- El-Kab - The town of El-Kab, in ancient times known as Nekheb, is located in the south of Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, in 15 km north of Edfu, opposite to Kom-El-Ahmar (ancient Hierakonpolis), is one of the oldest settlements in Upper Egypt. The name of the ancient city of Nekheb (Greek Eileithyiaspolis) is probably associated with the name of the goddess Nehbet, most often depicted as a vulture. Nehbet was not only the goddess of El-Kab, but also the deity-patroness of all the Upper Egypt. The name of the city was first discovered by the British archaeologist J. E. Quibell on the fragment of the stele of Kha-Sekhemu (the King of the II Dynasty) and on the three stone vessels, found during excavations in 1898. Ancient Egyptian inscriptions, ingraved on the surface of these vases, are briefly describing how the King hold victory on the northern invaders in those lands. One of the inscriptions reads: "The year of the expulsion of the northern invanders from the city of Nekheb." Being carved in the shape of a vulture, the goddess Nekhbet stands face to face with the Horus name of King Kha-Sekhemu. In one of her paw she helds a seal in the form of a ring which is the word "besh" inside of it, which means "rebels", in the other paw - the symbol of the United Egypt. At present time, the ruins of the ancient city with its temples, buildings of different epoches, and it's Sacred Lake are noticable in the general landscape, due to the massive enclosure wall surrounding it. This wall was built by the Pharaoh of the XXX Dynasty - Nectanebo II in the middle of the IV century BC. (360-343 BC). Being made of adobe, the wall encircles an area of about 30,000 m² and forms a rectangle of 520 x 590 meters. The thickness of the wall varies from 12 to 16 m.
The visiting of El-Kab by European travelers began in the 1740s. During Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt (1798-1799), the parts of the temples with their columns and architraves were still standing. This fact is evidenced in the drawings and schemes of Francois Denon in Napoleon's expedition account of 1800. The image below shows how El-Kab appeared before the eyes of the German artist Ernst Weidenbach, who made sketches of historical monuments during the expeditions of the German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius in the middle of the XIX century.
The first large-scale archaeological research in El-Kab were carried out in the late XIXth and early XXth centuries by such famous British archaeologists as: James Edward Quibell, Frederick William Green, Archibald Henry Sayce, Joseph John Tylor and Somers Clarke. In 1937, the Belgian archaeologists have completely taken this project under their disposal, and since then the excavations of the ancient town were provided only under their control. The famous Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart and his successor Pierre Gilbert directed archaeological research here for many years before and after the World War II. Now the wall looks like as follows: The second (western) temple was built in honor of the god Thoth. The construction of the Temple of Thoth was begun by Pharaoh of the XVIII Dynasty - Amenhotep II. Later, the temple was expanded and rebuilt by the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
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