ABSTRACT
The ancient Egyptian name for Dab6d is not known with any certainty, but one is tempted to see in it the Abaton, which occurs so frequeritly in the inscriptions at Phil~ and elsewhere. This word in Egyptian reads' Et-u'byt, and Dabod might well be the modern rendering. In Greek times 'Et-u'byt was named Abaton, and it is generally identified with Phil~; but this is not certain. A stele of Amenemhat lind, now at Berlin, was found here, which shows that the town was in existence as early as the XIIth dynasty. It was then probably a military outpost in connection with the garrison at Aswan. The King of Nubia who is responsible for the building of the temple is named "The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Rantaa-Setepenneteru, Son of the Sun Azkharamen, Living for ever, beloved of Isis." Ptolemy VIIth, who seems to have lived just after Azkharamen's reign, added a Greek inscription on one of the temple walls. The temple was embellished by Ptolemy Euergetes lInd, and in later times Augustus and Tiberius added some reliefs. Diocletian ceded Dab6d with the main part of Lower Nubia to the Nubae, whom he brought from the Oasis of El Khargeh to act as a
The most important deity to the inhabitants of Dab6d was, of course, Isis; and in the temple she is represented generally in connection with Osiris-U nnefer and Harpocrates. Other deities were worshipped in the temple, including Khnum, Amen-Ra, Mut, and Hathor. Amen-Ra is, in one place, called" Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands in Bigeh, Bull finding his place in Abaton."
