Journals
Friday,Oct 17 2008, 12:52:59 PMAbu Simbel
By Marie Parsons
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Perhaps after the Giza pyramids, or coincident with them, the great temple of Abu Simbel presents the most familiar image of ancient Egypt to the modern traveler and reader. When the conservation efforts to preserve the temple from the soon-to be built High Aswan Dam and its rising waters were begun in the 1960s, images of the colossal statues filled newspapers and books. The temples were dismantled and relocated in 1968 on the desert plateau, 200 feet above and 600 feet west of their original location. Abu Simbel lies south of Aswan on the western bank of the Nile, 180 miles south of the First Cataract in what was Nubia. The site was known as Meha in ancient times and was first documented in the 18th Dynasty, when Ay and Horemheb had rock-cut chapels hewn in the hills to the south. Ramesses II, called "the Great," built seven rock-cut temples in Nubia. The rock-cut temple of Ramesses II on the west bank of the Nile at Abu Simbel is the greatest of these. This temple was not seen by Europeans until J.J. Burckhardt discovered them in 1813. The temple, called Hwt Ramesses Meryamun, the "Temple of Ramesses, beloved of Amun," was begun fairly early in Ramesses’ long reign, commissioned some time after his fifth regnal year, but not completed until his 35th regnal year. The massive facade of the main temple is dominated by the four seated colossal statues of Ramesses. These familiar representations are of Ramesses II himself. Each statue, 67 feet high, is seated on a throne and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Each is taller than the famed Memnon Colossus at Thebes, and all are sculpted directly from the rock face. The thrones are decorated on their sides with Nile gods symbolically uniting Egypt. Burckhardt said of the first face on the left that it "was the most expressive, youthful countenance, approaching nearer to the Grecian model of beauty than that of any ancient Egyptian figure I have seen." An ancient earthquake damaged the statues. One is demolished from the waist up. Between the legs and on each of their sides stand smaller statues of members of the royal family. The smaller statues of relatives were probably, for the first southern colossus: Queen Nefretari by the left leg, the king’s mother, the great wife of Seti I, Muttuya by his right leg, and Prince Amenhirkhopshef in front. For the second southern colossus, Princess Bent’anta stood by the left leg, Princess Nebettawyby the left, and one unnamed female figure, probably that of a lesser royal wife named Esenofre. The family statues at the first northern colossus were, Queen Nefretari, Princess Beketmut and Prince Riameses in front. For the second northern colossus, there were Princess Merytamun, Queen Muttuya and Princess Nofretari. Beneath these giant sculptures are carved figures of bound captives. The forecourt or terrace which fronted the temple contained two tanks for the ablutions of the priests. On the northern side of this terrace stood a small sun-chapel, and on the south, stood a chapel of the god Thoth. Above the entrance, a figure of the falcon-headed sun-god Ra is shown worshipped by flanking images of Ramesses. The rebus figure of Ra contains the prenomen of Ramesses II, or Userma’atre: the falcon headed god Ra has next to his right leg the glyph showing the head and neck of an animal, read User, and the goddess at his left leg is ma’at. At the top of the temple façade is a row of baboon statues in adoring attitudes, said to welcome the rising sun. A stela at the southern end of the external terrace is called "the Marriage Stela," and is a copy of the record of one of Ramesses II’s diplomatic triumphs, his marriage to a daughter of the Hittite king Hattusilis III. Within the temple a series of chambers becomes increasingly smaller as the floors of the rooms rise noticeably. This is a basic convention of temple design, as one moves into the temple The first hall within the temple contains eight large statues of the king as Osiris, four on each side, which also serve as pillars to support the roof. The walls are decorated in relief with scenes showing the king in battle, including the great battle of Kadesh on the north, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the south wall, and also presenting prisoners to the gods. On the north entrance wall in this Hypostyle hall a scene shows Ramesses in the presence of Amun, to whom the king appealed during his battle at Kadesh against the Hittites. Behind the first hall is a second smaller hall with ritual offering scenes. Here in one scene both Ramesses and Nefertari are depicted before the sacred barque of Amun, and in another, before the sacred barque of Ra-Horakhaty. Three doors lead from here into a vestibule, and then one reaches the sanctuary. The sanctuary contains a small altar and in its rear niche are four statues. These cult images represent Ramesses II himself, and the three state gods of the New Kingdom, Ra-Horakhty of Heliopolis, Ptah of Memphis and Amun-Ra of Thebes. Before the statues rests a block upon which would have rested the sacred barque itself.
The axis of the temple is arranged so that on two days of the year, in February and October, the rising sun shoots its rays through the entrance and halls until it finally illuminates the sanctuary statues. To the north of the main temple a smaller temple was built in honor of Ramesses’ great wife, Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor. This temple should not be confused with the beautiful Tomb to Nefertari in the Valley of Queens near Thebes.
