Egypt From Prehistory To The Romans (Wildung, Dietrich)

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Dietrich Wildu
Series Editor: Henri Stil
Photographs: Anne and Henri Stierlin
EGYPT
From Prehistory
to the Romans
TASCHEN
K6LN LONDON LOS ANGELES MADRID PARIS TOKYO
Front cover About the author:
Sphinx of Giza, c. 2550-2500 B.C. Dietrich Wildung is Curator of the
© Photo: Henri Stierlin Egyptian Museum in Berlin and pro¬
fessor of Egyptology at the Freie
Back cover Universitat Berlin. He directs excava¬
Cross-section through the Pyramid of tions in the Nile Delta and organises
Cheops and plan of the Temple of international exhibitions about Egypt.
Cheops in Giza, c. 2500-2465 B.C. He specializes in art in the Kingdom
© Drawing: Alberto Berengo Gardin of the pharaohs.
Page 3 About the editor:

This plan of the tomb of Ramesses IX, Henri Stierlin was born in Alexandria in
drawn on a large limestone ostracon, 1928. The 16-volume work Architecture
was found in his tomb in the Valley of Universelle, Editions de I'Office du
the Kings. It is not a draft plan, but a Livre, was published between 1964
building record afterthe completion and 1972 under Stierlin's direction. He
of the tomb. The notes name the has also published Tanis - Tresordes
rooms and specify theirsizes. Pharaons, Paris 1987, Les Pharaons
New Kingdom, Dynasty XX, c. 1100 batisseurs, Paris 1992, and L'Ordes
B. C.; Cairo, Egyptian Museum Pharaons, Paris 1993.
Page 5
This small papyrus capital belongs
to the group of architectural models
which preserve the old building forms
into the Ptolemaic Period and must
have been handed down as examples
of the traditional style. Ptolemaic
Period, third-first century B. C.;
limestone; Berlin, Agyptisches
Museum
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Contents
7 Introduction
Basic Architectural Forms in Ancient
Egypt
23 Houses for the Dead and Stairways

to Heaven
Tomb Architecture of the Early Period
45 Building for the Life to Come

Old Kingdom Pyramids
73 The Lost Classical Period

Architecture of the Middle Kingdom
93 A State Built of Stone

Temples to the Gods in the New
Kingdom
127 Castles of Eternity

Temples of the Dead and Tomb
Architecture of the New Kingdom
167 The Cosmos in Stone

From the Delta to Sudan
igi Late Flowering

Temples of the Ptolemaic and
Roman Period in Upper Egypt
225 Epilogue
Egyptian Influence in the West
230 Chronological Table
233 Glossary
234 Bibliography
235 Index
237 Acknowledgements and Credits

Introduction
Basic Architectural Forms in Ancient Egypt
Model of a cowshed The image we have today of Ancient Egypt is beset with cliches: sinister mummies
Lightweight structures made of
and the beautiful Queen Nefertiti, the death-bringing curse of the pharaohs and
wood and mats were typical of
treasures shrouded in mystery distort our view of the achievements of the civilisa¬
everyday architecture in Ancient
Egypt. Designed to provide shade
tion and culture of Ancient Egypt. It is a land which in ancient times formed the
for a herd of cows, the roof of the bridge between north and south, between Africa and the Mediterranean, and
shelter rests on lightweight sup¬ which, together with the Near East, is a cornerstone in the history of Western
ports made out of bundles of plant civilisation.
stems. Just as the mummy can in no way be regarded as the leitmotif of religion in An¬
Early Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XI,
cient Egypt, nor can Nefertiti alone convey the essence of the art of the pharaohs,
c. 2000 B.C.; wood, stuccoed and
being instead merely an exception, mistakenly perceived as representative. She
painted; Munich, Staatliche
Sammlung Agyptischer Kunst shares her fate as an inappropriate figurehead, a false symbol, with the pyramid,
which is seen as the epitome of Ancient Egyptian architecture. Its clear, formal
structure is generally perceived not only as the classic example of the art of Ancient
Egypt, but also as the model for the political and social system of the pharaohs'
empire.
This view conveniently takes the exceptional case of a purely geometric basic
form and turns it into a standard, thus disregarding the continuous development of
Ancient Egyptian architecture over a period of three thousand years. Egyptian
architecture is a mirror of creation, a means of artistic expression that is firmly
rooted in the realms of sensory perception. It is not a construct of mathematics,
technology and abstraction. Often labelled as "monumental", this architecture,
seemingly presented solely in terms of sacred buildings, in temples and tombs, has
its actual origins in secular buildings, in the everyday architecture of an agricultural
people - a fact which it never denied or sought to conceal.
The architecture of the pharaohs, as we perceive it today, is dominated by stone
buildings, giving us the impression that stone was the main building material at the
time. This impression of Ancient Egypt has arisen only as a result of our perspective
looking back over thousands of years. The majority of buildings on the Nile actually
consisted of easily degradable material, and even today, away from the big cities
with their preference for concrete and fired brick, mud-brick construction still typi¬
fies many towns and villages. The silt deposits of the river Nile provide the most im¬
portant building material. Unfired, air-dried bricks, loosened with chaff or sand, are
not only easily obtainable and cheap, but, in the dry heat of the Nile valley, they play
an important role in basic air conditioning inside the buildings. Indeed mud-brick
architecture has enjoyed a revival worldwide in the last ten years, and it is not by
chance that a key figure in this area is an Egyptian architect, Fathi Hassan, thus con¬
tinuing a tradition that dates back to the fourth millennium B.C.
But very little of this ancient secular architecture of mud bricks, wood and reed
mats has been preserved, whereas the stone temples and tombs have survived the
millennia in some cases almost undamaged. The reason lies not only in the choice of
building materials, but also in the sites selected for their construction, a decision in¬
fluenced by considerations of function. Tombs and temples were generally built
Introduction 7
away from the valley floor, on the edge of the desert, above the water table and out te landscape in Lower Nubia
of reach of the annual Nile floods. Everyday architecture - huts, houses, stables, The most important raw material
in secular architecture came from
workshops, etc. - was located on either side of the Nile, on the humid valley floor.
Egypt's main artery, the Nile.
These structures were subject to damp and intense use, so that after a few decades
This river transports mud over
it became necessary to replace the old, dilapidated buildings with new ones - of not
thousands of kilometres from
too expensive an undertaking in view of the ease of obtaining building material. East Africa, through Nubia, and
Over the centuries and millennia, this rapid cycle of old buildings collapsing and deposits it in the Nile valley in
new ones taking their place raised the level of the villages and towns to form small Egypt during the annual floods.
hills, known as tells in Arabic. Today these hills mark the site of ancient settlements, This mud is used to make sun¬
baked bricks.
and often modern towns are to be found sitting on top of a pile of "rubble". Such
sites present real problems for archaeological excavation. Walls of mud brick are
very difficult to pick out in the silt of the Nile valley, and in many cases the ancient
settlement lies belowthe groundwater level; excavation of these sites is only pos¬
sible with a great deal of technical and financial input, and for this reason strati-
graphical excavations which are so useful in investigating settlement history cannot
be carried out.
Nevertheless it is possible to draw up a detailed picture of Ancient Egyptian
secular architecture. Ancient architectural models, in particular from the early years
of the Middle Kingdom (around 2040-1991 B.C.) show in small scale (about 1:25 to
1:40) the whole formal and functional range of buildings. Such three-dimensional
models of wood or pottery were placed as grave objects in tombs during the early
years of the Middle Kingdom, thus taking overthe same function as that of the re¬
liefs and paintings in the tombs of the Old Kingdom, i.e. preserving elements of life
this side of the grave for the life in the hereafter. Despite an inevitable exaggera¬
8 Introduction
The mountains of WestThebes tion and idealisation of reality, these models are very realistic and represent a rich
Not far from the valley are the source of information; they can be compared with the types of building which can
limestone mountains of Central
be seen to this day in the Nile Valley and in Central and West Africa.
and Upper Egypt which supplied
Village architecture included simple shelters raised on stilts to provide shade un¬
the raw material needed to build
derneath, kraal-like walled courtyards and flat-roofed buildings, often with steps
the nearby temples and tombs.
The quarries themselves became leading up the outside to the roof. Daily life in larger settlements is revealed in the
building sites, when underground grain stores with domed and barrel-vaulted roofs, as well as workshops with several
tombs were excavated in them. rooms for carpenters, weavers, butchers and bakers. Town housing is shown in
models of houses with walled interior courtyards containing a pond surrounded
with sycamores.
Architectural models made of limestone have survived from the first millennium
B.C.; they show tower-like houses with several storeys, very similar to the type
found nowadays in traditional urban architecture in the Yemen.
The particular significance of secular architecture in Ancient Egypt lies in the fact
that the forms and materials used in this area can be traced also in the elements and
structure of sacred architecture. Without a knowledge of the typical forms of
architecture in mud bricks, wood and rush mats, it is difficult to understand the
characteristic appearance of stone architecture.
The pylon, for example, a typical entrance structure in Egyptian temples since
the New Kingdom, has walls that are not vertical, but instead slope outwards to¬
wards the bottom - a typical feature of mud-brick architecture, where the laws of
statics dictate this form. Likewise, the rush bundles used in mud-brick buildings to
reinforce edges, are reflected in stone architecture in characteristic three-quarter
roll moulding. Finally at the top of the pylon is an "Egyptian gorge", consisting of a
Introduction 9
cavetto and horizontal roll moulding, a form derived from a wreath of palm leaves, Valley plain near Memphis
such as is still commonly found on the top of mud-brick walls in Egypt even today. In the damp Nile valley mud bricks
used in building are subject to
This type of cornice has incidentally enjoyed renewed popularity as recently as the
rapid decay. As a result the major¬
twentieth century, in postmodern architecture.
ity of Ancient Egyptian everyday
The time and effort involved in reproducing these architectural forms in stone is
architecture has now disinteg¬
considerably greater and technically it is a more complex task than building in right rated and cannot be accessed
angles with vertical walls. Egyptian architecture in stone produced forms that are by archaeological investigation.
not ideally suited to the building material of stone. Achieving an appropriate rela¬ Much of the area which was once
tion between building material and form was not a basic principle of Ancient Egyp¬ the capital city of Memphis is
today just a flat expanse.
tian architecture.
An explanation of this is to be found not primarily inform but in iconography. The
architectural form is not the goal, but the expression of a content. A temple with
sloping walls is representative of a house, a house of the gods. The specifically sac¬
red aspect is its permanent material, stone. Itsformal elements, however, are taken
from secular architecture; they are adaptations of motifs found in everyday build¬
ings. Even in the very earliest stone architecture, in the funerary complex of King
Djoser (around 2650 B.C.) the prototype columnar forms, which later became such
a characteristic feature, can be traced backto models found in nature. The papyrus
column with its tulip-shaped capital is seen here as an engaged three-quarter col¬
umn; both in its longitudinal section and in its wedge-shaped cross-section it traces
the shape of a stylised papyrus stem, with an umbel opening out at the top. As a
load-bearing element intended to support the ton weight of the architrave and
temple roof, a r lant-shape would seem rather unsuitable. For the Egyptian builder,
however, the cc tent expressed by this form was the key issue, and his job was to
Introduction
• KomOmbo
Mediterranean
Elephantine •• Aswan
• Agilkia
_. _ • Pnilae
First Cataract •
Alexandria Buto
Lower Nubia
Mendes T •
Sais Tams
City of Ramesses
Bubastis
■ Heliopolis
Giza •
Abu Sir •
* Saqqara
Memphis •
Dahshour •
Abu Simbel •
Lisht •
Medum •
El-Lahun •
Heracleopolis •
1 Second Cataract
• Beni Hasan
Hermopolis • Upper Nubia

