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The contrast between the Old Kingdom royal mortuary temples 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...
The contrast between the Old Kingdom royal mortuary temples 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...
Reconstruction of the sun temple of Niuserre at Abu Ghurob. The 5th Dynasty 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 5th-dynasty sun temples shared elements with the standard pyramid complexes, including a valley temple, causeway and model solar barque. |