Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 6 - The Monkeys of Ashmunin and Hermopolis Magna

Following our visit to the Boundary Stela "A", we headed a few miles Northeast to the town of Ashmunin (also appearing as Ashmoun or Ashmunein). 

We passed through some interesting rural areas, then the town of Ashmunin.   It took about a half hour to cover the six or seven miles of bumpy road, maneuvering around donkey carts and sheep.

 

  

This road apparently does not get a lot of tourist traffic, so we seemed to attract a lot of attention, especially from the children.

Just beyond Ashmunin, we reached an open-air museum which houses the two large baboon statues (reconstructed in part) that represent the ancient Egyptian god, Thoth. 

 

  

 

 

The statues appear to hold some original hieroglyphic carvings.

 

Notice the two oval cartouches which appear to have been altered to eliminate a previous royal name.

After taking a few pictures with the baboons, we turned around and noticed the ruins of the ancient city of Hermopolis Magna behind us. There was only a half hour left before sunset so we didn't have time left in the day to visit the site, still the subject of continuing architectural digs. It is probably just as well since we later learned it is home to numerous snakes and scorpions.

 

As the sun set, we returned north toward Minya where we stopped for a delicious dessert at a "Pick & Go" in this modern town.

 

  

    

 

After that, we returned to the Holy Family Hotel via the west bank highway utilizing the ferry which we had observed at breakfast, to cross the river.

  

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 5 - Tuna al-Gabal, Boundary Stela A

Near the entrance to Tuna al-Gabal, one of the Amarna boundary stelae, Stela "A", can be seen in the distance.  Of course, we were interested to get a close up look at this notable monument.

As we approached the stairway leading up to the boundary stela, we noticed some toppled signs, both at the base and the top.

The signs at the bottom appeared to be quite old and were, in fact, "retired" signs meant for the nearby necropolis of baboons and birds which we had skipped during the visit to the tombs described in the previous post.

  

 

It is a tough climb to the top due to the blowing sand deposited on the stairs. It's easy to see how entire buildings and monuments in Egypt can disappear over the years.

There was another pair of overturned information signs at the top which our helpful police escort stood up for me to take a photo.  

  

While both signs appear to have been painted over at some time, the Arabic version is fairly legible; the English side is very difficult to read.   Google Translate, applied to the Arabic side yields the following"

The boundary panel of the city of Akhetaton, one of fourteen faces established by the new god Akhenaten, the city of Anun, the political capital of Egypt in the period from 1350 AD, was inscribed on it by King Akhenaton and his wife, and his wife Neferini, worshiping the god Anun, the one, and the text in the roll of the two giants, the rest of the joy, and after Muawiyah, the dangerous religious and now Mr. Abu Halima, the other side has the son Ali al-K and the royals from Melin with her theological T Anun, Anun passed away - Ankhesen, Ya Anun, and from their daughters, Heri

1982

Somehow, Google Translate never quite satisfies my curiosity!

This boundary stela was first depicted for the general public in a drawing by Robert Hay in 1827:

In fairly recent times a protective roof was added; In 2009, smoked glass doors protected the remnants of the statues and stela when British photographer and blogger, Su Bayfield, took this picture in 2003.

We were lucky in 2024 to be free to browse and see the stela up close (under the watchful eyes of our police escort, of course.)

Naturally, I took quite a few pictures, especially of the stela and its hieroglyphics.

At the top of the stela Akhenaton, Nefertiti and their first two daughters are portrayed worshiping the sun god, Aton, in front of offering tables.

 

The hieroglyphic text below the royal family is largely eroded except for the upper left and lower right corners. This is apparently one of two royal proclamations that are repeated on the several boundary stelae.  This one states that Akhenaton does not plan to expand the city.

The full stela:

The Armana Project has a good explanation of the content of the various boundary stellae here.

Walking back down the stairs, the rocky cliffs on the eastern boundary of Amarna were barely visible in the distance.  

As we returned to our van, our path was littered with a large number of what appeared to be agate geodes. One had been cracked open.  Being a native Oregonian, I would like to have sawed a couple of the others in half to determine whether they might even be "thunder eggs".

  

More photos at our Flickr album, of course. 

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 4 - Tuna al-Gabal, The Tombs of Petosiris and Isadora

After leaving Amarna in the early afternoon, we crossed the Nile, heading west, passing through several miles of rich agricultural land south of the town of Mallawi until we again reached desert and cliffs at the site of Tuna al-Gabal.

    

If you notice that the Egyptian sign makers are rather free with their vowels - el-Gebel, el-Gabel, al-Gabal, etc., that is because in Arabic, vowels are never written; you simply fill them in mentally as needed while you read the Arabic text.

The principle attraction at Tuna al-Gabal is the Tomb of Petosiris  who was the high priest of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, writing and magic at the nearby city of Hermopolis.  "Hermopolis stood on the borders of Upper and Lower Egypt ... As the border town, Hermopolis was a place of great resort and opulence, ranking second to Thebes alone," according to Wikipedia.

Petosiris built a memorable tomb around 300 B.C. for himself, his father, his brother and his son.  Combining the style of ancient Egyptian tombs with some Greek influence, the wall decorations are among the best in the country.

  

 

Portions of the exterior columns contain a bit of the vibrant color that once marked the tomb as visitors approached.

  

The exterior carvings beneath the roof are also well preserved.

  

  

 

The interior images are particularly well preserved.  (Many additional photos at my Flickr album here.)

 

 

 

  

And of course, Thoth, the god of wisdom is well represented.

After spending quite a bit of time looking at these scenes from the Greek/Ptolemy era, we moved forward about 500 years to the Roman era and looked at the Tomb of Isadora.

  

This smaller tomb contains the mummy of Isadora, dating from 120 B.C.

  

  

 

This tomb is small in comparison to that of Petosiris but comes with an interesting story.

Isadora was the daughter of the wealthy Egyptian regional governor living in the nearby town of Antinopolis.  At the age of 16, she fell in love with an Egyptian soldier, Habi, stationed on the opposite side of the Nile.  Isadora and Habi met secretly on both sides of the river for three years.  When Isadora's father discovered the relationship he forbade further contact and assigned guards to watch her.  Isadora deceived the guards and escaped to the opposite shore for another meeting with Habi.  As she returned from their assignation, she realized that it was likely to be her last contact with Habi and committed suicide by throwing herself into the river.  

Sorrowful for his behavior, Isadora's father built the beautiful tomb with a funeral bed in the shape of the shell, believing that she would be transformed into a nymph after her death in the water.  An elegy in Greek poetry was composed (either by her father or Habi, depending on the version) and carved into the tomb.

Habi was reported to visit the tomb nightly and "to release incense to Isadora and light a candle inside her tomb so that her soul would not remain alone, and so is his love for her, and the people confirm seeing shadows of two people sitting next to each other on lunar nights."

In more recent times, the well-known Egyptian poet, Taha Hussein, spent winters at a nearby rest house and would light the same lamp every day according to no less an authority than Zahi Hawass.