SNAP SHOTS

By Mohamed El-Hebeishy

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photo: Mohamed El-Hebeishy

FROM ASSYRIAN to Persian, from Roman to Nubian, invasions besieged Egypt through the course of time. Some left valuable relics and some built whole temples. Mohamed El Hebeishy discovers one of only two temples that date back to the Persian period.

It wasn't before 525 BC when the ambitious Persian Emperor Cambyses ventured into Egypt through the desert, easily defeating Pharaoh Psamtek III in the battle of Pelusium. The 27th Dynasty was then declared and Egypt was under Persian rule for the next 193 years.

Though his conquest of Egypt was fairly easy, Cambyses was unfortunate in both his subsequent military campaigns as well as being a monarch. He personally led an ill-fated invasion of Ethiopia that was so disastrous that history records his mercenary army feeding on the flesh of their own colleagues as food supplies were short. The other military fiasco was the Siwa campaign, better remembered as the Lost Army of Cambyses, where 50,000 men vanished without a trace amidst a sandstorm in the Western Desert of Egypt.

With such a legacy of misfortune and failure, Darius I, Cambyses's successor to the throne, had a challenging task before him. Adapting a different approach than that of his predecessor, Darius I treated the Egyptians with respect and good will. His list of achievements includes finishing the canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea, extending the Serapeum at Saqqara and the completion of Hibis Temple in Kharga Oasis.

Dedicated to the Theban triad of gods Amun, Mut and Khonsu, the building of Hibis Temple was ordered by King Apries of the 26th Dynasty in 588 BC. It was finally completed 66 years later in 522 BC. The largest and best preserved temple of the Western Desert was actually concealed from sight all the way until the 20th century when it was dug out.

Hibis Temple, derived from the ancient Egyptian word hebet or plough, grabbed the spotlight in recent years when an underground local water table was confirmed to be on the rise; the temple was at risk. Though it was scheduled for relocation to a safer site, a last-minute decision ruled the temple to be restored in-situ.

Hibis Temple is currently undergoing restoration works, but this has not stopped egrets and herons from stopping by (notice the temple roof).