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the Temple of Neith - Original

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Ian Nottingham
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« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2008, 01:34:20 pm »

The Royal City of Saïs
------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is it ?

Sais is the Greek name for the Ancient Egyptian city ‘Sa’ . In
hieroglyphs the name ‘Sa’ is written like this :


Where is it ?


The archaeological site of the city is in the western Egyptian delta
(modern day Gharbiyah province). There is a village on the site called
Sa el-Hagar, a name which combines the ancient name ‘Sa’ with the Arabic
word for ‘stone’. It means ‘Sa the stone’ and is a good indication that
there was once an impressive city here with many stone buildings.


What happened there ?


A five thousand year-old wooden label with the name of King Aha shows
the symbol of Sais inside a wooden compound. Some Egyptologists think
that this shows that Sais was an important cult centre in northern Egypt
right at the very beginning of Egyptian history, around 3100 BC.


The cult emblem shows a shield-shaped object with two arrows crossed
through it and is usually perched on a stand. The object may be a
shield, or it could originally have been an animal skin hung up and used
as target practice. It is the emblem of the goddess of Sais called
Neith.

Which gods had cults at Sais ?


Neith (above) may originally have been a hunting goddess who could bring
good hunting to hunters out in the the desert margins of the Western
delta. She is usually depicted wearing a flat-topped crown with a coil
element at the front and a tall projection at the back (below).


This was to become the Red Crown and symbolised all of Lower Egypt (the
north). When Egypt was united into one kingdom, the Kings invented a
crown combining the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown of
Lower Egypt.


Neith was a very powerful goddess and was also regarded as a creator.
This is rare in Egypt because creation deities are usually male. She
was, too, the mother of Sobek, the crocodile god associated with the
fertility and power of the Nile. In the Late Period (from 1000 BC
onwards), her temple was a centre of pilgrimage. It was famous for its
linen cloth which is appropriate for this part of Egypt. Egyptian cloth
was most often linen which is made from a plant called flax. This would
grow very happily in the marshy, watery area of the Nile delta. The
Neith temple had craftsmen and women who wove the cloth into very fine
material, often almost see through. They had different grades of
material, but the best was ‘royal' cloth which was fine and transparent.

There were other important gods who had temples at Sais too.


Atum, another creator god, was associated with Neith. He was not really
her consort, but more of a male-power counterpart.


Osiris was also popular at Sais. He was the Egyptian god of the dead who
ruled over the spirits of those people reborn in the afterlife. He had a
special form at Sais where he was called ‘Osiris Hemag’. The meaning of
his surname is a bit mysterious, but seems to be something like ‘Osiris
made of carnelian’ (a semi-precious stone, orange in colour). Usually
Osiris was shown wrapped up like a mummy, but Osiris Hemag had bandages
decorated with semi-precious stones. He would have looked spectacular —
glistening, shimmering and gleaming in the afterlife sunlight. Many
people came to make offerings to Osiris at Sais as an act of pilgrimage.

Were there any people at Sais ?


Sais was also a powerful political and economic centre. We do not know
much about its role in Egypt’s early history, but in about 727 BC a man
called Tefnakhte set himself up there as the ‘Great Chief of the West’
and claimed to rule the whole of the Western delta. This meant he would
have controlled the agriculture in the area, the sea trade down the
western branch of the Nile, the coast, the linen industry at Sais, the
temple cults at Sais, the resources of the Wadi Natrun from where
mummifying material came, and possibly the trade routes to the oases.
The Oasis areas were especially famous for their wine, so Tefnakhte
seems to have known what he was doing.

Was Tefnakhte a real king ?


Tefnakhte was really only a local ruler, but his descendants under
Psamtek, who also came from Sais, eventually claimed to rule the whole
of Egypt. This means that for 139 years Sais was the capital of this
great civilization.

Who were these Saites ?


The Saite family had continuous problems with the Assyrians who
eventually invaded Egypt, the Thebans who disliked being ruled by
northerners but they had some help in the form of Greek mercenaries.
These men were soldiers who were hired to guard important cities in
Egypt such as Sais and also a trading city called Naukratis. They would
also fight for their employers if necessary.

