tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76429600587785227212024-02-07T21:52:48.615-08:00Ancient Egyptian TemplesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-18715995652466373522011-07-13T09:26:00.000-07:002011-07-13T09:26:19.661-07:00Page 33: Rediscovery in Earnest: Scholars and Scientists<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-32-rediscovery-in-earnest-scholars.html"><<Page 33...</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7buLSRAbYdQsGt_j86izFltge5ipFP78t9gUGcxaFHCWR4SMFZtK_X4y-UejtT7ayO5Lp_ogkZ39OvkvXpSnRYLfVChcFqmifEz95bDRph6lX1hQPjEGdZIrHqm81ohlFGvHCqVtZfE/s1600/Sir+John+Gardner+Willinson+at+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7buLSRAbYdQsGt_j86izFltge5ipFP78t9gUGcxaFHCWR4SMFZtK_X4y-UejtT7ayO5Lp_ogkZ39OvkvXpSnRYLfVChcFqmifEz95bDRph6lX1hQPjEGdZIrHqm81ohlFGvHCqVtZfE/s320/Sir+John+Gardner+Willinson+at+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.png" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">Sir John Gardner Wilkinson</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">(1797-1875), depicted here in native</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">dress, conducted pioneering work in</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">the study of and recording of ancient</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">Egypt and its monuments between</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">1821 and 1856.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
foremost among a number of other European scholars of this period was the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Prussia">Prussian</a> <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Richard_Lepsius" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Karl Richard Lepsius">Carl Richard Lepsius</a> (1810 - 1884), whose 12-volume <i>Denkmaeler aus Aegypten </i>and <i>Aethiopien </i>stands as the earliest reliable publication of a large number of ancient Egyptian temples and other monuments.<br />
<br />
The complete recording of ancient Egyptian monuments was begun in the later 19th century by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_D%C3%BCmichen" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Johannes Dümichen">Johannes Dumichen</a> (1833-1894) and Maxence de Rochemonteix (1849-1891). Although neither man was able to come close to fulfilling their ambitious goal, the idea was continued by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_Morgan" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Jacques de Morgan">Jacques de Morgan</a> (1857-1924), who began a <i>Catalogue des monuments </i>and produced a complete and produced a complete publication of the temple of Kom Ombo, and by the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_Exploration_Society" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Egypt Exploration Society">Egypt Exploration Fund</a> (later Society) of England, which initiated its Archaeological Survey of Egypt', resultig in much valuable recording. The Franco-Egyptian Center at Karnak also provides an example of excellent work does in a specific location.<br />
<br />
The greatest advance in the recording of ancient Egyptian temples would come about, however, as a result of the vision and planning of the American archaeologist <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Breasted" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="James Henry Breasted">James Henry Breasted</a> (1865-1935). Founder of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, Breasted organized the Institute's Epigraphic Survey of Egyptian Monuments ever made. He also developed his own methodology for the precise recording of texts and inscriptions on monuments (p. 241) whcih, in its essential form, is still in use today. Although interested in all aspects of Egyptology, breasted was especially fascinated with ancient Egyptian temples, and it was no coincidence that the first monument to receive the detailed attention of the Epigraphic Survey was the great mortuary temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu. Since then the Survery has turned its attention to a numer of other temples, continuing to produce complete documentation in the same painstaking tradition.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Oriental Institute is only one academic institution which has worked in the temples of ancient Egypt. Throughout the 20th century scholars from other universities, museums and archaeological institutes in many countries, as well as those of Egypt itself, have laboured in the painstaking excavation, recording and reconstruction of the ancient temples Today, modern methods of scientific archaeology are being applied and we are in a position to understand these structures to a degree impossible in previous decades. But much remains to be learned, and much is only now coming to light. The story is a detailed and fascinating one which unfolds with the description of the various elements of the ancient Egyptian temple, the actual functioning of the temple institutions, and the history of the individual temples themselves.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wZgXx6jGh4vURFuXv5SVNHyrJFivY3Gq9EYBNS5jCuGlJeQtWzPYFoQc_0X0y6t3NM21pD80j4hXKNiEKqfjoK-T8TAMkJE99DRB5maOt9kL7ILSni4pOoV_ChzY_RIsoaRmoXQ-JTk/s1600/The+Forecourt+of+Temple+of+Amun+at+Karnak.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wZgXx6jGh4vURFuXv5SVNHyrJFivY3Gq9EYBNS5jCuGlJeQtWzPYFoQc_0X0y6t3NM21pD80j4hXKNiEKqfjoK-T8TAMkJE99DRB5maOt9kL7ILSni4pOoV_ChzY_RIsoaRmoXQ-JTk/s1600/The+Forecourt+of+Temple+of+Amun+at+Karnak.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The forecourt of the temple of Amun at Karnak in one of the British photographer Francois Frith's many views of ancient Egyptian temples sites. He made three expeditions to the country between 1856 and 1860</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">...Page 34>></span></h6><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/ptah.html" target="_blank">Ptah</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-2338594928918574942011-07-12T06:07:00.000-07:002011-07-12T06:07:21.445-07:00Page 32: Rediscovery in Earnest: Scholars and Scientists<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bb5-Mil8cdpyUf0P0faDQ1tEnluSJVEWOMbv-sg3Vr8Wm9xnnViK2rNKjWKjjWdIdZK5vMUixcjetLseULiB6XdUm0-8T6uQgedqS4YLOSy3Pll5pogQNyHfyclBXSaFqBQGG4jhjkk/s1600/Jean-Francois+Champollion+and+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bb5-Mil8cdpyUf0P0faDQ1tEnluSJVEWOMbv-sg3Vr8Wm9xnnViK2rNKjWKjjWdIdZK5vMUixcjetLseULiB6XdUm0-8T6uQgedqS4YLOSy3Pll5pogQNyHfyclBXSaFqBQGG4jhjkk/s320/Jean-Francois+Champollion+and+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.png" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832 </td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">is best known for his crucial decipherment</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">of the hieroglyphic script but he did also</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">travel to Egypt where he recorded many</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">ancient Egyptian temples.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-31-rediscovery-in-earnest-scholars.html"><<Page 31... </a><br />
The next great advance, however, was the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script in 1822 - 1824 by Jearn-Francois Champollion (1790 - 1832) and others, which led to the first real translations of temple texts and inscriptions. The decipherment itself was based in part, of course, on the Rosetta Stone discovered in 1799, with its trilingual (hieroglyphicdemotic and Greek) decree of Ptolemy V dating to 169 BC, and also on an inscription on an obelisk of Ptolemy IX and his wife Cleopatra IV from Philae. These and other temple monuments supplied the scholars who worked on the long-locked language with the necessary clues for the decipherment of hieroglyphs.<br />
<br />
Following this massive breakthrough a new age of Egyptological scholarship became possible. Scholars such as the English pioneer John Gardner Wilkinson (1797 - 1875) - whose works, including his Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians publisheeed in 1837, are still useful today - were able to begin to reconstruct ancient Egyptian civilization and to understand the significance of its treasures.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vOPJ3TPLdR0eWqvor1UuQJaKmLFVcjDHAVilSsERLOeh-yo3I2xZnA53CXajoX2TGscqkbQy9SqRvoBZbFm-qO4iRkIirPbfMty9PyDO4OH7avN4_R1HHVUblUN2h0uoZEXnjmO8ABQ/s1600/temple+of+edfu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vOPJ3TPLdR0eWqvor1UuQJaKmLFVcjDHAVilSsERLOeh-yo3I2xZnA53CXajoX2TGscqkbQy9SqRvoBZbFm-qO4iRkIirPbfMty9PyDO4OH7avN4_R1HHVUblUN2h0uoZEXnjmO8ABQ/s640/temple+of+edfu.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Temple of Edfu by David Roberts, 1838. Roberts and other European artists stirred great interest in Egypt's past.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;">...Page 33>></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/ptah.html" target="_blank">Ptah</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-35209715296461766662011-07-10T23:57:00.000-07:002011-07-12T06:09:58.076-07:00Page 31: Rediscovery in Earnest: Scholars and Scientists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqF5aPzIdcACkaBv2CPRLIG8Az8-anhT-NE0Wg9jOMkZ83zJUVIjqDIbKNgZy2mue737DKwWC58wJNu8BfbntcxxvP4y1OWJ7XKhTHK7pqCieg-qn8eMS_r3DlDVX1p4dZe56c53FJUlQ/s1600/Description+de+I%2527Egypte.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqF5aPzIdcACkaBv2CPRLIG8Az8-anhT-NE0Wg9jOMkZ83zJUVIjqDIbKNgZy2mue737DKwWC58wJNu8BfbntcxxvP4y1OWJ7XKhTHK7pqCieg-qn8eMS_r3DlDVX1p4dZe56c53FJUlQ/s1600/Description+de+I%2527Egypte.png" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5ozNajfYwFSH7PoAuHohEzr_-a9goG1qTHtvoZ8gcmco1s4LnH8XfzqMJ6FZg6QXLjmZ4Q9HyWovMkgApleILwFwDTNwoiyk8ce6YRhihDEX4BIOE_St8dUqVFTPKzIaubrLz1I8XjU/s1600/Description+de+I+Egypte.png" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title page from the Description de L'Egypte.</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">which was the first modern scholarly</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">attempt of the systematic recording</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">of Egypt's monuments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-30-early-travellers-and-modern.html"><<Page 30...</a><br />
To say that Napoleon's Expedition was a turning point in the rediscovery of ancient Egypt is an understatement. Napoleon's scholars systematically studied and recorded monuments and artifacts in a manner which was truly unprecedented. For the first time, whole temples were measured, planned and painstakingly depicted in carefully executed drawings in 1802, the artist and diplomat Vivant Denon who accompanied the expedition published a succinct single volume account with records and sketches of temples and other monuments as far south as the area of the first cataract, and this was followed, between 1809 and 1830, by the 36 volumes of the official <i>Description de I'Egypte</i>. This work awakened nothing short of a mania for all things Egyptian and adventures, antiquarians, artists and scholars began to travel to Egypt in increasing numbers. So, eventually, did collectors and the agents of European museums and libraries who began to purchase large quantities of antiquities. The Great Temple at Abu Simbel was rediscovered by J.I. Burckhardt in 1813 and opened by the famous procurer of antiquities Giovanni Belzoni (1778 - 1823) in 1817 as part of this intense period of exploration.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-32-rediscovery-in-earnest-scholars.html"><span id="goog_1546140417">...Page 32>></span></a></div><span id="goog_1546140417"></span></div><span id="goog_1546140418"></span><br />
<span id="goog_1546140412"></span><span id="goog_1546140413"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78xuZvSxAJg51jW1JAynfUf-WAkQTGv92jjGG1Fku5LpP4Q1OzDMR6prA__VKEyFA0E1O-X02a63eqGKJYt5uz5Mo_u3OTVFv_CGNYTiwxT05gg3JjUcdqe9NAFd9eqDeGSMdlORpve4/s1600/Herodotus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78xuZvSxAJg51jW1JAynfUf-WAkQTGv92jjGG1Fku5LpP4Q1OzDMR6prA__VKEyFA0E1O-X02a63eqGKJYt5uz5Mo_u3OTVFv_CGNYTiwxT05gg3JjUcdqe9NAFd9eqDeGSMdlORpve4/s1600/Herodotus.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption">Herodotus, the Greek scholar and renowned</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">father of history' travelled in Egypt in</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">the mid-5th century BC. He recorded in</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">in detail everything he saw and was told,</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">and his work contains much of value</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td valign="top">concerning ancient Egyptian temples.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-29-glorious-decline-coming-of.html"><<Page 29... </a><br />
