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.