• Amarna
Soleb •
Assiut •
• Third Cataract
Abydos
Dendera •
Fourth Cataract
Western Thebes* . Karnak
• Kharga
• Luxor
Gebel Barkal •
Napata •
Esna •
, Sk • Elkab
Hierakonpolis •
Edfu •
• Korn Ombo
o 50 ioo 150 200

0 50 100 150 200 1 -J KM
I | ■-I I KM 1= I -4-
=F I -=] MILES
I I ' =| MILES
F 50 100 150
0 50 100 150
Map of Ancient Egypt

The geographical structure of the
Egyptian Nile valley is unique.
The Nile valley extends about
1 000 km north-south and to the
south of Cairo it is just a few
kilometres wide, in some places
just a few hundred metres.
Introduction 11
Model of a house
Although the mud-brick houses in
the villages and towns have long
since disintegrated, they are not
entirely lost to our view. Models
made of burnt clay bricks were
placed in tombs and they now
show us what these structures
looked like and how they were
built.
Early Middle Kingdom,
Dynasty XI, c. 2000 B.C.; burnt
clay bricks; Cairo, Egyptian
Museum
find a technical solution to convey this. In Djoser's step-pyramid complex it is easy Page 13
House in Sanaa, Yemen
to spot the natural forms which the builders used as their models. The half-columns
The closest equivalent today
on the shrines of the ceremonial court and on the fagades of the North and South
of everyday Ancient Egyptian
Buildings may at first be reminiscent of the fluting on Greek columns, but are in fact
architecture can be seen in the
quite clearly the monumental representation of plant stems, such as were com¬ mud-brick houses in the Yemen.
monly used as supports for lightweight tent-like structures. Details such as roll moulding to
In the temple architecture of Dynasty V the palmiform column is the dominant strengthen corners and layers of
column form. Its smooth, round shaft tapers slightly towards the top where hori¬ brick rising slightly at the corners
correspond to those found in An¬
zontal banding ties in the carved palm branches that fan out vertically in fine pan¬
cient Egypt.
icles. Still today in Egypt it is a common practice to bind palm-tree trunks at the bot¬
tom of the leaves, to encourage growth. When looking at the towering trunks of an
Egyptian palm grove, it is not hard to imagine where the Ancient Egyptian builders
drew inspiration forthe idea of a column supporting a temple roof in the form of a
stone slab decorated on the underside with stars, to look like the heavens. The palm
column is nature turned into stone, it is the tree over which vaults the sky.
A fundamental and significant principle governing this transferral of secular
building forms and everyday building materials into stone architecture, and one
that held true for all Ancient Egyptian architecture, is that all forms are carriers of
meaning, they are legible, translatable concepts in a language of forms and have a
grammar which can be deciphered, taught and learned.
In the tombs of the Old Kingdom, from about 2400 B.C. onwards, there was an
exceptionally slender columnar form with the shaft in the form of a bundle of plant
stems. At the top the stems end in closed lotus blossoms, and small lotus buds are
placed between the stems. Clearly lotus stems are too unstable and lotus blossoms
too tender and fragile to support even the lightest tent roof, but the motif of the lo¬
tus has iconographic significance; it is the blossom that opens itself to the sun and
which, in the form of a column, gives the ceiling its function as the bright, sunlit sky.
The plant-like form of Ancient Egyptian columns is nowhere so evident as in the
court of Amenhotep III in the Temple of Luxor. Here it is the real sky that is held aloft
by the papyrus-bundle columns. In transferring the plant form to stone an inner so¬
lidity is achieved as well as integrity as a supporting element; however its limits
seem to be reached in the Ramesside papyrus columns in the central axes of the Hy-
postyle Hall of the Temple of Amun in Karnak, in the Ramesseum from Western
12 Introduction
>
Tall house in Sanaa, Yemen Model of a tall house in Ancient
These tower-like brick buildings, Egypt
several storeys high, found in the In Ancient Egypt, too, there were
Yemen, are one of the most re¬ examples of houses several
markable achievements of secular storeys high. Evidence of this is
architecture in the Near East. found in tomb paintings and in
architectural models. Construc¬
tion details can be identified par¬
ticularly well in this model.
Late Period, first millennium B.C.;
limestone; Cairo, Egyptian
Museum
RODUCTION
Roll moulding and cavetto
Great attention and effort was derives from palm leaves. Both
paid to the sculptural form of motifs are stone versions of forms
building corners and the tops typically used in mud-brick archi¬
of walls. The roll moulding to tecture.
strengthen corners is derived from Pronaos of the Temple of Hathor
bundles of plants, and the ca¬ in Dendera; Roman Period,
vetto, as its decoration shows. first-second millennium B.C.
Roll moulding and temple wall

The roll moulding finishes off the
edge of the temple wall and gives
formal definition to the structure.
The pictorial programme de¬
picting the interaction between
man and god is enacted on the
wall, within the architectural
framework of a house turned into
a temple.
West side of the pylon of the
Temple of Horus in Edfu; Ptole¬
maic Period, third-first millen¬
nium B.C.
Introduction 15
Thebes and in the Temple of Sethos in Abydos, where the papyrus buds in the cap¬ Enclosing wall of the Temple of
Hathor in Dendera
itals seem to open so wide that their edges fold outwards as if pressed down under
The wall encircling the temple
the weight of the architrave and roof above. In their iconographic richness and styl¬
complex is of unbaked brick laid
istic balance the floral capitals of the Egyptian temples in the Ptolemaic-Roman
down in alternating convex and
period are a pinnacle of achievement in the evolution of plant columns in Egyptian concave layers. The reason for this
architecture. Also to be noted, in addition to the composite capitals made up of sev¬ is primarily to do with stability,
eral layers of papyrus buds of increasing size, are the floral capitals of the Temple of but it also has religious signific¬
Khnum in Esna and of the Temple of Horus in Edfu which have grapes and different ance: it represents the waves of
the primeval ocean, out of which
types of flowers interwoven into the column. They led on directly to the basket cap¬
the temple rises as a primeval hill.
itals of Egyptian architecture in the late classical period, and are at least indirectly
Roman Period, first-second
one of the precursors of early Christian art in the West. millennium B.C.
6 Introduction
Painted ceiling in a tomb
Evidence can be found for the
decoration in Ancient Egyptian
houses from the paintings found
in tombs. As quasi-apartments for
the deceased, these tombs had
painted wall decoration in the
form of carpets and mats such as
would have been found in the
houses at the time. Matswerealso
spanned across beams (here
painted brown) to form roof con¬
structions.
Western Thebes; New Kingdom,
Dynasty XVIII, c. 1450 B.C.
Fagade of a tomb in Beni Hasan

The tops of round beams rise out
of the wall above the architrave.
They are the representation in
stone of a wooden frame on which
rested the rushwork roof. Here on
the faqade of a rock tomb this
form has no practical function, but
it does have religious significance
in that it turns the tomb into a
house forthe deceased.
Tomb of Khnumhotep; Middle
Kingdom, Dynasty XII,
c. 1850 B.C.
Introduction 17
Papyrus columns in Saqqara Plant column in Saqqara
The prototype for the most pop¬ The fluted half-columns on one
ular columnarform in Ancient of the cult buildings of the Step
Egypt stands in the precinct of Pyramid complex in Saqqara are
the Step Pyramid of Djoser in modelled on the shape of a plant
Saqqara. The papyrus stem and stem.
umbel are closely represented in a South house; Dynasty III,
naturalisticfashion in the stone c. 2600 B.C.; limestone
column and yet the overall shape
is still a distinctive interpretation.
North house; Dynasty III,
c. 2600 B.C.; limestone
Introduction
Clustered column
Often, only traces of the original
colouring of the columns have sur¬
vived. This reconstruction shows
howthe painted decoration helps
to envisage the architectural form
as nature represented in stone.
From: H. v. Minutoli, Reisezur Oase
des Jupiter Ammon, 1824
Clustered columns in the Temple

