Articles

Drainage systems in the Nile valley in the Third–First Millennia BCE

Vostok/Oriens '2017, №5

DOI: 10.7868/S0869190817050016

 
The main objective of the article is an investigation of the drainage system in the form of a water spout with a lion head, preserved in the temples of the Nile Valley from the Old Kingdom until the Roman time as a means of protection from rainwater and collection of water for temple worship. The technological basis of this element had remained broadly unchanged. Accumulated water in the back of the waterspout passed through the drainage between the paws of a lion, and dumped down, either in the courtyard of the temple, or in the or in the basin. The author concludes that the stylistic differences in the modeling of water spouts indicate the absence of a strict model, respectively, determined style of the artist's vision of performance. Sufficient rare rains in Egypt on a background of ubiquitous water spouts demonstrate the technological factors and the importance of religious beliefs of the lion as a defender of the temple from rapid water flow as a personification of chaos and disorder as well.

Keywords: Egypt, Meroe, drainage system, water spout, lion, temple

Pages: С. 6–18