<br />
The beginning of rediscovery: explorers and travellers<br />
<blockquote>"I did not travel for any useful purpose, but only to see so many superb edifices, churches, statues, colossi, obelisks and columns" Anonymous Venetion traveller to ancient Egypt, c. 1589.</blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aFJh3g-_iTT7HErlFP-VAsN3d9OcKRFzpE3kpfBD_bWHRTZwvXiZFDMgKZtq6X9VloepTHJYtd0m0Kyfn_r-qW8hVnucpuYjZBUmq6tgqB7ZaecfKBrHImARzo3mnXywT_4hbksbZ5c/s1600/18th-century+visitors+to+ancient+Egyptian+temples.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aFJh3g-_iTT7HErlFP-VAsN3d9OcKRFzpE3kpfBD_bWHRTZwvXiZFDMgKZtq6X9VloepTHJYtd0m0Kyfn_r-qW8hVnucpuYjZBUmq6tgqB7ZaecfKBrHImARzo3mnXywT_4hbksbZ5c/s1600/18th-century+visitors+to+ancient+Egyptian+temples.png" /></a>Even as ancient Egyptian temples fell into disuse their legend was already in making.. Many Greeks and Romans travelled to the Nile Valley where not only the pyramids and Sphinx but also some ofo the great temples were considered 'wonders'. Especially notable was the Greek historian Herodotus who visited ancient Egypt around the middle of the 5th century BC and who described much of what he saw in the second book of his famous <i>History. </i>Although many of Herodotus claims are questioned by modern scholars much of what he recorded was clearly based on fact, and his writings preserve a great many details which would otherwise have been lost. The late Greek historian Strabo (c. 63 BC) also described monuments which, in many cases, are now greatly ruined or no longer exist, as did the Roman writer Diodorus Siculus an older contemporary of Strabo who visited Egypt between 60 and 56 BC. The Greek writer Plutarch (AD 46-120), who may have had only limited first-hand knowledge of ancient Egypt and who evidently drew on sources of varying levels of value, has nevertheless left us a welth of detail on cult practices and the various temple festivals celebrated in ancient Egypt.<br />
<br />
These and other early writers who compiled accounts of their Egyptian travels - or those others - recorded the details of what they were told by the members of the temple priesthoods they interviewed, leaving us much useful information on the temples, their festivals and personnel But within a few hundred years of the advent of Christianity and knowledge of the ancient hieroglyphic script was completely lost. The ancient spoken language of ancient Egypt was replaced by Coptic and then Arabic, and as the old religion died, so too did knowledge of the old culture. During the ensuing Middle Ages Egypt was thus a source of little more than stories and legends which grew ever more fabulous as they spread though many ancient Egyptian sites were visited by medieval European crusaders and pilgrims for their supposed Christian associations. Interpretations of Egyptian monuments and artifacts by European scholars of the Renaissance were often no less fanciful, yet the period did see the beginnings of a growing interest in Egypt and its antiquities which would lead to increased travel and exploration.<br />
<br />
Although dangerous and sometimes restricted by law, some of these early travels by European were extensive indeed. Although his identity is not known, one Italian tourist (quoted above) who travelled to Egypt in 1589 shows in his anonymous writings that he visited most of the major sites - and many minor ones - from Cairo as far south as el-Derr in Nubia. It was not until the 19th century and the rule of Muhammad Ali, however, that increasing numbers of Europeans began to visit Egypt purely for pleasure, and from this period we have several records giving impressions and descriptions of specific temple sites.<br />
<br />
One of the most significant advances in to discovery was made by the Jesuit Claude Sicard (1677 - 1726) who was commissioned by the French regent to investigate the monuments of ancient Egypt. Between 1707 and 1726 Sicard visited many ancient sites including 24 ancient Egyptian temples, among them the great temples of Thebes, which he was the first in modern times correctly to identify on the basis of classical descriptions. Most of Sicard's records were subsequently lost, though his travels rank high among those of a number of increasingly educated and careful observers. The writings of the Dane Frederik Norden (1708 - 1742) and the Englishman Richard Pococke (whose <i>Observations on Egypt </i>records his extensive travels in Egypt between 1737 and 1740) were highly influential at the time. Likewise the account of the French traveller the Comte de Volnay, published in 1787, is said to have inspired Napoleon Bonaparte's inclusion of trained scholars in his military campaign to Egypt in 1789.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">...Page 31>> </div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/07/apis.html" target="_blank">Apis</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/neith.html" target="_blank">Neith</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-21978638698394804992011-07-10T09:14:00.000-07:002011-07-10T23:03:18.505-07:00Page 29: A Glorious Decline: The Coming of Christianity and Islam<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-28-glorious-decline-roman-period.html"><<Page 28...<page 28...=""></page></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJJdCeu92qHEVdmyfV4uR-FCJX3VJBFSTA645-iL97ZYAy4Q3ESRIHLdf4ZlT1LeqavQsrsoidhqNmgByA32RMSE_OWNHWWZaQc-CbeKYuDDGv_sab_t-l0rP2uz8wVD8ECCn-h_LrwQ/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJJdCeu92qHEVdmyfV4uR-FCJX3VJBFSTA645-iL97ZYAy4Q3ESRIHLdf4ZlT1LeqavQsrsoidhqNmgByA32RMSE_OWNHWWZaQc-CbeKYuDDGv_sab_t-l0rP2uz8wVD8ECCn-h_LrwQ/s400/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">In the late 3rd century AD, the Temple of Luxor at Thebes</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left;" valign="top">was used as a garrison and administrative center</td><td valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td valign="top">by the Romans and was adopted to serve the cult</td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td valign="top">of emperor worship.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In AD 383 pagan temples throughout the Roman empire were closed by order of the emperor Theodosius. A number of further decree and edicts, culminating in those of Theodosius in AD 391 and Valentinian III in AD 435, sanctioned the persecution of pagans and destruction of their religious structures, and soon ancient Egyptian temples were shunned and empty. The ancient shrines were quarried for stone, or in some cases overgrown by surrounding areas of housing or even purged of much of their decoration and utilized as chapels and basilicas of the new faith (page 194). For the most part however, the early Christians rejected the pagan buildings and many were destroyed by austere figures such as Shenute, a 5th-century monk whose fortress-like monastery in Middle Egypt was built from the stone of nearby temples.<br />
<br />
Eventually Christianity itself was challenged by Islam. In AD 639 an Arab army crossed Sinai and entered Egypt , wrestling the country from Byzantine control. For a time the caliphs, Muhammad's successors as rulers of Islam, were content to run Egypt through a Coptic administration, but eventually the majority of Egyptians converted to the new religion (for a reason or another). Sometimes existing temple structures were used as the setting for festivals in the new era or were adapted, as Luxor Temple, where a mosque was built atop the earlier Christian and pagan structures (page 167). But, by and large the processes of dissolution continued.<br />
<br />
The few ancient Egyptian temples which were abandoned and which were distant from major population centers fared best and remain today as the most perfectly preserved examples of ancient Egypt's religious structures. Eventually, Egypt's temples and other monuments of her pharaonic past became as mysterious to the Egyptians themselves as they were to the outside world. Whether covered by drifting sands or standing in full view, Egypt's temples were lost and would have to wait to be rediscovered.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Y2qdlTu91noU5_VLawKtGy3pgk3Nbh61_vCKHMIwkUH6vSk9F_-ByvFIeat59-Jg5FwqA7yjp3aXclNJ92mKwXw0Oci76CXNKdVobKg2-bBW3NUxXRoGDPFpXx5zuMreFZ2b22GCMjI/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Y2qdlTu91noU5_VLawKtGy3pgk3Nbh61_vCKHMIwkUH6vSk9F_-ByvFIeat59-Jg5FwqA7yjp3aXclNJ92mKwXw0Oci76CXNKdVobKg2-bBW3NUxXRoGDPFpXx5zuMreFZ2b22GCMjI/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Y2qdlTu91noU5_VLawKtGy3pgk3Nbh61_vCKHMIwkUH6vSk9F_-ByvFIeat59-Jg5FwqA7yjp3aXclNJ92mKwXw0Oci76CXNKdVobKg2-bBW3NUxXRoGDPFpXx5zuMreFZ2b22GCMjI/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Y2qdlTu91noU5_VLawKtGy3pgk3Nbh61_vCKHMIwkUH6vSk9F_-ByvFIeat59-Jg5FwqA7yjp3aXclNJ92mKwXw0Oci76CXNKdVobKg2-bBW3NUxXRoGDPFpXx5zuMreFZ2b22GCMjI/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Map+of+Luxor+Temple.png" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx5nG1uxQZTpInqrzQ1OW_aIb3rtEYSZCOLrzn9b8i1oyNF5NpUJqT2aUCSjfm3Fhj4lF1GrMhIeD9719XnbzLXA-qb6RaLyvZv3HPaAMHReLoRdyibBJUC7IK0LmbmDWJY2w8O6pkoDI/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+temple+of+Luxor+inner+entrance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx5nG1uxQZTpInqrzQ1OW_aIb3rtEYSZCOLrzn9b8i1oyNF5NpUJqT2aUCSjfm3Fhj4lF1GrMhIeD9719XnbzLXA-qb6RaLyvZv3HPaAMHReLoRdyibBJUC7IK0LmbmDWJY2w8O6pkoDI/s640/Ancient+Egyptian+temple+of+Luxor+inner+entrance.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Roman times the entrance to the inner temple area at Luxor was sealed and a niche and flanking columns built as a focus for the Roman religious use of the temple.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-30-early-travellers-and-modern.html">...Page 30>></a></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/07/apis.html" target="_blank">Apis</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/04/pictures-crowns-of-cow-horns-solar-disk.html" target="_blank">Pictures: Crowns of Cow Horns, Solar Disk, Modius, Vulture Headdress and Double Uraes.</a> (ancient-egypt-history.com)</li>
</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-60485548750615760182011-07-10T07:57:00.000-07:002011-07-10T07:57:28.917-07:00Page 28: A Glorious Decline: the Roman Period<h1>
<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-27-glorious-decline-and-alexander.html"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><<page 27...=""></page></span></a></h1>
<h1>
Pharaohs from afar: the Roman Period and Ancient Egyptian Temples</h1>
<br />
The latter part of the Ptoleaic dynasty was plagued by internal power struggles and as the contesting factions turned to Rome for assistance ancient Egypt fell increasingly under the influence of the emerging Mediterranean power. Finally, the victory of Octavian (later Augustus) over his rival Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII spelled the end of Egyptian independence, and ancient Egypt was declared a Roman province under imperial control.<br />
<br />
Like the Ptolemaic kings, the Romans who followed them desired to adopt ancient Egyptian models both for the purposes of their own legitimation and acceptance with the ancient Egyptian priesthoods and people, and perhaps more importantly to preserve the social and economic stability within the area which provided much of Rome's grain supply. Roman emperors were thus depicted in pharaonic guise and continued to restore and in some cases elaborate Egypt's temples. One of the most distinctive structures in ancient Egypt, Trajan's Kiosk, on the island of Philae, was constructed as a monumental entrance to the temple of Isis at that site, though the structure was never completed. Entirely new temples were also built, in many cases following the old styles. The temple of Esna for example, reflects the design of the earliesr Ptolemaic temple at Dendera and is decorated with representations of several emperors in motifs which were by this time thousands of years old. <br />
<br />
The Romans displayed great interest in ancient Egyptian civilization, and several emperors commanded the removal of scupltures and monuments from ancient Egypt's temples (though these were perhaps already abandoned structures, such as at heliopolis) which were to be set up in Rome. An example is the obelisk which today stands in the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and which was taken to Rome in the 4th century AD by Constantius II.<br />