of Luxor
The basic motif in this columnar
form popular in the New Kingdom
is a bundle of papyrus stems with
closed umbels. As stone repres¬
entations the delicate leaf tips
have the strength to support the
beams.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII,
c. 1380 B.C.; sandstone
Introduction 19
Plant capital Architectural model
In the temples of the Ptolemaic Small-scale models of architec¬
Period the basic forms of Egyp¬ tural components were used in
tian columns, which had been vir¬ the Ptolemaic Period fortraining
tually unchanged over 2 500 years, sculptors in traditional architec¬
emerged in a wide variety of tural forms. This lotus capital,
different shapes. Various plant rarely seen on buildings, hasthe
motifs were combined to create pointed petals and round buds of
veritable bouquets of flowers a water lily.
emerging from the surface of Third-first millennium B.C.; lime¬
the stone. stone; Berlin, Agyptisches
Birth house of the Temple of Isis in Museum
Philae; Ptolemaic Period,
second-first millennium BC.;
sandstone
Introduction
Plant capital
The classical form of the papyrus Columned Hall of the Temple of
capital bears a number of plant Isis on Philae; Ptolemaic-Roman
shapes. The papyrus and the lily Period; third century B.C.-third
embody the two halves of the century A.D.; sandstone
country - Upper and Lower Egypt.
Palm capital
Classical columnarforms main¬
tained their place alongside the
newly developed forms with floral
composite capitals.
Columned Hall of the Temple of
Isis on Philae; Ptolemaic-Roman
Period; third century B.C.-third
century A.D.; sandstone
Composite capital
The bundle of plants is interpreted
here as a cylinder, but the capital
is carved into many individual
flower and leaf shapes.
Columned Hall of the Temple of
Isis on Philae; Ptolemaic-Roman
Period; third century B.C.-third
century A. D.; sandstone
Introduction 21
Houses for the Dead and
Stairways to Heaven
Tomb Architecture of the Early Period
Page 23 Abydos - Burial Place of the Founding Kings

Statue of King Djoser The history of architecture in prehistoric Egypt has not yet been written, but if, one
King Djoser, for whom the Step
day, someone does venture such a work, then it will have to be based mainly on in¬
Pyramid at Saqqara, the oldest
direct sources, because hard archaeological evidence from this period is very rare.
monumental stone building in
Egypt, was built, is here repres¬
In scenes painted on vases in the fourth millennium B.C., we can see representations
ented in a life-size statue of a of shrines that give evidence of early tent-1 ike or mud-brick constructions, and a few
seated figure. The statue was of the ornate relief palettes from the late prehistoric period depict architectural
found in a statue chamber at the structures.
foot of the north face of the The type of tomb architecture so significant in all later epochs of Ancient Egypt
pyramid.
is generally restricted up to the end of the fourth millennium B.C. to simple pits,
Old Kingdom, Dynasty III,
probably lined with wood or matting, as can be deduced from archaeological evi¬
c. 2500 B.C.; limestone, painted;
Cairo, Egyptian Museum dence. Little is known about any superstructures that may also have been present.
Thus we hesitate to speak of architecture in the commonly accepted sense.
It was not until around 3200 B.C. that richly equipped graves in several cemeter¬
ies began to incorporate underground chambers, lined with brick and fitted with a
wooden beamed roof; these were probably the burial places of chiefs, the prede¬
cessors of the pharaohs. Apart from the main room in which the dead person lay in
a wooden coffin, surrounded by rich gifts, there were also one or two side chambers
with large numbers of containers for supplies, to provide for the deceased.
Around 3100 B.C. these underground brick tombs developed into the oldest
type of royal tomb in Egypt. They are to be found in Abydos in Upper Egypt, which
was the most important cult location for the worship of the god Osiris, and a reli¬
gious centre throughout the history of Egypt. On the edge of the desert, far from
the Nile valley, are the tombs of the pharaohs of Dynasty I (3000-2800 B.C.) and, as
recent research in Abydos has shown, also those of the Dynasty immediately pre¬
ceding this. Dynasty O (3100-3000 B.C.).
These tombs consist of broad pits dug into the ground, divided up into large rec¬
tangular chambers by means of solid brick walls. Most of the larger rooms have an¬
cillary chambers leading off all four sides. Wooden beams were used for the ceilings
and on the walls of the burial chambers, with stone slabs on some of the floors. A
flight of steps leads from the outside of the tomb down into the underground com¬
plex, where the entrance is closed by large stone blocks. Superstructures would
doubtless also have been built, but today we can only speculate as to their appear¬
The signature of Imhotep ance. In Abydos they may have taken the form of a stylised burial mound, with
On the base of a statue of King slopes rising from a rectangular ground plan to a flat or slightly vaulted roof several
Djoser is the name of Imhotep, de¬ metres above the ground. Close to the site funerary stelae of limestone or granite
scribed as the "Chief Builder". In have been found with relief hieroglyphs bearing the names of the kings; these ste¬
recognition of his achievements
lae probably stood inside the enclosing wall on the east side of the superstructures,
later generations raised him to the
facing the Nile valley and the rising sun.
status of a god.
Close to the cultivated land, about 1 km away to the north-east of these earliest
c. 2650 B.C.; limestone; Cairo, royal tombs, and belonging to them, are giant brick complexes which are thought to
Egyptian Museum be sites for the cult of the dead. Solid, niched brick walls encircle a wide, square
Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 25

-vhich there were probably shrines and other cult structures made of mater- Page 27 above
Brick complex in Abydos
. u at easily degraded. The only break in this enclosing wall is a fortified gateway
Between the royal tombs in the
at the south-east corner. Wrongly called "forts", these complexes are clearly the
desert and the Nile valley are the
precursors of the temple buildings in the pyramids of the Old Kingdom. large brick structures of Abydos.
The niche element, a design feature also seen in prehistoric chamber tombs, is They are the forerunners of the
thought to have originally come from secular architecture, and used here it gives an pyramid temples of the Old King¬
insight into the function of the building, the architecture of the living was intended dom and were used in the cult of
the deceased ruler.
to provide the deceased with room for a continuation of life in the hereafter.
Dynasties 0/1, early third millen¬
This basic Ancient Egyptian belief in the afterlife can also be clearly seen in the
nium B.C.
grave equipment placed in the tombs. Ivory and wooden models of houses show the
wall arrangement and door construction of brick and wooden buildings, in anti¬
cipation of the typical decoration of coffins in the Old Kingdom and the Middle Page 27 below
Kingdom. Chambertombs in the Nile Delta
The necropolis in the north of Saqqara provides rich archaeological material for One of the earliest forms of brick
architecture were underground
the architecture of the Prehistoric Period. Its giant brick tombs are thought by the
burial chambers with brick-lined
archaeologist W.B. Emery and many other scientists to be the actual royal tombs of
walls. No traces of the above¬
the Early Dynastic Period, which means that the tombs in Abydos would take on the ground structures of these tombs
role of cenotaphs, of empty graves at the cult location for the worship of the god have survived.
Osiris. However, the latest excavations in Abydos by the German Archaeological In¬ Minshat Abu Omar, Eastern Delta;
stitute have shown quite clearly that the Kings of Dynasties 0 and I were buried here. c. 3000 B.C.
The graves in Saqqara are the resting-places of high dignitaries from the nearby
town of Memphis, which is shown to have been in existence from the very early
years of Egyptian history.
Not until about 2750 B.C. did Abydos lose its function as the traditional burial
place of the pharaohs. From that point onwards the rulers of Egypt preferred a
burial location near to their residence in Memphis. This move started a new tradi¬
tion which led on to the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, the "Big 3" at Giza and through
to the pyramids of the Kings in the Middle Kingdom in Dahshour, El-Lahun and
Hawara.
Model of ivory
Only little has survived of the old¬
est brick architecture in Egypt.
The basic forms, such as the false
door, can be seen in models of
wood and ivory which were placed
in tombs forthe use of the de¬
ceased in the next world.
Minshat Abu Omar, Eastern Delta,
c. 3000 B.C.; ivory
& jwfo 1 J*rt
Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

The Djoser Complex in Saqqara
The funerary monument complex of King Djoser in Saqqara provides a most appro¬ Oldest royal tombs in Abydos
priate starting pointfora survey of the architectural history of Ancient Egypt. It was The Kings of Dynasty I were buried
in Abydos in Upper Egypt in enorm¬
built around 2650 B.C. and before this date the architecture of prehistoric and early
ous underground brick tombs. The
dynastic Egypt can only be very sketchily reconstructed from secondary sources and
above-ground structures, erected
scant archaeological evidence. Whereas here in Saqqara it now appears forthe first above the massive beamed ceiling
time in stone and with precise detailing. Thanks to more than sixty years of research of the chambers, have not sur¬
by Jean-Philippe Lauer, who to this day is tirelessly continuing his life's work of re¬ vived.
constructing the Djoser complex, the overall and detailed structure of this first C. 3000 B.C.
monumental stone building in architectural history is well known. The line followed
by Ancient Egyptian architecture in prehistoric and early dynastic Egypt finds full
expression here in the Djoser complex.
The funerary complex of the king is surrounded by a niched wall (277 x 544 m);
which seems to be an imitation of the mud-brick wall around the royal residence in
Memphis, the aim being to provide the king with continued use of his palace in the
hereafter. Atthe centre of the complex, high abovethe Nile on the rocky plateau of
Saqqara, is the king's funerary monument, the Step Pyramid, which at about 70 m
high far exceeded the scale of all previous Egyptian architecture. The partly des¬
troyed south side of the seven-stepped pyramid allows usto seethe innerstructure
of this first monumental stone building in Egypt. In the core of the Step Pyramid is
a flat, rectangular structure corresponding to the mastaba tomb form, which, as an
imitation in stone of a mud-brick house, formed the basic type of tomb in the Old
Kingdom. The seven steps of the pyramid rising above this tomb exaggerate the
form of the burial-mound of the graves of the kings of Abydos into a kind of "stair¬
case to heavens" up which the king could rise into the heavenly hereafter. The
house-type and the burial-mound type of tomb were typical of the settled and no¬
madic populations of Upperand Lower Egypt respectively, and by combining them
in the architecture of the royal tomb they become a symbol of the two components
28 Houses forthe Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Step Pyramid of King Djoser
The technical and artistic evolu¬
tion from the brick architecture
of the early period to the monu¬
mental Step Pyramid of Djoser
took place within just a few gen¬
erations.
c. 2650 B.C.
The Pyramid complex of Saqqara

