Abydos

• Epigraphy
• Literature, Coptic: Update

Amelineau, E. Monuments pour servir à l'histoire de l'Egypte chrétienne aux IVe, Ve, VIe et VIIe siécles. Mémoires publiés par les membres de la mission archéologique française au Caire 4. Paris, 1886, 1888. Badawy, A. "Les Premiers établissements chrétiens dans les anciennes tombes d'Egypte." In Tome commémoratif du millénaire de la Bibliothéque patriarcale d'Alexandrie, Vol. 2. Alexandria, 1953. Campagnano, A. "Monaci egiziani fra V e VI secolo." Vetera Christianorum 15 (1978):223-46. Daressy, G. "Exploration archéologique de la montagne d'Abydos." Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte (1898):282-84. Lefebvre, G. "Egypte chrétienne, IV." Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Egypte 11 (1911):238-50. Munier, H. "Les Manuscrits coptes." Catalogue général des antiquités egyptiennes du Musée du Caire 74. Cairo, 1916. Murray, M. A. The Osireion at Abydos. London, 1904. Orlandi, T. Il dossier copto del martire Psote. Testi e documenti per lo studio dell'antichita 61. Milan, 1978. Peet, T. E. The Cemeteries of Abydos, pt. 2. London, 1914. Petrie, H. E. "The Coptic Hermitage at Abydos." In Tombs of the Courtiers and Oxyrhynchos, ed. W. F. Petrie. London, 1925. Petrie, W. F. Tombs of the Courtiers and Oxyrhynchos, ed. W. F. Petrie. London, 1925. Piankoff, A. "The Osireion of Seti I at Abydos During the Graeco-Roman Period and the Christian Occupation." Bulletin de la Société d'Archéologie copte 15 (1958-1960):125-49. Sicard, C. Oeuvres, Vol. 3, Parallèles géographiques, ed. S. Sauneron and M. Martin. Bibliothèque d'Etude 85. Cairo, 1982. Till, W. Koptische Heiligen- und Martyrerlegenden, fasc. 2. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 108. Rome, 1936. RENÉ-GEORGES COQUIN MAURICE MARTIN, S.J. Buildings Abydos is one of the oldest and holiest places of pharaonic Egypt, for according to the old religion, here Osiris was buried and here he rose again from the dead. The area therefore served from earliest Egyptian times as a necropolis (Kaiser, 1979, pp. 162-63). In addition, several kings erected large cenotaphs for themselves there. The real main temple of the place has not survived (on the few remains, see Kemp, 1968). On the other hand, the great temple of Seti I, with the cenotaph of this king (the so-called Osireion), is still standing. It is one of the best-preserved New Kingdom temples. Until well into the Christian period, the temple was a bulwark of paganism (Piankoff, 1958-1960, pp. 128-31). It was only Moses of al-Balyana who, at the beginning of the sixth century, brought about its end. To all appearance, however, the temple did not undergo any real Christianization. Nevertheless, there are Christian inscriptions and graffiti in several rooms. The larger service room on the west side of the so-called Butchers' Hall, in the south wing of the temple, is studded with Coptic inscriptions. This room appears to have taken on a new cultic significance in Christian times, but its purpose is not beyond dispute. At any rate, there are no indications of its conversion into a church. The content of the inscriptions implies that the room was particularly frequented by women and Christian nuns, which points to the existence of a convent in the neighborhood (Crum, in Murray, 1904, pp. 38-43). These inscriptions extend down to the tenth century A.D. In the area of the first temple court, behind the pylon, numerous late Roman architectural fragments were found. If there was a church in this temple, it can only have stood in this court. Remains of a settlement in late antiquity have also been preserved on the top of the kom (mound) a few hundred yards northeast of the Seti temple, at the place where today stands the rest house of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (EAO). We can recognize some traces of streets and a larger building that shows an extended inner court. The buildings as a whole are built of mud bricks. The thickness of the walls and the staircases that can be seen at several places indicate that the majority of the buildings were two-storied. During the construction of the EAO rest house, the ruins of a church, probably a basilica, were found (unpublished). Isolated shafts of columns and several large capitals of limestone still lie in the surrounding fields. Some of them, for the adornment of the rest house terrace, were set up on the parapet of the wall. A weaving mill from the early Christian period, perhaps of the seventh century A.D., with several pieces of Byzantine workmanship, was discovered to the south of the temple in the marketplace of the present-day village of ‘Arabah al-Madfunah. There are also a few hermits' caves in the neighborhood of Abydos. These subterranean grave structures from the pharaonic period are approached by an outside staircase; with the addition of a few niches and benches, they were converted for living purposes. Some of these hermits' caves (e.g., Chapel D 68; Peet, 1914, fig. 14) have inscriptions and modest paintings. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abdallah Farag, R. "Excavation at Abydos in 1977: A Byzantine Loom Factory." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 39 (1983):51-57. Bouriant, U. Rapport au ministre de l'instruction publique sur une mission dans la Haute Egypte. Mémoires publiés par les membres de la mission archéologique française au Caire 1. Paris, 1881-1884. Calverley, A. M. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, Vols. 1-4. London and Chicago, 1933-1958. (Ground plan is in Vol. 1, p1. 1A.) Kaiser, W. "Umm el-Qaab." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo, 35 (1979):162-63. Kemp, B. J. "The Osiris Temple at Abydos." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 23 (1968):138-55. Murray, M. A. The Osireion at Abydos. London, 1904. Peet, T. E. "The Cemeteries of Abydos II, 1911-1912." 34th Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund (1914):49-53. Piankoff, A. "The Osireion of Seti I at Abydos During the Greco-Roman Period and the Christian Occupation." Bulletin de la Société d'Archèologie copte 15 (1958-1960):125-49. PETER GROSSMANN