<br />
Overall, the continued decline in the importance of ancient Egyptian temples in evident, however, and by the early 4th century AD we find no less a structure than Luxor Temple incorporated into a permanent Roman military camp and adapted to serve the cult of emperor worship. Arguably, as Stephen Quirke has suggested, this could be seen as a Roman interpretation of Amenophis III's concept of Luxor Temple as a statement of the divine nature of kingship - now in the form of the emperor. But in any event, the fate of ancient Egyptian temples was finally sealed by the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEF6htzVdfTG_likTWee3888ee8ve1Vlk0ykSMvryLbIfyyxuhCPAqS89z93z4EntELcrmoGhjPZL5HTJx3eHkdBCFju8g2k3J7IzxbvXhADloXcM_Broep9SDMhLkzpCw0iZq567pLBo/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Temples+Philae.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEF6htzVdfTG_likTWee3888ee8ve1Vlk0ykSMvryLbIfyyxuhCPAqS89z93z4EntELcrmoGhjPZL5HTJx3eHkdBCFju8g2k3J7IzxbvXhADloXcM_Broep9SDMhLkzpCw0iZq567pLBo/s640/Ancient+Egyptian+Temples+Philae.png" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trajan's
Kiosk on the island of Philae is a good example of the kind of building
accomplished by the Romans in ancient Egyptian temples in addition to
the emblbellishment of existing structures</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
...Page 29>></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-48281427573348378362011-07-09T04:04:00.000-07:002011-07-09T04:04:42.980-07:00Page 27: A Glorious Decline and Alexander the Great<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFkjRXnV3fJwFnH6ul76RX9mwNYlq1x3Xvcx2agfLtbKn-dcM4z7DboikKOi7_xd-BBC3_QAENeDm8ysLtNtbDi0C34oCetirkGOCzrSThsswFCNGyW1_6Ax8uRt1uylYDAFFgKyNA6w/s1600/Sanctuary+of+Isis+at+Behbeit+el-Hagar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFkjRXnV3fJwFnH6ul76RX9mwNYlq1x3Xvcx2agfLtbKn-dcM4z7DboikKOi7_xd-BBC3_QAENeDm8ysLtNtbDi0C34oCetirkGOCzrSThsswFCNGyW1_6Ax8uRt1uylYDAFFgKyNA6w/s400/Sanctuary+of+Isis+at+Behbeit+el-Hagar.png" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carved block from the sanctuary of <i><b>Isis</b></i> <br />
at <i><b>Behbeit el-Hagar</b></i>, which flourished <br />
in the north-central Delta in the <br />
30th Dynasty and Ptolemaic Period</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-26-glorious-decline-of-ancient.html"><<page 26...</a><br />
During much of the Late Period, however, ancient Egypt was ruled successively by a number of outside powers. Beginning with the 25th Dynasty, Nubian or 'Kushite' kings controlled most of the country - and constructed many fine monuments. This period of rule by ancient Egypt's southern neighbor was cut short by Assyrian invasion, followed eventually by the force of Achaemenid Persia, which threatened or controlled ancient Egypt to some extent for the best part of 200 years. Some of the earlier Achaemenid emperor adopted the pharaonic style of rule and built or elaborated upon a number of ancient Egyptian temples. Darius I, for example, built the impressive temple of Hibis in the Kharga Oasis and repaired others from Burisis in the Delta to el-Kab in southern Upper Egypt. Persian rule was never popular, however, and revolts and other problems had led to the Persian destruction of a number of ancient Egyptian temples during this period.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, comparatively little evidence survives of the temples built during the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, and in many cases less is known of them than the structures built both before and after this this epoch. It seems clear, however, that it was towards the end of the Late Period, in the 30th Dynasty, that the architectural style usually considered typical to the Graeco-Roman era in fact developed.<br />
<h1>After Alexander the Great: The Ptolemaic Period</h1>When Alexander the Great entered Egypt in 332 BC he was hailed as a savious from the hated Persians. On his orders, repairs were carried out to temples damaged in the Persian devastation of 343, and his legacy to Egypt was prove to both extensive and lasting. After Alexander's death and the dissolution of his empire, rule of ancient Egypt fell to Ptolemy I, one of Alexander's generals; and with Ptolemy began the dynasty of naturalized foreigners which would rule for almost 300 years.<br />
<br />
The pious construction of temples to Egyptian deities was an obvious method for these foreign kings to legitimize their rule, and one which they exercised to the full. Following the architectural styles of the temples only recently established in the preceding period, the Ptolemaic rulers constructed temples throughout ancient Egypt. Many of these are today among the best preserved of all Egypt's religious structures.<br />
<br />
The relative smoothness of the transition from the Late Period temples to those of the Graeco-Roman era may be clearly seen in the ruined temple of Behbeit el-Hagar in the Delta (Page 104). Dedicated to Isis, and functioning as a nothern center for her worship, the temple was begun in the latter part of the 30th Dynasty but completed by Ptolemy II and Ptolemy III in a manner which shows a clear continuity of decoration and design. As the kings who preceded them had done, the Ptolemies built on a large scale using great quantities of granite and other hard stones which were often decorated with reliefs of particularly fine quality. The representations and inscriptions utilized in the decorative programmes of these Ptolemaic temples became increasingly obscure, however, as the details of the ancient relition became the special domain of a diminishing priestly elite. Eventually, obscurity became a goal in itself, and the inwardly focused and exclusive nature of the later Ptolemaic and Roman period temples would have much to do with the ultimate demise of ancient Egyptian religion.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"> ...Page 28>></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/07/apis.html" target="_blank">Apis</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-9.html" target="_blank">Page 9: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-6-introduction-temple-land-and.html" target="_blank">Page 6: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/serapis.html" target="_blank">Serapis</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-67791975527287214042011-07-07T04:17:00.000-07:002011-07-09T04:06:35.410-07:00Page 26: A Glorious Decline of the Ancient Egyptian Temples<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-25-ancient-egypts-new-kingdom.html"><<Page 25...</a><br />
<h1>The Third Intermediate and Late Periods</h1><br />
The shift of power from Thebes to the Delta region that took place during the 19th Dynasty and 20th Dynasty left the Theban high priests of Amun essentially in control of Upper Egypt. There was certainly interaction between the two areas: the Theban priests acknowledged the northern kings and married into their families; the royal 'Libyan' line in the north was evidently related to Libyan elements at Thebes; and a number of northern kings left evidence of their activities in the Theban area. Nevertheless, for much of the Third Intermediate period, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt existed as functionally independent regions.<br />
<br />
The most important temple remains of the period 1070-712 BC are thus those of the Delta cities of Tanis, Mendes, Sais and Bubastis. This trend continued into the succeeding Late Period (712-332 BC); the temple enclosure of Sais in the 26th Dynasty, for example, was well over 450,000 sq. m (4,840,000 sq. ft) in area and its buildings, according to Herodotus, were as splendid as any in ancient Egypt. A number of the kings of this period constructed their tombs within the precincts of these ancient Egyptian temples and doubtless embellished them considerably.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6HRIw8q81g6zJPMqMNZJ-4DTxgnror3mMs1V8DYk0hJKVGVvitBix21lPN8siWytU444EdYfhafSO9vdSrJUHmGzc5D3J8xGk66VeLIRZPjoBOQiRgfAN4dldbey2UhggzQPq91omCY/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples+of+sais+.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6HRIw8q81g6zJPMqMNZJ-4DTxgnror3mMs1V8DYk0hJKVGVvitBix21lPN8siWytU444EdYfhafSO9vdSrJUHmGzc5D3J8xGk66VeLIRZPjoBOQiRgfAN4dldbey2UhggzQPq91omCY/s640/ancient+egyptian+temples+of+sais+.png" width="640" /> </a></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A reconstruction of the great temple of Sais (Sa el-Hagar) in the northeastern Delta, of which very little remains. Sais was the seat of rulers of the 24th and 26th dynasties (c. 724 BC and 664 - 525 BC respectively).</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K83cnbT5Bi1saH8P4pLJF-MxB6CyMw8OrpoJUER-JjYXnGvYR2dFWOPhurCdmx2WttvY7AI83VTAOx2yeoIWbzBL97ypACA0BNnTF4ye9bDTTpSW7i97rCTRMvlhM50AyOWK8-TF3MA/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples+of+Amun+Hibis+at+Kharga+Oasis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K83cnbT5Bi1saH8P4pLJF-MxB6CyMw8OrpoJUER-JjYXnGvYR2dFWOPhurCdmx2WttvY7AI83VTAOx2yeoIWbzBL97ypACA0BNnTF4ye9bDTTpSW7i97rCTRMvlhM50AyOWK8-TF3MA/s640/ancient+egyptian+temples+of+Amun+Hibis+at+Kharga+Oasis.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The impressive gateway of the Persian and Ptolemaic temple of Amun at Hibis in the Kharga Oasis.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-27-glorious-decline-and-alexander.html">...Page 27>></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-54093988797294668312011-07-06T01:41:00.000-07:002011-07-07T04:20:31.030-07:00Page 25; Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom Temples<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-24-ancient-egypts-new-kingdom.html"><<Page 24...</a><br />
<br />
A number of scholars now feel that the traditional division of ancient Egyptian temples temples into the categories of 'mortuary' and 'divine' is false one, arguing that the functions and symbolic characteristics of all ancient Egyptian temples were both too varied and too intertwined to support this distinction. Certainly, it would be a mistake to ignore the common elements which underlie the wide variety of temple structures which existed in Egypt; and <i>hut</i> or 'mansion' was the common term used by the ancient Egyptians for all types of temples. Also, because it was believed that the ancient Egyptian king became a god in the afterlife, any distinctions between divine and mortuary spheres necessarily blur in both theory and practice. 'Divine' temples often had mortuary significance and 'mortuary' temples often had divine associations. Nevertheless the distinction is perhaps too established to shake off easily and in some ways it may still be a useful one.<br />
<br />
The ancient Egyptians themselves followed it to the extent that divine cult temples were usually referred temples was simply one of tenure. Although in theory they were established as temples of millions of years, many of the mortuary temples of the New Kingdom monarchs did not, in fact fare well in that regard: a number were deserted and used as quaries forstone even before the New Kingdom was over. The cults of the Egyptian gods tended to enjoy more continuity, but they too were not immune to turmoil and, sometimes, disaster.<br />
<br />
During the Amarna Period the heretic king Akhenaten (1353 - 1333 BC) not only severely curbed the power of the burgeoning cult of Amun but also promulgated a system of worship in which the Aten solar disk was intended to supersede all other deities. Not even the Egyptian gods were safe from the agents of this king, and while the temple closures and suppressions of other deities may have been short lived, the scars of desecration are still visible in most of the major temples which have survived from the New Kingdom. In the years after Akhenaten's death thousands of names and images of Amun and other deities had to be recut into the temple walls from which they had been expunged, and thousands more remain in only hacked and chiselled outline.<br />
<br />