Many stories exist about the Saite kings but one of the most amazing
things about them is that they were very interested in Egyptology! They
wanted to show that they were worthy, true kings of Egypt and successors
of their illustrious ancestors. Already by then the Pyramids at Giza
were almost 2000 years old, so there was much to study. The Saite kings
copied artistic styles and types of statue from the past so that they
could demonstrate their devotion and piety. They commissioned many
statues of themselves, restored temple buildings - an example followed
by their officials — and most of all they made Sais one of the greatest
cities in the known world. A Greek visitor called Herodotus was amazed
by the size of the statues, the temples and the richness of the palaces
he saw in the city.

What did the Saite kings do ?


Psamtek I

He may have been the first to used mercenary troops to defeat the other
Egyptian princes. He sent his eldest daughter, Nitokris, to Thebes to be
an important priestess there. This meant he had some influence in the
south of Egypt, for she was an influential landholder. He reigned for 54
years, truly the founder of a dynasty.

Nekau

He sent a fleet of Phoenician ships to circumnavigate Africa and had a
lot of problems with the Assyrians and the Medes (Persians). He reigned
15 years.

Psamtek II

Nefer-ib-ra P-sam-tek
He only reigned for 6 years, but was responsible for the construction of
a huge number of monuments. He may have sent an expedition to Nubia, but
was compelled to direct most of his attention to the wars to the
north-east. He sent his daughter, Ankhnesneferibre, to Thebes to be the
new ‘God’s Wife of Amun’ as successor to Nitokris.

Apries

He may have been deeply involved in the wars in Syria and over
Jerusalem, but he definitely did send an army against the Greek colony
of Cyrene (on the North African coast). The Egyptians were soundly
beaten and Apries lost his throne. He reigned for 19 years.

Amasis

He took power after the failure of Apries who may have been murdered by
the Saite mob. He made friendly overtures to other Mediterranean
countries and made the Greek traders trade only from Naukratis, where
they could be contained. He seems to have been very astute and was
remembered well in Herodotus’ story of Amasis’ liking for Falernian
wine. He ruled for 44 years.

Psamtek III


He was a bit unlucky as the Persians invaded Egypt in 525 BC just after
he became king. After a great battle at Pelusium, the Egyptians
retreated to Memphis where they surrendered after a siege.


We don't know what happened to Sais then, but Cambyses, the Persian
king, is said to have destroyed many Egyptian temples.

As Sais was the capital of the Saite kings they lived there and were
also buried in tombs within the Neith Temple complex.

What happened after this ?


Sais continued to be the centre of a bishopric in the Christian period
but by the 17th century had become a small village.

Why is it important ?


Egyptologists don't know very much about the delta part of Egypt and
about cities and how they were organised. They don’t like such gaps, so
they go and try to fill them in. Manfred Bietak has been working hard in
the Eastern delta for the last thirty years and has made some very
important discoveries about ancient Egypt and its towns. There is still
a gap in the west however.

We want to understand how cities could come to be important and the kind
of factors which mean it was possible. We can understand some of the
individuals who made things happen, such as Psamtek I and Amasis, but we
would also like to know how the River Nile affected a city's fortunes,
how the Egyptian focus on the west may have influenced the eventual
founding of Alexandria, how the city of Sais developed from 3000 BC
onward as a cult centre, the way in which Sais worked as a pilgrimage
centre, the types of industries and trading which happened there, how
the royal obsession with the past affected ordinary people, the forms of
Saite pottery, the shape and plans of the temples, the location of the
city's harbours, settlements, canals and so on.

My personal favourite quest is for the Sacred Lake at Sais. This Lake
would have been a place where rituals were performed and also have
provided water for washing in the temple. We know that the lake existed
because Herodotus saw the ceremony of the lighted lamps performed on it,
and also there is a statue of the man who built the lake. He gives us an
indication of its exact size and location. It would be great to match up
the accounts, the statue text and the archaeology!

What’s going on there now ?


The Egypt Exploration Society are sponsoring a survey and archaeological
assessment of the site for future work. Visitors to Sais are often
disappointed when they come to the site at the lack of things to see.
However, as our work is showing, there is much to discover about Sais.
Sometimes the visitor needs a good imagination and sometimes a lot of
scientific help. But we believe the Royal City of Sais will begin to
yield its secrets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.dur.ac.uk/penelope.wilson/intro.html

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