Threatened Temples

From Cairo last week came new evidence that ancient temples of the Nile Valley are threatened with ruin. The threat comes not from war but from the measured plans of peace. Diverted by the elaborate network of dams and canals developed early in this century by the British to irrigate parched cottonfields, the waters of the Nile have been gradually washing away the foundations of some of Egypt's most famous monuments.

In the ancient city of Abydos, the great Temple of Seti I, finished in the reign of Rameses II (1324-1258 B.C.), is settling into the soft subsoil while cracks in its walls grow dangerously wider. On the Island of Philae, close to the Aswan dam and artificial lake, the Kiosk of Trajan (1st Century B.C.), in recent years so submerged that often only its upper half could be seen, has collapsed completely. On the same island, the Temple of Isis is in such danger that Egyptians have planned to move it to a safer spot.

To save the temples, the Egyptian Government has recently appropriated some $60,000. But that, says Director General of Antiquities Etienne Drioton, is nowhere near enough. Unless many more thousands are spent soon, these great archeological relics, now precariously shored and buttressed, will disappear.

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