The complex ensemble of build¬
ings around the Step Pyramid is an
imitation of the King's residence
in Memphis, and as such was in¬
tended to surround him also in the
next world. All the buildings are
solid structures without internal
rooms and therefore without any
practical function.
a. Tomb chamber
b. Store rooms
1. Niched wall
2. Entrance hall
3. South tomb
4. Pyramid
5. Ceremonial court
6. South house 0 20 50 100
1 I —I M
7. North house
I » »=l FT
8. Temple 0 100 200 300
9. Altar
10. Court
Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 2g

Enclosing wall around the Step
Pyramid
Only a single gateway leads into
the funerary complex of Djoser.
The niched wall with bastion-like
projections and recesses imitates
the walls around the residence
city of Memphis.
c. 2650 B.C.; limestone
30 Houses for the Dead

Page 33
Composite columns in the com¬
plex of Djoser
The composite columns in the en¬
trance area are connected to each
other orto the longitudinal walls
via cross-walls. Expertise was not
yet available in dealing with free¬
standing columns.
C.2650 B.C.
Pyramid complex of King Djoser

All the buildings in the funerary
complex of Djoser are representa¬
tions in stone of real buildings of
wood, mats and stone which stood
in the residence city of Memphis.
c. 2650 B.C.
0 1 2 3 4 5
I I I ' ' 1 M
| I ' I FT
0 5 10 15
Cross-section of the entrance area

This cross-section of the entrance
area clearly shows the roof con¬
struction. It consists of stone slabs
placed on end, whereby the un¬
derside of each slab is half-roun¬
ded. This gives an impression of
palm trunks spanning the space.
Plants as models for columns

The natural model of plant stems,
grouped togetherto form a load-
bearing column, can still be traced
in the convex fluting of this stone
pillar. The column is built up of
small individual blocks and does
not yet exploit the specific poss¬
ibilities of stone architecture.
Entrance hall of the complex of
Djoser; Old Kingdom, Dynasty III,
c. 2650 B.C.
Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Southern enclosing wall of the
Djoser complex
The niched wall around the funer¬
ary complex of King Djoser is
1.5 km long.Inside th is wallisan
extant representation in stone of
what the royal residence of the
Old Kingdom used to look like.
c. 2650 B.C.
Early Dynastic Period tomb in

North Saqqara
Above: The tombs of high dignit¬
aries in North Saqqara are hardly
less impressive than the royal Page 35 below
tombs in Abydos. Built in brick, A wooden fence in stone
they are a precursor of the stone The areas in front of the shrines in
architecture seen later in the the ceremonial court in the com¬
Djoser complex. plex of Djoserwere separated
Below: The many spatial divisions from each other by limestone
01 5 10 15 marked on the plan have no struc¬ walls which in relief depict a
1* 1 >— -4 M
tural function, but instead they wooden fence.
| I > - { FT
0 10 20 50
represent the many rooms forthe Old Kingdom, Dynasty III,
use of the deceased. c. 2650 B.C.
34 Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Ceremonial court of the Djoser of the Egyptian state, under the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, as the pharaoh was
complex known from early dynastictimes.
The shrines in the ceremonial
Both grave types had already been combined in some brick graves in North
court are stone representations of
Saqqara, where the outer form is that of a house-type tomb, but inside is an invis¬
lightweight, tent-like structures
ible core in the form of a burial mound. The niched enclosing wall of the Djoser
such as those erected forthe gods
of the individual districts at the group and the Step Pyramid itself are built of small limestone blocks, a design which
King's jubilee celebrations. In the is not ideal forthe material, betraying its origins in brick architecture. This transfer
funerary complex they represent of individual forms from secular architecture to royal tomb architecture can be seen
the eternal recurrence of this fest¬ throughout the Djoser complex. The entrance on the south-east corner of the en¬
ival.
closing wall (prefigured in the entrance to the brick complexes of the "forts" in Aby-
dos) is covered with limestone slabs placed on end. The undersides of these slabs
c. 2650 B.C.
are rounded to look like palm-tree trunks lying nextto one another, a roofing tech¬
nique found in mud-brick architecture. The transition from the entrance gateway in
the enclosing wall to the colonnade that leads to the court is formed by a high gate¬
way with open doors. Made of limestone, the doors bear all the detailing found on
real wooden door leaves - with door pins and swivel rings and beam reinforcement.
The obtuse angle made between these immovable stone door leaves and the open¬
ing of the gateway gives the impression that the leaves can be swung, and as such is
the expression in Ancient Egyptian architecture of a functioning door.
An unanswered question in archaeology is whether the niche structure of the
1.5 km long enclosing wall around the Djoser group was influenced by early brick
architecture in Mesopotamia; what can be said, however, is that its material and
labour-intensive type of construction is not a genuine form of stone architecture,
buttakes its cue purelyfrom brick architecture. Both the complicated overall layout
with its many individual buildings, and the detailing of these buildings, can be sat¬
isfactorily explained as the translation of secular buildings from the residence in
Memphis into stone tomb architecture. The shrines either side of the ceremonial

The Upper Egyptian festival shrine
A lightweight construction of slim
plant stems and a rushwork roof
arching above is here translated
into stone architecture, without
losing any of its grace. This build¬
ing is a solid "false" structure
without any interior rooms.
Djoser complex in Saqqara; Old
Kingdom, Dynasty III, c. 2650 B.C.
012345 10
I I I I I I -1 M
I-1 ■ I ~ -| FT
0 10 20 30
court are copies of tent and brick structures that were built in the residence grounds Reconstruction of a tent shrine
as sacred sites for the various districts of Upper and Lower Egypt on the occasion of The plant materials originally used
fortent shrines can be traced in
the king's jubilee of the renewal of kingship. Even the throne podium on which the
the form of the stone version con¬
king sat forthe ceremonies is re-created here in stone.
structed in the funerary complex.
The king himself, whose body is buried in a monolithic granite chamber deep be¬
low the Step Pyramid within a branching system of corridors, is represented in the
form of statues nearto the burial place. Standing figures, of which there were sev¬
eral incomplete examples around the temples, show him in a ceremonial cloak such
as that worn for the jubilee celebrations, as a guarantee of never-ending rejuvena¬
tion; a seated figure was found in a statue-chamber on the north side of the pyr¬
amid, depicting the king looking out at the never-setting circumpolar stars. An in¬
scription on one of the standing figures identifies the gifted creator of this earliest
example of monumental stone architecture in Egypt as Imhotep, who in later cen¬
turies and millennia came to be worshipped as a cult hero, a saint and then finally as
a god. This was indeed tremendous recognition for the emergence of Egypt into a
new era of civilisation at the beginning of the third millennium B.C.

Statues of King Djoser in cere¬
monial dress
These unfinished statues of King
Djoser show him a wearing knee-
length cloak and holding a crosier
and frond. As such these figures
point to the function of the court
in front of the shrines as the stage
for an ever-recurring festival of
kingship.
ca. 2650 B.C.

solution of the Pyramids
Step Pyramid of Medum

This step pyramid was restyled by
King Seneferu as a true pyramid.
Old Kingdom, Dynasties 11 I/I V,
c.2600-2550 B.C.
"Red" (northern) pyramid of

Dahshour
Built by King Seneferu as his
second pyramid.
Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV,
c. 2560 B.C.
The funerary complex of King Djoser in Saqqara shape. King Seneferu, in the latteryears of whose few metres high began to be erected over private
marked the beginning of a period of almost ex¬ reign this conversion took place, had already laid graves. In the necropolis in Thebes these mini¬
plosive growth in architecture in Ancient Egypt. the groundwork for the discovery of the ideal ature pyramids top the facades of rock-cut tombs
For the first time stone was the primary building pyramid form with his two pyramids in Dahshour, and have east-facing niche openings containing a
material, and it heralded a technological revolu¬ built in the decades before Medum. The Bent praying figure of the deceased, while in the
tion. That this new building material in religious Pyramid at Dahshour, was intended as a real pyr¬ necropolis in Memphis they are erected in the
architecture did not also bring with it a funda¬ amid shape, but its angle of inclination was rearsection of the temple-like tombs. In Saqqara
mental change in the language of architectural changed when it became clearthat the 60° angle in particular these private pyramids can be un¬
forms is one of the main characteristics of Egyp¬ originally pursued would have led to a finished derstood as a conscious reference to the tower¬
tian art. The pictorial content of the building and height of almost 140 m, an impossible feat. At ing royal pyramids of the Old and Middle King¬
its components and the primarily iconographic about half-height the angle was therefore re¬ doms which can be seen from Saqqara, as well as
function of architecture remained largely un¬ duced to around 45°, bringing the final height a reference to the building tradition manifest in
touched by technical advances. down to 105 m. Seneferu's second pyramid, the them and to the historical and cultural heritage
However, the one significant exception to "Red" pyramid in north Dahshour, was built from of their predecessors from ancient times.
this was the pyramid. Its formal evolution from the start at the shallower angle. The angle of in¬ The pyramid as a form of burial architecture
the Step Pyramid of Djoser to the classical form clination of the third pyramid structure built by for kings enjoyed an astounding renaissance in
of the Pyramid of Cheops took place at a breath- this king, the third phase of building in Medum, the Sudan for about a thousand years from 750
takingly fast pace within the space of a single is also about 52° and as such is almost exactly the B.C. In the royal necropolises of El Kurru, Nuri,
century, between 2650 to 2550 B.C. same as the Cheops pyramid. Almost all pyramids Gebel Barkal and Meroe there are well over 200
The stages of this development can be seen of the Old and Middle Kingdoms were then to steep-sided pyramids, usually only 20 to 30 m
very clearly in the example of the pyramid of model themselves, with little variation, on this high. They were probably modelled on the non¬
Medum, erected in Dynasty III. Here, in the first classical forerunner in Medum. royal pyramid tombs of the New Kingdom, rather
and second phases of construction, the pyramid The dimensions and proportions of the pyr¬ than on the royal graves in the far north in Giza
took the form of a step pyramid sloping upwards amids changed only when this purely royal tomb and Saqqara.
at an angle of 75°, but later the steps were filled form was adapted for non-royal architecture.
in to give a smooth outline, but at a shallower From the beginning of the New Kingdom in
angle of about 52°, in the classical pyramid around 1550 B.C., steep-sided pyramids of only a

Bent Pyramid of Dahshour
This pyramid was the first one
built by King Seneferu. Technical
and structural problems led to its
angle of inclination being changed
half-way through construction.
c. 2570 B.C.
Bent Pyramid of Dahshour, plan

and section
Not only was the angle of inclina¬
tion changed during construction
of the pyramid; the system of cor¬
ridors and chambers also had to
be modified due to structural
damage.