As with Ramesses’ own temple, the cliff face was cut back to resemble sloping walls of a pylon. Six colossal standing figures 33 feet high four of Ramesses and two of Nefertari, were cut from the rock face, along with smaller figures of the royal family. An inscription over the entrance reads "Ramesses II, he has made a temple, excavated in the mountain, of eternal workmanship, for the chief queen Nefertari, beloved of Mu, in Nubia, forever and ever, Nefertari for whose sake the very sun does shine." Inside, Nefertari’s temple has a single pillared hall, with carved Hathor heads atop the pillars. On the sides facing the center of the hypostyle; Ramesses is shown smiting his enemies and offering before various gods, while Nefertari is shown, graceful and slender, with hands raised. Three doors lead to a vestibule with ancillary rooms at either end. The sanctuary is complete, though two spaces were left on its side walls for doors to rooms, which were never cut. The inner chamber contains a number of images interrelating the royal couple and the gods. On the rear wall, Hathor is depicted in high relief as a cow emerging from the western mountain, with the king standing beneath her chin. Nefertari is shown repeatedly participating in the divine rituals on an equal footing with the king. On the left wall, Nefertari is seen worshipping before Mut and Hathor, and on the right, Ramesses worships before images of his deified self and his wife. When Greek mercenaries passed by in the 6th century BCE, sand already reached the knees of the statues. These ancient sight-see-ers left an inscription which reads "When King Psammetichus <sic> came to Elephantine, this was written by those who sailed with Psammetichus the son of Theolces, and they came beyond Kerkis as far as the river permits." |
deeper to the sanctuary which would contain the primeval mound of creation, rising out of the waters of 
Friday,Oct 17 2008, 12:50:47 PMThe Mortuary Temple of Mentuhotep II
The 11th Dynasty terraced tomb of Mentuhotep II, the ruler who united Egypt at the end of the First Intermediate Period, on the West Bank at Luxor (ancient Thebes) is an anomaly. It  was built deep within Egypt's pyramid age, and incorporates many of the elements of pyramids. It may have even had a pyramidal superstructure. The name of this temple was "Mentuhotep's (cult) sites shine blissfully".
In many respects, Mentuhotep II's mortuary temple complex had important historical overtures, so it is not surprising that various teams have investigated the site. It was the first temple in Western Thebes to house a cult to the goddess Hathor, and foreshadowed a new theological concept of the "Temples of Millions of Years" that would gain popularity during the New Kingdom. While it was Lord Dufferin who discovered the temple complex in the later half of the 19th century, Henri Edouard Naville and Henry Hall may have been the first modern scholars to examine the site between 1903 and 1907. They were supported by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Between 1911 and 1931, the site was further investigated by a team from the Metropolitan Museum of New York directed by Herbert Winlock. However, neither of these groups completed their excavations, so the site was not fully investigated until the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, under the direction of Dieter Arnold, excavated it between 1968 and 1971. Mentuhotep II selected a site on a rocky hillside at modern Deir el-Bahari where some of his predecessors of the First Intermediate Period built their saff tombs. Saff is an Arabic term meaning "row", and these tombs were so named for their row of pillars along their facades. Most Egyptologists agree that the ground plan of Mentuhotep II's complex combined architectural elements of both the staff tomb and the pyramid complex, though few seem to agree on the original appearance of his tomb. The complex consisted of a valley temple, the ruins of which lie under the fields at the edge of the Nile valley and probably also under the ruins of Ramesses IV's valley temple, a causeway, a stepped, terraced mortuary temple that is partially cut into the rock cliff face, and a subterranean burial chamber. Winlock believed that the temple went through three construction phases, while Arnold thought there were four phases. The complex is generally oriented east-west, but bends slightly to the north.
While not much is known of the Valley Temple, the causeway, unlike most of its counterparts in the Old Kingdom, was open, and had Osirian statues of the king located along its sides at irregular intervals. It terminated at the main temple complex in a large courtyard surrounded by a limestone wall. At the back of the courtyard (western end) stood the massive, terraced mortuary temple. The facade of the lower, pillared hall consisted of a portico built of limestone blocks. This portico, which had two rows of pillars, was divided in half by a ramp leading to the second terrace. Originally, the portico walls were decorated with scenes of battle. Like later temples located here, the main second level was accessed by a broad ramp of limestone blocks with a grove of parallel sycamores and tamarisks planted to either side. This terrace may be divided into three sections, consisting of an outer pillared portico hall surrounding an ambulatory on the north, south and east sides, with a core at the center of the ambulatory. The outer portico section of this level, like the lower level, consisted of two rows of limestone pillars. It is often referred to as the "upper pillared hall". The front of these pillars were decorated with scenes depicting Mentuhotep II and various gods, and were inscribed with text in low relief. The rear limestone walls of the pillared hall around the inner ambulatory were slightly inclined and decorated both inside and out, suggesting that it once composed the outer facade of the ambulatory. This, and other evidence, has led Egyptologists to believe that the pillared hall itself was built at a later date. An entrance on the east wing of the pillared portico hall, located on the main axis of the complex as a whole, lead to the inner ambulatory. An ambulatory can, at least in terms of ancient Egyptian architecture, be defined as a partial roof that ran around the edges of a structure, and was supported by pillars. Most often we find ambulatories surrounding an open courtyard but in this case it surrounds an inner core. Within this ambulatory stood 140 octagonal pillars arranged in two rows on the west (rear) side, and three rows on each of the other sides. The ambulatory was dimly illuminated by shafts in the exterior wall near the outer portico. Inside of the ambulatory was a central core that Egyptologists believe was a symbolic version of the primeval mound. We believe it was made of hard clay shaped roughly into a cube, and probably surrounded with limestone slabs. It may have extended into the upper or top terrace through the ambulatory. It is the object of considerable debate.
