Der Tempel Sethos' I. In Gurna, Die Reliefs und Inschriften. Band I by J. OsingReview by: Anthony SpalingerJournal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 16 (1979), pp. 195-196Published by: American Research Center in EgyptStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40000333 .

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BOOK REVIEWS 195

masterpiece by a Greek sculptor there exist many copies, the chief group agreeing in size and detail as if they were the accurate copies. When the scale varies, so do the proportions and the details. Huge copies and mirror copies are, in gen- eral, of late date, as if delay were caused by difficulty of the

problem. This reviewer discovered that it was impossible to reconstruct accurately the lower portion of an Athena Par- thenos torso because no two existing copies had legs of the same or proportionate length! Two copies of Polykleitos' dia- doumenos were on the New York market in 1 968, and only a

reasonably good eye and a tape measure were needed to show which was the mechanical, correct copy. Note that Schefold used the existence of an accurate marble copy in actual size to justify his theory that the bronze Athena from Piraeus was Cephisodotos' original creation (Antike Kunst 14, 1971, 37-42). . Vermeule has amply demonstrated that the Roman world, or at least the mid-Roman and late Roman world, was domi- nated by complexes of just such huge copies and mirror copies as he and their creators admired. For this stimulating shock and consequent broadening of our vision we must all be grateful.

Dorothy Kent Hill Baltimore, Maryland

DER TEMPEL SETHOS' I. IN GURNA, Die Reliefs und Inschriften. Band I, by /. Osing. (Archaologische Veriffentlichungere 20). Mainz am Rhein, 1977. Pp. 69 + Plates 44.

This elaborate and detailed study of Seti Fs Gurnah temple commences a series of volumes that will be devoted to that edifice. J. Osing ably fulfills his task, in this first volume, of providing a wealth of background information and commentary concerning the inscriptions and reliefs at Gurnah. These scenes and texts deal particularly with rituals - especially offering rituals. As the author notes in the introduction (pp. 11-13), most of the relief and inscriptional work was commissioned by Ramesses II, the only exception being the door to Room XXXIV. Most of the scenes depict Ramesses II, Ahmose-nofretari, or Amenophis I in their role as cultic actors. The deities that appear are stereotyped in their specific forms; most of them carry the 'wA-sign and a w*s or a w;d scepter. Significantly, the latter is, for the most part, held by the goddesses, whereas the former is connected with the male deities. Osing also discusses the ritual and cultic garb of the king -in particular, his skirt with the bull's tail, the neck collar, and a crown or other cap (p. 12). Ramesses is

depicted adorned by a variety of crowns: the Upper Egyp- tian, Lower Egyptian, nms, and blue crowns; double- feathered, double crowned, etc. A short discussion relating to the colors employed by the artists then follows (p. 15- note especially the appearance of yellow earth, blue for the

sun court, and some red-brown). On page 12 of the work, Osing reflects upon the common formula dvn-in-k. . . di-f/s, as well as di 'nh ml R\ With regard to the former, see Nims' useful study in his review of Bjorkman's Kings at Karnak

(Uppsala 1971), JNES 34 (1975) 76, and compare with

Osing's note 55 on page 21. The deities that appear on the exterior north wall are

varied. The Theban triad -Amun-Re, Mut, and Chonsu-are present, as are Atum Re-harachte, Montu, the deified Maat, Ptah, Ptah-Tennen, Onuris-Shu, Sekhmet, Osiris, Onuris, Amunet, and the deified Amenophis I with Ahmose-nofre- tari. With regard to the latter, Osing notes that it is probable that there was a cult place for the two, to which these scenes are to be connected (p. 14). Chonsu-In-Thebes, Nfr-htp, occurs -a deity who has intense connections with the Ramesside Period and later (see Posener's studies in Annuaire du College de France, from vol. 65 [1965] to vol. 70 [1970]). Various epithets of Amun-Re appear: nb pt fyfo Wtst, hnty ipt-f, nb nswt Uvuy, nb pt.

After a discussion of the scenes themselves, Osing then turns to his analysis (pp. 26-29), where much detailed infor- mation is presented. It should be noted that in most scenes, Ramesses II is usually depicted wearing the Upper Egyptian crown (p. 29), commensurate with the southern location of the temple. Ramesses II apparently first had his reliefs and

inscriptions carved in Room XXXII. The earlier spelling of his name, as IC-ms-s^), occurs here on four occasions; 'Imn-R1 is written with the sun symbol and not the figure of the

deity.1 Osing also gives a detailed presentation of the sun court

(pp. 38-53), in which he presents his interpretations. Basic-

ally, the scenes appear to be cultic. The sun god is the para- mount deity of the entire area. Pairing of scenes occurs (see p. 49 in particular); the first and last appear always to con- tain similar functional cult acts (Maat-Maat, etc.). Osing stresses the hour rituals that appear on the walls, and notes the similarity of these scenes with those in the mortuary temples of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, and the tomb of

Bsk-n-rn-f at Saqqara (p. 51). In the first two temples, the middle ten hours occur on the south and north walls, whereas the first and last hours are on the east and west. In this section, Osing also notes the later work of Ramesses III

(p. 40), as well as inscriptions and carvings referring to Ahmose-nofretari (p. 45). Osing presents the reader with use- ful schematic charts, in which the rituals are diagrammed. An excursus dealing with the offering rituals on the temple walls concludes this work (pp. 65-69), together with a com- plex listing of various temples (eg., Medinet Habu, Luxor, the Ramesseum, and Deir el Bahri) wherein are preserved offering texts and scenes identical in nature to those at Gur- nah described in this volume.

