Our photographer experienced some technical difficulties and the shots from today are courtesy of Violaine Chauvet.    On our second day in the Kharga Oasis we first visited the fortress of Kasr el Ghweita just a few kilometers east of the main center near Hibis Temple. Ghweita also contains a temple which, like Hibis, is dedicated to Amun, Mut, and Khonsu of Hibis, and it contains reliefs of Darius I as well as Ptolemaic dedications. A beautiful setting.

About a hundred kilometers southeast is the area of Douch where a Roman period fortress stands. A French mission has been working here for two decades and have excavated large numbers of papyri and other documents that inform them about the people who lived in Douch two thousand years ago. Apparently there was a community not unlike any today – with schools for children and bordellos as well. The temple is located in an enclosure next to the earlier of two brick fort enclosures. Jay is waving to us from atop the propylon entrance. A view from the first court into the temple follows. The temple was dedicated to Osiris of Kysis or Keshdjet, as Douch was known in the Greek papyri and hieroglyphic inscriptions. A great site.

Violaine photographed this cow on a stop before we reached home. She must be getting homesick, because she thought it looked like it might be a Swiss cow. Do they give chocolate instead of milk?

Next Day

Previous Day

Return to Hopkins in Egypt Today 2002 Home Page