the temple during the 19th century. However, extensive research did not take place until 1992–2001, initially by the Belgian Egyptologist Jan Quaegebeur (1943–1995) and later by the French Egyptologist Claude Traunecker (University of Leuven, University of Strasbourg) and the Dutch-Belgian Egyptologist Harco O. Willems (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), whose final publications have been published since 2003. A final campaign in collaboration with Martina Minas and Troy Sagrillo from Swansea University took place in 2010.
getting there
The village can be easily reached by car or taxi from the nearby one Luxor out. From the trunk road Qinā–Edfu you can get to the village by crossing a small canal in its east 1 25 ° 51 '32 "N.32 ° 46 '56 "E. crossed and crossed the village with its narrow streets to the west.
Tourist Attractions
Temple of Isis
The main attraction is of course that 1 Roman temple complex(25 ° 51 ′ 40 ″ N.32 ° 46 '37 "E.) to the west of the village. The temple precinct is now surrounded by a wall, which is not closed in the east. If you want to visit the temple, get a permit from the Supreme Authority for Antiquities (SCA) in Cairo!
The complex that is visible today dates from Roman times. The construction can be roughly divided into three construction phases: First, the temple for Isis under Emperor Augustus was built in the east. The side chapel, built to the southwest of it, may have been built a little later. In the time of Nero, both sanctuaries were connected by creating a four-column courtyard in front of the temple of Isis and adding a pronaos (temple vestibule). The pronaos, designed as a wide transverse hall, now served as access for the temple and the chapel.
The axis of the temple complex goes from south to north. You enter the temple in the south through the pronaos. The front of the Pronaos was formed from a barrier wall with six columns. In the pronaos hall there were six columns in two rows, the bases of which are still preserved today. On the right (in the east) one reaches the monumental temple via the four-column hall, to the left of it in the west is the much smaller so-called Chapel of Hor-udja. The few inscriptions in the pronaos and in the pillared hall date from the time of Nero.
As already said, the Temple construction started under Emperor Augustus and the sanctuary (the holy of holies) was also decorated during this time. The well-preserved northern part of the limestone building is almost in full height, the ceiling consisted of limestone and sandstone slabs, which are only partially present today. The limestone is of poor quality, which probably saved the temple from stone robbery. The temple corresponds in a reduced form to the Greco-Roman temples in the other parts of the country.
The temple house consists of three undecorated rooms one behind the other, which become smaller towards the north. On the temple front, only the left post of the entrance is preserved, on which there were once four registers (picture strips) with sacrificial scenes of the emperor in front of various deities. Only a small part of the fall has survived.
The third room leads to the sanctuary (holiest of holies) with a corridor. The door in the south-east of the gallery first leads to the so-called New Year's Court, from which one enters the Wabet ("the pure [place]", see below) with a round altar and a crypt. In the rear part of the gallery you get to two side chapels and on the back wall to a niche that leads to further crypts. From the middle anteroom you get to the west to a room with a staircase to the temple roof.
The walls of the Sanctuaries and the front door are decorated. The winged sun is located above the door. Only a small remnant of the lintel and its decoration that still existed in the 19th century remains in the east: you can still see Augustus offering a portrait of Maat to Amun-Re and two wine vessels to Thoth and Maat.[4] The remains of the sacrificial scenes of Augustus before Month (left) and Chons (right) can be seen on the door posts. The inscriptions on the reveals, however, come from his successor Tiberius.
On the side walls there are representations in two registers, on the back wall in three registers. The dedication inscriptions on the side walls show that the decoration was created under Augustus. On the left (western wall) he dedicates the building to his mother Mut, on the right to the "Great Goddess Isis". The left wall is for the Theban family of gods. In the upper register, Augustus worships the gods Month (destroyed), Rat-taui, the companion of Month, Chons and Mut, including Amun-Re, Mut, Geb and Isis. The right (east) wall refers to the Koptos family of gods. In the upper register, Augustus Haroëris of Qūṣ, Isis, Harpocrates prays[5], and Hathor (?), in the lower register Amun-Min, Isis, Tutu, “he who comes to him who calls him”, and Nebet-ihi. Nebet-ihi, the “mistress of joy”, is an epithet of the goddess Nephthys. Tutu is a sun god worshiped in Roman times and takes the place of the Horus child.
The back wall contains representations in three registers that become narrower and narrower towards the top. In the top register, of which only the left part has survived, there was a double representation of Augustus in front of two deities. In the middle register, Augustus sacrifices the enthroned Amun-Re-Sonther (left) and Osiris (right). In the lowest register, the emperor offers a sistrum to Mut and Isis (left) and incense to Isis and Nebet-ihi.
To the right of the sanctuary is the space group New Year's Court and Wabet. During the New Year celebrations, the celebration of the union of the cult images with the sun disk took place here. The honeycomb was only decorated under Caligula. The astronomical ceiling is still preserved in the rear part. The sky goddess Nut, the planet Mercury, the circumpolar stars and signs of the zodiac can be seen on the 5.5 × 2 m sandstone slab. Various deities such as Isis, Nephthys, Nebet-ihi and Ta-netjeret-aat, the "Great Goddess", an epithet of Isis, are depicted on the walls.
