A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

TEMPLE OF ISIS. 253
of the Ptolemies, forms the jRrst propylon of the
Great Temple of Isis, the principal edifice of the
island, and would escape any eyes but the prac-
tised and unerring ones of a Wilkinson or a
Champollion ; but their science has rescued this
morsel from being confounded with the profuse
remains of Greek and Roman art, among which
it is encrusted, and points out to the notice of
strangers the last Pharaonic relic possessed by
the sacred island of Philse.
The confused manner in which the several
temples are crowded together, renders it very
difficult to distinguish between them ; but w^e
at last obtained a tolerably clear conception of
the locality, and were enabled to separate the
temple of Isis from the lesser edifices, which at
first sight appear to form parts of it. This struc-
ture possesses two propyla, a pronaos, cell a, ady-
tum, and lateral chambers; besides these there
are vaults beneath, the entry to which has never
yet been discovered ; but as Philae is reputed to
be the burial-place of Osiris, it is supposed that
his tomb lies still undiscovered in some subterra-
neous chamber. That a more ancient edifice for-
merly existed on the same site is certain, from
the presence of the remains above alluded to
and from the fact that Phila) and the adjacent
;