The Pyramid of Cheops
The largest Egyptian pyramid was
almost 150 m high and as such is
one of the largest structures ever
built by man. Many questions con¬
cerning the technology and logist¬
ics of building this Wonder of the
World are still unanswered.
c. 2500 B.C.
Pyramids of Giza
In barely 100 years the step pyr¬
amid developed into the classical
pyramid form, and to a size never
achieved in later periods. The
Pyramid of Chephren still has a
portion of its original cladding.
Next to the Pyramid of Mycerinus
is one of the smaller ancillary pyr¬
amids.
c. 2500-2465 B.C
OUSES FOR THE DEAD AND STAIRWAYS TO HEAVEN

Suntemples
inAbuGhurab n
Sahure
Pyramids
Dynasty V Nyuserre a
of Abu Sir
Neferirkare a
Teti - Dynasty VI
North group Userkaf- Dynasty V
Djoser Complex - Dynasty III
Unas - Dynasty V
Necropolis
of Saqqara Pepi I - Dynasty VI
South group
Pepi II - Dynasty VI a
Mastabat Faraun - Dynasty IV
Sesostris III - Dynasty XII a

Seneferu - Dynasty IV a
Pyramids
Amenemhat II - Dynasty XII a
of Dahshour
Seneferu (Bent Pyramid) - Dynasty IV a
Amenemhat III - Dynasty XII a
The royal necropolis of Memphis

in the Old and Middle Kingdoms
a Pyramid
* Step pyramid
□ Temple
0 5 10
I—- — - — —I km
=f= =| MILES
0 2.5 7.5

The Pyramid of Hawara
Originally clad in limestone, this
brick structure is the second pyr¬
amid built by King Amenemhat III;
the first, built in Dahshour, had
structural faults which became
evident even during the construc¬
tion stage.
Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII,
c. 1800 B.C.
Burial pyramid in Deir el-Medinah Page 43

In the New Kingdom small, steep- The royal cemetery of Meroe
sided pyramids were erected From about 270 B.C.-A.D. 320 the
above the tombs of non-royal per¬ kings and queens of the Meroitic
sons. Often a statue shrine was kingdom had their pyramid tombs
added on the eastern side. built in the desert, on the moun¬
New Kingdom, Dynasties XIX/XX, tains to the east of the town,
1300-1100 B.C. where hundreds of years before
members of the royal family had
Pyramid in Meroe (Sudan) been buried in small pyramids.
In about 750 B.C. the Egyptian

building style of the pyramid was
adopted as a form for royal tombs
in the Sudan. This style continued
here for a furtherthousand years.
On the eastern side of the pyramid
is a sacrificial shrine with pylon.
Meroitic Period, c. A.D. 155-170

Building for the Life to Come
Old Kingdom Pyramids
Page 45 Giza
Statue of King Chephren In around 2500 B.C., only 100 years after the construction of the Step Pyramid
While only one small ivory figure
group of King Djoser in Saqqara, pyramid architecture reached its quantitative and
remains of King Cheops, the
qualitative peak in the Great Pyramid of King Cheops in Giza. Its original height of
builder of the largest pyramid,
146.5 m and the 230 m sides make it the largest of the Egyptian pyramids. Regarded
there are many small stone statues
of Chephren, who built the second in ancient times as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it has lost none of its fas¬
pyramid at Giza. cination to this day. Many investigations of its archaeology, construction and
Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV, metrology have been conducted, and countless pseudo-scientific attempts made
c. 2500 B.C.; anorthosite to explain its significance, but nevertheless the architectural achievement repres¬
gneiss; Cairo, Egyptian Museum
ented by the Pyramid of Cheops still escapes our intellectual grasp. The system of
corridors and chambers in the pyramid's interior has been examined in great detail,
and their function explained partly in terms of technical requirements (the Great
Gallery as a storeroom for the plug-blocks used to close the entrance to the tomb
chamber), and partly in terms of religious motives (the "ventilation shafts" as paths
for the soul of the king in his eternal afterlife), yet fundamental questions still re¬
main unanswered, in particular concerning construction technology and the trans¬
port of building materials.
Ramps and sleds with wide runners were almost certainly used in positioning the
limestone blocks brought from the quarries and the granite ashlars for the sarco¬
phagus chambers. Some of these blocks weighed up to 40 tons and were trans¬
ported for 800 km on the Nile from Aswan. Depending on the size of the pyramid
and the height to be reached at the various stages of construction, it was probable
that a range of different types of ramps were used. Smooth, wide ramps with a low
angle of slope enabled a large number of workers to be used on the lower levels,
whereas for work on the upper layers, ramps with steps and lifting gear were prob¬
ably used. The spiral ramp winding round the centre of the pyramid would have
been unsuitable for moving heavy loads. There is archaeological evidence of an in¬
ternal ramp which projected deep into the structure of the building, and which at
its lower levels was used for shifting material. It is, however, pointless to speculate
about which types of ramps were used for the various pyramids; this can only be es¬
tablished through careful investigation on site. Any theory claiming to have found
the answer as to how the Ancient Egyptians solved the transport problems in build¬
ing all pyramids is to be treated with suspicion in the present state of our archae¬
Burial chamber in the Pyramid
of Cheops
ological knowledge.
The burial chamber in the Pyramid It is almost impossibleto reach an understanding of the overall Cheops complex,
of Cheops was already broken into as only very little remains of the temple structures to the east of the pyramid; even
in the Middle Ages. The first pre¬ the name of its royal patron is not in evidence. A single, tiny ivory figure from Aby-
cise measurements were recorded
dos bears his name, and historical inscriptions from the period of his reign are al¬
by the scholars accompanying
most totally absent.
Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egypt¬
Close to the Pyramid of Cheops, on slightly higher ground, is the Pyramid of
ian expedition.
From: Luigi Mayer, Views in Egypt, Chephren, built a few decades later and, at 143.5 m high, the second largest pyr¬
1804 amid in Egypt. Much of this pyramid, together with its temple structures, is consid-
Building for the Life to Come 47

N
I
The pyramid site at Giza

Within the space of a few decades
between 2500 and 2465 B.C. the
"Big Three" were created - the
Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren
and Mycerinus (from north to
south) along with temple build¬
ings and ancillary pyramids.
1. Pyramid of Cheops
2. Pyramids nearby
3. Pyramid of Chephren
4. Temple of the Dead
5. Causeway corridor
6. Valley Temple
7. Sphinx
8. Pyramid of Mycerinus
9. Pyramids nearby
The Pyramids of Chephren and

Cheops
Because it stands on slightly
higher ground the Pyramid of
Chephren seems largerthan the
Pyramid of Cheops (in the back¬
ground), which has lost its cap.
Arrayed around the pyramids are
the mastaba tombs of the mem¬
bers of the royal household.
c. 2500-2465 B.C.

j*.
Head of a statue of a king
The small head wearing the crown
of Upper Egypt can be dated on
stylistic evidence to the beginning
of Dynasty IV. It is not certain
2
whetherthe king is Seneferu or
Cheops.
0 10 20 30 40 50
I I - t- I I —I M c. 2500 B.C.; limestone; Munich,
I I I ' ~1 FT
Staatliche Sammlung Agyptischer
o 50 too 150
Kunst
0 10 20 30 40 50
I I I I I -1 M
I - I ' - '" ' I FT

0 50 100 150
Section through the Pyramid of Below: The ground plan of this

Cheops and plan of the pyramid completely destroyed temple can
temple of Cheops only be reconstructed from evi¬
Above: It has not yet been fully ex¬ dence of construction in the basalt
plained why this pyramid has three paving. 1. Entrance, 2. Uncom¬
chambers. The construction plans pleted room, 3. Central room,
may have been altered during 4. Great Gallery, 5. Sarcophagus
building, or they may have been room, 6. Airchannels, 7. Mortuary
planned from the outset as three temple
separate functional elements.

