On the beginning of monumental stone building in ancient Egyptian gods' provincial sanctuaries

The chapels erected for Khnum and Satet in the latter's temple on Elephantine by the early XIth dynasty kings Wahankh Intef and Nakht-Nebtepnefer Intef included a good number of massive stone pieces, thus being the earliest example of pharaohs' monumental stone architecture donated to gods in provincial sanctuaries. The present article is intended to reveal the reason for this important cult innovation. The spellings of the nown qbHw in Khnum's chapels built by the Intefs are devoid of any determinatives referring to a “locality”, whereas its spelling with the “sky-determinative” suits best the meaning “(sky) cool water”. Therefore, in the inscriptions under consideration, qbHw in Khnum's epithets “lord of qbHw” and “presiding over qbHw” is likely to have referred to the water of the infinite ocean Nun, which was believed to lapse into the Nile through two bottomless caverns-qrty at the First Cataract. The qbHw-waters inflow into the Nile through these caverns was also considered as the reason of the bountiful annual flooding of the Nile. Thus, in the chapels built by the Intefs, Khnum's epithets the “lord of qbHw” and “presiding over qbHw” seem to invoke him first and foremost as god of the sources of the Upper Egyptian inundation. The same is certainly true of Khnum's epithet “presiding over (the island) Senmut” since by that time Senmut was famous solely for its being the alleged location of the above mentioned caverns. In the chapel “D”, Khnum announces to Wahankh Intef: “I have opened the two mounts of Senmut for you”, and it is surely the two sources of the Nile flood (qrty) that were meant therein. The god's following statements “I have given you the eastern and western deserts, I have thrown down the rebels for you” also related to his power over the Nile sources, for the First Cataract became navigable - and thus suitable for the transfers of troops - only during the periods of a high water level. There are good reasons to suggest that this innovative and labor consuming stone architecture project at Elephantine was undertaken by the Intefs in order to deliver their country from disastrously low or unseasonable Nile floods resulting in deadly hunger. Almost two millennia later a pretty similar story was told on the famous “Famine Stela” about the pharaoh Djoser's cult activity for the gods of the sources of the Nile inundation, Khnum, Satet and Anuket, at the First Cataract in order to put the end to the lethal seven year famine.