Holy Land Digital Image Collections

Good, Frank Mason

Philae : Pharaoh's Bed [Graphic]

[1868-1869].

1 photograph : albumen ; 16 x 10 cm ( 6.25 x 3.75 in).

Attached description: "These most beautiful scenes of desolation and ruin show the Temple of Isis in all the irregularity of its various parts. It was begun by Ptolemy Philadelphus about B.C. 280; the same king who ordered the Jewish Scriptures to be translated into Greek, and thus laid the foundation of the Septuagint version. Additions were made under the succeeding Ptolemies, and even under the emperors, so late as Trajan's reign: so that the architecture extends over near 400 years. The sculptures and the colouring are of special interest. The plan of the temple consists of (A) a first propylon or gateway, with figures of Isis and the elder Horus; this leads to the outer court. (B) A second propylon, leading to the great court seen in No. 1090, the colonnade of which stands in admirable light and shade in No. 1089. (C) Beyond this followed the Adytum, or Sanctuary. The peripteral temple seen in the rear through the columns to the right hand in No. 1085, is the chapel of Horus the younger, the son of Osiris and Isis, who completes the Triad of Gods worshipped at Philae. It is seen more distinctly behind the palm tree in No. 1093 overhanging the river, or from the opposite side in No. 1092. Modern travellers call it Pharaoh's Bed."

Rectangular building with short columns with the Nile River in the background

1

Pharaoh's Bed

Hypaethral Temple

2252GOO/XAJ20

CAJS Image Collection XAJ GOO 2252 XAJ20

The Lenkin Family Collection of Photography, University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Philae (Egypt)

g Egypt Antiquities