Pyramid-building techniques
Techniques of transport Building ramps on the First Pylon

Another unsolved question is how of theTemple of Amun in Karnak
hundreds of thousands of blocks, The last extension project in the
some weighing several tons, were 2000 year history of building at
transported. Ramps were used for the Temple of Amun remained un¬
the lower part of the structure and finished. During a period of politi¬
various theories have been put cal change the First Pylon was left
forward to explain this technique. as a building site. Remains of
It is not known how the transport building ramps can still be seen on
problem was solved forthe upper the back of the pylon. Such ramps
part of the pyramids. were used to transport building
material.
Ptolemaic Period
The procedure of pyramid¬

building
The inner structure of the pyr¬
amids of the Old Kingdom is still
largely unknown. It is probable
that from the start of Dynasty IV,
the porous limestone core blocks
were built up in horizontal layers,
with the cladding of thick lime¬
stone blocks being positioned as
building progressed.
Building forthe Life to Come 51

Page 53
Levelled site forthe Pyramid
of Chephren
Large areas of the slightly inclined
rocky plateau around the Pyramid
of Chephren were levelled to
create a flat site for building.
Large square stone blocks were
hewn out of the limestone face.
c. 2500 B.C.
The Great Gallery in the Pyramid

of Cheops
A huge hall with corbel vault was
created inside of the pyramid to
hold the plug-blocks which were
dropped into position from the in¬
side to block off the corridors
leading uptothechamberwith
the King's body.
From: Luigi Mayer, Views in Egypt,
1804
erably better preserved than the Cheops burial complex. Around the top of the
pyramid its original, smooth-polished limestone cladding can still be seen, and at
the base some of the granite cladding has also been preserved. On the north and
west sides of the pyramid the solid rocky ground on which it stands bears many
traces of measurements and building preparations, enabling conclusions to be
drawn about construction planning and procedures. All the key components of the
temple complex on the east side of the pyramid are recognisable: the mortuary
temple itself with open court and five sanctuaries is built very close to the pyramid
and reached by a 500 m long causeway corridor hewn from solid rock. The causeway,
with its high rock walls, begins on the edge of the cultivated land at the Chephren
Valley Temple, a unique structure in Ancient Egyptian architecture. Here, behind
temple walls made of limestone and several metres thick, is a T-shaped hall with
walls clad with giant granite blocks; the ceiling, of granite beams, rests on mono-
52 Building forthe Life to Come

Tip of the Pyramid of Chephren
in Giza
Originally this pyramid was clad
with fine, polished limestone from
Tura which emphasised the crys¬
talline precision of the architec¬
ture. On the Pyramid of Chephren
the uppermost part of the clad¬
ding has survived.
c. 2500 B.C.
Pyramid of Chephren in Giza

The angle of inclination of the
Giza pyramids perfectly combines
the earthliness of the construction
with a dynamic striving upwards
towards the heavens, to which the
dead king was to rise via the
"stairway to heaven" formed by
the pyramid.
c. 2500 B.C.

lithic granite pillars. The total lack of wall decoration and the stereometric basic
forms of this room speak of an abstract rigour which is completely at odds with the
fundamental naturalistictendencies of Egyptian architecture. Placed in front of the
red granite walls on bright white calcite and alabaster flooring were twenty-three
statues of the king in grey-green gneiss, dimly lit through narrow openings at the
top of the walls.
Next to the valley temple is another temple complex which was probably built at
the same time and may have a connection with the monumental Sphinx. This figure,
depicting the god-like characteristics of the king, is 70 m long and 20 m high, and is
the largest sculpture in Ancient Egypt.
Thetemple complex nextto the third and smallest of the Giza pyramids, built by
Mycerinus, was unfinished and in part constructed only of mud bricks. The pyramid
cladding of granite blocks was also unfinished.
Valley Temple of the Pyramid

of Chephren
The core masonry of the valley
temple consists of huge blocks of
local limestone. They are clad with
granite which was transported to
the site from Aswan, about 800 km
away. No two blocks, and there¬
fore no two joints, are the same
shape, as each quarried block was
hewn to the shape best suited to
its individual volume.
c. 2500 B.C.
Building for the Lifeto Come 55

Statue group with King Mycerinus
In the unfinished Valley Temple of
the Pyramid of Mycerinus there
were several statue groups show¬
ing the king in close connection
with Hathor, the goddess of the
heavens, and with a local divinity
who embodied the forces of the
earth.
c. 2500 B.C.; greywacke;
Cairo, Egyptian Museum
Pyramid of Mycerinus in Giza

The smallest of the three pyramids
in Giza, the Pyramid of King Myce¬
rinus, was originally clad entirely
in red granite. The pyramid was
never completed; the only granite
surfaces to be polished were those
around the entrance to the inner
pyramid.
c. 2500 B.C.
Longitudinal and cross-sec¬ Plan of the Valley Temple of

tion through the Valley Tem¬ Chephren
ple of Chephren Twenty-three seated figures
Behind the granite cladding of the king were found in the
are massive limestone blocks, temple's pillared hall. A cause
in the middle of which is the way corridor, almost 500 m
pillared hall. Light enters this long, leads to the mortuary
space through angled window temple with pillared hall, long
slits. The slope of the cause¬ hall, statue courtyard and five
way corridor begins in this statue shrines. Beyond these
inner temple area. are the store-rooms.

The Sphinx of Giza Page 59
The Sphinx of Giza is 73.5 m long The Sphinx of Giza
and the largest monumental A lion's body and a human head
statue of Ancient Egypt. Framed combine in the figure of the
by a headdress the head of the sphinx to show the king in divine
king looks east to the rising sun. form, as the "son of Re", the dir¬
The facial characteristics of this ect offspring of the sun-god. This
statue are in the same style as that colossal figure is hewn from a
of the statues of the successors of rocky outcrop. All around the
Cheops, the Kings Radedef and sphinx this area has been quarried
Chephren. to provide stone for building the
Page 57 Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV, pyramids.
Valley Temple of the Pyramid of c. 2550-2500 B.C.; limestone Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV,
Chephren c. 2550-2500 B.C.; limestone
The clarity of form of the pillars in
the Valley Temple of the Pyramid
of Chephren is often regarded as
typically Egyptian. However, this
is in fact very much an exception,
as the basic principle of Egyptian
architecture is that buildings in
stone imitated the forms seen in
structures made of wood, mats
and bricks.
C.2500B.C.

.F -FXfc-* i
i
J
ter-
■Kl^v/ * * +•
W-f i
Q«ayBUH|vr /» « ^ c'
Abu Sir
The mysterious silence surrounding the "Big 3" at Giza in Dynasty IV (2575-2465 Pyramid temple of King Sahure in
Abu Sir
B.C.), arising from the lack of any substantial pictorial ortextual evidence, was fol¬
The causeway corridor leads from
lowed in Dynasty V (2465-2325 B.C.) by the royal pyramid complexes in Abu Sir,
the valley temple to the mortuary
which answered many of the questions left open by Giza. In Abu Sir, lying between temple. Palmiform columns once
Giza and Saqqara and within sight of both, are the funerary complexes of the four stood in the court. The inner
Kings Sahure, Neferirkare, Neferefre and Nyuserre. temple rooms lead to the statue
The Sahure pyramid complex, excavated at the beginning of the twentieth cen¬ hall and to a false door at the foot
of the pyramid.
tury by Ludwig Borchardt, is well preserved and gives a representative picture of a
Old Kingdom, Dynasty V,
royal burial site in the Old Kingdom.
c. 2450 B.C.
The valley temple is located on the edge of the cultivated land and was con¬
nected to the Nile by a causeway, probably dug to transport building materials. The
causeway, part of which had an artificial embankment, was bordered by high walls, Page 6 7 above
Pyramid complex at Abu Sir
on top of which lay a roof of giant slabs of limestone. A narrow si it between the slabs
Half-way between Saqqara in the
allowed faint light to filter through into the causeway and onto the relief friezes
south and Giza in the north is the
placed one above the other along both walls. The total length of the friezes reaches pyramid complex of the kings of
several kilometres. A dominant theme in them is the political and dogmatic position Dynasty V at Abu Sir. From the top
of the Egyptian king in the world. Egypt's enemies, the Nubians in the south, of the Pyramid of Sahure we can
Libyans in the west, Asians in the east, are seen as bound prisoners being brought see the Pyramids of Neferirkare
(right) and Nyuserre (left). The
before the king. This picture of the world as it was perceived by the pharaohs was
pyramids in Abu Sir were built only
supplemented bya representation of the orderof the cosmos in nature. Plump, her¬
a few generations afterthe ones in
maphroditic beings, the Nile gods, join female gods in carrying offering plates from
Giza, but they lackthe technical
which are suspended symbols of life; in the accompanying inscriptions these gods perfection of the latter.
are called "food", "water" and "corn", and thus represent the fertility of the Nile Old Kingdom, Dynasty V,
valley. Other relief pictures seem to depict historical events, such as the one show- c. 2450 B.C.
6o Building for the Life to Come

Plan of the pyramid site at Abu Sir
Close to the royal burial com¬
plexes of the Pyramids of Sahure,
Nyuserre and Neferirkare (from
north to south) are several other
pyramids, some of which have not
yet been fully excavated. The
architectural complex at Abu Sir
arose over a particular period of
time and is one of exceptional
density.
A Pyramid complex of King
Sahure
1. Valley Temple, 2. Causeway
corridor, 3. Mortuary temple,
4. Pyramid
B Pyramid complex of King
Nyuserre
1. Valley Temple, 2. Causeway
corridor, 3. Mortuary temple,
4. Pyramid
C Pyramid complex of King
Neferirkare
1. Mortuary temple, 2. Pyramid
Building for the Life to Come 6i

The god Sopdu
The walls of the causeway corridor
from the valley temple to the mor¬
tuary temple of the Pyramid of
Sahure were decorated with sev¬
eral hundred metres of reliefs,
some of which depicted Egyptian
gods delivering captured enemies
to the king. The beard and distinc¬
tive cheekbones of the god
Sopdu, the "Lord of Foreign
Lands", are characteristic of
people from the Near East.
c. 2450 B.C.; limestone;
Berlin, Agyptisches Museum
The god Seth

While Sopdu protects the eastern
border of Egypt, the aardvaark-
headed Seth is the protective
deity for Upper Egypt. In his
hands he holds a battleaxe and a
rope fortying up enemies. Above
him is the starry sky, linking
political events with the divine
realm.
Relief in the Sahure complex
causeway corridor; Old Kingdom,
Dynasty V, c. 2450 B.C.; lime¬
stone; Berlin, Agyptisches
Museum
for the Life to Come

