The Temple of Isis

Relief block showing Ptolemy II
The Shrine to Isis may well have been erected to replace an older site dating from the saitic period (Twenty- sixth Dynasty). Nectanebo II of the Thirtieth dynasty is known to be the first ruler who built in Behbeit, but his building was never completed owing to the Persian invasion in 343 B.C. So it was left to the two early Ptolemaic rulers, Ptolemy II philadelphos and his successor Ptolemy III Euergetes I to decorate the temple with reliefs. They are all in hard stone, including black & red granite and their quality is outstanding. The ritual shown here depicts Ptolemy II (on the right) handing the god Osiris a pectoral (a decorative breastplate) and a necklace. The god is not shown here in the form of a mummy; he is entirely anthropomorphic, with an Atef crown over his wig.
Wall Fragments in the Sanctuary Area
More recent studies have utilized the great variety and quantity of the surviving fragments of the buildings, like wall blocks, parts of columns, concave molding and the bases of stairways to reconstruct the ground plan of the shrine. At present, however, there are no plans to rebuild the temple, for that would require the blocks that were removed in the 19th and 20th centuries and are now scattered throughout the world in various collections to be reunited. The temple had a plain façade, behind which stretched a great columned hall with Hathor columns of Aswan granite. Then the axis line led into the barque sanctuary for the main divinities Isis and Osiris; this was enclosed in a wreath of chapels. The most important scenes on the long walls of the sanctuary show the Ptolemaic King (wearing the crown of Upper Egypt) burning incense before the scared barque of Isis, the “goddess of Hebyt”; her head, with cow’s horns and the disc of the sun, has survived here.