If the Amarna Period can only be seen as a decisive downturn for the fortunes of most of ancient Egypt's cults of the following Ramessid era was characterized by recovery and unprecedented growth. Ramesses II (1290 - 1224 BC) is credited with building more to as 'mansions of the gods' and mortuary temples as 'mansions of millions of years' - an allusion perhaps to the desired continued cult of the deceased king. In practical reality, one of the greatest differences between the divine and mortuary temples than any other monarch in ancient Egypt history. Although none of his successors completed anything like the number of his monuments, temples continued to be built throughout the later New Kingdom. Perhaps more importantly for the cults themselves, the power and relative autonomy of the major temples - especially that of Amun at Karnak - recovered and grew steadily.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-26-glorious-decline-of-ancient.html">...Page 26>></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-84381616166847903902011-06-21T06:25:00.000-07:002011-07-06T01:42:57.498-07:00Page 24: Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-23-old-and-middle-kingdom.html"><<Page 23...</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1TpHp8gdfSUkIeA8mRgwuqWGwYxwSK_7u1sHjVPiscPpbLPeqhbfEzP7eDabLPfhh_5RM-CSmGpBmoiTUwSJtjeKWNsRSPSc8aKhb3xlDorSxTaWB25bMlN0RHpUZGp2zyyVxgbRoYY/s1600/New+Kingdom+Temple+Facade.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1TpHp8gdfSUkIeA8mRgwuqWGwYxwSK_7u1sHjVPiscPpbLPeqhbfEzP7eDabLPfhh_5RM-CSmGpBmoiTUwSJtjeKWNsRSPSc8aKhb3xlDorSxTaWB25bMlN0RHpUZGp2zyyVxgbRoYY/s1600/New+Kingdom+Temple+Facade.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A New Kingdom drawing of a temple facade. The double rows<br />
of columns represent a kiosk before the pylon with its flagpoles,<br />
from which pennants fly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The expansion of<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/"> ancient Egypt</a>'s political and economic power during its New Kingdom age of empire led to both the building of numerous new temples and the expansion of many which already existed. Individual kings strove to outdo their predecessors, not only in the construction of their own mortuary temples but also in the further development of major cult centers and in the building of ancient Egyptian temples dedicated to established deities as well as those that had not previously enjoyed formal cults.<br />
<br />
Temple construction in the New Kingdom reached its high points under <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/amenhotep-iii-18th-dynasty.html">Amenophis III </a>in the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/05/18th-dynasty-of-ancient-egypt.html">18th Dynasty</a> and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/12/seti-and-ramesses-ii.html">Ramesses II</a> in the 19th Dynasty, and did not really decline until several hundred years later. In terms of development also the Egyptian temple may be said to have reached its apogee in this period. Costly and magnificent religious structures were produced on a regular basis, and many if not most temples were constructed almost entirely of stone. The so-called 'standard' temple plan was established, in which an entrance pylon gave access to open court followed by a columned hall and finally the sanctuary itself. Although it might be varied, and was certainly elaborated in many cases, this standard form persisted all the way through the Graeco-Roman Period, and is the plan of most of the ancient Egyptian temples that have survived relatively intact till modern times.<br />
<br />
The standard plan was used, in fact, not only for the divine cult temples but also for the mortuary temples of the rulers of the New Kingdom. The kings of this period abandoned the pyramid complex of earlier ages and - doubtless for the purposes of security - constructed their tombs in the <a href="http://the-valley-of-the-kings.ancient-egypt-history.com/">Valley of the Kings</a>, in the hidden reaches of the Theban mountains well away from their mortuary temples. This move eliminated the pyramid itself - the focal points of the earlier funerary complexes - and as a result the royal mortuary temples of the New Kingdom were free to follow the standard plan already utilized for the divine temples.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRWr8MvB1KqBReb1raPgSErtHDK6sV1t7xdQ_hNEkR-WGm9PGnchsfdTR-avcXbiZYJMIsH10b4mNviP7yCiGHRa8YKtkU2oZJwZltVFPDQ3MBbbep_4PxAhhLC7Sx4_Xq2yPysap3XQ/s1600/classic+ancient+egyptian+temples+model+plan+map.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRWr8MvB1KqBReb1raPgSErtHDK6sV1t7xdQ_hNEkR-WGm9PGnchsfdTR-avcXbiZYJMIsH10b4mNviP7yCiGHRa8YKtkU2oZJwZltVFPDQ3MBbbep_4PxAhhLC7Sx4_Xq2yPysap3XQ/s640/classic+ancient+egyptian+temples+model+plan+map.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tripartite layout of the classic ancient Egyptian temple - open courtyard, columnar hall and inner sanctuary - had begun to develop in the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom but became standard in the New Kingdom and later periods. It is the form found in most temples surviving today.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-25-ancient-egypts-new-kingdom.html">...Page 25>></a></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com/2011/06/map-of-mortuary-temple-of-old-kingdom.html" target="_blank">Map of the Mortuary Temple of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Complex</a> (mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com/2011/06/map-depiction-of-old-kingdoms-valley.html" target="_blank">Map Depiction of Old Kingdom's Valley Temple</a> (mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/04/oracle-in-ancient-egypt.html" target="_blank">The Oracle in Ancient Egypt</a> (ancient-egypt-history.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/ptah.html" target="_blank">Ptah</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
</ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=0170fc83-671f-42f7-b416-900998cee9e6" /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-48414024913293746152011-06-18T00:46:00.000-07:002011-07-07T01:21:23.974-07:00Page 23: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-22-old-and-middle-kingdom.html"><<Page 22...</a><br />
<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-22-old-and-middle-kingdom.html"></a>One of the earliest examples of Middle Kingdom temple architecture and one of the few not substantially destroyed in later rebuilding is the combined mortuary temple and tomb of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep (2061 - 2010 BC) at <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/mortuary-temple-of-queen-hatshepsut.html">Deir el-Bahri</a> in Thebes. This innovative, terraced building with its colonnades and central monumental superstructure (the exact form of which is not known) was set at the back of the natural 'bay' in the Theban mountains and was the inspiration for several later mortuary temples of the same type - including the famous and much better preserver<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/mortuary-temple-of-queen-hatshepsut.html"> temple of</a> <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/queen-hatshepsut-18th-dynasty.html">Hatshepsut</a> in the same location.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/senusret-i-12th-dynasty.html">Senwosret (Sesostris) I</a> (1971 - 1926 BC), the second king of the 12th Dynasty, was the first monarch of the Middle Kingdom to institute an extensive building programme, constructing a number of temples from the Delta to at least as far as Elephantine in the south. At <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/03/thebes-from-beginning-till-luxor.html">Thebes</a>, he constructed a monolithic shrine and massive limestone shrine walls, as well as the beautifully decorated 'White Chapel' which provides a fine example of the expanded use of hieroglyphic inscription and representational art in Middle Kingdom temples.<br />
<br />
The solitary obelisk bearing Senwosret's name is now all that remains of what may have been an extensive temple complex at Heliopolis, but the foundation of a number of smaller temples of this king and his successors remain to show a temple style which incorporated a pillared court before a sanctuary with separate - frequently tripartite - shrines at the temple's rear. Sometimes, as in the small temple of Amenemhet I and Senwosret III at Ezbet Rushdi, near Qanatir in the eastern Delta, the pillared hall is fronted by an open courtyard so that we see an incipient grouping of the three elements of court, pillared hall and sanctuary which form the basis of later<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/new-kingdom.html"> New Kingdom</a> temple design.<br />
<br />
While there were many archaizing tendencies in the architecture of this period, developments in certain aspects of temple design and structure can be seen throughout the Middle Kingdom. For instance, building in stone became increasingly common. While some ancient Egyptian temples contained only a few elements (such as doorways and pillars) of stone, the temple of Amenemhet III and Amenemhet IV at Medinet Madi in the Fayum, although only a little more than 8 by 11 m (26 x 36 ft) in size, consisted of a sanctuary with multiple chambers and a small pillared court, all of which were constructed of stone.<br />
<br />
Architectural symmetry also increased in the Middle Kingdom, and the temple of Montu built by Senwosret I at Tod provides one of the clearest examples of the developed Middle Kingdom temple, with its precisely symmetrical design and the incorporation of various cult chambers adjacent to the main sanctuary. And as well as being beautifully decorated, Senwosret's 'White Chapel' on the processional route from the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak provides an example of an equally symmetrical and exquisitely fashioned barque chapel or way-station of this same period.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFhdtLy7Y2omhL7Qti94I-ryfxqaAkCD5LHQy3WIesfEpw127poKjutDuQaLjhqjm_6Vq71o_kIljt9zmcdj-hFGpNO5wK4uNWKn-Es6lKYeTMaT21rXbr1n8oiQ8mAHvTRhiPug6ftXk/s1600/white+chapel+of+senwosret+i+at+karnak.+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFhdtLy7Y2omhL7Qti94I-ryfxqaAkCD5LHQy3WIesfEpw127poKjutDuQaLjhqjm_6Vq71o_kIljt9zmcdj-hFGpNO5wK4uNWKn-Es6lKYeTMaT21rXbr1n8oiQ8mAHvTRhiPug6ftXk/s640/white+chapel+of+senwosret+i+at+karnak.+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" width="632" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The richly decorated 'White Chapel' of Senwosret I at Karnak shows the expanded use of inscriptions and representational art which developed in Middle Kingdom temples. The details below shows Senwosret before Amun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsGPH9Hdx_9hamP2SY14ysRi28fYkY174-irLloJleEvsQBXvdNY98JdoGHIrmbx_GXDdxUOS9cny4vvjxsR3b4mtZLzXvC-d22tlvdaHozoO5UPiYRgeHZFo_Y5k_QofCTaJPRREogk/s1600/Senwosret+before+Amun+at+Karnak.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsGPH9Hdx_9hamP2SY14ysRi28fYkY174-irLloJleEvsQBXvdNY98JdoGHIrmbx_GXDdxUOS9cny4vvjxsR3b4mtZLzXvC-d22tlvdaHozoO5UPiYRgeHZFo_Y5k_QofCTaJPRREogk/s1600/Senwosret+before+Amun+at+Karnak.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Senwosret before Amun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-24-ancient-egypts-new-kingdom.html">...Page 24>></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;">Related ancient Egypt articles</span><br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/senusret-i-12th-dynasty.html">Senusret I (Sesortris I)</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/mortuary-temple-of-queen-hatshepsut.html">Hatshepsut Temple - Deir el-Bahari</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/03/thebes-from-beginning-till-luxor.html">Thebes (List of important stories and spots in the ancient Luxor)</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com/2011/06/map-of-mortuary-temple-of-old-kingdom.html" target="_blank">Map of the Mortuary Temple of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Complex</a></li>
</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-11370599985181426842011-06-11T06:42:00.000-07:002011-06-11T06:42:43.890-07:00Page 22: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-21-old-and-middle-kingdom.html"><<Page 21...</a><br />
characteristics, ultimately they represent dead ends in the long-term development of the temple. The irregularly shaped Archaic and Old Kingdom temple at Medamud, a little to the north of Thebes, provides an excellent example. Although we do not know what deity was worshipped at the site in Old Kingdom times (later it was the falcon-headed god Montu), the unusual twin mounds of this temple are doubtless rooted in ancient mythic traditions similar to those which inspired the mounds of Hierakonpolis and other early ancient Egyptian sites.<br />
<br />
Separate from the provincial ancient Egyptian temples, yet in some ways falling alongside them, the cult temple built for the <i>ka</i> or 'life force' of the 6th-dynasty king<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/pepi-i-pepi-ii-6th-dynasty-part-ii.html"> Pepi I</a> (2289-2255 BC) at Bubastis (Tell Basta) in the eastern Delta and the special chambers built in the temple area at Hierakonpolis - in one of which was found the famous life-sized copper statue of this king along with a statue of his son (or possibly also of Pepi) - are hard to classify. Not physically connected with the pyramids of the king, the <i>ka </i>temple at Bubastis and the chapel - if that is what it was - at Hierakonpolis may represent smaller royally commissioned provincial religious structures of which we still have little knowledge.<br />
