Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo Temple is the give temple is magnificently located on elevated rock, but the Nile has more lately changed its course and many of the temple’s outer edifices have been clean away  or  seriously  denuded.  These  include  the  so-called  mammisi (birth house), which was begun during the reign of Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II (170–163 BC and again 143–116 BC), and parts of the mudbrick envelopment wall. The construction of the modern quay where tour boats moor has cut the risk of further erosion of the river bank. Past wrong has been conglomerate by the recent earthquake. 

Despite these problems, the temple of Kom Ombo still continues several distinctive features. Front among these is its base plan, which reveals that the temple is really divided into two halves down its central axis. Such a “double temple” is rare in Egyptian architecture. The north half of the temple is gave to the god Harwer (“Horus the Elder”) and his associate Tasentnefert (“the beautiful sister”), who is placed with the goddess  Tefnut,  and  their  offspring,  the  child  god,  Panebtawy  (“the  lord  of  the  two lands”). Panebtawy shares some of the features of Sobek, to whom the southern half of the temple is dedicated. Sobek, the crocodile god, is likewise a member of a triad of  deities  comprising  his  consort,  Hathor,  and  their  offspring,  Khonsu.  A  careful examination of the temple dedications and their location reveals that primacy is agreed to Harwer. This is particularly plain in the arrangement of the hieroglyphs on the outer hypostyle  hall’s  double  architrave,  beneath  which  are  twin  entrances  leading  to  each parallel half of the temple. Passing through the outer, central and inner vestibules, one eventually comes to the sanctuary, divided in half by a hollow central wall, perhaps to give approach to the now broken roof from which extended observations could be made. Some scholars maintain, however, that this passage was intended to hide a priest who would be the voice of an oracle in the name of either deity. Within each sanctuary is a  black  granite  stone,  incorrectly  called  an  altar.  These  were  originally  the  stands  on which rested the sacred barks of Harwer and Sobek, which were used in processions. A series of underground crypts, of versatile function but perhaps used to store worthy ritual objects, and a suite of symmetrically arranged rooms are discovered at the rear of the temple.

The temple itself is included on three faces by a corridor formed by extending the outer  walls  of  the  first  hypostyle  hall.  This  is  again  another  unusual  hold  of  the temple’s  architectural  design,  and  one  which  is  without  parallel  in  other  temples of Ptolemaic and Roman date. 

Other structures include a small chapel dedicated exclusively to the god Sobek in the northwest  of  the  temple  precinct,  bounded  by  the  enclosure  wall.  To  the  west  of  this structure is a curious pit, cut into the living rock and drawn with blocks of stone. This have has sometimes been named as a water tank, but some scholars, mentioning the analogy of the precinct of the Apis Bull at Memphis, have indicated that it was a devoted precinct where a keep crocodile, thematerialization of the god Sobek, was housed. In the southeast is the lateral gateway of the temple’s enclosure wall. This gateway was built by Ptolemy XII (80–57 BC and once again 55 BC) and is now the great entry to the temple. In the vicinity of this gateway and almost edging the enclosure wall is a small chapel to the goddess Hathor. The chapel has been regenerate into a museum which houses a choice of mummified crocodiles located in the vicinity of the temple.

Some of the temple reliefs are extraordinarily crafted and reveal a sensitivity to spatial concerns that is indebted to advances already abused in the reliefs of the temple of Seti I (19th Dynasty) at Abydos. One significant example is a scene on the west wall of the inside hypostyle hall where Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II is showed with his wife, Cleopatra II, and his daughter, Cleopatra III. The queens, each bearing the characteristically tightly right  sheaths  and  holding  floral  scepters,  form  the  left  hand  side  of  a  harmonious composition. The  contours  of  their  floral  crowns  are  harmoniously  balanced  by  the arrangement of their cartouches introductory their heads. Next comes Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II, who takes in his close hand a scepter shaped like the hieroglyph w3s and continues his far hand toward Harwer in a gesture of adoration. Ptolemy here wears a festive, light apparel which reveals the contours of his legs beneath. Delicate as these refers are, they should not unknown the fact that the imbrications of the properties held by Harwer in the far right of the composition thinks the arrangement of the properties held by Seti I and the deities he adores at Abydos. The three notched palm fronds held by the near hand of Harwer device in space and go beneath his spread far arm, which offers the scimitar to  Ptolemy  VIII  Evergetes  II.  This  contemporaries  of  space  is  a  masterful  induction  of pharaonic artistic tenets. 

