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SERABIT EL-KHADEM |
 Serabit el-Khadem |
 The temple of Serabit el-Khadem is one of the most fascinating and important archaeological sites in Sinai .
You get there either by taking the easy track out of Abu Zenima ( passable by normal car ) or by going up the
Wadi Mukkatab, hose name means " valley of the inscriptions " due to numerous Byzantine and Nabatean graffiti carved on its walls the Wadi Mukkatab starts in the southern part of the Wadi Feiran but a cross-country vehicle is necessary .
The temple is at a height of 850 metres on a plateau which ends with a mighty rocky rampart and you reach it along the steep path that goes up the side of the mountain .
In this zone there are the big copper and turquoise mines concentrated in a more or less circular area with a diameters of 1.2 km, to the south-west of the temple .
These mines were used intensively in the pharaonic period .
Some galleries, wells and tunnels with inscriptions in large part dating back to the middle kingdom (2056-1750 B.C.) are all still visible today .
The temple of Serabit el-Khadem was built in the age of the XII Dynasty (1955-1750 B.C.) by workers, probably semi- nomadic
Semites, who worked in the nearby mines.
At the time of the XII Dynasty, the
temple originally consisted of a stone chapel dedicated to Hathor, "turquoise lady". Other rooms were added, being dedicated to the
God Sopdu, " lord of foreign lands " .
New extension work was then undertaken during the period of the XVIII dynasty ( 1550-1295 B.C. ) when the long series of rooms which gave the temple of
Serabit el-Khadem its current appearance were built .
The last two rooms, the western-most ones, were added during the
Ramesside time .The last king mentioned in the temple is, in fact, the pharaoh of the XX dynasty ( 1295-1188 ) Ramesses VI .
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