<br />
Middle Kingdom Developments of the Ancient Egyptian Temples<br />
Although the Middle Kingdom witnessed the widespread building of religious structures - including many more royally commissioned provincial temples that in early times - a great many of these structures were later demolished or substantially rebuilt when they were incorporated into more elaborate structures erected on the same sites (p. 51). The extant evidence for Middle Kingdom temples is thus paradoxically scarcer than for some other periods in which fewer temples were constructed.<br />
<br />
One of the earliest examples of Middle Kingdom temple architecture and one of the few not substantially destroyed in later rebuilding is the combined ... Continue reading at page 23>><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjphh9pPpPkTKXjTucNxdKpNq_Iuf0V0vtti32hgz3RTL2ATtS_g5k3933Ve4WT7HLxUEnAVVX_xMUMptfsnvg3d4MD1e6EZlECoBAYxdlR3Fz2vAvjBH6TzLuCoRjOM47xEEW_QXRPzeY/s1600/medamud+temple+map.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjphh9pPpPkTKXjTucNxdKpNq_Iuf0V0vtti32hgz3RTL2ATtS_g5k3933Ve4WT7HLxUEnAVVX_xMUMptfsnvg3d4MD1e6EZlECoBAYxdlR3Fz2vAvjBH6TzLuCoRjOM47xEEW_QXRPzeY/s1600/medamud+temple+map.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dual mounds of the temple at Medamud are an example of the unusual plans found in Old Kingdom provincial anceint Egyptian temples.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2ak-RKa2Iok6FFdxlDz433WbanQelrO2k1lmmOdSs14O78jZd4WdWlutFyhqILWTRGjF2U3XXib1VSXtincQfGXwuq6m1Say2UdWMdfYveNAMNRuU53FPSP1aEK7jIgVq_dhLuJ1cvk/s1600/Nebhepetre+Mentuhotep+complex+at+Deir+el-Bahari+-+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2ak-RKa2Iok6FFdxlDz433WbanQelrO2k1lmmOdSs14O78jZd4WdWlutFyhqILWTRGjF2U3XXib1VSXtincQfGXwuq6m1Say2UdWMdfYveNAMNRuU53FPSP1aEK7jIgVq_dhLuJ1cvk/s1600/Nebhepetre+Mentuhotep+complex+at+Deir+el-Bahari+-+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mortuary complex of nebhepetre Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahari was a great terraced tomb-temple. It was once thought that it was topped by a pyramid-like structure (above), but is now believed to have been surmounted by a mound or even a flat-topped structure. Its true significance, however, lies in other aspects of its unique design (p. 180).</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;">...Page 23>></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-48832353173637026902011-06-10T03:18:00.000-07:002011-06-17T23:32:50.106-07:00Page 21: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-20-old-and-middle-kingdom.html"><<Page 20...</a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtz721Ta9RzSkaiGhngbjkNGdcwCI139IOfLxmHahDcx3IZ3tv7evRxHgUOHmFevWXD8ODND0nGiNSIpzlIkrHaMvzBQTNljirPB_RG5lnMudy4e6mzX6WAMfiWSytHNwvMDw3IL4gKQc/s1600/mortuary+temple+of+old+kingdom+pyramid+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtz721Ta9RzSkaiGhngbjkNGdcwCI139IOfLxmHahDcx3IZ3tv7evRxHgUOHmFevWXD8ODND0nGiNSIpzlIkrHaMvzBQTNljirPB_RG5lnMudy4e6mzX6WAMfiWSytHNwvMDw3IL4gKQc/s640/mortuary+temple+of+old+kingdom+pyramid+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'mortuary temple' of the Old Kingdom pyramid complex was built at the base of the pyramid and served for the cult of the dead king. It was in these ancient Egyptian temples that the cosmic and afterlife symbolism of Old Kingdom temple complexes developed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Like the pyramid complexes of the period, the sun temple of Niuserre was oriented on an east-west axis, and again like the standard pyramid complex it contained a brick model of the sun barque positioned just to the side of the complex. Given that the underlying symbolism of the pyramid is also largely solar-related, the connection between pyramid and sun temple complexes seems clear.<br />
<br />
The contrast between the Old Kingdom royal <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortuary_temple" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Mortuary temple">mortuary temples</a> and sun temples on the one hand, and provincial cult temples of the same period on the other could hardly be greater. Often distant from the major settlement centers and ultimately on the fringes of royal concern, provincial cult temples developed without the constraints of the royal architectural tradition. And although these structures may have displayed ancient and distinctive...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o-sbIi5OgyNeukViSIjXwjWV12N4GJWPGA1wnkGNc1onDkukDEahE_WmKgjx2e_K6C2sClmQvwB8XRKENvfZm8YbywmiljQ09cK893LF8OzqxENtWyBAup_s00r7TQ34KmGaICdwyx4/s1600/Niuserre+Temple+at+Abu+Ghurob.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o-sbIi5OgyNeukViSIjXwjWV12N4GJWPGA1wnkGNc1onDkukDEahE_WmKgjx2e_K6C2sClmQvwB8XRKENvfZm8YbywmiljQ09cK893LF8OzqxENtWyBAup_s00r7TQ34KmGaICdwyx4/s640/Niuserre+Temple+at+Abu+Ghurob.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reconstruction of the sun temple of Niuserre at Abu Ghurob. The <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/5th-dynasty.html">5th Dynasty </a>sun temples established a cultic locus for the king 'in the domain of Ra'. The focal structure of the complex was a large obelisk, but otherwise the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/5th-dynasty.html">5th-dynasty </a>sun temples shared elements with the standard pyramid complexes, including a valley temple, causeway and model solar barque.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-22-old-and-middle-kingdom.html">...Page 22>></a></div><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=41cc0aa9-5dab-4e97-91e0-2747ba1bc65f" /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-77829449231425554432011-06-09T03:59:00.000-07:002011-06-17T23:35:49.030-07:00Page 20: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-19-temple-origin.html"><<Page 19...</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxwHOiZW3FNxirEA1szNdMB7_kAJJd7WBWuu4hk-x3nn2FWKZ8BUjq8QB-caN64hz_0ELEJUFGUE4qYVfNgIEp3_jf4YkmxWCpwrvmunMjI4l55FK118Pt8Uosa2yJvAxkWCLfBurHYU/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples+old+and+middle+kingdom+development.JPG" /></div><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Pyramid temples, sun temples and provincial temples of the Old Kingdom</b><br />
In its developed form the Old Kingdom pyramid complex contained, in addition to possible various minor chapels, two structures which are referred to as temples. A valley temple - which provided an entrance to the complex from the Nile or its canal - was connected b a long, walled causeway to the second structure, a mortuary temple, where sacrifices and other rituals were conducted for the deceased king.<br />
<br />
In the earlier ancient Egyptian pyramids the mortuary temple usually stood on the north or south side of the pyramid in a north-south oriented enclosure. Later pyramid enclosures, from the<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/4th-dynasty-26132498-bc.html"> 4th dynasty</a>. positioned the mortuary temple at the base of the eastern face of the pyramid superstructure and were oriented on an east-west axis - the orientation of most later temples of all types.<br />
<br />
By the time of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/06/4th-dynasty-part-iv-khafre-25582532-bc.html">Khafre </a>/ <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/06/4th-dynasty-part-iv-khafre-25582532-bc.html">Chephren </a>(2520-2494 BC) the plan of the royal mortuary temple was established, with certain fixed areas: an entrance hall was followed by a broad columned court, which gave access to the rear section of the temple containing an enclosed area with five shrines or niches for statues of the king, as well as storage chambers and an inner sanctuary. Essentially, most of these elements are also found in later temple design. While many of the details are clearly different, a very real transition may be seen in the Old Kingdom mortuary temple from the simply plans of the Pre-dynastic and Early Dynastic shrines to the more complex Middle and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/new-kingdom.html">New Kingdom</a> forms of the developed ancient Egyptian temple.<br />
<br />
An important variant of the pyramid temple is found in the sun temples constructed by a number of kings of the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/5th-dynasty.html">5th Dynasty</a> at various sites in the general area of the Memphite necropolis. Specifically intended to establish an eternal cult of the king 'in the domain of Ra' they were additional to the pyramid cult complex.<br />
<br />
Six of these structures were built, though only that of Niuserre (2416-2388 BC) at Abu Ghurab survivies to any recognizable extent. In fact, four of the sun temples known to have been built have not been located; but it is likely that all these ancient Egyptian temples shared a fairly common plan and function Judging by the temple of Niuserre, the sun temple of the 5th Dynasty were similar to the standard pyramid complex in having a valley temple with a causeway leading up to the main enclosure with its focal structure - in this case, an obeliskoid monument rather than a pyramid - and ancillary buildings.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeK9WNAUvVGHC7fPUoPSayLHz_DBu628-2u0AIjml0J89lzs8PoiFkA7QBZHn9Xa8gj_niQAkcfTUEbuSQkqERGQzDVLMz1ZX2sCM7MME0bJSypWJVoJR5UA-MCI3MkH-ZAgl9OPEE1E/s1600/map+of+the+valley+temple+of+the+Old+Kingdom+pyramix+complex.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeK9WNAUvVGHC7fPUoPSayLHz_DBu628-2u0AIjml0J89lzs8PoiFkA7QBZHn9Xa8gj_niQAkcfTUEbuSQkqERGQzDVLMz1ZX2sCM7MME0bJSypWJVoJR5UA-MCI3MkH-ZAgl9OPEE1E/s640/map+of+the+valley+temple+of+the+Old+Kingdom+pyramix+complex.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The so-called valley temple of the standard Old Kingdom pyramid complex was built with access to water and functioned primarily as an elaborate entrance to the complex and also served as a symbolic portal to the world of the afterlife. A long, enclosed causeway linked the valley temple with the mortuary temple at the base of the pyramid itself. Click the picture to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-21-old-and-middle-kingdom.html">...Page 21>></a></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-9.html" target="_blank">Page 9: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/04/ancient-egyptian-burial-rituals-and.html" target="_blank">Ancient Egyptian Burial Rituals and the Pyramid Complex</a> (ancient-egypt-history.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-6-introduction-temple-land-and.html" target="_blank">Page 6: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.history.com/news/2011/05/27/satellite-images-provide-blueprint-for-ancient-egypt/" target="_blank">Satellite Images Provide Blueprint for Ancient Egypt</a> (history.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-18-temple-origins.html" target="_blank">Page 18: Temple Origins</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-67076024810224859892011-06-08T07:04:00.000-07:002011-06-17T23:38:35.778-07:00Page 19: Temple Origin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-18-temple-origins.html"><<Page 18...</a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8E32LWZP7RSZENFdhDMlv2R0GsPPXeFWXAoQqS9Fjx19W6MYmzcM1fpJtUzVxtOzQ2jEwFl-QVp26lWNKfWgWU7yKfxzub2q4i6tlbGQeRBWQQJK27CEWNF7w9LauZdkZEbNxQumH4is/s1600/buto+tell+el+farain+-+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8E32LWZP7RSZENFdhDMlv2R0GsPPXeFWXAoQqS9Fjx19W6MYmzcM1fpJtUzVxtOzQ2jEwFl-QVp26lWNKfWgWU7yKfxzub2q4i6tlbGQeRBWQQJK27CEWNF7w9LauZdkZEbNxQumH4is/s400/buto+tell+el+farain+-+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-18-temple-origins.html"> Buto (Tell el-Fara'in)</a> in the northwestern Delta is an ancient one, extending from Predynastic times to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Nothing has been found of the earliest shrine, but symbolically it represented all Lower Egypt.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>... with sacral functions relating to the <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a>. David O'Connor has linked the structures to the 'fortresses of the gods' mentioned in early ancient Egyptian inscriptions. These seem to have been ceremonial gathering places for the Egyptian gods known as the <i>shemsuher</i>, the 'entourage of Horus', who were associated with the king as the manifestation of the falcon god Horus - probably regarded as the same deity worshipped at Hierakonpolis. According to a reconstruction by O'Connor and others, in <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/egypts-first-pharaohs-early-dynastic.html">Early Dynastic Period</a> the cult gods of various regions made symbolic journeys to the fortresses of the Egyptian gods for the celebration of important ritual events. The gathering of the gods in these enclosures may have been connected with the annual gathering of taxes, but seems to have been symbolic of royal or religious power, or both.<br />
