ABSTRACT
Miss Edwards describes this temple as “a shed without and a cameo within”. It stands on the left bank of the Nile, which here flows round a bend almost due south through barren uninhabited desert. The reason for building a temple in such a place is not apparent, but it seems to have been a sacred spot from the XIIth dynasty. It is possible that Senusert III erected the first shrine, for his name occurs in the temple, and the names of persons of the Middle Kingdom are found inscribed on the rocks in the neighbourhood, Senusert’s shrine, if there ever was one, has disappeared long since, and the present building dates to the middle of the XVIIIth dynasty, having been erected by Tehutmes III and his son Amenhotep II; the figures and cartouches of the two Kings alternate throughout the temple. Tehutmes IV made some additions and alterations, and the Pharaohs of the XlXth dynasty continued the decoration, after which the Egyptian Kings appear to have lost interest in the temple and it was left to decay.