The west wall of the Kom Ombo temple as well contains a rare, cultic relief, identified on the  important  axis  of  the  temple,  which  is  dated  by  its  accompanying  letterings  to  the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98–117). A winged sun-disc hovers over images of the wadjet eye (a protective symbol) and an array of charitable animal-form deities. The  center  of  the  relief  contains  a  hollowed-out  shrine,  flanked by pictures of ears, while images of Sobek, left, and Harwer, right, serve as vigilant pickets. In the lowest register are representations of bound prisoners. It has been suggested that this relief was created to meet the spiritual needs of lower status individuals who were unable to gain admission to the temple proper. They would make their supplications to an image of Ma’at, the  goddess  of  truth,  which  was  originally  placed  within  the  niche.  The  depicted  ears were there to guarantee that she would indeed hark to their prayers, and in so doing would  serve  them  in  wallowing  over  hardship  (in  the  form  of  the  bound  captives below). The entire scene may have been framed by a system of shutters which could be open  as  needed  by  specially  appointed  priests,  who  may  also  have  engaged  a balustrade to keep the petitioners at some length from the relief and the see of Ma’at.

Temple of Hathor at Dendera

Temple of Hathor, Dendera

The  great  temple,  devoted  to  Hathor,  dates  to  the reign of King Khufu (Cheops, 2551–2528B.C.E.), and other from  the  Eleventh  Dynasty  (2134–1991  B.C.E.)  was  discovered near a sacred lake at Dendereh. The main temple was fashioned out of a stone platform on a sand base  with  a  mud-brick  enclosure  wall.  A  propylon entrance  leads  to  a  transverse  hypostyle  hall  with  24 columns.  A  second  hall  has  six  columns  and  a  short ramp. Also included in the temple are the Hall of Offerings, an inner lobby, and the Hall of the Cycle of the Gods. Several chapels are also in the complex, the Per-Ur, dedicated to the start of the new year; Per-Nu, honoring the journey of the goddess to Edfu; Per-Neser, devoted to the goddess as a lioness. Below, there are 32 treasure crypts. The essential temple backups at Dendereh also mention Pepi I (r. 2289–2255 B.C.E.), Tuthmosis III (r. 1479–1425 B.C.E.), and Ptolemy XII Auletes (r. 88–58, 55–51 B.C.E.). This structure also had a “Dendereh Zodiac” relief and a sanitarium where Egyptians were reportedly cured of illness through Hathor’s intercessions.

Hathor temple  inscriptions  were  studied  by  Dümichen  (1865–75),  Mariette  (circa 1879), and Heinrich Brugsch (circa 1880); systematic publication of the inscriptions was undertaken by Émile Chassinat, observed by François Daumas (1934–87) and is being kept  by  Sylvie  Cauville.  The  mammisi  were  studied  and  published  by  François Daumas (1959). The publication of the temple of Isis is in advance and will be surveyed by that of the north gate and the repositories situated outside the inclosure wall (i.e. the temple  of  Ptolemy  VI  Philopater  and  the  gateway  of  Horus).  Architectural  studies are being undertaken by Zignani of the Hathor temple and by Boutros of the basilica.

