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The lateral chapel
A small lateral chapel was built southwest of the Augustan temple during the reign of Tiberius. It
was dedicated to the cult of the child-god Horudja (the child version of Horus), son of Isis. De
Meyer and Minas-Nerpel interpret this chapel as a possible mammisi, although this is not certain.
A mammisi, or birth house, is a feature of the Graeco-Roman culture that could be found at several
temples in Egypt (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012, 3).
The mammisi was built for the birth of a divine child. If a child was born from a divine and a human
father this legitimised the reign of a king and was used to religiously legitimise the succession of a
pharaoh. In these chapels a ritual was held each year to celebrate the birth festival of the child of
the local god triad. The successor of the pharaoh would perform this ritual. The successor was,
according to the legend, the child of a mortal mother and godly father, such as Amun (Altenmüller
et al. 2007, 299).
In the Roman culture it was not uncommon for emperors to define themselves as descendants of
certain gods to gain a religious legitimacy. It seems the mammisi were used for a similar purpose.
The reason for this was probable related to the fact that descent was important in the Roman
culture. Being of a humble descent could be seen as shameful and could put the ability to rule in
question. Therefore to be descendant of a god was an important way to legitimise their power.
Examples of emperors claiming to be descendants of gods are Mark Anthony who claimed to be
descendant of Hercules through Anton and Octavian (Caesar) who claimed to be descendant of
Venus through Aeneas. The trend did however become less well attested after Augustus came to
power, during who’s rule this temple was built. Mammisis did already exist before this however,
during the Greek period, so it is possible the idea of mammisis does originate from this trend
(Hekster 2006, 1-2; Clarisse 2010, 275; de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012, 3).