As an introduction to the German Archaeological Insti- tute's work at Seti I's Gurnah temple, Osing's work is both useful and informative. The text is well laid out and the pho- tographs are truly superlative. Although the nature of the

inscriptions is not highly informative, the author more than

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196 JARCE XVI (1979)

manages to present a detailed and useful analysis of the scenes. One awaits the second volume of the series with happy anticipation.

Anthony Spalinger Yale University

1 K. A. Kitchen, "Historical Observations on Ramesside Nubia," in Agypten und Kitsch, eds. Endesfelder, et al., Berlin (1977) 220 and note 27. For the importance of the sun sym- bol instead of the seated figure, I am indebted to one of my students, Dr. B. Bryan.

ISLAND OF ISIS: PHILAE, TEMPLE OF THE NILE, by William MacQuitty. pp. 192. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1976. $14.95.

Philae, the "Pearl of Egypt," once the climax of every tou- rist's visit to that country, was submerged most of the year after the construction of the first Aswan Dam in 1888-1902. The new High Dam would have resulted in the island's per- petual submersion, and ultimately in the disintegration of its buildings. An international rescue effort, scheduled at this writing for completion in 1979, is engaged in moving Philae's architectural treasures to the higher island of Agilkia, where they will once again be accessible year-round.

This undertaking certainly provides the occasion for a good picture-book introducing the general public to what will once again be one of Egypt's prime tourist attractions. The publishers are to be congratulated for continuing what

appears to be an ongoing program of producing innovative books for the public on aspects of ancient Egypt. It would be a pleasant task to write a short, friendly notice of this volume, but unfortunately this cannot be done. According to the biographical blurb on the dust jacket, the author is "a film producer whose films include A NIGHT TO RE- MEMBER, the story of the sinking of the Titanic? and that he "was commissioned by the Shah of Iran to take the photographs which became PERSIA, THE IMMORTAL KINGDOM, a book commemorating the 2,500 years of the kingdom of Persia." In reading the present volume, one can- not help wondering -tongue in cheek of course- whether

MacQuitty is sinking Philae as effectively as the Titanic and the Shah of Iran.

Chapter One, "Temples of the Nile," takes the reader on a

leisurely (one-fourth of the book!) tour down the Nile, from its sources to Cairo. Special, but not exclusive, emphasis is placed on locales with Ptolemaic temples. Whatever there is of interest in the chapter, however, one does not find- despite its title -any real discussion of Egyptian temples, their architecture and purpose; and, most distressing in a book for the general public, there is no real definition of the architectural terms employed. "Hypostyle Hall (with roof

supported by pillars)" (p. 30), for example, scarcely counts as a definition, and even with the aid of the photograph of the

hypostyle hall at Karnak on p. 43, evocatively beautiful

though it is, the reader will have no idea of what a hypostyle hall really looks like, or of its relationship, where such a hall exists, to other parts of a temple. The map on pp. 20-21 is useful, but one cannot find on it everything referred to in the text, even in the neighborhood of Philae, for instance, the "island of Elephantine" (p. 28) and "Quebet (sic) el Hawa"

(p. 24, photo caption). Not only is the content of the chapter as a whole misdirected, when considered against its title, but there are specific instances of misdirection as well. Thus, as

already stated, this chapter emphasizing Ptolemaic temples makes mention (p. 30) of the hypostyle hall of Edfu, but the illustration of this architectural feature is the photograph of the New Kingdom hypostyle hall at Karnak! Similarly, near the end of the chapter, the author wishes to make the point that we can learn the methods by which the Egyptians extracted colossal works from unfinished pieces. As an example, the unfinished obelisk at Aswan is described in detail, but the only photographic illustration furnished is of an Osirid statue (p. 45)!

Chapter Two is entitled "The Worship of Isis." It is a gen- eral treatment of Egyptian religion, with special emphasis on

funerary beliefs and practices -but there is virtually nothing on Isis herself! One scarcely knows what to make of such statements as "It was the sun, relentless bearer of death that

they [the ancient Egyptians] supplicated" (p. 50), or "Con- centration on the problem of life after death brought into

being a group of people who studied the sun and moon and the movements of the stars" (p. 52), or "the god Sarapis, introduced from Macedonia by Ptolemy I" (p. 85), which

certainly do not reflect prevailing Egyptological thought. The author's essential unfamiliarity with Egyptology is revealed when he speaks of "the eye of Horus" (p. 59), while a depiction of two such eyes in the Theban tomb of Sened-

jem on the same page is referred to in the caption as "the

eyes of Osiris." The author's attempt to compress his narra- tive leads at points to statements which, though not incor- rect, are not likely to be correctly understood by the reader

approaching the text with no background. Thus, we find reference to "a brick-and-earth rectangle called a mastaba because it was similar in shape to the benches found outside native houses" (p. 68); the reader is not likely to understand that the word mastaba is modern. Similarly, the author states, "It [Islam] was a strong simple religion and eventually came to power in Egypt in 640 after Mohammed had died when the army of Islam conquered the country" (p. 88); the reader is likely to think that Mohammed was freshly deceased, when in fact he died in 632. Further, there is no explanation of the discrepancy between the date 640 in the statement

just quoted and the date 639 on p. 90. On p. 79, the caption to the photographs "Right" and "Below" is reversed.

Chapter Three is entitled "The Ptolemies." Hellenistic his-

tory is a subject to which one may aptly apply the American

phrase "you can't tell the players without a scorecard," and

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