Get to Know More about Sacred Worship in Ancient Nubia

In her recent interview with The Thinkers Garden, Professor Solange Ashby revealed interesting details about the sacred worship in Ancient Nubia.

“In writing the history of this Nubian tradition of worship in the Egyptian temples of Lower Nubia, I came to understand that Nubian pilgrimages and activities at the sacred site of Philae were actually older than the extant temple of Isis that was built under Ptolemy II," she initiated.

Ashby explained the progression of ancient Nubian gods, "inscriptions show us that the groups of Nubians who arrived at Philae (and the other temples of Lower Nubia) changed over time, the context of their participation in the temple rites changed as did the gods that they came to worship at the temple, initially local Nubian gods, later Isis and Osiris, and finally Blemmye gods such as Ptiris and Mandulis."

"The oldest standing monument in the temple complex is a granite bark stand inscribed for the Kushite king Taharqo (690-664 BCE) who worshiped the god Amun who is closely associated with Kushite kingship," the professor indicated.

Next, she talked about the phases of Nubian worship and how it was recorded, "Three separate phases of Nubian worship are recorded in the prayer inscriptions. In the first century CE, Nubian worshipers conducted their rites and engraved their prayer inscriptions on the forecourt of the Main Temple at Philae."

Continuing, "In the second and third centuries CE, Nubian priests gained access to the interior of the temple.

Their rites were conducted in the Pronaos of the temple, in the Gate of Hadrian (to the west of the Main Temple), and on a nearby island called Biga (Abaton in Greek) where a temple associated with the burial of Osiris is located along with 365 offering tables according to a hieroglyphic text that decorates the interior north wall of the Gate of Hadrian."

Finalizing, "In the final phase in the early fifth century CE, worshipers may have performed their rites on the roof of the Main Temple (where the so-called Osiris Chambers, decorated with scenes of the mummification and revivification of Osiris, are located) and the roof of the Birth House. It is likely that they retreated to the roofs due to the increasingly powerful Christian presence on the island of Philae."

It is worthy to mention that Professor Ashby had various detailed studies about the history of Nubia, and she conducted a lot of research about the history of ancient southern tribes in Egypt.