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Umm Ubayda
Temple
 In
the Siwa Oasis of Egypt, there are two temples dedicated to Amun. The most
famous of these is the Temple of the Oracle, while the second is now known as
Umm Ubayda (Umm Ubaydah, Umm Ubayd), which might be a corruption of the name Umm
Ma'bad, as it was known in the 1800's. Just as it was two thousand years ago, it
is situated amidst a grove of trees a short distance from the rock of Aghurmi.
The temple was at one time joined to the Temple of the Oracle by a causeway and
formed an integral part of the rituals related to the Oracle and the god.
The site is marked by a large area of whitish ground. Only one wall stands today
among these ruins, though near it is a number of huge stone blocks. All of these
blocks seem to be inscribed, and in some places color remains visible.
The pyramid was built in the 30th Dynasty, and was mentioned in the story of
Alexander the Great's visit to the Oasis after conquering Egypt. Until the
beginning of the 19th century, a great part of the temple was still preserved,
but in 1811 an earthquake caused major damage to the site. Nevertheless,
visitors to the site between the years of 1819 and 1821, including Cailliaud,
Drovetti and Von Minutoli, still found much of the temple standing, though they
recorded some blocks from the ceiling that had fallen down and one of the temple
walls leaning. Then, in 1897, one of the Ma'murs of Siwa placed gunpowder in the
foundations of the temple and blew it up to obtain stones for the staircase of
the police station at Qasr Hassunah and for the construction of his own house.
Hence, what time and nature could not do was accomplished by an ignorant
government official in a few minutes.
Mostly, we know the plan of this temple from those made up by its 19th century
visitors. It faced north, and was surrounded by two girdle walls. The enclosure
wall was square in plan. Though many parts of the temple had already fallen by
the early 19th century, the pronaos and the sanctuary still existed, and in
front of these there was a pillared hall. Within the enclosure wall, and in
front of the temple was an elevated area built of alabaster blocks. One of
these, either an altar or a pedestal for a statue of the God Amun, was decorated
on its four sides with a representation of Amun in the form of a human head with
ram's horns.
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5
Days/4 Nights based on BB
as low as USD
395
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