Debate on these issues is not only influenced by the lack of any ruins of this upper terrace structure, but also by conflicting documentary sources. For example, the Abbott papyrus definitely refers to the structure as a pyramid. Arnold also came across two fragments of inscriptions that contain the structure's name and seem to elude to it being a pyramid. We also find other similar references to its name elsewhere. American Egyptologist L. Bull saw the name as a "truncated obelisk or pyramid, projected above another structure. The obelisk appears to be a sun-disk from which Bull tells us that there, "usually extend two rays of light on each side". In an inscription on the 12th Dynasty stele of Tutu, the temple is actually Despite all of this, most Egyptologists seem to believe that the top superstructure did not take the form of a pyramid. For example, in the Abbott papyrus, other tombs that are clearly not pyramids were also designated as pyramids. Therefore, Egyptologists believe that the ruins of the tomb either took on the look of a funeral mound or pyramid, or more likely, the tradition of monumental royal tombs was so strongly associated with the pyramid at this time that the hieroglyph of a pyramid was used to represent all such tombs. Yet it is important for us to point out that this debate is far from over. Perhaps new archaeological discoveries will someday put it to rest. On the west side of the second level terrace were discovered a row of six shaft tombs cut into the rock. These tombs were apparently integrated into the temple when an expansion project to the west was inaugurated. Their subterranean sections were built of limestone blocks, with false doors and cult statues. Apparently woman of the royal family were buried in these tombs. Interestingly, all of these women died young, the eldest at about twenty-two, and the youngest at only five. Egyptologists speculate that they may have all died at about the same time, due to some accident or epidemic. Only four of them bore the title of Royal Consort. Arnold believes that others may have been priestesses of the goddess Hathor, though Callender contends that they were diplomatic marriages arranged for Mentuhotep II in order to stabilize and unify the country after the chaotic years of the First Intermediate Period. Among the consort, two are especially notable. One, a Nubian whose obvious importance is evidenced by her decorated wooden coffin, was named Aashait (Ashait). The other, Kauit (Kawit), had a large limestone sarcophagus with fine reliefs, now located in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo. The expansion to the west was made some time after the initial construction of the mortuary temple. This expansion included an open, pillared courtyard, Egypt's first grand hypostyle hall, a chapel to various gods, and a rock hewn temple, referred to as a Speos. Sandstone was used in the construction of the courtyard that was surrounded on the south, east and north sides by octagonal pillars. There were also 82 pillars in the hypostyle hall. The hypostyle hall had a limestone floor with walls built of sandstone.
On the axis of the pillared courtyard's pavement in this western addition is a vaulted, descending corridor, first clad in limestone that abruptly ends with its remaining length consisting of rough bedrock walls. It leads down to what is referred to as the king's burial chamber. Naville investigated the corridor and burial chamber in 1906, and Arnold again studied it in 1971. Niches along the corridor walls held some six hundred wooden figurines that were once part of the models of workshops, bakeries and boats. The burial chamber is located about 12 meters down the entrance corridor. It was made of granite and had a saddle ceiling. Actually the room is divided into two sections, with an alabaster chapel topped by a single, gigantic, granite slab, entered by way of a double wooden door, taking up the larger part. Naville concluded that this room was for the symbolic burial of the king's "ka", or soul, because no sarcophagus was found here, but most Egyptologists now disagree with his findings. They now believe that the alabaster chamber probably held the king's sarcophagus.
One reason for this is that in 1899, the well known discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb, Howard Carter, or rather his horse, literally stumbled onto a new riddle in Mentuhotep II's complex. While riding across the initial courtyard in front of the complex, his horse stumbled. He dismounted to see if his horse was injured, and discovered the entrance to an underground part of the tomb complex. Because of the manner in which the discovery was made, not unlike more than one future find in Egypt, Carter's crew named the substructure Bab el-Hussan, meaning "horse door, or gate". The entrance started out as an open trench that soon turned into a vaulted corridor. Some seventeen meters deep, Carter discovered a door sealed by a four meter thick mudbrick wall. Behind this simple barrier, the corridor continued westward before finally turning north. At this point, the excavators found a shaft in the floor. Though it was only two meters deep, in it were found the remains of a wooden chest inscribed with the ruler's name. Further down the corridor a second shaft opened into an actual burial chamber. Here, Carter's team discovered the ruins of an empty, uninscribed wooden coffin, ceramics and the bones of sacrificial animals. However, the most important discovery was a now famous polychrome statue of Mentuhotep II made of sandstone, wrapped in fine linen, and bearing the crown of Lower Egypt on its head. This item too is now in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Perhaps because of this statue, Arnold believes this subterranean section was symbolic (a cenotaph) perhaps connected with the Sed-festivals of Mentuhotep II. Apparently, Arnold and now many others believes that the burial chamber in the upper part of the temple is really that of this king. |
Naville, the first investigator of the temple, believed this core to be a pyramid built upon the rock subsoil. A number of different views contradict his assumption. For example, Arnold rejected Naville's argument mostly because there was simply no evidence to support it. There are no ruins of a pyramid's inclined walls and no casing, so he sees this structure as a more or less a rectangular flat roof terrace with a stylized representation of the primeval mound. 
represented by the hieroglyphic sign for a pyramid. Nearby the temple was found New Kingdom graffiti that refers to the tomb more as a terrace with an obelisk that terminated in a pyramidion. 