Gods of fertility ing large trading ships returning from the Near East, orthe stone blocks (only dis¬
Female and hermaphroditic fig¬ covered in 1994) with relief figures of emaciated Bedouins or Libyan chiefs and their
ures carry before them sacrificial
families bringing tributes. Similar, sometimes almost identical, relief scenes can,
plates from which hang symbols
however, also be found in other royal temple complexes from the Old Kingdom.
of life. The inscriptions for water,
These scenes can thus be regarded as standard items which do not tell of single in¬
corn and food identify the figures
as divine personifications of the cidents, but are more generalised in content. The focus was not the specific ruler at
fertility of the Nile valley. These a particular time, but pharaohs in general.
reliefs were part of a picture frieze The causeway ends in an open court which is surrounded by monolithic palmi-
mounted around the base of the form columns of red granite. The roof of this portico has a star pattern, mimicking
walls in the temple court of the
the vault of the heavens above the open court space. The black basalt paving on the
Pyramid of Sahure.
courtyard is the same colour as the fertile agricultural land in the Nile valley. Thus
Old Kingdom, Dynasty V, c. 2450
B.C.; limestone; Cairo, Egyptian
the paving, the pillars and the roof together form an architectural cosmos, a world
Museum picture in stone. At the junction of earth and heaven, on the architraves above the
palmiform capitals, are the names of the king. He is the link between man and god;
he creates divine order on earth, an order which finds its visible and lasting expres¬
sion in the architecture of the temple.
In Abu Ghurab, not far from Abu Sir the Kings of Dynasty V erected sun temples
which exclusively serve this representation of the man-god relationship in the per¬
son and function of the king. Their composition is similar to that of the pyramid
temples in that they have a valley structure, a causeway corridor and a temple, but
they have no pyramid. Instead, a compact obelisk made of stone blocks stands on a
pyramid stump in the wide temple courtyard. In this monument to the cult of the
sun-god Re the incarnation of god in the figure of the king is manifested.
In King Nyuserre's temple to the sun-god in Abu Ghurab, the walls of the cause¬
way corridor leading from the valley structure to the obelisk are decorated with re¬
lief cycles showing the jubilee of the renewal of kingship, in which he experiences
cyclically recurring rejuvenation. The most interesting relief pictures, however, are
the representations of life in nature. Organised into seasons, they depict animals

procreating and being born, migrating birds and fish swimming up the Nile to
spawn. These famous "Season Reliefs" are a picture hymn to the sun-god, a pre¬
cursor to the sun song of Akhenaten or that of Francis of Assisi.
Inscriptions state that sun temples were built for six kings of Dynasty V, but only
those of Sahure and Nyuserre have been identified and excavated. The divine na¬
ture of the Egyptian king, as represented by the architecture of these temples, is
not bound to the individual person of the respective ruler, but to the institution of
kingship. The king as a person is mortal, and therefore special mechanisms fortrans-
figuration are required for his continued existence in the hereafter. The pyramid is
a staircase to the heavens, enabling the king to rise up to the gods, an idea which is
easily recognised in the early form of the step pyramid.
In the texts which have been chiselled into the walls of the underground cham¬
bers inthe pyramids since Dynasty V, the king describes his journey to the heavens:
Relief from the Sun Temple of
"You have your heart, Osiris; you have your legs, Osiris; you have your arms, Osiris.
Nyuserre
Thus so, too, do I have my heart, my legs, my arms. A staircase to the heavens has Several kings of Dynasty V built
been built for me, so that I can rise up into heaven, and I rise up on great clouds of sun temples close to their pyr¬
smoke. I fly up as a bird, I alight as a beetle on the empty throne that is in your amids. In these temples they en¬
barque, Re!" As forthe purpose of this journey to heaven, we learn, "The doors of tered into close union with the
sungod, Re. A relief cycle in the
heaven will be opened to you, you will emerge from them as Horus." The king, who
Sun Temple of Nyuserre shows the
like Osiris is eternal, reaches heaven via a staircase, and thisjourney is accompanied
influence of Re on nature - a pic¬
by the sacrificial smoke of the funerary rituals. ture hymn to the sun.
The temple complex is the stage forthe funerary cult, serving both the physical Old Kingdom, Dynasty V,
requirements of the dead king and his ritual transfiguration. The architectural form c. 2400 B.C.; limestone; Berlin,
and wall decoration of the burial chambers in these pyramids are a reflection of such Agyptisches Museum
Building for the Life to Come

Burial chamber in the Pyramid
of Unas
The gabled roof is decorated with
stars, and the walls around the
coffin have relief decoration in im¬
itation of mat hangings. The burial
chamber is both a representation
of the home of the deceased and
of his surroundings in the next
world. The king rests in the centre
of a world consisting of earthly
reminiscences and divine hopes.
c. 2350 B.C.
King Sahure ideas; under a starry gabled roof, representing the heavenly afterworld of the king,
This statue depicts Sahure in royal stands the monolithic stone sarcophagus of the ruler in the middle of a room with
headdress and with a king's beard.
walls decorated with carpet patterns; they turn the burial chamber into a richly ap¬
Sahure was the king for whom the
pointed hall in the palace, thus turning the secular into the sacred, the transitory
first pyramid in Abu Sir was built.
The type of stone from which this
into the eternal.
statue is made was also used by
King Chephren for his statues.
Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV.,
c. 2450 B.C.; anorthosite gneiss;
New York, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art

Relief of Mereruka in Saqqara
The practice of combining front
and side views in Ancient Egyptian
relief pictures lends the human
figure a depth of space which is
enhanced into three dimensions
by the expanse of the wall.
Old Kingdom, Dynasty VI,
c. 2300 B.C.
Sacrificial hall in the tomb of

Mereruka
A vividly carved statue of the
deceased steps out of the mock
door atthe top of the burial shaft,
marking the threshold between
this world and the next. At the
feet of the statue, on top of a
flight of steps, is the stone table
on which sacrifices were made.
The wall reliefs depict an idealised
view of life on earth.
Old Kingdom, Dynasty VI,
c. 2300 B.C.

•| I krX' iaa*7
Tomb relief of Huti
/tVAV/A ^ v ~tv The central motif of the tomb
N.Vtf.VkV
reliefs in the Old Kingdom is a
representation of the deceased at
AV.Y.VA the table of offerings, or sacrificial
i'ii'u.V.
UUuil
A* .Y.v.'.'.v table. Shown on it are rounds of
AAlliWAi
bread and around it are hiero¬
glyphs of other offerings. The
tomb is the deceased's house and
as such the place where he meets
his family and descendants.
From Tomb B 9 in Saqqara; Old
Kingdom, Dynasty IV/V,
2500-2400 B.C.; limestone; Cairo,
Egyptian Museum
Old Kingdom Tombs

Two sets of ideas come together in the king's tomb, the pyramid and its temple com¬
plexes. The afterlife of the king is in part a continuation of his life on earth, but prim¬
arily an ascent from the earthly to the heavenly. Ordinary people are denied this
ascent. Forthem hopes of life in the hereafter were limited to an idealised continu¬
ation of earthly conditions. Accordingly tomb architecture reflected this belief, the
tombs being the eternal houses of the deceased. The elaborate wall decoration of
private tombs in Dynasty III contains relief and painted pictures of sumptuously ap¬
pointed living rooms with woven mats and colourful carpets. The outerform of the
tomb and the rectangular ground plan with sloping walls takes up the forms of tra¬
ditional mud-brick architecture. This typical form gave rise to the name "mastaba",
an Arabic word for the stockpile of mud bricks up against the houses.
On the east side of these mastabas there are usually two doors; however, as the
burial mound itself is immediately behind them, they cannot really be opened and
are called false doors. The false doors are functionally the most important part of
thetomb, because the communication between this world and the next takes place
through them. In front of the doors was placed a sacrificial slab, on which the des¬
cendants of the deceased were to place offerings of food. The deceased could climb
up from the burial chamber deep down inside the mound where his body lay in a
wooden or stone coffin, and enter the cult chamber through the door. In some
tombs this to-ing and fro-ing between the two worlds through the false door is very
specifically depicted; a high-relief, sculpted figure of the deceased is shown on the
door itself, very impressively in the case of Mereruka'stomb in Saqqara. In thetomb
of Idu in Giza shown on the lower part of the false door is the upper body of the de¬
ceased, creating the impression that he is just emerging from the tomb shaft lead¬
ing from the burial chamber upwards to the cult chamber.
The two parts of the tomb are functionally and spatially strictly separate, but
meet at the false door - on the one side the inaccessible underground burial area,
consisting of the burial chamber and a shaft that was filled afterthe burial, and on
the other a ground-level cult area accessible to the descendants for pursuance of
the funerary cult. The false door itself also displays elements of typical mud-brick
forms in its posts and half-round cross-member in the shape of a palm-tree trunk or
a bundle of rushes, such as is used for lintels in mud-brick structures. Often the door
is framed with roll moulding and a cavetto, the basic elements of mud-brick houses.

