The oracle was given ex adyto.
— isque adytis h;ec tristia dicta reportat. Virg. iEn. 0 ii. v. 115.
It was given too imo adyto, or as others express it, from the depth
of the adytum.
Nec dum etiam responsa Deum monitusque vetusti
Exciderant, voxque ex adytis accepta profundis
Prima, “ Lycurge dabis Dircaeo funera bello.”
Stat. Theb. 1. v. 645.
Diod. Sic. lib. xvii. says, that when Alexander required an oracle
from Ammon, the chief priest retired back to the sanctuary or holy
place, and gave the answer, ex adyto; so the Latin version of
Wesselingius expresses i t : in truth, there is no Greek word in the
original, immediately corresponding with ex adyto ; yet the priest
retiring a; trixov, i. e. to the fane or secret recess of the temple; his
giving the oracle from such secret recess may be implied.
Applying the accounts of the adytum to the building under consideration,
it may be observed, that to form such recess, the rock
rising in the centre of the enclosure described at Siwah, offered a
peculiar accommodation to the architect. The soil around is represented
as wet and marshy, and not therefore suited to excavation.
The erecting the n oovdog, or forepart of the temple, on the elevation
of the rock, admitted of the interior end or penetrate being built
over a crypt, or artificial cave of eight feet deep, suitable to the purpose
and mysteries of an oracular temple.
The entrance to the ancient edifice described by Mr. Horneman
was to the north; and from the northern end or division of the
building there was a descent of eight feet, in coming to the southern
or interior extremity.
Whether anciently the pavement was level and continued, “ covering
the adytum as a c a v e o r whether it was an open vault or recess,
from which the priest (as mentioned by Diodorus) might utter the
predictions of the oracle unseen by the vulgar; in either case the
construction may agree with the ideas to be derived from ancient
authority, of the oracular Fane of Ammon ; and more strongly warrant
a conjecture, that the ruins described by Horneman, may be
those of that renowned temple.
Secondly, Mr. Horneman, observing on the rude and stupendous
architecture of the building at Siwah, says, “ that he could in no part
discover any mark or trace on the walls, of their bavingd/een incrusted
or lined with marbles, or of any ornament having been once affixed.”
Indeed the building appears not to have been large, and could little
admit of such.
Niches, or pedestals were not required; the most ancient Egyptian
temples had no statues: Lucian says,— to Se -araXadv xal sra^d
AiyvTrJioiiri ufcoctvot vyoi sirotv' edit. Bourdelot. p. 1057. The sole interior
decoration of the ancient Egyptian temple at Heliopolis, described
by Strabo, was a rude sculpture on the walls in the old Tuscan taste,
apparently similar to that observed by Mr. Horneman on the walls
at Siwah. Strabo’s words are,— dvayXwpdg S' lyy/riv pi Tm%oi ovjoi
[¿eyuXuv aSaXuv opoluv 'JoTg TvggivixoTg, ku). 'joTg crtpodgu ru v -aro^a
EMuf<ri Sripujiyritiujuv edit. Casaub. p. 806. This, and the indications
of rude simplicity observable in the remains of the ancient
building at Siwah, may thus strengthen the conjecture that it was
the one sacred to Ammon. Diodorus, Arrian, and Curtius, all indeed
talk of gold and ornaments, and even of a statue in procession,
displayed on the visit of Alexander: but Strabo directly taxes
Callisthenes (and therewith those writers who followed him) with