The Speos at the far west end of the complex is a long, vaulted room with a statue niche in the very rear. Here, the paving is sandstone while the walls are made of limestone. There was a low ramp that led to a limestone altar at its rear (western most part) that set in front the niche and the oversized statue of the king.. This altar seems to have been the center of the entire temple complex, according to 
Friday,Oct 17 2008, 12:45:28 PMKarnak
 Karnak describes a vast conglomerate of ruined temples, chapels and other buildings of various dates. The name Karnak comes from the nearby village of el-Karnak. Whereas Luxor to the south was Ipet-rsyt, Karnak was ancient Ipet-isut, perhaps the most select of Places. Theban kings and the god Amun came to prominence at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. From that time, the temples of Karnak were built, enlarged, torn down, added to, and restored for more than 2000 years.
The ancient Egyptians considered Ipet-Isut as the place of the majestic rising of the first time, where Amun-Ra made the first mound of earth rise from Nun. At Karnak, the high priests recognized a king as the beloved son of Amun, king of all the gods. The coronation and jubilees were also held here. Staffed by more than 80,000 people under Ramesses III, the temple was also the administrative center of enormous holdings of agricultural land. The largest and most important group in the site is the central enclosure, the Great Temple of Amun proper. The layout of the Great Temple consists of a series of pylons of various The temple is built along two axes, with a number of smaller temples and chapels and a sacred lake. The northern enclosure belongs to Montu, the original god of the Theban area, while the enclosure of Mut lies to the south and is connected with Amun’s precinct by an alley of ram-headed sphinxes. An avenue bordered by sphinxes linked Karnak with the Luxor temple, and canals connected the temples of Amun and Montu with the Nile.
Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten, erected several temples for his new state deity to the east of the central enclosure of Amun. The most conspicuous features of these temples were open courts surrounded by pillars and colossal statues of the king. The temples were dismantled in the post-Amarna period and the stone blocks reused in later structures, especially the pylons built by Horemheb. The square northern enclosure is the smallest of the three precincts and its monuments are poorly preserved. It contains the main temple of Montu, several smaller structures, particularly the temples of Harpre and Ma’at, and a sacred lake. A structure thought to be a treasury built by Tutmosis I was discovered outside the east enclosure wall. The Montu precinct is the most significant architectural complex north of the Amun-Ra temple. It was first built by Amenhotep III, on a podium, its masonry including blocks belonging to discarded monuments from Amenhotep I, Hatshepsut-Tutmosis III, Amenhotep II and Tutmosis IV. It includes other monuments besides the Montu temple.
The precinct also includes a temple of Harpre. The temple of Harpre is built along the east side of the Montu temple. The oldest part, the sanctuary on the south side, may date back to the 21st dynasty. Nepherites and Hakor of the 29th Dynasty built a hypostyle hall with Hathor capitals. A geographical procession formed part of the decoration of the hypostyle hall. An open court and a pylon were added to the north façade during the 30th dynasty. A subsidiary building in front of the pylon is known as the eastern secondary temple, and may be related to the cult of the bull of Montu.
