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The Naos of Herakleion
by Jean Yoyotte, Prof. at the Coll�ge de France Paris, June 7, 2001
The two
vertical panels surrounding the door in the recess carried vertical hieroglyphic
inscriptions, normally oriented (hieroglyphs converge toward the aperture inside
where the divine image is situated). The upper part of the two texts is so
highly corroded that nothing can be read (at least on the currently available
imprints). What remains further down contains on both sides the titles of a
divinity. As the last sign on both sides shows the word mry, "beloved of�
", we may deduct that at the top of each column figured the name of the
dedicating pharaoh, in the usual manner: "King X, beloved by the divinity
Y�". The signs are often too damaged to allow a definition of the texts
without in-deep examination, but the graphics and the sign modules point in any
case at the Ptolemaic period.
On the lower part of the right-hand panel are clearly readable the two last titles of
the divinity for which this great monolithic chapel had been made: "[...],
who presides the mekes case, the noble god of the House-of-Rejoicing
(Pr-h�y)". On the left side we can read: "[�] god of Lower Egypt (?), who has
elevated (s�h�) him king, by (?) designating (dhn) him�.?� of the land (t3)�
", where the pronoun 'him� refers of course to the ruler indicated higher up in
the deteriorated part.
These few
well-secured words allow for a resolution the problem presented by the
indigenous name of the main temple of Heracleion.
1.
The Egyptian version of the honorary decree taken by the Egyptian priests
assembled in Canopus in honour of Ptolemy III, indicates the expression "the
House of Amun-Gereb at the mouth of the Hon�."
2.
Further, an Egyptian diocete stationed in ptolemaic Alexandria in the
course of the 2nd or 1st century, enumerates among his
priestly benefits those of "prophet of Khonsu-Child and Amun-Gereb,
hierogrammate of the temple of Amun-Gereb, scribe of Osiris in the temple
of Pe-Gouti (= Canopus)�"
3.
A demotic papyrus dated around the 2nd century, found at
Saqqara, and containing an index of Egyptian divinities enumerates among some 30
versions of Amun the name of "Amun-Gereb".
It is well known that the first Greeks settling in Egypt had assimilated Amun-R�, king of
the Egyptian gods and patron of famous Thebes, with their own Zeus, king of the
Olympian gods. Also, and more curiously, the young lunar god Khonsou, son of
Amun of Thebes, had been assimilated with Herakles, son of Zeus, and had even
sited several stages and minor exploits of the famous hero traveller on the
coast of the Delta. We know that from the 10th century onward, Khonsu
had acquired great popularity as a saviour, healer and soothsayer. This would no
doubt go a long way towards explaining that in the town of Canopus his cult had
exceeded that of Amun to the extent that the foreigners there considered his
temple as a sanctuary of Herakles.
In the
three texts mentioning the specific Amun of Heracleion, the word which defines
this local form of the king of gods, gereb, is alphabetically written,
without a determining addition to suggest its meaning. However, there is in the
texts of the ritual scenes of Ptolemaic temples a word gereb, which also
recurs in demotic legal documents and which indicates a particular category of
written document. The contexts of the ritual scenes connect these written
gereb documents with the god�s remittance to the king of the object called
mekes, which is a case supposed to contain the inventory (imyt-per)
of the royal domain, an inventory whose transmission implies and sustains the
devolution of power. In these conditions, the designation of the Amun of
Heracleion should read Imn (n)Grb, "the Amun of gereb", and
referred certainly to the supreme god, creator and master of the universe acting
as the power who invests the new rulers by giving them the title of sovereignty
over Egypt and the universe.
The
readable part of the titles of the divine occupant of the great naos found on
the presumed site of Heracleion precisely confirms this supposition. The god, in
fact
1.
does possess the mastery of the mekes,
2.
is supposed to have installed the king by designating him
3.
is supposed to reside in the "House-of-Rejoicing", the locality thus
nemed being a palace containing the pharaoh�s throne and his glorifying
ceremonial appearances.
Further
exploration of the site will provide, more information about
this deity and his son Khonsu-Herakles, as well as about the kings who
embellished their temple(s).
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Pictures by Christoph Gerigk
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