Temple of Dakka

Temple of Dakka

The Greco-Roman Temple of Dakka, was a place in lower Nubia, dedicated to Thoth, El-Dakka was known to the Egyptians as Pselqet and to the Greeks as Pselchis, Because of the impending flooding of the region as a result of the High Dam, it was moved to the site of Wadi el Sebua, about 40 kilometers upstream, between 1962 and 1968.


Temple of Dakka built at first to be Shrine, first begun in the 3rd century BC by a Meroitic king named Arqamani in collaboration with Ptolemy IV, its construction appears to have become a combined effort between these Nubian kings and the line of Greek Pharaohs in Egypt.


During the construction of the Aswan dam in the 1960s, the temple was dismantled and moved to the site of Wadi es-Sebua, At the time of its removal, some reused stone blocks from Thutmose III, Seti I and Merneptah were discovered which originated from an earlier New Kingdom structure in or near Kubban, The temple's pylon is now separated from the remainder of the temple due to the missing enclosure walls of the open court.


Should also be noted that at the modern site of the el-Dakka temple, not only do we find the temple of el-Sebua, but also the small Maharraka temple, dating from Roman times and dedicated to Serapis and Isis. Interestingly, this small temple contains the only spiral staircase in any Nubian temple. However, this temple's decorative theme was never competed. It too was moved to this location from its original site about 81 kilometers to the north.

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