Lastly, six doors in the south wall of the Montu precinct lead to six chapels dedicated by Divine Votaresses of Amun to different forms of Osiris. The chapels are of Nitoqret, Amenirdis, an unattributed one, Karomama, and one from the reign of Taharka. A dromos leading to a quay on a canal, which is no longer extant, completes the complex. The dromos is a stone-paved road leading from the gate of the precinct to a quay on a canal north of the site. The quay may be dated to the reign of Psamtik I. Two statues of Amenhotep III have been found broken and buried under a chapel in the middle of the temple dromos. A copy of the "Restoration Stela" of Tutankhamun was erected here, as was a stela of Seti I, inscriptions of Ramesses II, Merenptah, Amenmesses, and Pinedjem. The eastern part of the temple collapsed at the end of the New Kingdom, and reconstruction was probably undertook by Taharka, who also built a great portico on the main façade. This was dismantled and rebuilt by the first Ptolemies. Outside the temple precinct, a limestone gate of Hathshepsut and Tutmosisi III was usurped by Amenhotep II and completed by Seti I. Only two brick walls of the chapel dedicated to Osiris, by Taharka, where a statue of the goddess Taweret was found by Mariette. Farther west, a door of Ptolemy IV marks the entrance to a small temple of Thoth, now in ruins. In the northwest, a columned building consecrated by Nitoqret to the Theban triad has suffered. To the east of the Montu precinct, the remains of a building known as a treasury, built by Tutmosis I, have been excavated. It consisted of a barque station of Amun, storerooms and workshops. This treasury may be the oldest building on the site. The oldest remains on the site of North Karnak date back to the end of the Middle Kingdom and belong to urban settlements, with mud-brick houses, granaries and workshops. All these buildings are dedicated to Amun-Ra of Thebes, even if rare mentions of Montu have been found, mainly epithets describing various kings as beloved of Montu. The dedicatory inscription of the main temple attributes the sanctuary to Amun-Ra, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Pre-eminent in Ipet-Sut., and this inscription is confirmed by various minor monuments such as the obelisks, the two quartzite statues of Amenhotep III and other statues. The first dedicatory inscription to Montu appears on the stela erected by Seti I in the court of the temple. From the reign of Taharka we have a comprehensive documentation in the decoration of the portico, stating that Montu, Lord of Thebes, is the main god of the temple. Scenes on the Ptolemaic gate of the precinct confirm this rank for Montu. The southern part of Karnak contains the temple of Mut, on the east bank of the Nile, more than 900 feet south of the temple of Amun-Ra. It is surrounded by a crescent shaped During the New Kingdom, Mut, Amun and Khonsu their son became the pre-eminent divine family triad of Thebes. The earliest reference to Mut, Mistress of Isheru, occurs on a statue of the 17th Dynasty. Inscriptional evidence also links the site to Mut in the early 18th Dynasty reign of Amenhotep I. The earliest, securely dated Mut Temple remains are no later than the reigns of Tutmosis III and Hatshepsut. The temple of Mut was built by Amenhotep III, but here too the propylon in the enclosure wall is Ptolemaic, Ptolemy II Philadelphus and III Euergetes I, and there are later additions to the temple by Taharqa and Nectanebo I among others. Hundreds of statues of the goddess Sekhmet inscribed for Amenhotep III are in museums, but some are still on site, perhaps moved from the king’s mortuary temple on the West Bank. Recent excavations indicate that much, and possibly all, of the present precinct was village settlement, until some time in the Second Intermediate Period. Under Hatshepsut and Tutmosis III, the precinct seems to have consisted of the Mut Temple and the sacred lake and to have extended no further north than the temple’s first pylon. Parts of the west and north walls of these precinct have been uncovered, including a gate bearing Tutmosis III’s name and a Seti I restoration inscription. The eastern and southern boundaries of this precinct are as yet undefined. The Mut Temple was enlarged later in the 18th Dynasty, when the Tutmoside building was completely enclosed by new construction, probably by Amenhotep III. The Mut temple’s present second pylon, of mud-brick, dates no later than the 19th Dynasty, and may have replaced an earlier precinct or temple wall. Its eastern half was built of stone late in the Ptolemaic period. The temple’s first pylon, also of mud-brick, has a stone gateway built no later than the 19th Dynasty, and displays at least one major repair. This pylon may also replace an earlier northern precinct wall. Also in the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses II rebuilt Temple A, which lay outside the precinct and which was already enlarged by Amenhotep III. In front of Temple A, Ramesses II erected two colossal statues, at least one usurped from Amenhotep III, and and two alabaster stelae recarved from parts of a shrine of Amenhotep II. One stelae indicates that Temple A was at that time dedicated to Amun. Temple A was more extensively renovated during the 25th Dynasty, during which time it functioned at least in part as a birthhouse, celebrating the birth of Amun and Mut’s divine child, with whom the king was identified. A significant part of the Mut Temple was also rebuilt. In the 25th and 26th Dynasties a proliferation of small chapels began. These include at least two dedicated by Montuemhat, an official in the reign of Taharka, a magical healing chapel dedicated by Horwedja, Great Seer of Heliopolis, a chapel related to Divine Votaresses, a small Ptolemy VI chapel, and Chapel D dedicated to Mut and Sekhmet, built by Ptolemies VI and VIII. The massive enclosure walls built by Nectanebo II of the 30th Dynasty give the precinct its current shape and size, incorporating Temple C and a large area south of the sacred lake as-yet unexplored. Pylon I, the entrance to the temple complex, is preceded by a quay, probably reconstructed during the 25th Dynasty and an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, most of which bear the name of the high priest of Amun, Pnudjem of the 21st Dynasty. This pylon, which is unfinished, was probably built in the 30th Dynasty by Nectanebo I, though an earlier pylon may have stood here. South of the avenue are several smaller structures, including a barque shrine of Psammuthis and Hakoris, and parapets of the 25-26th Dynasties. The court which opens behind this pylon contains a triple barque shrine of Seti II made of granite and sandstone, consisting of three contiguous chapels dedicated to Amun, Mut and The doorway on the north side of this court leads to an open-air museum, where a number of small monuments have been reconstructed, including the limestone barque chapel of Senusret I and Hatshepsut’s Chapelle Rouge. Pylon II, probably a work of Horemheb, is preceded by two colossal statues of Ramesses II. Only the feet of one