PHILAE, an islet in the Nile above the First Cataract, of great beauty and interest, but since the completion of the Aswan dam in 19o2 submerged except for a few months yearly, when the water is allowed to run freely through the sluices of the Aswan dam. Philae marks also the end of the cataract region. Ancient graffiti abound in all this district, and on Bigeh, a larger island adjoining Philae, there was a temple as early as the reign of Tethmosis III. About 35o B.c. Nekhtnebf, the last of the native kings of Egypt, built a temple to Isis, most of which was destroyed by floods. Ptolemy Philadelphus reconstructed some of this work and began a large temple which Ptolemy Euergetes I. completed, but the decoration, carried on under later Ptolemies and Caesars, was never finished. The little island won great favour as a religious resort, not only for the Egyptians and the Ethiopians and others who frequented the border district and the market of Aswan, but also for Greek and Roman visitors. One temple or chapel after another sprang up upon it dedicated to various gods, including the Nubian Mandulis. Ergamenes (Ar kamane), king of Ethiopia, shared with the Ptolemies in the building. Besides the temple of Isis with its birth-temple in the first court, there were smaller temples or shrines of Arsenuphis, Mandulis, Imuthes, Hathor, Harendotes (a form of Horus) and Augustus (in the Roman style), besides unnamed ones. There were also monumental gateways, and the island was protected by a stone quay all round with the necessary staircases, etc., and a
Nilometer. The most beautiful of all the buildings is an un finished kiosque inscribed by Trajan, well known under the name of "Pharaoh's Bed." The decree of Theodosius (A.D. 378) which suppressed pagan worship in the empire, was of little effect in the extreme south. It was not till the reign of Justinian, A.D. 527 565, that the temple of Philae was finally closed, and the idols taken to Constantinople. Remains of Christian churches were disclosed by the thorough exploration carried out in 1895-1896 in view of the Barrage scheme, under the direction of Captain Lyons. The accumulations of rubbish on the island were cleared away and the walls and foundations of the stone buildings were all repaired and strengthened before the dam was completed. The annual flooding now appears to be actually beneficial to the stonework, by removing the disintegrating salts and incrustations. The tops of most of the buildings and the whole nucleus of the temple of Isis to the floor remained all the year round above the water level until the dam was raised another 26 ft.—a work begun in 1907 —when the temples were entirely submerged except during July– October. But the beauty of the island and its ruins and palm trees, the joy of travellers and artists, is almost gone.