Temple of Dakka

Ad-Dakka (Arab: الدكة, also el-Dakka, Egyptian: Pselqet, Greek: Pselchis) was a place in Lower Nubia, which was located approximately 100 km south of the Aswan. [cite web|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dakka.htm|title=The Temple of Dakka in Nubia|accessdate=28 September|accessyear=2008] The Greco-Roman Temple of Dakka, dedicated to Thoth, the god of wisdom, was initially a small one room shrine or chapel which that was first begun in the 3rd century BC by a Meroitic king named Arkamani (or Ergamenes) in collaboration with Ptolemy IV who added an antechamber and a gate structure. [Dieter Arnold, Nigel Strudwick & Sabine Gardiner, The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture, I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2003. p.65] Ptolemy IX "subsequently enlarged the temple by adding a pranaos with two rows of probably three columns." [Arnold, Strudwick & Gardiner, op. cit., p.65] During the Roman period, the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius futher enlarged the structure with "the addition, at the rear, of a second sanctuary as well as inner and outer enclosure walls with a large pylon. The sanctuary contained a granite naos." [Arnold, Strudwick & Gardiner, op. cit., p.65]

A large dromos leads to the pylon which formed the entrance to the temple and each of the pylon's towers are decorated in high relief and bear numerous graffiti from visitors, mostly in Greek but some in Demotic and Meroitic script. [Necia Desiree Harkless, Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings: the Kingdom of Kush, Authorhouse, 2006. p.41] Inside the gateway, the Meroitic king Arqamani "is shown on the left sacrifing to Thoth, with Tefnut and Hathor above and Isis below." [Harkness, op. cit., p.41] There are reliefs of cows offered as gifts to the god Thoth carved into the naos of the Temple of Dakka. [László Török, The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art, Brill, 2002. p.260] While the temple of Dakka was similar architecturally to the temple of Wadi es-Sebua, it lacked a front courtyard of sphinxes; however, its 12 metre high pylon is in near perfect condition. [cite web|url=http://lexicorient.com/egypt/wadi_seboua01.htm|title= Wadi es-Seboua: Temple of Dakka|accessdate=28 September|accessyear=2008] During the Christian period of Egypt, the facade of the pranaos was converted for use into a church and Christian paintings were still visible here in the 20th century before the temple was enveloped by Nile floods. [Harkness, op. cit., p.41]

Relocation of Temple

With the construction of the Aswan dam in the 1960s, the temple was dismantled and moved to the site of Wadi es-Sebua some 40 km upstream between 1962 and 1968. [cite web|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dakka.htm|title= The Temple of Dakka in Nubia|accessdate=28 September|accessyear=2008] At the time of its removal, some reused stone blocks from Thutmose III, Seti I and Merneptah were discovered which originated from an earlier New Kingdom structure in or near Kubban. [Arnold, Strudwick & Gardiner, op. cit., p.65] Today, the Temple of Dakka sits dramatically on a small bluff and is the only Nubian temple with a facade that faces to the north and enjoys a north-south orientation to parallel the course of the Nile. [cite web|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dakka.htm|title= The Temple of Dakka in Nubia|accessdate=28 September|accessyear=2008] The temple's pylon is now separated from the remainder of the temple due to the missing enclosure walls of the open court.

The Temple of Maharraqa was also moved and rebuilt at the New Wadi es-Sebua temple complex area.

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