Chapter24
A Tour of the Temple of Hathor
Afew minutes later
“There it is,” Diana said, her gaze directed at the flat roofline of a structure that was slowly coming into view from behind a massive mud brick wall.
Framed with the angled pylons common to other Egyptian temples, the Temple of Hathor featured a figure-carved fascia atop six columns.Six stone panels, also carved, ran across the front of the columns, although several were mostly hidden by a sand dune.Two rectangular pillars framed the opening.
To the north, a gateway made up of two sandstone pillars topped with a broken lintel jutted from the sand, its surface etched with hieroglyphics.
“The capitals look odd,” Tom remarked, referring to the tops of the columns on the front of the temple.“Rather an unusual shape.”
“Those are supposed to be Hathor, but her face has been etched away,” Diana explained.“The protrusions on either side of her face and in the front of her headdress are the cow ears,” she added.To the untrained eye, the conical features might have been mistaken for an unusual hairstyle.
“By whom?”Randy asked.
“Christians.They attempted to erase any images of what they believed to be pagan gods,” she explained.“And then they adopted the temple for their use.”
“It obviously benefited from being buried in the sand,” Randy commented as their driver directed the horse to pull their hantour into a line next to the one holding their aunt and uncle.
David had already stepped down from the driver’s bench, hurrying to stand atop a slight sand dune.The hill obscured the lower portion of the right side of the front façade and appeared to block the entrance to the temple.
“The doorway is accessible,” he called out.Given the height of the temple, he appeared rather small where he stood on a mound of sand.
Randy stepped down from the hantour, hoisting Diana’s satchel over one shoulder before assisting her to the ground.He knew better than to offer his arm, for she was already practically running toward the temple, her hurried steps encumbered by the sand.
When Tom took off in pursuit, Randy chuckled and followed in their footsteps.“They seem to forget thatIam the one carrying the bag with the torches,” he said when he joined their guide.
“They will not need light for the front part of the temple,” Mahmood remarked.He pointed at the façade.Hieroglyphic carvings were evident on the three left side panels that fronted the columns, their height not quite half the height of the entire temple.The columns continued up to support the front of the roof.
“Ah, I did not know if we would be able to goinsidethe temple,” Mahmood replied.“When I was last here, the sand blocked most of the opening.Someone has been here and cleared it.”His last words were quieter, as if he was talking to himself.
“Do you think someone else is in there now?”Randy asked, alarm sounding in his voice at the thought that Diana and David had already gone beyond the columns.Even as he asked the question, Tom had disappeared from view.
Mahmood shook his head.“If anyone else is here, they have been here for some time.”He waved to the area around them, where the sand remained undisturbed and no other means of transport was visible.He turned and waited until a driver hurried up carrying several torches.
Randy’s eyes widened at seeing the ragged-wrapped rush stalks.From the scent, he realized they had been soaked in some sort of animal fat.“But you knew there was a possibility we might encounter someone.”
Mahmood shrugged.“I am not without a weapon, and I always pack a few rushlights in the box behind the driver,” he replied, grinning.
Although it appeared dark beyond the rectangular entrance, light spilled in from around the richly decorated columns.
The voices of the others sounded hollow in the cavernous structure, the sandy stone floor amplifying their footsteps.
“We won’t need the torches right away,” Mahmood said.“The hypostyle is well-lit, but it is darker toward the back and in the crypts below.”
“Crypts?”Randy repeated, removing his eye-glasses.He tucked them into a waistcoat pocket.
Mahmood nodded.“There are many.The passageways are very small, though.They are long and thin.Difficult for a man to explore.”
Randy displayed a look of relief.Diana would insist on going down there to explore, though.“How does one go below?”he asked.
“There are stairs from trapdoors in the main temple floor.Near the walls,” the guide replied.“There are stairs up to the roof, too.”He indicated the torches.“We will light these when it becomes necessary.”He waved for everyone to follow, and he entered the temple.
A round of ‘ooh’s and ‘ah’s sounded from their party as they surveyed the rows of round pillars filling the hypostyle.Their capitals were like those on the front of the temple, the heads of Hathor but with her features removed.
“Diana?”Randy called out.