remains. A third statue of the king includes Princess Bentanta standing between his feet. Behind the pylon, the now lost roof of the Great Hypostyle Hall, the most impressive part of the whole temple complex, was borne by 134 papyrus columns. The relief decoration of the hypostyle hall is the work of Seti I and Ramesses II. The exterior walls depict military campaigns of these kings in Palestine and Syria, including the Qadesh battle against the Hittites. Pylon III was built by Amenhotep III, but the porch in front of it was decorated by Seti I, and Ramesses II. Numerous blocks from earlier buildings were found reused in the pylon: a Pylons IV and V, both built by Tutmosis I, and the narrow once-pillared area between them, are the earliest parts of the temple. Two obelisks of Hatshepsut made of red quartzite can be seen here, one still standing. Further east is the Festival Temple of Tutmosis III. One room in this temple is known as the "Botanical Garden", because of its representation of exotic plants, birds, and animals., It may have contained the core sanctuary of the temple. In the 20th Dynasty, Ramesses III built a triple barque shrine in the western court and undertook the construction of the temple of Khonsu. Taharka in the 25th Dynasty built the large sacred lake with a temple, the lake edifice, at its north-west corner. He also built columned pavilions leading to the eastern and western entrances of the temple and in front of the temple of Khonsu. The small pylon of the temple of Opet was also begun during the 25th Dynasty. The large gate of Ptolemy III Euergetes was built in front of the temple of Khonsu and at the back of the Opet temple. Extensive repairs were made to the bases of walls damaged where ground water had risen. Repairs were also made to the Hypostyle hall walls, and the eastern and western gateways were entirely redone The court north of Pylon VII is known as the Cachette Court: Here a deposit of thousands of statues which originally stood in the temple was found in 1903. Near the northwest corner of the temple’s sacred lake is a colossal statue of the sacred scarab beetle on a tall plinth, dating to Amenhotep III. The temple of Khonsu stands in the southwest corner of the enclosure. Its propylon in the main enclosure wall, built by Ptolemy III Euergetes I, is approached from the south by an avenue of ram-sphinxes protecting Amenhotep III. The pylon was decorated by Pnudjem I , the forecourt by Herihor, an the inner part by various Ramessids. There is also some Ptolemaic relief work. Nearly 20 other smaller chapels and temples are within the precinct of Amun-Ra, including one of Ptah built by Tutmosis III, Shabaka, several Ptolemies and Tiberius. A good example of these small temples is that of Osiris Hek-Djet. The Akhenaten temples Akhnenaten was second son and successor to Amenhotep III. He spent the first five years of his reign in Thebes, and he favored the sun shrine characteristic of the Heliopolitan center of solar worship, which featured open courts on a central axis. Smaller stones were used which a single man could carry. Tens of thousands of these in the best sandstone were quarried at Gebel el-Silsila, about 100 km south of Thebes. These small blocks were recycled later as the sun temples were reduced, and used as fill or foundation in walls and pylons of the 19th Dynasty. Some have been found in Horemheb’s Pylons II and IX at the Amun temple at Karnak, as foundation blocks beneath the hypostyle hall of the Amun temple, and in Ramesses II’s pylon and outbuildings in the Luxor temple. Some survived to be used as late as the reign of Nectanebo I, and some turned up at Medamud in Ptolemaic period constructions. Akhenaten erected four major structures at Karnak during the first five years of his reign. The major building was called "the Sun-disk is Found", built in anticipation of the jubilee; then there were the "Exalted are the monuments of the Sun-disc", and "Sturdy are the movements of the Sundisk." The smallest of the four was the Hwt-bnbn, "Mansion of the benben stone". A Hwt-itn, "Mansion of the Sun-disk", mentioned in tombs on the west bank, has not as yet turned up in the scenes on these blocks. Only one of the four structures has been located and partly excavated. The main Aten temple was built to the east of Karnak. From the center of its western side ran a columned corridor 12 feet wide that led west to connect with the 18th Dynasty royal palace which lay just north of Pylons IV, V and VI of the Amun temple. There were probably life-size statues made of red quartzite representing the king, arms crossed, though other statues may have included the queen as well. Reliefs show the king with one arm outstretched and being caressed by the rays of the sun-disc. In the Aten temple, the consistent theme was the celebration of the jubilee, or heb-sed. Scenes in the entrance corridor coming from the palace show the approach of the royal party, courtiers kissing the earth, men dragging bulls, etc. Turning right along the west wall, to the southwest corner and then east along the south wall, are reliefs depicting the ritual of the "days of the White Crown," when the king made offerings dressed as the monarch of Upper Egypt. It is presumed that similar scenes were depicted showing the King in the same ritual for the Red Crown and Lower Egypt. The Hwt-bnbn, though to-date not found, is reconstructed in the scenes on the blocks featuring tall graceful pylons and walls. But the identity of the celebrant of the offering to the sun-disc is not Akhenaten, but instead, his wife Nefertiti. The relief decorations of the two temples called "Exalted are the monuments of the Sun-disc," and "Sturdy are the movements of the Sundisk," both structures also as-yet undiscovered, show domestic apartments, rewarding of officers, and other scenes from domestic life. After the fifth year of his reign, Akhenaten moved from Thebes to Amarna, the new city he had built, and work on Karnak ceased. The name of Amun was obliterated throughout Karnak and the Theban area. |
dates. The earliest are Pylons IV and V, built by 
Amenhotep III, the founder of the main Montu temple, built an enclosure wall around the Montu precinct. In its current state, the Montu precinct also includes several other temples and structures. The temple of Ma’at, the only one extant to this deity, leans on the rear side of the Montu temple. Largely destroyed now, it still preserves inscriptions of some of the viziers of Ramesses III and 
The sacred lake on the west side may have been dug by Amenhotep III and restored by Montuemhat, who has a biographical inscription in the 
sacred lake called Isheru, and subsidiary structures, especially the temple of Khons-pekhrod, originally of the 
Khonsu. In the center of the forecourt there are remains of a colonnaded entrance of 
Friday,Oct 17 2008, 12:42:58 PMEdfu
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The town of Edfu is located on the west back of the Nile River, some sixty miles south of Luxor, with Aswan further south. Its ancient name was Wetjeset-Hrw, or "The Place Where Horus is Extolled."
