Temple of Hatshepsut

The burial temple of Hatshepsut is one of the most dramatic monuments of ancient Egypt. The queen’s architect, Senmut, designed the temple with rows of evenly spaced columns that follow the vertical patterns of the cliff backdrop making the temple a beautiful reflection of its natural surroundings.

Leading up to the temple was a tree lined avenue of sphinxes. There are also a series of walkways connecting a number of terraces built into the temple. The lowest terraces were restored in 1906 to protect the famous reliefs or wall paintings depicting scenes of the temple being built and the birth of the Pharaoh. Although gone today, the front of the upper terrace contained a long line of large statues of the queen that looked out over the valley. When the temple was first built, the walls behind these statues were decorated with bright wall paintings.

 

Temple of Hatshepsut

 

Osiris pillar

 

From the temple of Hatshepsut

 

Sanctuary of Hathor

 

Inside Hatshepsut Temple

 

Hatshepsut between Re-Horakhty and Amun-Re

 

 

Queen Hatshepsut, to whom the temple was dedicated, was one of the first recorded female rulers of ancient Egypt. On her coronation, she wore a complete Pharaoh’s ritual costume including the false beard. We know this from the many wall paintings and statues that depict her as a male; few remaining statues or pictures that show her as a female have survived. 

How the great queen Hatshepsut died remains a mystery. Many historians believe that she was killed because she was a woman. After her death in 1452 BCE, Hatshepsut’s name was erased from her monuments and some were destroyed altogether. Still Hatshepsut accomplished what no woman had before her; she successfully ruled the most powerful civilization in the world for over twenty years.

Temple of Edfu

    Edfu (Behdet) A site 72 miles south of Thebes, on the Nile, Edfu was the capital of the second nome of Upper Egypt and the HORUS cultic site from early times. The city was called “the Exaltation of Horus” in some eras. Tombs dating  to  the  Sixth  Dynasty  (2323–2150  B.C.E.)  and erected  by  the  local  Nomarchs were  discovered  in  the city’s necropolis, as well as a step pyramid dating to the Third  Dynasty  (2649–2575  B.C.E.).  Mastabas and  reliefs were  also  discovered  there.  In  the  Ptolemaic  Period (304–30  B.C.E.)  a  great  temple  was  erected  on  the  site. The city was always considered militarily strategic for the defense of the nation and was fortified against assaults by the Nubians (the modern Sudanese). During the Second Intermediate Period (1640–1550 B.C.E.) when the Asiatics (Hyksos) ruled  the  northern  Delta  territories,  Edfu  was fortified by the Theban dynasties.

 

Access to the Temple of Edfu 

 

The Major entrance of Edfu Temple

    Horus, husband to the cow goddess Hathor, was one of the primary gods to the Egyptians.  He is depicted with the head of a hawk, sometimes on the body of a human, sometimes on the body of a hawk.

    Temple of Horus at Edfu built in 200 BC under the Greek Ptolemaic kings, this is one of the youngest – and the best preserved – of the Egyptian temples. Sekhmet, the lioness goddess, is very loving and, when needed, equally vicious.

    Bedouini Judy and Ruth wrap themselves in ancient-style scarves to ward off the cold morning winds.

 

Inside the Temple of Edfu 

 

Engraving on the walls of Edfu Temple

 

Cobra relief on the walls of Temple of Edfu

 

Scarab relief on the walls of Temple of Edfu

 

Statue of Horus

 

Mammisi of Ptolemy VIII Euergete

Temple of Kom Ombo

    Kom Ombo A site south of EDFU on the Nile that served as the cultic center for the deities HORUS the Elder and SOBEK, Kom Ombo was also a major center of Egyptian  TRADE with  the  Red  Sea  and  Nubian  (modern Sudanese)  cultures.  Eighteenth  Dynasty  (1550–1307B.C.E.) structures made Kom Ombo important, but there were also settlements from the Paleolithic Period in the area.

 

Temple of Sobek and Horus at Kom Ombo

From

Bunson (M. R.), Encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, New York, 2002.

 

Temple of Kom Ombo 

 

Papyrus shaped columns at Kom Ombo temple 

 

The gate to access to the sanctuary of Sobek

 

Column details at Kom Ombo 

 

Relief stone outside the temple

 

Nilometer outside the temple

    The temple of Haroeris (HORUS) and SOBEK was a double structure, with identical sections, the northern one for Haroeris and the southern one for Sobek. There was also a shrine to HATHOR on the site. The complex was dedicated as well to KHONS (1). Tasenetnofret, an obscure goddess called “the Good Sister,” and Pnebtawy, called“the Lord of the Two Lands,” were honored as well at Kom Ombo.

    A double entrance is in the southwest, leading to a courtyard. Two HYPOSTYLE HALLS, offering halls, twin sanctuaries, magazines, vestibules, wells, and birth houses, called MAMMISI, compose the elements of the temple. The main temple is Ptolemaic in its  present  form, with a gate fashioned by PTOLEMY XII Auletes (r. 80–58, 55–51 B.C.E.). Niches and crypts were also included, and mummies  of  CROCODILES were  found,  wearing  golden earrings,  manicures,  and  gilded  nails.  A  NILOMETER was installed at Kom Ombo, and CALENDARS and portraits of the Ptolemys adorned the walls.