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ABYDOS

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 82 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ABYDOS , one of the most See also:

ancient cities of Upper See also:Egypt, about 7 M. W. of the See also:Nile in See also:lat. 26° so' N. The See also:Egyptian name was A bdu, " the See also:hill of the See also:symbol or reliquary," in which the sacred See also:head of See also:Osiris was preserved. Thence the Greeks named it Abydos, like the See also:city on the See also:Hellespont; the See also:modern Arabic name is Arabet el Hadfuneh. The See also:history of the city begins in the See also:late prehistoric See also:age, it having been founded by the pre-Menite See also:kings (See also:Petrie, Abydos, ii. 64), whose See also:town, See also:temple and tombs have been found there. The kings of the Ist See also:dynasty, and some of the IInd dynasty, were also buried here, and the temple was renewed and enlarged by them. See also:Great forts were built on the See also:desert behind the town by three kings of the IInd dynasty. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the XXXth dynasty, and the See also:cemetery was used continuously. In the XIIth dynasty a gigantic See also:tomb was cut in the See also:rock by Senwosri (or Senusert) III. Seti I. in the XIXth dynasty founded a great new temple to the See also:south of the town in See also:honour of the ancestral kings of the See also:early dynasties; this was finished by See also:Rameses (or Ramessu) II., who also built a lesser temple of his own.

Mineptah (Merenptah) added a great Hypogeum of Osiris to the temple of Seti. The latest See also:

building was a new temple of Nekhtnebf in the XXXth dynasty. From the Ptolemaic times the See also:place continued to decay and no later See also:works are known (Petrie, Abydos, i. and ii.). The See also:worship here was of the See also:jackal See also:god Upuaut (Ophois, Wepwoi), who " opened the way " to the See also:realm of the dead, in-creasing from the Ist dynasty to the See also:time of the XIIth dynasty and then disappearing after the XVIIIth. Anher appears in the Xlth dynasty; and Khentamenti, the god of the western Hades, rises to importance in the See also:middle See also:kingdom and. then vanishes in the XVIIIth. The worship here of Osiris in his various forms begins in the XIIth dynasty and becomes more important in later times, so that at last the whole place was considered as sacred to him (Abydos, ii. 47). The temples successively built here on one site were nine or ten in number, from the Ist dynasty, 5500 B.C. to the XXVIth dynasty, 500 B.C. The first was an enclosure, about 30 X 50 ft., surrounded by a thin See also:wall of unbaked bricks. Covering one wall of this came the second temple of about 40 ft. square in a wall about soft, thick. An See also:outer See also:temenos (enclosure) wall surrounded the ground. This outer wall was thickened about the IInd or IIIrd dynasty.

The old temple entirely vanished in the IVth dynasty, and a smaller building was erected behind it, enclosing a wide See also:

hearth of See also:black ashes. Pottery See also:models of offerings arc found in the ashes, and these were probably the substitutes for sacrifices decreed by See also:Cheops (Khufu) in his temple reforms. A great clearance of temple offerings was made now, or earlier, and a chamber full of them has yielded the See also:fine See also:ivory carvings and the glazed figures and tiles which show the splendid See also:work of the Ist dynasty. A See also:vase of See also:Menes with See also:purple inlaid hieroglyphs in See also:green glaze and the tiles with See also:relief figures are the most important pieces. The See also:noble statuette of Cheops in ivory, found in the See also:stone chamber of the temple, gives the only portrait of this greatest ruler. The temple was rebuilt entirely on a larger See also:scale by Pepi I. in the VIth dynasty. He placed a great stone gateway to the temenos, an outer temenos wall and gateway, with a See also:colonnade between the See also:gates. His temple was about 40X50 ft. inside, with stone gateways front and back, showing that it was of the processional type. In the Xlth dynasty Menthotp (Mentuhotep) III. added a colonnade and altars. Soon after, Sankhkere entirely rebuilt the temple, laying a stone See also:pavement over the See also:area, about 45 ft. square, besides subsidiary See also:chambers. Soon after Senwosri (Senusert) I. in the XIIth dynasty laid massive See also:foundations of stone over the pavement of his predecessor. A great temenos was laid out enclosing a much larger axea, and the temple itself was about three times the earlier See also:size.