Edfu was the capital of the second nome of Upper Egypt, an important regional center from the Old Kingdom, partly due to the large area of fertile land belonging to the town, partly to the fact that Edfu was situated near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, though not as close as was Philae. Edfu was probably a starting point for desert routes leading to the Kharga Oasis in the west, and to the mines of the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coast in the east. Although there is no incontrovertible evidence of Early Dynastic occupation at Edfu, a number of oval graves, completely plundered, have been found. Edfu had an attractive geographic location, elevated within the floodplain in Upper Egypt, so logically it would have attracted settlers at that time. Confirming this, pottery dated from the Old Kingdom has been found within the town enclosure, perhaps as early as the Third Dynasty. There is a tradition that Imhotep, the vizier and architect who designed the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, designed the first stone temple at Edfu. Little is known of this temple today, and none of its remains have been found, but it was dedicated to Horus, Hathor of Dendera, and their son, Herumatawy, or Harsomtus in Greek. No larger remains dating earlier than the 5th Dynasty have been found at Edfu. Its most ancient cemetery comprised the mastabas of the Old Kingdom as well as later tombs, and covers the area southwest of the precinct of the great temple of Horus. Before the beginning of the New Kingdom, the necropolis was transferred to Hager Edfu, to the west, and then in the Late period to the south at Nag’ el-Hassaya. The entire area was called Behedet. The god Horus was herein worshipped as Horus Behedet. One of these mastabas belonged to a man named Isi, who was the "great chief of the Nome of Edfu" in the 6th Dynasty. Isi lived during the reign of King Djedkare Isesi of the Fifth and into the reign of Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasties. He was an administrator, judge, chief of the royal archives and a "Great One among the Tens of the South. Isi later became a living god and was so worshipped during the Middle Kingdom. As the Sixth Dynasty and the Old Kingdom drew to a close, local regional governors and administrative nobles took on a larger power in their areas, away from the royal central authority.
Later on, Ramesses II and Shabaka, among other New Kingdom monarchs, built at Edfu. But its most famous (for us today at least) monumental structure, its great Temple to the god Horus, was built during the Ptolemaic period. The Temple at Edfu was in fact the first new temple commissioned by the Ptolemies. The Ptolemies were great builders in Egypt, these descendants of one of Macedonian Alexander’s generals. They left as their architectural legacy the great Temple of Isis at Philae, the temple of Hathor at Dendera, the Temple of Horus at Edfu, and others. At Edfu, Horus was worshipped as the falcon Horus of Behdet. The Temple was called Mesen, The Place of the Harpoon, the Mansion of Ra, Nedjem-Ankh, Pleasant to Live In, the Window of the Falcon, the Shrine of Horus, and Wetjeset, the Place of Extolling the God.
