Focus on Temple of Dendur and discuss the Damage and graffiti.
When it was along the Nile, visitors to the temple inscribed graffiti on the structure. As early as 10 BCE, a visitor carved an oath on the north wall of the pronaos near the image of Pihor. There is also graffiti on the pylon. In the 19th century, European visitors left graffiti on the temple walls. British naval officer and later Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry carved the prominent inscription, "A L Corry RN 1817", on the left side as one enters the temple. Italian Egyptologist Girolamo Segato also left a graffiti inscription.Some damage was caused in the sixth century when the temple was used as a church. Presbyter Abraham documented the consecration of the building into a Christian church by carving into the walls. The Christians cut a doorway into the north wall in the pronaos, damaging the relief carving of Isis. However, they restored her lost arm by changing its angle at the elbow. They also installed a cross on the temple's roof and covered the reliefs with plaster. When Nubia became Muslim in the 13th century, the Christian Church was deserted.Many parts of the deserted structure disappeared or were damaged when the local people took stone and bricks for repurposing. By the modern era, the mud-brick walls that surrounded the entire temple complex had vanished. Archaeologists learned there were entry gates on the north and south walls because remnants matched the surviving pylon, which was to the east of the temple.In 1933, Aswan Low Dam was increased in height. As a result, the temple complex was underwater for nine months each year for the next thirty years. During this time, all traces of paint that remained on the temple's carvings were washed away.When the temple was relocated, the tomb in the rockface behind it was left in place and covered by rising water.
Aswan Low Dam temple pronaos Nile Armar Lowry Corry Girolamo Segato relief Nubia Egypt Isis Aswan