<br />
At least ten of these enclosures have been found in varying degrees of completeness at Abydos, dating from the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/egyptian-1st-dynasty-hor-aha-till-qaa.html">first</a> and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/2nd-dynasty-hotepsekhemwy-to.html">second </a>dynasties and from the period termed <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/dynasty-0-scorpion-and-narmer-31503050.html">Dynasty 0</a>. Consisting of large rectangular brick walls measuring about 65 x 122 m (213 x 400 ft), with two still standing heights of over 10 m (32 ft 9 in), the enclosures are inset with niches along three of their four sides and are decorated with more elaboratet panels on the east. This style of building has been called 'palace facade' because it is commonly believed that the structures imitated the walls of the living king's palace.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAC3VhrvMiYYbfUfEggpDymQ3f4t3uBMG0iKbO34Rnol6TeO1tYn4NwsGnoduTmCDPqnsB-n4gfv60OLGw5cFqP67b8OOtezvOqjDivLvoIf5UO_JtA3zlVRERj_UqfpxM7HQw31G11MQ/s1600/shunet+el-zebib%252C+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAC3VhrvMiYYbfUfEggpDymQ3f4t3uBMG0iKbO34Rnol6TeO1tYn4NwsGnoduTmCDPqnsB-n4gfv60OLGw5cFqP67b8OOtezvOqjDivLvoIf5UO_JtA3zlVRERj_UqfpxM7HQw31G11MQ/s1600/shunet+el-zebib%252C+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The royal enclosures of the<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/2nd-dynasty-hotepsekhemwy-to.html"> 2nd Dynasty</a> at Abydos seem<br />
to have mimicked in brick architecture the wood and reed<br />
structures of some of the earliest cultic complexes. At the<br />
top left in the diagram is the funerary enclosure of king<br />
Khasekhemwy, the great ruin of which, known as the<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=26.1894444444,31.9077777778&spn=1.0,1.0&q=26.1894444444,31.9077777778%20(Shunet%20ez%20Zebib)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Shunet ez Zebib">Shunet el-Zebib</a>, is seen below...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The open courts of these enclosures may have contained a sacred mound similar to that found in the shrine of Hierakonpolis as well as in other later temples and shrines. This mound is of particular significance as it may have been regarded as a symbol of the original mound of creation in Egyptian mythology, from which the primordial falcon god was said to have surveyed the world from his perch or standard.<br />
<br />
The 'followers' or 'entourage' of Horus also played an important role in the enactment of the regenerative <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed_festival" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Sed festival">Sed festival</a>, and ancient series of rituals involving the periodic recoronation of the king on the thrones of Upper and Lower Egypt. This festival was ideally held 30 years after the king's accession and was very probably performed within the court of the fortress of the Egyptian gods. Because the ceremonies could renew the king's powers in this life and the next, they were assimilated into the funerary complexes of Old Kingdom rulers, as may be seen in the famous Sed-festival courts and shrines of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGobSpOT1nc280e4sDNHVzuSgNV_EPkKF6QmKc1Tgtxwp1spNd_dIcWxzncjokQ-yhGgx4l6h0Vblfsqg0eArV-70Y6sZS6d-33pGzWjoFDrdCUXbMu7VkmhYGMWrrEFkoG7DlsWgW0Hk/s1600/shunet+el-zebib%252C+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGobSpOT1nc280e4sDNHVzuSgNV_EPkKF6QmKc1Tgtxwp1spNd_dIcWxzncjokQ-yhGgx4l6h0Vblfsqg0eArV-70Y6sZS6d-33pGzWjoFDrdCUXbMu7VkmhYGMWrrEFkoG7DlsWgW0Hk/s400/shunet+el-zebib%252C+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-20-old-and-middle-kingdom.html">...Page 20>></a></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/khonsu.html" target="_blank">Khonsu</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/shed.html" target="_blank">Shed</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-18-temple-origins.html" target="_blank">Page 18: Temple Origins</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
</ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=5c84b1b4-a52e-421e-ad83-7aa6c848a325" /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-59228650227827860002011-06-06T06:05:00.000-07:002011-06-08T07:06:47.431-07:00Page 18: Temple Origins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtzVk1i6XO1Z8PTs0n7jiZ2v4TVXcfCyO64yxvQCjovhVA0ZSOJAGvZjRo68nCl6ak1uZVUG3e_8Oy_CwJbfIRb_S-I1Nq4wNzQRRoRL-kOIs6dLIryxkDftP6RAVCpaX60luq8uMA1Y/s1600/horus+in+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtzVk1i6XO1Z8PTs0n7jiZ2v4TVXcfCyO64yxvQCjovhVA0ZSOJAGvZjRo68nCl6ak1uZVUG3e_8Oy_CwJbfIRb_S-I1Nq4wNzQRRoRL-kOIs6dLIryxkDftP6RAVCpaX60luq8uMA1Y/s1600/horus+in+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horus as subduer of the Delta peoples:<br />
a detail from the Narmer Platte from the<br />
so-called 'Main Deposit' at Hierakonpolis.<br />
This dates to c.3000 BC, demonstrating<br />
the antiquity of the falcon god in ancient<br />
Egyptian symbolism.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-17.html"><<Page 17...</a><br />
curved roof rose to the front of the structure, giving it a form sometimes said to resemble of a crouching animal but also not unlike the shape of the archaic fetish represented as a bandage-wrapped bird of prey and later used as a determinative in writing the words <i>akhem </i>'divine image' and <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/03/souls-of-nekhen-and-pe-egyptian-gods.html"><i>Nekheny </i>'(the god) of Nekhen (i.e. Hierakonpolis)'</a>. This latter similarity should be considered seriously because it appears that it was the falcon god assimilated with <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/03/sons-of-horus-egyptian-gods-groupings.html">Horus</a>, the patron god of kingship - as depicted on the Narmer Palette and other artifacts found at this site - which was worshipped here. In any event, the sloping roofline of the shrine may possibly be reflected in the gradually lowering levels - front to back - of the later ancient Egyptian temples.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=31.1963888889,30.7447222222&spn=1.0,1.0&q=31.1963888889,30.7447222222%20(Buto)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Buto">Buto</a>: Delta cult center</span><br />
In historical times the site of Buto (Tell el-Fara'in), or Pe, in the Delta functioned as the Lower Egyptian counterpart of Hierakonpolis, in that this settlement was used symbolically to represent all northern Egypt, just as Hierakonpolis represented the south. But a scarcity of archaeological evidence of very early occupation in the area previously led many Egyptologists to doubt that Buto had been a central <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/egypts-first-pharaohs-early-dynastic.html">Early Dynastic</a> site. Recent excavations, however, have revealed that Buto was perhaps as important as Egyptian tradition claimed.<br />
<br />
Beginning in 1983, drill core samples obtained and studied by researched of the German Archaeological insitute have revealed evidence of the earliest settlements of the area some 7 m (23 ft) below the current surface and well beneath the water-table which has long hampered archaeological investigation in the Delta region. This new evidence shows that Buto was indeed inhabited for some 500 years within <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/egypts-first-pharaohs-early-dynastic.html">the Early Dynastic period</a>. The archaeological findings also show that the pottery types of this northern culture were first influenced by, and then superseded by, southern ancient Egyptian styles, thus also giving weight to the ancient tradition that the Lower Egyptian area was subjugated by southern, Upper Egypt in an expansion which led to the united 'two kingdoms' of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/">ancient Egypt history</a>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMUH7B18HwEsO3tPh97gltaPFeAUiKLcAlwS59YR9bq98W-rNz4VI3kfNh_d3dlOWx_7yHBFHD2Y0DnKJr3m_BxdZTCurrncaVTp0vwLKBrMjqJf7QjtnBuzC7eJt0NRzc9hWqt6jLv4/s1600/upper+egypt+and+lower+egypt+in+hieroglypics.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMUH7B18HwEsO3tPh97gltaPFeAUiKLcAlwS59YR9bq98W-rNz4VI3kfNh_d3dlOWx_7yHBFHD2Y0DnKJr3m_BxdZTCurrncaVTp0vwLKBrMjqJf7QjtnBuzC7eJt0NRzc9hWqt6jLv4/s1600/upper+egypt+and+lower+egypt+in+hieroglypics.JPG" /></a><br />
While nothing has yet been found of the earliest shrine or temple of Buto, representational evidence depicts a somewhat different shrine type from that of Hierakonpolis, with tall side poles and a distinctive arched roof. The two shrines - representing Upper and Lower Egypt - were depicted in hieroglyphic signs 1 and 2 (look right), and in many representations may throughout Egyptian history. Large models of the two shrine types were also part of the ritual complex of the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/05/pictures-djoser-step-pyramids-plan.html">Step Pyramid</a> of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/3rd-dynasty-sanakhte-till-huni-26862613.html">Djoser </a>in the early<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/4th-dynasty-26132498-bc.html"> 4th Dynasty</a> (p. 125).<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Abydos: fortresses of <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a> and Kings</span><br />
At Abydos a number of walled enclosures located about 1.6 km (1 mile) from the tombs of the 1st dynasty kings seem to represent funerary structure.... <a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-19-temple-origin.html">Continue reading in Page 19>></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK40ng3_hU4-idl2WyBMmcl-uwseryIjuJeKBFH3nUFyd27FYtA7kad9FC49vYaMC89RUb7dmDZIE4zMljhrZ_WdTQhbliTQNCCN7qv2jXNeoHavFztLCHosY66TXTITkw0JNIn6ipBFE/s1600/bar-asps.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK40ng3_hU4-idl2WyBMmcl-uwseryIjuJeKBFH3nUFyd27FYtA7kad9FC49vYaMC89RUb7dmDZIE4zMljhrZ_WdTQhbliTQNCCN7qv2jXNeoHavFztLCHosY66TXTITkw0JNIn6ipBFE/s1600/bar-asps.gif" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Evolution of the Ancient Egyptian Temples</span><br />
Our understanding of the development of the ancient Egyptian temple has been guided by the researches of a number of archaeologists, Recently, the British Egyptologist <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Kemp" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Barry Kemp">Barry Kemp</a> developed a model which suggests that the classical ancient Egyptian temple evolved through distinct developmental stages which he termed 'performal', 'early formal', 'mature formal' and 'late formal', with a distinction being made between royal funerary temples - which Kemp believes were already constructed in early formal style in the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/egypts-first-pharaohs-early-dynastic.html">Early Dynastic </a>and Old Kingdom periods - and provincial temples, which he believes were smaller and persisted in performal mode until Middle Kingdom times. Only then, according to Kemp, did the provincial temples reach the levels of complexity of comparable royal monuments, and from that point they kept pace, with both types of monument developing through the mature formal phase during the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/new-kingdom.html">New Kingdom</a> and late formal in Graeco-Roman times.<br />
<br />
