History of Science PART 2: Philae – the sunken island

Philae - the sunken island

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Recently I made a post about the naming of the spacecraft „Rosetta“. You can read Part I here: https://steemit.com/science/@laylahsophia/history-of-science-rosetta-delivers-more-pictures-part-1

Beside Rosetta there is also the landing robot that got a very special name called Philae. This - again - has its origin in Ancient Egypt. Philae is, or better: was an island in the south of Egypt (see map). This island has an interesting history. It was the place where the famous temple of the goddess Isis were built, which was one of the most important holy places in Ancient Egypt of the late period (664–332 BC). On this island archaeologists discovered also an obelisk with inscriptions of the names of Cleopatra and Ptolemaios in two languages that helped to decipher ancient egyptian hieroglyphs – the reason for the European Space Agency ESA to give their robot such a special connection to history.

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_{Image 2: Temple of the Goddess Isis}

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Beside the Isis-temple there were located more famous buildings on Philae: a kiosk of King Nektanebo I and King Trajan, a temple of Imhotep founded by King Ptolemaios V., a mammisi (birthing center – not in a literal but more religious-symbolic meaning) and also a so called nilometer – a building that was used to calculate and predict the periodical nile flood.

And this last phenomenon was also the reason for a huge technological action: Due to the rising water level of the Nile caused by the Assuan dam the buildings on Philae (and other monuments in that area) were in high risk to be flooded and destroyed. So between 1972 and 1980 the egyptian antiquities authorities decided together with the UNESCO to move all of the endangered buildings 800 m higher. The island Agilkia became then a safe place for this architectural pearls of ancient history.

Philae is also known for bearing the so called Abaton - the burial place of Osiris, the god of the Hereafter. During the procession to the Isis-temple there were milk-offerings for Osiris and other religious rituals to worship him. And so it is not surprising: also the name Osiris was used by the ESA for the camera of its spacecraft „Rosetta“.

In the 3rd part you will learn more about the cult of Osiris and its meaning for the spiritual development of Ancient Egypt.

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_{Sources:
Basic information: Winter, Erich, in: Lexikon der Ägyptologie IV, 1982, column 1022–1028, s.v. Philae.
Image 1: Source
Image 2: Source
Image 3: Source}