A structure  whose  axis  is  adjusted  with  the  heliacal  rising  of  the  star  Sirius  was made during the reign of Ramses II, so out the building of Ptolemy XII  by  great  1,200  years.  Astronomical  research  has  demonstrated  that  the  famous Dendera  zodiac  relief  was  conceived during  the  summer  of  50  BC;  it reveals  that Egyptian priests had a more advanced knowledge of astronomy than had antecedently been known. The ribbon of the Osiris chapels took place over 3 years, from 50–48 BC, and their startup took place on December 28, 47 BC (the 26 th day of Khoiak), the day of a zenithal wide moon, a alignment that takes direct only once every 1,480 years.

Temple of Hathor does not take issue appreciably from the project of the Edfu temple, the most  complete  cultic  memorial  of  the  Graeco-Roman  period.  This  plan  lies  of  a sanctuary, chapels and great liturgical halls alongside cult rooms to store the equipment and  offerings  required  for  the  daily  ritual  or  various  festivals.  The  architectural originality  of  the  temple  of  Hathor  domiciliate  in  the  majestic  crypts  contrived  in  the thickness of the walls and on three levels. The underground crypts helped as a sort of foundation  for  the  temple.  Inside  these  secret  spaces  were  stored  about  160  statues, which ranged from 22.5 to 210.0 centimeter in height. The best statues, made of wood, were sunk in an most inacessible crypt.

Open Air Museum in Luxor

Off to the left (north) of the first solicit of the Amun Temple Enclosure is Karnak’s open-air museum. The term "museum" and the fact that there is so much else to see in Karnak means that most visitors skim this collecting of stones, statues and shrines, but it is unquestionably worth a look. The good chapels include the White Chapel of Sesostris I, one of the oldest and most stunning monuments in Karnak, which has wonderful Middle Kingdom reliefs; the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut, its red quartzite blocks reassembled in 2000; and the Alabaster Chapel of Amenhotep I. The museum also contains a collection of statuary found throughout the temple complex.

Luxor Sound and Light

Karnak sound and light

Luxor Sound and Light in Karnak show spotlights the dramatic history of ancient Thebes. The show narrates the achievements of some great Pharaohs, with poetic descriptions of the ancient treasures. As visitors walk complete  the complex,  the  pharaohs arise  to  separate the  story of  their  interesting lives,  as  haunting music mysteriously flows through this ancient city. Ancient and poetic voices tell the visitors about the birth  of Karnak  temple  and  the  heroic  achievements  of  the  pharaohs  and  the  god  Amun.  It  is  an enchanting and  magic experience  to  hear to  sound  outcomes and  gaze  at the  magnificent  ruins white during the well-presented show.

El-Moalla

El Mo'alla

El-Moalla is a necropolis southern of Thebes, dating to the First IntermediatePeriod (2134–2040 B.C.E.). Two of the tombs at el-Moalla are famous for their ornaments and  paintings.  These  are  the  tombs  of  Ankhtify and Sobekhotep. El-Moalla was a necropolis doing the area known as Tod. The Egyptians visited it Hefat.

Elkab

El Kab, Temple of Amenhotep III

Elkab, also named Nekheb, is a site  called  Nekheb  by  the  Egyptians and one of the nation’s earliest villages, dating to c. 6000 B.C.E. Elkab is on the east bank of the Nile, 20 miles  south  of  Eana. The  site  is  across  the  river  from Hierakonpolis and is related to nearby Nekhen (modern Kom  el-Ahmar).  Predynastic  palaces,  garrisoned  ramparts, and other interior defences attest to the years of the site,  which  was  devoted  to  the  goddess  Nekhebet, the patroness of Upper Egypt.