The Exterior walls of the temple house were decorated under Emperors Tiberius (most of the back wall) and Claudius (side walls). You can see the emperor with a censer in front of Isis and Nephthys, with a scepter in front of Sobek and Hathor, how he offers a necklace to a goddess and much more.
There is a on the back wall Contra temple (Counter temple), in which a false door forms the core. To the left of the niche, Tiberius sacrifices in front of the von family of gods Coptus, Re-Min, Isis and Tutu, and Nebet-ihi and right in front of Theban, Amun-Re, Mut and Chons, and Ta-netjeret-aat.
Before or under Tiberius there was also one southwest of the aforementioned temple Side chapel erected, sometimes referred to in literature as Chapel of the (child god) Hor-udja referred to as. Belonging to this child god has not been proven. In the chapel, among other things, the mother of this god named Ta-netjeret-aat, a form of Isis, is mentioned. The chapel consists of three rooms one behind the other, of which only the lower stone layers have been preserved. Only the goal posts have representations and inscriptions of Tiberius'. The entrance to the chapel is also called the “Gate of Trajan” because its posts were decorated on his behalf. On the back wall of the last room there is a cult niche for the statue of the gods. This chapel also had a counter-temple in the form of a cult niche and depictions of the adoring king before a goddess.
The temple was probably dedicated to the cult of a form of Isis. As with other deities of the Roman era, this was presented as a figure who had four "aspects": "the great goddess", the mother of God, (Nephthys) Nebet-Ihy and Mut von Karnak. Because the mentioned forms of Isis with the temple of Coptus can be connected, but courage from the one further south Karnak originates in Thebes, the temple was formerly known as the "border temple". However, the Theban religion is taught here in a special form that is otherwise only known from Koptos. Therefore, it is better to assume that it is a temple that was in the tradition of the theology of Coptus, which was common in Roman times.
To the west, south, and north of the temple are the not yet excavated remains of the ancient settlement.
Hammam esch Shanhouri Mosque
The remains of the can be found north of the temple 2 Hammam esch Shanhouri Mosque(25 ° 51 '42 "N.32 ° 46 '37 "E.), Arabic:مسجد همام الشنهوري, Masǧid Hammām al-Shanhūrī, of which the minaret and an adobe wall are still preserved. The mosque is one of several buildings by Prince Hammām bin Yūsuf el-Hawārī (1709–1769 (1121–1183 AH), Arabic:همام بن يوسف) From the tribe of el-Hawāra, which include other mosques and a citadel near the city Farschūṭ belong. The family was de facto the rulers over Upper Egypt between el-Minyā and Aswan in the 18th century.
The minaret, also made of adobe bricks, is divided into three parts. The lower part is square with a window on each side, but at different heights. The middle part is octagonal, on each surface there is a window niche in the lower half, but only two niches lying opposite are perforated as windows. The upper part, which is crowned by a dome, is again octagonal, at the upper end there are windows on each surface, at the lower end only a single one. At the upper end of the middle and upper section there is a narrow all-round brick decoration.
To the north of the minaret, a wall of the mosque is still preserved, in which there are several niches and a few windows. Narrow bands of protruding bricks serve as decoration. The niches are also highlighted in this way.
kitchen
Restaurants can be found in the nearby towns Luxor and Karnak.
accommodation
Accommodation can be found in the nearby towns Luxor and Karnak.
trips
A visit to the village can be combined with that of the city Qūṣ and / or the villages el-Madamud and el-Qalʿa connect.
literature
- : Shanhur. In:Helck, Wolfgang; Westendorf, Wolfhart (Ed.): Lexicon of Egyptology; Vol. 5: Building a pyramid - stone vessels. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1984, ISBN 978-3-447-02489-1 , Col. 528-531. In French.
- : Ancient Egypt in the Roman Empire: the Roman Pharaoh and his temples; Volume 1: Roman politics and ancient Egyptian ideology from Augustus to Diocletian, temple building in Upper Egypt. Mainz: from Zabern, 2000, Pp. 65–72, figs. 73–76.
- : The temple of Shanhûr; Vol. 1: The sanctuary, the wabet, and the gates of the central hall and the great vestibule: (1 - 98). Leuven: Peeters, 2003. In English.
Web links
- The Shenhur Page, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, accessed on May 13, 2010, not updated since 2001
Individual evidence
- ↑Roovers, Ilse: La céramique Copte de Chenhour, in: Bulletin de liaison du Groupe international d’étude de la céramique égyptienne, Volume 19 (1996), pp. 23-30.
- ↑L’Hôte, Nestor: Lettres écrites d'Égypte en 1838 et 1839: contenant des observations sur divers monuments égyptiens nouvellement explorés et dessinés, Paris: Didot, 1840, pp. 88-90.
- ↑Lepsius, Richard: Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia, Abth. IV, Volume 9, Sheet 70.g-i; Texts Volume II (1904), pp. 258-260.
- ↑Lepsius, loc. Cit., Sheet 70.g. On the lintel there was a symmetrical double display with two partial scenes. On the far left Augustus sacrificed to Min, Isis and Horus, on the right to the Theban Triad and the seated Isis. Furthermore, the emperor was seen offering a portrait of the Maat to Amun-Re, Horus, Isis and the seated Nephthys and two wine vessels to Thoth and Maat.
- ↑Acts here as Hor-pa-chered-wer-tepi-en-Amun.