Phoenix-squares

The XVIIIth dynasty began with a large See also:

chapel of See also:Amasis (Ahmosi, Aahmes) I., and then Tethmosis (Thothmes, Tahutmes) III. built"a far larger temple, about 130X200 ft. He made also a processional way past the See also:side of the temple to the cemetery beyond, with a great gateway of See also:granite. Rameses III. added a large building; and Amasis II. in the XXVIth dynasty rebuilt the temple again, and placed in it a large monolith See also:shrine of red granite, finely wrought. The foundations of the successive temples were comprised within about 18 ft. See also:depth of ruins; these needed the closest examination to discriminate the various buildings, and were recorded by over 4000 measurements and See also:I000 levellings (Petrie, Abydos, ii.). The temple of Seti I. was built on entirely new ground See also:half a mile to the south of the See also:long See also:series of temples just described. This is the building best known as the Great Temple of Abydos, being nearly See also:complete and an impressive sight. A See also:principal See also:object of it was the See also:adoration of the early kings, whose cemetery, to which it forms a great funerary chapel, lies behind it. The loag See also:list of the kings of the principal dynasties carved on a wall is known as the " Table of Abydos." There were also seven chapels for the worship of the See also:king and principal gods. At the back were large chambers connected with the Osiris worship (Caulfield, Temple of the Kings); and probably from these led out the great Hypogeum for the celebration of the Osiris mys teries, built by Mineptah (See also:Murray, Osireion). The temple was originally 550 ft. long, but the forecourts are scarcely recognizable, and the See also:part in See also:good See also:state is about 250 ft. long and 350 ft. wide, including the wing at the side. Excepting the list of kings and a See also:panegyric on Rameses II., the subjects are not See also:historical but mythological. The work is. celebrated for its delicacy and refinement, but lacks the See also:life and See also:character of that in earlier ages.

The sculptures have been mostly published in See also:

hand copy, not facsimile, by See also:Mariette in his Abydos, i. The adjacent temple of Rameses II. was much smaller and simpler in See also:plan; but it had a fine historical series of scenes around the outside, of which the See also:lower parts remain. A list of kings, similar to that of Seti, formerly stood here; but the fragments were removed by the See also:French See also:consul and sold to the See also:British Museum. The Royal Tombs of the earliest dynasties were placed about a mile back on the great desert See also:plain. The earliest is about 10 X 20 ft. inside, a See also:pit lined with See also:brick walls, and originally roofed with See also:timber and See also:matting. Others also before Menes are 15X25 ft. The tomb probably of Menes is of the latter size. After this the tombs increase in size and complexity. The tomb-pit is surrounded by chambers to hold the offerings, the actual See also:sepulchre being a great wooden chamber in the midst of thebrick-lined pit. Rows of small tomb-pits for the servants of the king surround the royal chamber, many dozens of such burials being usual. By the end of the Ilnd dynasty the type changed to a long passage bordered- with chambers on either hand, the royal See also:burial being in the middle of the length. The greatest of these tombs with its dependencies covered a space of over 3000 square yards.

The contents of the tombs have been nearly destroyed by successive plunderers; enough remained to show that See also:

rich jewellery was placed on the mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones from the royal table service stood about the See also:body, the See also:store-rooms were filled with great jars of See also:wine, perfumed ointment and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of See also:ebony were engraved with a See also:record of the yearly See also:annals of the reigns. The sealings of the various officials, of which over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into the public arrangements (Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii.). The cemetery of private persons begins in the Ist dynasty with some pit tombs in the town. It was extensive in the XIIth and XIIIth dynasties and contained many rich tombs. In the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties a large number of fine tombs were made, and later ages continued to See also:bury here till See also:Roman times. Many See also:hundred funeral steles were removed by Mariette's work-men, without any record of the burials (Mariette, Abydos, ii. and iii.). Later excavations have been recorded by See also:Ayrton, Abydos, iii.; MacIver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah: The forts See also:lay behind the town. That known as Shunet ez Zebib is about 450X250 ft. over all, and still stands 30 ft. high. It was built by Khasekhemui, the last king of the Ilnd dynasty. Another fort nearly as large adjoined it, and is probably rather older. A third fort of a squarer See also:form is now occupied by the Coptic See also:convent; its age cannot be ascertained (Ayrton, Abydos, iii.). (W.

M. F.

End of Article: ABYDOS

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