The American Egyptologist David O'Connor's subsequent study of the evidence for the ancient Egyptian temple development has reached somewhat different conclusions. O'Connor points to indications that provincial temple complexes at Hierakonpolis, Abydos and perhaps elsewhere were actually in the mainstream of evolving monumental architecture in Early Dynastic times and that royal provincial temples developed more synchronously. O'Connor has also shown that the plans of many Early Dynastic and early Old Kingdom formal enclosure follow essentially the same pattern. Though the size of the enclosure may vary, comparison of the Hierakonpolis temple enclosure (1) and so-called 'palace' (2) with the enclosures of Djer, <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/05/2nd-dynasty-hotepsekhemwy-to.html">Khasekhemwy </a>(3) and Peribsen at Abydos, and Djoser (4) at Saqqara (not shown to scale) reveal common traits of proportion and axial layout. In all these structures, for example, one entrance is located at the southeast corner of the enclosure and another at the northeast corner. There is also some evidence that the position of the mound in the Hierakonpolis temple enclosure may well have been matched in others of these structures, and it is also approximated by the pyramid of Djoser - indicating the utilization of a common plan for early Egyptian temple, cenotaph and pyramid enclosures.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGm6MgRwXpx1GAqTzifNWnMD_p8ko3VsGeHs-gWORKM98H7-gr7kFFwaPeQhOeAfyE3XdIQlXGImnX8wzq_by1mszD7OapE534Jv_q7hlCHJ_wlKKheW9f-ksIrchaOosmr7inM1BZt7A/s1600/temples%252C+palace+hierakonpolis+peribsen+and+djoser.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGm6MgRwXpx1GAqTzifNWnMD_p8ko3VsGeHs-gWORKM98H7-gr7kFFwaPeQhOeAfyE3XdIQlXGImnX8wzq_by1mszD7OapE534Jv_q7hlCHJ_wlKKheW9f-ksIrchaOosmr7inM1BZt7A/s400/temples%252C+palace+hierakonpolis+peribsen+and+djoser.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The early temple enclosure (1) and 'palace' (2) at Hierakonpolis, as well as the enclosures of Peribsen at Abydos (3) and Djoser at Saqqara (4), together with others, show a common plan.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/05/pictures-djoser-step-pyramids-plan.html">Step Pyramid of Djoser</a></li>
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</ul><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-19-temple-origin.html">...Page 19>></a></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-2364023372106067392011-06-03T06:22:00.000-07:002011-06-06T06:07:48.183-07:00Page 17: Temple Origins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-16-temple-origins.html"><<page 16...</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyffYA6IbvGxbZrd6JxgUMm1weaiNRTBRnTK9jHS9WFgp4WzGiU2wMFabZoodVyuEdz3d67JvBjpFlNF8S3-Kk86Uc2dxp__ao6E9o1dSJHbirqjR9CwZwXAgYVcI3aL4QkY7iiF3SNVU/s1600/hierakonpolis+29.+ancient+egyptian+temples+excavation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyffYA6IbvGxbZrd6JxgUMm1weaiNRTBRnTK9jHS9WFgp4WzGiU2wMFabZoodVyuEdz3d67JvBjpFlNF8S3-Kk86Uc2dxp__ao6E9o1dSJHbirqjR9CwZwXAgYVcI3aL4QkY7iiF3SNVU/s400/hierakonpolis+29.+ancient+egyptian+temples+excavation.JPG" width="345" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture: Modern excavation of area HK 29 at Hierakonpolis has<br />
discovered much information about this very early temple. The<br />
past holes that once held the great wooden pillars that fronted<br />
the shrine are visible. Click to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>peoples - perhaps including the Nabtans themselves - began to move down from the Libyan and Arabian highlands and to construct settlements along the bank of the River Nile. At this time, <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a> which were already <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/">ancient </a>were probably given homes which were the precursors in their basic plans in later ancient Egyptian temples.<br />
<br />
<b>Hieraknopolis: the shrine in the south</b><br />
Not until the Early Dynastic period, however, do we gain a fairly clear picture of what these earliest temples may have looked like. The first example of a cult temple of this period known to us is that of Nekhen or Hieraknopolis - 'city of the falcon' as the Greeks called it - in southern Egypt (Kom el-Ahmar; p. 203). Recent excavations in this area indicate that by 3500 BC Hierakonpolis was perhaps the most important settlement in the Nile Valley and may have acted as a king of natural shrine for Upper Egypt in the early period. Archaeological evidence uncovered since 1985 shows that the earliest temple complex at thesite consisted of a large, parabolic-shaped court over 32 m (105 ft) long and some 13 m (43 ft) wide. The court was bounded by a mud-covered reed fence and contained a large mound of sand and, near the ourt's apex, a tall pole which, judging by later representational evidence , bore a flag or totem, possibly an image of the falcon form deity of Hierakonpolis. On the north side of the court were a gateway and a number of small rectangular buildings - evidently workshops associated with the cult - while on the court's south stood the shrine itself.<br />
<br />
From the evidence of the excavated post holes and trenches, combined with early representations of the shrine on surviving seal impressions, we know that it was a rectangular structure fronted by huge wooden pillars 1-1.5 m (3ft 3 in - 4 ft 11 in) in diameter and as much as 12 m (39 ft 4 in) high. The<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-18-temple-origins.html">...Page 18>></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1DwYPRW_RFZo1aoiOP7ymVomml5CqO_u2_suJ5H0LJWD84v6T_8WW7hmifk7-v1EwJmUX-D-YwWKFwnDCKw73fbtMtI6XeSoaxTifA4016mQ4kpWVRdmo8v0u4hB3In6vBuI2HWk27c/s1600/hierakonpolis+picture.+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1DwYPRW_RFZo1aoiOP7ymVomml5CqO_u2_suJ5H0LJWD84v6T_8WW7hmifk7-v1EwJmUX-D-YwWKFwnDCKw73fbtMtI6XeSoaxTifA4016mQ4kpWVRdmo8v0u4hB3In6vBuI2HWk27c/s640/hierakonpolis+picture.+ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture: A reconstruction of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/">ancient Egypt</a>'s oldest known temple at Hierakonpolis.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-42567494914165421242011-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:002011-06-03T09:38:46.243-07:00Page 14: Development, Glory and Decline<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-11-map-of-ancient-egyptian-temples.html"><<Page 11...</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-14-development-glory-and-decline.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7r3w3pAaGegKWGELzIc7TVN79AqxC5AuLF49jgbDBlyIUNXU4IZO2MrXZCRKkySeO3cs4UVJyG0ijKkzO8Vem72lT8Hoj8SXMnA389F-NagOrWTmzorgPdTHOiuksvhZKo3MSrzIGFA/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></a></div><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-14-development-glory-and-decline.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_CJxL-wO6jlBCkUVpUTpgzuleK6prF7ln2cyIcmdl0ltH7_dmmKcrOWIVz7CQ3MTuUJHzXvVaefCzo7vnZAIzKoFZaMZyGZi0_Ch-utc0T1rVMiTtCSsoKFH4GCXlF6j35iAldkYr8uI/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></a><br />
<blockquote>'He made it as a monument for his father Amun... making for him a splendid temple... a monument of eternity and everlastingness.' - Stela of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/amenhotep-iii-18th-dynasty.html">Amenophis III</a></blockquote>From ancient ritual structures built before the dawn of human history to the great mansions of the <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a> which towered above the Nile, ancient Egyptian temples developed over thousands of years. At the behest of generations of kings, they grew ever larger and more glorious until, for a time, they threatened to eclipse the wealth and power of the very rulers who were their patrons and high priests.<br />
<br />
Even after their eventual fall and dissolution, the influence of the ancient Egyptian temples continued to be felt - as heirs to sacred space they were numinous loci replete with traditions and associations which often served later religious well, and which shaped the youthful faiths in many ways as they grew. Christianity and Islam did not escape their sway, and the saints and festivals of today are sometimes surprisingly rooted in some temples' ancient past.<br />
<br />
In secular history, kings and emperors of Persia, Greece and Rome visited Egypt's temples or sought knowledge of them, Greek philosophers studied in them and countless explorers, travellers and scholars from Renaissance times to the present century have been drawn to visit and study these buildings and to try to unlock their secrets. With the savants of Napoleon's great Egyptian Expedition, disciplined recording and study of ancient Egypt's temples began; and almost all the great names of Egyptology - from Champollion down to the present day - studied and worked in one or more of ancient Egyptian temples' sites.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html">... Page 16>></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-74692529319506148652011-06-02T05:23:00.000-07:002011-06-03T09:36:12.471-07:00Page 11: Map of Ancient Egyptian Temples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-10-map-of-ancient-egypt.html"><<Page 10...</a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg89hTeJvGHwy5mADweh7AgT-Z2cC1xNaAHi9kDqrRjS5snBY6hM8ITgKDwiUwsduGLWBtesD_t8sUOqTxMA-tlDlYZoJZwkege33s0ta5MCK_R1lcSkYe3prh0HnAnWvgEOAqhzaxoI0/s1600/map+of+ancient+Egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg89hTeJvGHwy5mADweh7AgT-Z2cC1xNaAHi9kDqrRjS5snBY6hM8ITgKDwiUwsduGLWBtesD_t8sUOqTxMA-tlDlYZoJZwkege33s0ta5MCK_R1lcSkYe3prh0HnAnWvgEOAqhzaxoI0/s640/map+of+ancient+Egyptian+temples.JPG" width="473" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge, and box details are below</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-ONgZewUqXaAgQZfdNDWkRlNvGUVrJCf9PRnMyFdbO6f24AwGTgv0-_BJFyKQsNYq21eO800-Jnjpy8902U9aIgDbe_nma3YWdLADzCDCP1lUF3GS6rHs3UncKcf0S-ZDlNkIaP-HSA/s1600/map+of+ancient+Egyptian+temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-ONgZewUqXaAgQZfdNDWkRlNvGUVrJCf9PRnMyFdbO6f24AwGTgv0-_BJFyKQsNYq21eO800-Jnjpy8902U9aIgDbe_nma3YWdLADzCDCP1lUF3GS6rHs3UncKcf0S-ZDlNkIaP-HSA/s400/map+of+ancient+Egyptian+temples.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html">...Page 13>></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-83750858036993939492011-06-01T08:41:00.000-07:002011-06-02T09:00:14.071-07:00Page 13: Houses of Eternity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-11-map-of-ancient-egyptian-temples.html"><<Page 11...</a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJvFhZaK9qsV-7ObqDztJmRPdA4Yw-XtbSgfG9reYXszS_wfetlqUfHIWswG3t5_dYC2yYOqqqg-zesXRhzkuy311Wz9CLguTGpJNBTBvaKfp7zu4A4MMeHToFGPyp-DbgWbUa3y0TtI/s1600/ancient+egyptian+temples.JPG" /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-14-development-glory-and-decline.html">...page 14>></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-60403399952671493112011-05-24T04:52:00.000-07:002011-06-03T09:23:18.315-07:00Page 10: Map of Ancient Egypt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-9.html"><<Page 9...</a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4LlcOozcM0lMgtT6-S16nB0zK7nlwKRT1VKTbSQYgIrUKHvYAkTyf0bYGIJdqP96QeWcg7Do-o9Bx5VmSjV5GJd-DZfnJ2OnFYxr-J_8l-WnuG8ryoPlbhpr9obcon3ltWzW2U3C1Og/s1600/Map+of+Ancient+Egypt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4LlcOozcM0lMgtT6-S16nB0zK7nlwKRT1VKTbSQYgIrUKHvYAkTyf0bYGIJdqP96QeWcg7Do-o9Bx5VmSjV5GJd-DZfnJ2OnFYxr-J_8l-WnuG8ryoPlbhpr9obcon3ltWzW2U3C1Og/s640/Map+of+Ancient+Egypt.JPG" width="481" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/06/page-11-map-of-ancient-egyptian-temples.html">...Page 11>></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-91951540310566362242011-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:002011-06-03T09:32:45.155-07:00Page 9: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-8-introduction-temple-land-and.html"><<Page 8...</a></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_zsrASan_TJO5CKNUeM6wf5LmBiE_QrDVctkA6Sv2WRmPecdx-WVOLRI1QX0casmifglwW0sgLuIum5RRmgmSX-qosjfnf0p5XuRvmG9dfmr3gCx7Vz2daVXfl8PG1-JHkMSgf8WuHk/s1600/The+forest+of+columns+with+papyrus-bud+supporting+the+Karnak+Great+Hypostile+Hall.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The forest of columns with papyrus-bud capitals supporting the roof of the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/karnak-complex.html">Karnak's </a>Great <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/hypostyle-hall.html">Hypostyle Hall</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA9rf9GG1LTOJ6cS6G-Rmhz-5C3HDuQWU2l8qoUzLD8bXiv8sWX0oFXmuN7wvwallGlgusQHabLaOu_vKNt-59siXa8xdGy51_tNj9GIViwVppajt12r6eV6Bdpgc_XBS4lP0AkW5Uo8/s1600/Sethos+I+Relief.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA9rf9GG1LTOJ6cS6G-Rmhz-5C3HDuQWU2l8qoUzLD8bXiv8sWX0oFXmuN7wvwallGlgusQHabLaOu_vKNt-59siXa8xdGy51_tNj9GIViwVppajt12r6eV6Bdpgc_XBS4lP0AkW5Uo8/s320/Sethos+I+Relief.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" width="216" /></a>the wealth of ancient Egypt itself were brought to the ancient Egyptian temples. The ancient Egyptian texts describe - and archaeology confirms - the magnificence of some of the great wonders created on behalf of the <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a>. Vast edifices set within even vaster estates, the largest of the ancient Egyptian temples grew into institutions which rivalled, and sometimes even came close to surpassing, the power of the pharaoh himself (<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/akhenaten-amenhotep-iv-18th-dynasty.html">check Akhenaten's story</a>).</div><div><br />
