The Island Sehel - An Epigraphic Hotspot

08
The Shrine of Anuket
The Lady of Sehel and her Shrine at Hussein Tagug
The main goddess venerated on Sehel Island was Anuket, who was also commonly called
the lady of Sehel. The site of her shrine was most probably located on a narrow terrace
embedded within the eastern hillside of Hussein Tagug, where a broad niche had been
cut into the face of the hill’s granite. Today no visible traces of the shrine’s architecture,
however humble it may have been, are left, but there is strong evidence for the existence of
a prominent ancient sanctuary in this area. First and foremost, the overwhelming number
of dedicatory rock inscriptions assembled opposite and around the niche (see inscription
of Kaemkemet cited below) attests to its religious importance (at least from the late Middle
Kingdom onwards). In addition, two relief slabs made of sandstone were found at Sehel,
of which one was later sold to the Brooklyn Museum in New York (see picture below). It
displays two symmetrical offering scenes, in which king Sobekhotep (13th Dynasty, c.
1744-1741 BCE) presents a vase to both female deities of the Triad of Elephantine, and it
once formed part either of a small shrine or an altar dedicated to Anuket.
The situation is thus similar to other sanctuaries in the First Cataract region. As in
the case of the temple of Satet at Elephantine, it is likely that also on Sehel Island the local
goddess was believed to be immanent in a conspicuous feature of the natural landscape.
Apparently, specific rock formations such as niches, exceptionally shaped boulders or large
potholes were often considered as sacred and, as a result, used as ritual places.
The relief of Sobekhotep III
(13th Dynasty, c. 1744-1741
BCE) shows the king offering
a vessel each to the goddess
Satet (left) and to the goddess
Anuket (right). It probably
formed part of a shrine that
housed the cult image of
Anuket on Sehel Island.
(courtesy of the
Brooklyn Museum,
New York)
Rock Inscription of Kaemkemet (see picture above)
“An offering that the king gives (to) Khnum, Satet, Anuket, and the gods, the lords of Elephantine.
An offering that the king gives (to) Anuket, the lady of Sehel,
Osiris, foremost of the west, and Anubis, who is upon his hill,
so that they may give
a thousand of beer and bread, a thousand of flesh and fowl, a thousand of offerings,
a thousand of incense and oil, as well as a thousand of every good and pure thing
to the Ka (i.e. the soul of a deceased person) of the high priest of Satet, Anuket, and the gods,
the lords of Ta-seti (i.e. region to the south of Egypt), Ka(em)kemet.”
Column 1-5 (Praying for Offerings)
New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty (c. 1186-1070)
“O living ones upon the earth,
every priest, every god’s-father (i.e. a priest), every lector priest, every scribe,
and everyone who knows his spell who may pass by this stela:
the gods of your town shall favor you, you shall be loved (by) the king of your time,
and shall bequeath your office to your children after old age,
if you will say:
'An offering that the king gives (to) Khnum, Satet, and Anuket of all good and pure things to the Ka of
the high priest of Khnum, Satet, and Anuket, Kaemkemet!' “
Column 6-12 (Appeal to the Living)