SPEOS ARTEMIDOS
Egypt.
A small Egyptian temple 1500 m SE of Bani Hasan, hewn in the rock
and known to the local people as Istabl Antar (the
stable of Antar). Champollion (1790-1832), identified
this grotto temple with the Greek Speos of Artemis,
which appears as Poes Artemidos in the
Antonine Itinerary and as Poisarietemidos in the
Notitia Dignitatum,
where it is mentioned that a Roman military garrison
settled there. The temple, which the inscriptions on the
walls call Hut Neter Onet, the sacred house of the valley, was dedicated to Pakhit, one of the goddesses whom
the Greeks seem to have equated with their Artemis at a
later date. The temple was hewn by Hatshepsut of the
18th Dynasty (1504-1483 B.C.) while Thoutmosis III
was the nominal ruler. When she died, her name was
erased from the cartouches and replaced by the name of
Seti I (1312-1300 B.C.). The portico of the temple has
two rows of unfinished and partly destroyed columns,
eight in all. A narrow passage (3 m deep) leads to a
sanctuary (4 m square) of which the S wall had been
prepared to receive the statue of the deity. The goddess,
with a lioness' head, is represented on the columns receiving homage from the king. To the right of this Great
Speos is a smaller one built during the Roman period.
The cornice on the doorway bears the cartouches of
Alexander Aigos. On the left-hand lintel the king is represented in three scenes, first before Horus, then before
Ammon Re, and finally with a goddess offering an image
of Maat to Pakhit. Likewise, on the right-hand lintel,
the king is seen, first before Shu, then before a god, and
finally with Hathor offering an image of Maat to Pakhit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Brunner-Traut & V. Hell,
Aegypten
(1966) 508; J. F. Champollion,
Monuments de l'Égypte
et de la Nubie (1835ff) II.322-34.
S. SHENOUDA
