page_title: Trajan's Kiosk
hierarchical_section_title: Trajan's Kiosk
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving of one of the first photographs of the Kiosk of Trajan. Photograph taken by Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière in December, 1839. Engraved by Bishop and by Antoine Jean Weber. Published in Excursions daguerriennes by Noël Paymal Lerebours in 1841. Français&#160;: Gravure d'une des premières photographies du Kiosque de Trajan. Photographie prise par by Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière en décembre 1839. Gravée par Bishop et par Antoine Jean Weber. Publiée dans Excursions daguerriennes par Noël Paymal Lerebours en 1841.
context_page_description: Trajan's Kiosk, also known as Pharaoh's Bed by the locals, is a hypaethral temple currently located on Agilkia Island in southern Egypt. The unfinished monument is attributed to Trajan, Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD, due to his depiction as pharaoh seen on some of the interior reliefs. However, the majority of the structure dates to an earlier time, possibly to the reign of Augustus. The temple was originally built on the island of Philae, near the lower Aswan Dam, and served as main entrance to the Philae Island Temple Complex from the Nile river. It was relocated to Agilika Island in the 1960s by UNESCO to save it from the rising waters of the Nile that followed the construction of the Aswan High Dam.
  This 15-x-20 metre kiosk is 15.85 metres high; its function was likely "to shelter the bark of Isis at the eastern banks" of Philae island. Its four by five columns each carry "different, lavishly structured composite capitals that are topped by 2.10-metre-high piers" and were originally "intended to be sculpted into Bes piers, similar to the birthhouses of Philae, Armant, and Dendera though this decoration was never completed.
context_section_description: Trajan's Kiosk, also known as Pharaoh's Bed (سرير فرعون) by the locals, is a hypaethral temple currently located on Agilkia Island in southern Egypt. The unfinished monument is attributed to Trajan, Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD, due to his depiction as pharaoh seen on some of the interior reliefs. However, the majority of the structure dates to an earlier time, possibly to the reign of Augustus. The temple was originally built on the island of Philae, near the lower Aswan Dam, and served as main entrance to the Philae Island Temple Complex from the Nile river. It was relocated to Agilika Island in the 1960s by UNESCO to save it from the rising waters of the Nile that followed the construction of the Aswan High Dam.
  This 15-x-20 metre kiosk is 15.85 metres high; its function was likely "to shelter the bark of Isis at the eastern banks" of Philae island. Its four by five columns each carry "different, lavishly structured composite capitals that are topped by 2.10-metre-high piers" and were originally "intended to be sculpted into Bes piers, similar to the birthhouses of Philae, Armant, and Dendera though this decoration was never completed.
  The structure is today roofless, but sockets within the structure's architraves suggest that its roof, which was made of timber, was indeed constructed in ancient times. Three 12.50-metre-long, presumably triangulated trusses, "which were inserted into a ledge at the back of stone architecture, carried the slightly vaulted roof." All the fourteen columns are connected by a screening wall, with entrances in the eastern and western facades. This building represents an example of the unusual combination of wood and stone in the same architectural structure for an Egyptian temple. The attribution to Emperor Trajan is based on a carving inside the kiosk structure, depicting the emperor burning incense before Osiris and Isis.
caption: Kiosk in December, 1839, Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière
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