Elkab’s  citizens  rose  against  Ahmose (r.  1550–1525 B.C.E.) when he started the Eighteenth Dynasty, and he dotted the siege of the Hyksos capital of Avaris to put down  the  rebellion.  The  nomarchs  of  the  area  were energetic  and  independent.  Their  rock-cut  graves  are  in the  northern  section  of  the  city  and  display  their  vivacious  access  to  life  and  death. King Tuthmosis III (r.1479–1425  B.C.E.)  erected  the  first  chapel  to  Nekhebet, broken  by  his  heir  Amenhotep II. The  temple  of Nekhebet had a series of lower temples involved as well as a devoted lake and a necropolis. A temple observances the god  Thoth was  started  by  Ramses II (r.  1290–1224 B.C.E.).  The  present  Nekhebet  enshrine  dates  to  the  Late Period (712–332 B.C.E.). In the valley of Elkab shrines of Nubian  gods  were  discovered,  and  in  far  wadis  a shrine  to  a  deity  made  Shesmetet and  a  temple  of Hathor and Nekhebet stand in ruins. The rock-cut tombs of  ’Ahmose-Pen Nekhebet, ’Ahmose, son of Ebana, and Paheri are also on the site. Elkab likewise contains El-Hammam, called “the Bath,” which was seen to the reign of RamsesII. His stela is still evident there. Amenhotep III (r. 1391–1353 B.C.E.) also erected a chapel there for the devoted Bark of Nekhebet.

Armant (Erment)

Cleopatra’s temple at Erment

Armant or Erment was a site south of Thebes, called Iun-Mut, “The Pillar of Mut,” or Iun-Montu, “the Pillar of Montu,” in Egyptian; Hermonthis in Greek; also Armant in some lists. Erment was once the capital of the fourth nome of Upper Egypt but was replaced by Thebes as early as the Middle Kingdom(2040–1640 B.C.E.).

The god Montu had a cult  center  at  Erment,  associated  with  the  sacred  bull Buchis. Remains  of  an  Eleventh  Dynasty  (2040–1991 B.C.E.) palace were discovered on the place. A temple from the Eighteenth Dynasty, built by Queen-Pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. 1473–1458 B.C.E.) and reconstructed by TuthmosisIII (r.1479–1425  B.C.E.),  was  also  observed  in  Erment.  The Bucheum, the bull necropolis, is also on the site.

A better temple at Erment dates to the Middle Kingdom with later add-on. Nectanebo II (r.  363–343 B.C.E.) started a similar shrine that was completed by the Ptolemies (304–30 B.C.E.). Cleopatra VII (r. 51–30 B.C.E.) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (r. 44–30 B.C.E.) constructed a Mammisi, or birth house there, with a dedicated lake.

Mummification Museum at Luxor

Mummification Museum at Luxor

Mummification Museum recently introduced in the visitors centre in Luxor, it is the only one of its sort in the world. It houses 150 souvenirs of mummies, coffins, tools the ancient Egyptian physician used, and house paintings corresponding the religious funerary rituals. The story of this museum started when the Egyptian president established that the obligation of the former visitor middle building was to be transmitted from the tourism ministry to that of culture (and, specifically, the Supreme Council of Antiquities). It was opened in 1997.

    Gods of ancient Egypt

    Embalming materials

    Organic materials

    Embalming fluid

    Tools of mummification

    Canopic jars

    Ushabtis

    Amulets

    Coffin of Padiamun

    Mummy of Masaherta

    Mummified animals

Ramesseum

The Ramesseum

This was the temple established by Ramses II (r. 1290–1224 B.C.E.) at Thebes (Luxor). Called “the Temple of the Million Years,”  the  construction  was  part  of  Ramses II’s mortuary  cult.  The  temple  was  dedicated  to  the  deified Ramses II  and  to  the  god  Amun, addressed  “the  United With Eternity.” The site was called the Memnomium, or the Tomb of Ozymandias, by the Greeks.

The  structure  was  included  by  a  brick  wall  and superimposed on a temple constructed originally by Seti I. Pylons drawn Ramses II’s Battle of Kadesh and his Syrian victories. The Ramesseum had a Hypostyle Hall, courts, and a throne room. A big statue of Ramses II,  more  than  55  feet  tall,  was  discovered  in  the  first court.  An  astronomical  chamber  was  likewise  found  on  the site, composing a second hypostyle hall.