</div><div>ALthough the physical treasures of these great monuments vanished as history enveloped them, many of the architectural wonders of ancient Egypt's temples are still extant. Much of their art remains to impress and to instruct us, and temple texts still inform us of wide-ranging historical matters and of the deepest spiritual and philosophical concerns of the ancient Egyptian mind. Shattered though they may be, as remnants of profound religious machinery, the ancient Egyptian temples remain - and are still accessible - as eternal symbols in stone.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Picture (up right): Relief of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/10/seti-i.html">Sethos I </a>from the<a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/second-pylon-great-hypo-style-hall.html"> Great Hypostyle Hall</a> of the <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1708548894"></span>Temple of Amun at Karnak</a>. <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/10/seti-i.html">Sethos </a>and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/12/seti-and-ramesses-ii.html">Ramesses II </a>decorated the hall, and their military campaigns in Syria and Palestine are shown on the exteerior walls.</b></i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnBu7TvYVCSRfzLm_ScElpOivVmfMFCwBHPDB-vh1o81m_LJhlte0NDBkysZsQHztrdTE5aKDZLJle3f3-lvk7by_QWR7Mw5R0M-O8-4d01xi0cWr9WPd-_reZ7RMEWfM_YBFms4-9ao/s1600/head+of+Ramesses+II.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnBu7TvYVCSRfzLm_ScElpOivVmfMFCwBHPDB-vh1o81m_LJhlte0NDBkysZsQHztrdTE5aKDZLJle3f3-lvk7by_QWR7Mw5R0M-O8-4d01xi0cWr9WPd-_reZ7RMEWfM_YBFms4-9ao/s400/head+of+Ramesses+II.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The prostrate head of <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/12/seti-and-ramesses-ii.html">Ramesses II</a>, from one of his colossal statues in the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/temple-of-luxor.html">Temple of Luxor</a> . Ramesses, together with <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/amenhotep-iii-18th-dynasty.html">Amenophis III</a>, was largely responsible for building much of the temple that we see today.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-10-map-of-ancient-egypt.html">...Page 10>></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li">shown on the exteerior walls.<a href="http://queens-of-thebes.blogspot.com/2011/02/egyptian-gods-and-goddesses.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Egyptian Gods and Goddesses</a> (queens-of-thebes.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/03/crouching-deity-in-hieroglyphic-pose.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Identities of the Ancient Egyptian Gods</a> (ancient-egypt-history.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/neith.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neith</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-14944417521594029872011-05-20T10:31:00.000-07:002011-05-22T07:07:03.147-07:00Page 8: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/temple-of-luxor.html"><<Page 7...</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Mskk34Fv3E5L6web_DYEwDLJHMyM0iXX9E-4WoOp2WNuVRQwYHflMu2-F_dO4mcxSBoC-iJiPRpjB5tzsm3OGVGcWhjwCcxPXT4VXcTMcGoFn_6zRb0laHxBew6W0X8qXHIYchLlywo/s1600/Temple+of+Luxor%252C+Amenhotep+III+Colonnade.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Mskk34Fv3E5L6web_DYEwDLJHMyM0iXX9E-4WoOp2WNuVRQwYHflMu2-F_dO4mcxSBoC-iJiPRpjB5tzsm3OGVGcWhjwCcxPXT4VXcTMcGoFn_6zRb0laHxBew6W0X8qXHIYchLlywo/s1600/Temple+of+Luxor%252C+Amenhotep+III+Colonnade.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/temple-of-luxor.html">Luxor Temple</a>, with the obelisk and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/pylon-of-ramses-ii-temple-of-luxor-part.html">pylon of Ramesses II</a>, and, beyond, the <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/court-of-amenhotep.html">colonnade of Amenophis III</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As the interface between the divine and human spheres, the ancient Egyptian temple served as a theater in which symbolic ritual dramas were enacted. Here the mygriad <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion" rel="wikipedia nofollow" target="_blank" title="Ancient Egyptian religion">gods</a> of Egyptian belief were fed, clothed and reassured that justice, order and balance were being preserved through the ritual services performed by the pharaoh and the priests who functioned as his appointed agents. In return,<a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/"> the Egyptian gods </a>gave life to the land and upheld Egypt's ordained place in the cosmos. In one sense, the ancient Egyptian temple was the source of power by which all of ancient Egyptian society ran.<br />
<br />
Thus, it was the prerogative of ancient Egypt's kings not only to serve, but also to adorn and enrich the domains of <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">the </a><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods: </a>the spoils of military conquest, the tribute of foreign nations and much of<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-9.html">...Page 9>></a></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-6-introduction-temple-land-and.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Page 6: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos</a> (ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/maat.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maat</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/neith.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neith</a> (egyptian-gods.info)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2011/04/picture-nefertari-at-lesser-temple-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Picture: Nefertari at the Lesser Temple of Abu Simbel as Hathor.</a> (ancient-egypt-history.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://localtours2you.com/2011/04/29/facts-about-karnak-temple-luxor-egypt/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facts about Karnak Temple - Luxor Egypt</a> (localtours2you.com)</li>
</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-41969910117882033412011-05-18T07:00:00.000-07:002011-06-03T09:25:32.045-07:00Page 7: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-6-introduction-temple-land-and.html"><<Page 6</a>...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlMQ7ZAke8q4mAWBI24RrdgQbKBE6SPY0Gz_iWvlJ963ASe59hZTClPtugxInIEpQw-gFm55eKaWEuLF3UA0OcfI1IoVDy_fABhqJN69w_y8G7dI31Rg0oI9mrq1QpyURSefUgT0PC-I/s1600/Ramesseum+Temple+of+the+Cult+of+Ramesses+II%252C+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ramesseum - temple of the cult of the deified <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/12/seti-and-ramesses-ii.html">Ramesses II</a> - from the west.<br />
Behind the temple proper lie the extensive mud-brick buildings of the temple's<br />
storehouses.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>hundreds of ancient Egyptian temples built throughout <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/">ancient Egypt history</a> (including many of which we doubtless have no record), they offer a unique view into the lives eand minds of the ancient Egyptians. This is because ancient Egyptian temples were far boarder in relevance and importance than those of many other cultures. As a result, they have been described in widely varying ways: as mansions of the <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/">Egyptian gods</a>, models of ancient Egypt and of the universe itself, focal points of ancient Egyptian worship, portals to the divine, and perhaps most colorfully, as islands of order in a cosmic ocean of chaos. In reality, as will be seen in this book, ancient Egyptian temples never functioned exclusively as any of these things. Rather, despite the seeming hyperbole of some of these descriptions, ancient Egyptian temples were all of these things and much more.<br />
<br />
Some temples served primarily as houses of the Egyptian gods, built and expanded over the millennia to serve their patron deities, while others were mortuary monuments built to serve the spirit of deceased kings and to ensure their comfort and rule in the hereafter. Still other ancient Egyptian temples served different purpose, some doubling as fortresses, administrative centers and even as concrete expressions of propaganda or royal retreats.<br />
<br />
Within the walls of most of these monuments, sanctuaries and treasuries, offices and palaces, slaughterhouses and schools might be found. Not only were many of the religious complexes centers of government, economy and commerce, but also within these temples ancient science and scholarship thrived and the nature of existence itself was pondered by generations of the learned priests.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-8-introduction-temple-land-and.html">...Page 8>></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7642960058778522721.post-19693954301378388902011-05-18T06:16:00.000-07:002011-05-18T07:10:32.816-07:00Page 6: Introduction: Temple, Land and Cosmos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkAtma1BuYH3shVnj08FIZK1b_yaH6GPKc1ybkw0UUPF9su66kMhRXeHYXxFT-Daj79CZAVLf7QZDK4ldgP7-SappY5LnMCnSkmRZcf5gd6V7_1-azbmzLDJ0CKk6GqH5bg29xn_rJFE/s1600/Temple+of+Nebhepetre++Mentuhotep.+Deir+el+Bahari.+Ancient+Egyptian+Temples.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ruins of the mortuary temple of Nebhepetre <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/07/mentuhotep-i-11th-dynasty.html">Mentuhotep</a>, <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/queen-hatshepsut-18th-dynasty.html">Hatshepsut </a>and <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/08/tuthmosis-iii-18th-dynasty.html">Tuthmosis III</a> at the foot of the cliffs at <a href="http://www.ancient-egypt-history.com/2010/04/mortuary-temple-of-queen-hatshepsut.html">Deir el Bahari</a>, western Thebes, a site long considered sacred tot he goddess <a href="http://www.egyptian-gods.info/2011/04/hathor.html">Hathor</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The temples of ancient Egypt are without doubt among the most impressive monuments to have survived from the ancient world. Once-shining cities whose towers and gates 'pierced the sky' and whose gold and bronze-capped monuments shone 'like the sun in its rising', many of these structures still rank among the greatest architectural accomplishments of human history.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Already ancient and a source of wonder in Greek and Roman times, Egypt's temples continued to amaze conquerors, explorers and travellers long after the civilization which created them had vanished. For centuries, monuments such as the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak - the largest religious structure the world has ever known - have continued to astound those who have seen them, through the richness of their architectural design and decoration, their colossal statues and obelisks, and often through the sheer vastness of their scale alone.</div><div><br />
</div><div>But there is more than this. Beyond the physical stone of Egypt's temples we may still sense much of the symbolic nature of these structures, the deeper reasons for their construction. So well-fitted to their purpose were these buildings that even now, thousands of years since the chanting processions of priests were halted and the music of singers stilled, it is difficult to walk through the great courts, pillared halls and porticoes of some of these structures and not sense once more something of their original life and presence.</div><div><br />
</div><div>No other ancient culture produced temples in such numbers, and although the remaining monuments may represent perhaps only a fraction of the<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">...<a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-7-introduction-temple-land-and.html">Page </a><a href="http://ancient-egyptian-temples.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-7-introduction-temple-land-and.html">7>></a></div></div><div class="zemanta-related"><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"></ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com