Page 26: A Glorious Decline of the Ancient Egyptian Temples

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The Third Intermediate and Late Periods

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.

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.

 

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).

The impressive gateway of the Persian and Ptolemaic temple of Amun at Hibis in the Kharga Oasis.

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Page 25; Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom Temples

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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 hut 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.

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.

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.

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.

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Page 24: Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom Temples

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A New Kingdom drawing of a temple facade. The double rows
of columns represent a kiosk before the pylon with its flagpoles,
from which pennants fly.

The expansion of ancient Egypt'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.

Temple construction in the New Kingdom reached its high points under Amenophis III in the 18th Dynasty and Ramesses II 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.

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 Valley of the Kings, 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.

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.

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• Map of the Mortuary Temple of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Complex (mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com)
• Map Depiction of Old Kingdom's Valley Temple (mapofancientegypt.blogspot.com)
• The Oracle in Ancient Egypt (ancient-egypt-history.com)
• Ptah (egyptian-gods.info)

Page 23: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples

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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 Deir el-Bahri 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 temple of Hatshepsut in the same location.

Senwosret (Sesostris) I (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 Thebes, 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.

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 New Kingdom temple design.

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.

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.

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.

Senwosret before Amun.

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Related ancient Egypt articles

• Senusret I (Sesortris I)
• Hatshepsut Temple - Deir el-Bahari
• Thebes (List of important stories and spots in the ancient Luxor)
• Map of the Mortuary Temple of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Complex

Page 22: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples

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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.

Separate from the provincial ancient Egyptian temples, yet in some ways falling alongside them, the cult temple built for the ka or 'life force' of the 6th-dynasty king Pepi I (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 ka 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.

Middle Kingdom Developments of the Ancient Egyptian Temples
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.

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>>

The dual mounds of the temple at Medamud are an example of the unusual plans found in Old Kingdom provincial anceint Egyptian temples.

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).

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Page 21: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples

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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.

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.

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.

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Page 20: Old and Middle Kingdom Development of Ancient Egyptian Temples

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Pyramid temples, sun temples and provincial temples of the Old Kingdom
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.

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 4th dynasty. 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.

By the time of Khafre / Chephren (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 New Kingdom forms of the developed ancient Egyptian temple.

An important variant of the pyramid temple is found in the sun temples constructed by a number of kings of the 5th Dynasty 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.

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.

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.

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