In the southwest, a temple devoted to Seti I and Queen Tuya, the  royal  parents  of  Ramses II,  was erected,  and  an  avenue  of  sphinxes  surrounded  various edifices. There were likewise chambers that served as sanctuaries for the different solar barks. A royal hall was part  of  the  design.  The  Twenty-second  (945–712 B.C.E.) and also Twenty-third  (828–712  B.C.E.)  Dynasties  used  the storage  areas  of  the  Ramesseum as a burial  site.  A papyrus  discovered  on  the  site  contained  a  version  of “the  Tale  of  the  Eloquent Peasant,”  and  medical  texts referring  the  treatment  of  tightening  limbs  were  also found.

In  the  reign  of  Ramses IX (1131–1112 B.C.E.), priests  serving  the  Ramesseum were  caught  transferring golden  objects  from  this  shrine.  An  confederate,  a  gardener  named  Kar,  confessed  how  measures  of  golden decorations were taken. He also named his confederates, some  of  whom  were  in  the  priesthood.  They  were seriously punished, as their crimes included not only theft but desecration in violating a religious site.

Colossi of Memnon

Colossi of Memnon

Two big quartzite statues experienced as the Colossi of Memnon are all that rest of the magnificent social system which was built as a mortuary temple for Amenophis III.  Earlier the statues flanked the pylon gates of the temple, now they model side by side amid fields of corn with their hands located neatly upon their knees, quiet facing east waiting for the rise of the new-born sun.  On one position of Amenophis’s feet stands the little figure of his wife Queen Tiye and on the other face stands an equally diminutive figure of his mother Mutemuia.

These two colossal statues were misnamed Memnon by the Greeks who thought that they represented the mighty Memnon who Achilles killed in the battle for Troy.  In Roman times, wind passing through a crack in the northwest statue gave out a baleful cry which was thought to be Memnon crying to his mother Eos.  The crack appeared after an earthquake some 30 BC and stopped when Septimus Severus ordered its doctor in 199 AD.  The statues although anonymous and badly damaged are still very amazing although the south statue now has an appearance of being burned after it was recently treated with preserving material.

Amenophis III, now as well referred to as Amenhotep III, came to the throne when he was only 12 years old and governed Egypt from 1390 – 1352 BC when he passed at the age of 49 years.  He was buried in the Western Valley near the Valley of the Kings. 

His prevail was a time of peace and successfulness when Egypt’s wealth inflated enormously and, without any wars to worry about, he shipped on a large building programme including a mud-brick palace known as Malqata, the scant ruins of which are close to the Medinet Habu.  In size, his mortuary temple may well have rivalled that of the mighty temple at Karnak but it was established on the flood-plane and hurt corrosion and earthquake damage soon after its completion.  Many of its finely carved stone stops were later reused in the building of the Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum.  Extensive digging of the temple site has of late started and the bases of some exceptionally big statues have been exposed in 2005.

The car park beside the statues can be complete of tour buses early in the morning so the best time to view the statues is late in the afternoon when most of the tour buses have gave or at night when the statues are light.

Deir el-Medina

Deir el-Medina

Deir el-Medina, a village of ancient Egyptian artisans involved  to  the  New Kingdom (1550–1070  B.C.E.) necropolis  at  Thebes. It  is  based  on  the  west  bank between the Ramesseum and Medinet Habu. The site was named  Set-Ma’at when  grounded  by  Tuthmosis I (r.1504–1492 B.C.E.)  near  the  special  eleventh  dynasty (2040–1991  B.C.E.)  necropolis.  The  artisans  were  formerly known as “the Servitors of the Place of Truth,” the laborers of the tombs in the Valleys ofthe kings and queens. Some  workers  were  valued  for  their  skills  and imaginative artistry. In some reads these workers were called “the Servants of the Place of Truth.”.

From the Tomb of Merit in Deir el-Medina

The homes of these artisans had various rooms, with the workers of higher rank basking vestibules and several architectural adornments. They also raised elaborate funerary  sites  for  themselves  and  their  families,  caricatures  of  the  royal  tombs  upon  which  they  hard throughout their entire lives. Little pyramids were fashioned out of bricks, and the secret walls were covered with stunning paintings and reliefs. The site has provided scholars  with  inscribed  papyri,  ostraka,  and  elaborate depictions of common life.