The main building was the great Temple of Horus Behedti. It was begun on August 23, 237 BCE, by Ptolemy III. In 206 BCE, work was halted by an insurrection, during which two chiefs from the Theban area declared themselves independent of Ptolemaic rule (history repeating itself, perhaps). The temple was formally dedicated in 142 BCE by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and his wife Cleopatra II. Closer to the eastern tower of the temple pylon, the remains of another pylon have been unearthed dating to the Ramesside period. This may have formed part of one of the predecessors of the extant temple. The temple precinct consisted of the temple itself, within its own enclosure wall, and other subsidiary temples, small chapels, workshops, storehouses, and dwellings. Most of these, including the sacred lake and slaughterhouse, have now either been destroyed or lay under the houses of the present town. South of the temple are the ruins of the mammisi, or birth-house, a temple in which the birth of the god Harsomntus was celebrated. The scanty architectural remains to the east probably belong to the temple of the sacred falcon. The twin towers of the great entrance pylon of the temple were planned as perfect mirror images of each other, both in their construction and in the rather curiously rendered scenes carved on their surfaces. Two statues of Horus as a falcon flank the entrance gate, and behind the pylon, at the base of the walls on either side of the entrance are scenes depicting the Feast of the Beautiful Meeting, in which Horus was united with Hathor of Dendera. The outer hypostyle hall contains twelve columns inside and are the highest of the whole temple. In the eastern part the library was installed in a small chamber and two catalogs inscribed on the walls list the titles of every book held therein. Some of these scroll-books included "The book for performing the ritual for the protection of the city, of the houses, of the White Crown, of the year," the roll book of temple guards, and Information about the regular appearance of the sun and moon and the periodical return of the other stars. The small chamber in the western part of the façade was dedicated to the consecration of the priest who performed the religious rites on behalf of the king. The main entrance of the pronaos opens to a large court, surrounded on three sides by a covered colonnade of thirty-two columns. To the south, the court is limited by the mighty pylon, the towers of which are more than 130 feet high. The most sacred part of the temple, and its nucleus, is the granite shrine, or naos, which sheltered the main statue. The sanctuary was surrounded by seventeen chambers and store rooms, and eight-pillared hall, two smaller halls, and two staircases leading to the roof. A chapel at the very rear of the sanctuary contained the god’s barque. Eight chapels open off the corridor that leads around the sanctuary, each probably dedicated to the major deities such as Isis, Osiris, Min, Khonsu, Ra etc. In front of the sanctuary was an antechamber, and east thereof was small sacrificial court giving access to the wabt, or pure place, where the statues were anointed and dressed, where they received crowns and amulets, before leaving the interior and accessing the roof. To the west of the antechamber is a small room dedicated to the god Min. The next main chamber toward the exit is the wall of the offering tables, and on each side therein is an approach to one of the two staircases leading to the temple roof. Next follows the inner hypostyle hall, the roof of which is supported by twelve columns with rich floral capitals. The adjoining side chambers to the east served as access to the inner passage round the temple, and as a treasury for precious metals and stones. Adjacent chambers to the west are the "labs" for making sacred oils and ointments, with instructions on the walls for making the same, and the Nile chamber where the sacred water was poured into a basin after it had been brought from the nilometer, situated outside the girdle-wall. A large hypostyle hall with eighteen columns was added at the southern end of the temple, and a forecourt and pylon gateway were added south of that. Doors were hung on the pylon gateway in 57 BCE, marking the final completion. Today, Edfu is the best preserved temple in Egypt. From the Pylon gateway to the North Enclosure wall, the temple is just over 150 feet long and covers an area of about 8400 feet. While the temple is intact, the auxiliary buildings- kitchens, storehouses, slaughterhouses, administrative offices, even the sacred lake, the grove of falcons, and the quay-all lie buried under the modern town. So much is known about the construction of the temple and its sections come from sets of inscriptions within the temple itself. These are called the Building Texts and were placed on the exterior walls of the Sanctuary and the Enclosures Walls. A lengthy inscription on the outer face of the girdle-wall, about 300 meters in length, gives details on the names and functions of the different halls and chambers of the temple, an account of the entire building and the history of its construction. Reliefs on the pylon, enclosure, and interior walls, also tell the stories of the ritual journey and Reunion of Hathor of Dendera with Horus, depict representations of the 42 administrative nomes of Egypt, of the traditional "Smiting of Enemies" pose common throughout Egypt’s history, the Conflict between Horus and Set, The Triumph of Horus, the Procession of the Divine Falcon, and various ritual offering-scenes, also traditional in the religious practices of ancient Egypt. When Auguste Mariette first began the clearance of Edfu Temple in 1860 CE, the temple had become a village filled with stables and storehouses, the roof of the Sanctuary area covered in mud-brick houses, and the inner chambers filled with rubbish almost to the ceiling. Fortunately, much conservation work has been done, and tourists and scholars can visit Edfu’s great temple as well as the other great temples such as Karnak. But, when you visit, whisper to whatever Divinity or force in which you may believe, that we safeguard our historical heritage with much care and appreciation. One day, our great buildings will be the legacy left to descendants uncounted. Would we not want them to receive a true picture of ourselves? |
The modern Arabic name of Edfu is derived from the ancient Egyptian name Djeba, or Etbo in Coptic. Djeba meant "Retribution Town", since the enemies of the god were brought to justice therein. The site of ancient Djeba was the traditional location of the mythological battle between the gods of Horus and Set, and its sandstone Ptolemaic temple, dedicated to Horus, is the most complete and best preserved of all the temples of Egypt. It was built on the site of a New Kingdom temple, which was oriented east to west, the Ptolemaic structure follows instead a north-south axis. In Graeco-Roman times Edfu was called Apollinopolis Magna, the Egyptian god Horus by then being identified with the Greek god Apollo.
During the Tenth Dynasty, in the First Intermediate Period, Thebans from the south fought with the Herakleopolitan rulers of the north. A man named Ankhtify, the governor of the third nome of Upper Egypt and a follower of the Herakleopolitan kings, held among other titles that of "Great Chief of the nomes of Edfu and Hierakonpolis." He became governor of Edfu after he had defeated his predecessor in that regard, one Khuy, who had been loyal to the Thebans. And in his autobiography writes that there was famine throughout Upper Egypt. But he refused to see anyone die of hunger in his province, and "brought life to the provinces of Hierakonpolis and Edfu, Elephantine, and Ombos!"