The Shrines of Gebel el-Silsila : and their function

Abstract: In 1963 came Ricardo Caminos to the conclusion that the shrines of Gebel el-Silsila functioned as cenotaphs. However, his views have never been reassessed by contemporary Egyptologists, which has led to the shrines still being interpreted as cenotaphs today. This study shows that the term cenotaph perhaps is not the correct word to use for their function. The focal point of this study are the decorations and inscriptions of the shrines, their religious character and the importance of the Nile. The following research compares the shrines of Gebel el-Silsila with similar shrines at Qasr Ibrim in order to reveal their similarities and dissimilarities. In order to achieve this, two publications were chosen, by Caminos, who assessed both sites in the 1960s and briefly compares the Qasr Ibrim shrines to Gebel el-Silsila. Furthermore, the shrines of Gebel el-Silsila resemble tombs in the Theban necropolis, where some of the tombs of the shrine-owners have been uncovered. For this reason, a comparison between the shrines and tombs has been made in order to reveal why the shrines cannot be tombs, and to display why the shrines still are mortuary monuments. Lastly, the following study assessed the shrine-owners in order to answer how the shrines were financed. However, although many of the shrine-owners are well-established noblemen of which several accounts are known, only their titles are taken into account for they provide a principal overview of their status. This has provided the information required to establish how they were financed. It was necessary to make this restriction due to limited amount of available space and was a more elaborate study of the inscriptions and decorations considered of greater importance in order to reveal the religious function of the shrines. The result shows that the shrines were privately financed and that the shrines did not mean to serve has cenotaphs that the family of the deceased could visit to remember him. They were deliberately placed close to the water, even though it would subject them to destruction during the annual inundation of the Nile. The water in relation to the mortuary decorations of the shrines, make the shrines symbolize the underworld and do they not have a practical function