“On ascending to the esplanade of the upper temple, I was more than ever,” 
says Mr. Roberts, “ struck with its beauty. I viewed it on all sides, and each 
seemed more beautiful than the other. The portico originally consisted of fifteen pillars ; 
thirteen only are standing. Those at the angles of the fa£ade have fallen; their 
capitals, like those of Apollinopolis, are varied with the lotus and the palm. Here, 
as in other temples, attempts at destruction by fire are evident, and so fresh that the 
colour of its effects on the stones is as clear as if it had only happened yesterday. 
The sanctuaries, for there are two formed out of one chamber by a partition, are so 
filled with sand as to be almost inaccessible. An immense wall of sunburnt brick 
appears to have inclosed the precincts of the Temple, and a few houses peeping above the 
sand is all that can be now seen of the once proud Ombos. Like its rival, Dendera, 
it is now desolate.” 
Wathen’s Arts and Antiquities of Egypt. Wilkinson’s Egypt and Thebes. 
Dr. Richardson’s Travels. Roberts’s Journal. 
TEMPLE OF TAFA, IN NUBIA. 
The ruins of ancient Tapliis are situated on the left bank of the Nile, a little below 
Kalabshe. Here are numerous inclosures of stone of singular arrangement, which, 
Wilkinson conjectures, were of Roman date: there are also the remains of two small 
temples of nearly the same size, about thirty feet square within. One of these stands 
in the middle of the village; the other, the southernmost, is here represented. It 
lies near the bank, beyond some dhourra-fields, and faces the river: the back, and 
the two side walls, and two of the columns which support the roof, are yet standing. 
“ The columns,” Mr. Roberts says, “ have the lotus-leaf capitals, of very poor work¬ 
manship ; the shafts taper greatly, and are disproportioned to the capitals, which are 
too small.” Behind the portico is a chamber which may have been the adytum. This 
temple has been used as a Christian church. On the walls are many ill-written Greek 
inscriptions, and a Greek almanac. There are also rude paintings of saints of the 
Christian Church, a representation of the Virgin and Child, and designs for the Ascension 
and the Nativity; but they are nearly obliterated. In Wansleb’s time, 1673, the 
churches of Ethiopia were still entire, but closed for want of pastors. The decline 
of Christianity here is dated from the invasion of Sultan Selim, a.d. 1517. 
The plain of Taphis is strewn with fragments of cornices and mouldings, mostly 
of a late epoch, nor are any found that appear to be older than the time of the Caesars; 
and much of what remains Wilkinson attributes to an age posterior to that of Pliny. 
Wilkinson’s Egypt and Thebes. 
Roberts’s Journal. 