King Amenhotep I (r. 1525–1504  B.C.E.)  was  an  early supporter  of  the  region.  A  temple  put up  on  the  site  by Amenhotep III (r.  1359–1353  B.C.E.)  was  refurbished  by Ptolemy IV Philopator (r. 186–164, 163–145 B.C.E.). Seti I (1306–1290  B.C.E.) put up temples to Hathor and Amun on the site. Tahrqa (r. 690–664 B.C.E.) also built an Osirian chapel in that location.

Mortuary Temple of Seti I

The Mortuary Temple of Seti I

Beside the modern hamlet of el-‘Araba el-Madfuna are the impressive remains of a unique Egyptian temple built by Seti I (19th Dynasty). The temple contains seven sanctuaries set in a row, each gave to a different deity, the southernmost one rewarding Seti I himself. This dedication emphasizes the building’s role as a funerary shrine for Seti I. This is supported by the name of the temple: “The house  of  millions  of  years  of  the  King  Men-Ma’at-Re  [Seti  I],  who  is  contented  at Abydos.” Actually buried in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, Seti I was coming a longstanding  Egyptian  royal  tradition in building  a  secondary  funerary  complex  at Abydos, the cult central of the Egyptian god Osiris. The temple’s put up relief decoration carved under Seti I on fine white limestone evokes a traditional, classical style. Many of the serious reliefs also retain their original painted details, forming some of the finest bas-reliefs kept from ancient Egypt.

The consequence of the Amarna period, with Seti I restoring the worship of the traditional Egyptian  gods,  may  explain  the  merged  dedication  of  the  temple  to  (from  south  to north) Ptah, Re-Horakhty, Amen-Re, Osiris, Isis and Horus. The unusual L-shaped project of the temple is caused by a southeast wing appended to the main rectilinear temple. This wing  contains  rooms  dedicated  to  Memphite  funerary  deities,  such  as  Sokar  and Nefertum, further underlining the national and funerary centre of the temple. In addition, a good list of legitimate pharaohs is offered in the “kings’ gallery” to the south of the  sanctuaries  in  the  passageway  passing  to  a  butchering  room.  The  names  of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen are missed from the list, as if to wipe off their reigns from qualified history.

The temple is set within  a  great  enclosure  wall  (circa  220×350 metre)  with  a  important mudbrick  pylon  confronting  the  desert,  from  which  a  prosodion  way  probably  led  to  the royal tombs at Umm el-Qa’ab. Access to the temple was from the east, up ramps that led into two large courtyards, one after the other. The temple was left unfinished at the death of King Seti I and most of the front part of the temple was finished in sunk ease during the reign of King Seti I’s son Ramses II. The southeast home wall of the first court contains a agency of Ramses II struggling the Hittites at Qadesh. The names of Merenptah, Ramses III and Ramses IV are also preserved on these front courts. To the east of these courts lies a large storehouse or set of magazines, such as were likewise found at the Ramesseum. In the center of these is a pulpit with pillars which would have served as a reception center for entry or outgoing goods.

With  seven  chancels,  the  temple’s  program  is  exceptionally  broad.  Access  to  the sanctuaries  was  through  two  cross  hypostyle  halls,  the  first  with  two  rows  of columns and the second with 3. In the first hypostyle hall the names of King Seti I have been overwritten by Ramses II. The seven sanctuaries are mostly decorated with scenes from the daily cult ritual rendering the king recording the shrine, offering and anointing the god’s statue and barque and then leaving while sweeping away his footprints as he goes. Six of these shrines have a false door depicted on their west wall through which the deity was thought to enter the temple. The exception is the shrine to Osiris; here an actual door leads to a unique suite of rooms at the back of the temple in which the Mysteries of Osiris were celebrated. The highlight of these ceremonial occasions was the erecting of the djed pillar, symbolise the resurrection of Osiris.