Nubiana

115 NUBIA IN TURIN "e temple of Ellesiya, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of "utmose III (1480- 1425 BC), donated by the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Italian Republic in 1967. Museo Egizio, Turin. The appeal launched by UNESCO to rescue the an- tiquities along theNile in Egyptian and SudaneseNu- bia elicited an immediate response from the Italian Egyptological community. It embarked on an exten- sive research and documentation project conducted in the areas assigned to Italy. Organized work began in the late 1960s and involved researchers from lead- ing universities, museums and scientific institutes. The campaigns received particularly significant sup- port from the Università degli Studi in Milan and the Università La Sapienza in Rome, under the supervi- sion of Sergio Donadoni (1914-2015). The two universities had already worked continuously at numerous sites between 1958 and 1964. Italy’s most important Egyptian museum, the Museo Egizio of Turin, promptly joined in the research, with numerous missions led by Silvio Curto (1919-2015) who conducted excavations in extensive, little-known areas of Egyptian Nubia. In 1961 and 1962 the areas of Dehmit and Kalabsha were explored; in 1964 the areas of Korosko and Qasr Ibrim were investigated and lastly, in 1965, the site of Ellesiya was examined. Personal initiatives were also carried out by Sergio Bosticco (1920-2007) of the Univer- sity of Florence and Edda Bresciani (1930) of the University of Pisa. Lastly, the Italian government provided substantial funds totaling $856,000 for the work at Abu Simbel, the third-largest contribution after those provided by the USA and France. The constant interest shown and the tireless work carried out by Italy in support of the whole project in Nubia was rewarded with the gift of the rock-cut temple of Ellesiya, the only one dating to the pharaonic era, unlike those presented to the four other nations. The temple, hewn entirely out of the rock, stood in the locality of Ellesiya on the right bank of the river, some sixty kilometers north of Abu Simbel, and dates to the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1458-1425 BC). The small shrine has a modest entrance opening onto a small forecourt that connects it directly to the river, which made it easily accessible, especially during the periodic floods. The interior of the temple has an invert- ed T-shaped plan with a length of over nine meters, characterized by a longitudinal hall, leading at the far end to the sanctuary. On either side, just after the entrance, there are two chambers directly connected to the central hall. The vault, which is undecorated, is slightly arched. The end wall of the sanctuary has a niche with statues carved directly out of the rock, representing the Pharaoh Thutmose III between the local deities Horus of NUBIA IN TURIN