Statue of Seneb and his family
In the above-ground part of the
tomb were statues of those
buried deep below in the under¬
ground part of the tomb. The
statue is placed in the serdab, a
totally enclosed chamber out of
sight of the visitorto the tomb. In
some tombs this chamber is linked
to the sacrificial chamber by
means of narrow peepholes in the
wall. The statue of the dwarf
Seneb, his wife and two children
was found in a stone box with a
closed lid.
Old Kingdom. Dynasty IV,
c. 2450 B.C.; limestone; Cairo,
Egyptian Museum
During the period of the Old Kingdom the original compact mass of the mastaba
developed into a range of interior rooms, becoming in its spatial arrangement more
like a real house forthe dead, sometimes even taking the form of a whole complex
of buildings containing the tombs of several family members. The position of the
mastaba tombs in the residence cemeteries of Giza, Abu Sir and Saqqara reflects the
social status of the occupant. Members of the royal family and the highest-ranking
state officials had their tombs erected closest to the royal pyramid complex, the
lower ranks being buried progressively further away. In spatial organisation, too,
these cemeteries are mirror-images of earthly reality. The mastabas lie in regularly
laid out streets, encroaching only at their extremities into the proliferating suburbs.
It is not so much the architecture of the mastabas of the Old Kingdom that makes
them an invaluable component in the archaeology of Ancient Egypt, but above all
the relief and painted wall decoration. From the outside these tombs are generally
quite without ornament, but after passing through the tomb entrance, with carv¬
ings of the deceased in hollow relief on the doorposts, a very vivid world of pictures
Building forthe Life to Come 6g

Old Kingdom burial complex
The actual burial chamber lies be¬
low ground at the bottom of a ver¬
tical shaft cut into the rock. The
shaft was filled in after interment.
Originally there may have been a
portrait head of the deceased (see
arrow) in a recess in the corridor.
The above-ground structures were
called "mastabas" because of
their banked sides (mastaba means
"bank" in Arabic). At the begin¬
ning of the Old Kingdom, these
mastabas were in the form of solid
stone hills, but laterthey de¬
veloped into houses forthe dead,
with as many as sixty rooms.
is revealed on the walls of the rooms inside. Apart from the lower part of the walls,
hardly any space is left undecorated.
These wall pictures, mostly in painted low-relief carvings, but seldom purely
painting alone, seem at first to make no reference to religious themes. They depict
in inexhaustible detail the many aspects of daily life, with scenes from agriculture,
the workshops of the artisans, as well as sporting, hunting and boating scenes.
These images are a rich source of iconographic information, almost like a kind of
handbook of Ancient Egyptian cultural history. Representations of gods are totally
lacking here, and yet these everyday scenes are part of a primarily religiously motiv¬
ated pictorial programme. The focus of the scenes is the deceased, before whom an
ideal reality unfolds in the pictures, a vision of eternity that is an exaggeration of
normal life. As a seated figure, enthroned, he is present in the inaccessible part of
the tomb, taking his part in the picture. The central image in the tomb reliefs is
found on top of or near the false door: the deceased, now transfigured, as evid¬
enced by his enthronement, is seated at the sacrificial table, reaching forthe offer¬
ings piled up in front of him, a list of which is recorded in the accompanying hiero¬
glyphic inscription. As a complement to the relief pictures of the deceased on the
doorposts, in which he is depicted walking, are statues of a standing, walking fig¬
ure, which guarantee him his physical capabilities in the afterlife. Both aspects,
transfiguration and continuation of his physical existence are essential prerequis¬
ites for eternal life.
Aspecial form oftombs inthe Old Kingdom are the rock-cut tombs. Depending
on their particular location, they are either partly or wholly hewn out of a rocky out¬
crop and in many cases seem to make use of available cave-like spaces left by un¬
derground quarrying. In the quarry areas of Central Egypt this tomb form became
very popular for the provincial necropolises during the Middle Kingdom. In the New
Kingdom it finally became the only tomb type.
Apart from reasons of pragmatism, the rock-cut tombs of the Old Kingdom may
also have reflected an idea which was to become evident in the New Kingdom,
namely that tomb spaces under the ground reach out from the known world into un¬
known regions, they are the architecturally designed path into the beyond, and
therefore already have religious content in their architectural form.
70 Building forthe Life to Come

I
Tomb relief of Metjetji

In the technique of hollow relief,
the background around the fig¬
ures is not carved out, but stands
proud. The figures are cut into the
wall. The deeply-cut contours cast
a strong shadow which made this
relief technique particularly pop-
ularforthe outerwalls of tombs
and temples.
From Saqqara; Old Kingdom,
Dynasty V, c. 2400 B.C.; lime¬
stone; Berlin, Agyptisches
Museum

The Lost Classical Period
Architecture of the Middle Kingdom
Page 73 Temples of the Gods and Rock Tombs

Mirror handle
The architectural tradition of the royal pyramid tombs of the Old Kingdom ended
The architectural element of the
with the decline of Memphis as the country's capital. The Old Kingdom collapsed
plant column with papyrus capital
and during reunification in the First Intermediate Period around 2050 B.C. the Up¬
has been adopted here for a mir¬
ror-handle. The face of the god¬ per Egyptian town of Thebes rose in significance, also marking the rise of a region
dess Hathor is integrated in the of the Nile valley that had previously had very little influence. Now it became the
papyrus umbel. Her animal form motor behind new impulses in art and architecture.
can be seen in the cow's ears. Although mastaba tombs from the Early Dynastic Period have been found in the
From El-Lahun; Middle Kingdom,
northern part of Thebes, in El Tarif, tomb architecture in the early Middle Kingdom
Dynasty XII,c. 1800B.C.;gold,
pursued new directions. The political and military elite at the court of the king who
obsidian, semi-precious stones;
united the nation, Mentuhotep II (2040-2010 B.C.) had their tombs built on the
western bank at Thebes as rock-cut tombs in the valley basin of Deir el-Bahari, ei¬
ther high up on the outcrop, or in the Assasif valley. The king also chose the same
burial location, perhaps influenced by the ancient cave shrine of the goddess
Hathor.
Mentuhotep's tomb is quite different to the pyramid complexes of the Old King¬
dom. The king is no longer entombed in the middle of a monumental stairway to the
heavens, up which he can climb to the gods, but lies buried 150 m deep in the moun¬
tainside. In front of this underworld part of the tomb is built a terrace on which a
stylised hill rises on a square ground plan - it is a picture of the creation of the world,
in which the holy grove just belowthe terrace probably also plays its part. Only the
valley temple and the causeway corridor are a reminder of the traditional tomb
structure of the pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom. The front part of the ter¬
race temple is dedicated to the cult of the gods Montu and Amun, with whom the
king identified himself, a concept not dissimilar to the sun temples of Dynasty V.
At the same time, on the east bank of the Nile, there were the beginnings of a
temple complex which within the space of a few decades would become the most
important shrine in Egypt, a position it was to maintain until the end of the
pharaonic period. The shrine was Karnak, dedicated to Amun-Re, soon to become
known as the "King of the gods". In the course of two millennia Karnak continued
to grow until it became a temple city, but the site of the oldest, most venerable
shrine in the complex was always kept free from new building. Of this temple only
the granite thresholds slab of a sequence of several gates have survived; the
temple itself was probably initially constructed of mud bricks and faced the Nile. Of
Head of a statue of King Sesostris III the Middle Kingdom buildings around this "court of the Middle Kingdom", which is
Statues in the Middle Kingdom not in fact a courtyard, but the site of the original temple of Karnak, little has been
expressed the individuality of the preserved, but enough to be able to document the very quick growth of this new
ruler, which makes it possible to
templeto the gods.
identify even those statues which
The most significant Middle Kingdom building in Karnak is the "White Chapel"
bear no inscription.
of King Sesostris I (1971 -1926 B.C.). Just 6.5 x 6.5 m in size, this structure was ori¬
From Karnak; Middle Kingdom,
Dynasty XII, c. 1830-1820 B.C.; ginally built for the king's jubilee and located close to the Temple of Amun-Re in
granite; Luxor, Luxor Museum Karnak, but had to be dismantled to make way for extensions to nearby buildings.
The Lost Classical Period 75

Mortuary temple of King
Mentuhotep II in Deir el-Bahari
As in the pyramid complexes of
the Old Kingdom, a long causeway
corridor led from a valley temple
directly to the mortuary temple of
Mentuhotep at the foot of the ver¬
tical rock-face of Deir el-Bahari.
Standing and seated statues of
the king were placed between
trees along an avenue in the wide
court in front of the tomb. We can
see the beds in which the trees
were planted to this day.
Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XI,
c. 2400 B.C.
The temples of Deirel-Bahari

The terrace temple (foreground)
of Queen Hatshepsut was built in
1470 B.C. Its style, with two ter¬
race levels, mimics that of the
Temple of Mentuhotep II (back¬
ground), built more than 500 years
earlier. From the innermost part of
the Temple of Mentuhotep a long
passageway leads westward down
into the king's tomb deep inside
the mountain.
1ST Classical Period

Mortuary temple of King
Mentuhotep II in Deir el-Bahari
The royal mortuary temple is sur¬
rounded by the rock-cut tombs of
high dignatories. These tombs,
with their steep outer courts are
situated on the slopes to the north
and south of the temple and also
in front of it, cut into the rocky
valley bottom.
c. 2040 B.C.
Reconstruction of the mortuary

temple of King Mentuhotep
Surrounded by several rows of
four-cornered and eight-cornered
pillars, a kind of stylised primeval
hill emerged as the image of the
creation of the world and the daily
rebirth of the sun. The temple is
oriented to the point on the hori¬
zon from which the sun rises.
Plan of the mortuary temple

of King Mentuhotep
It did not prove possible to extend
the square-plan central part of the
complex into a pyramid.

Li \L~
Temple precinct of the Middle all the blocks being later used in the construction of the Third Pylon of the Temple
Kingdom in Karnak of Karnak during the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 B.C.). In A.D. 1927-1938
The oldest part of theTemple of the white limestone blocks that once made up this temple were excavated and put
Karnak, immediately in front of
together again by Henri Chevrier in a complete reconstruction of the White Chapel.
the banqueting-hall of Tuth-
This is now on view in the open-air museum in Karnak. The roll moulding and the
mosis III has had no new structures
built upon it for over 2 000 years.
cavetto finishing of the top indicate that this kiosk was a stone version of a mud-
However, practically all that re¬ brick structure; the low balustrades probably derive from the lightweight screens
mains of the temple constructed that used to be placed between the outer pillars of a kiosk. The reliefs encircling the
here in 2000 B.C. are doorthresh- building tone down the basic geometric shape of the square pillars. The graceful
olds of granite and the base of structure can be said in a way to rise out of the soil of the Nile valley, as its base is
a shrine forthe cult image of
inscribed with the names of the districts of Upper and Lower Egypt, arranged in
Amun-Re.
geographical order.
Despite recent finds of individual reliefs and architectural elements, the overall
plan of the earliest temple complex of Karnak is still largely unknown. However, the
significance of the shrine can at least be seen indirectly from the fact that as early
as the end of Dynasty XI, in around 1991 B.C., a shrine had been erected facing to¬
wards Karnak on the Theban West bank: the little-known, small mud-brick temple
of Mentuhotep III (2010-1990 B.C.), on the mountain of Toth high above the en¬
trance to the Valley of the Kings. The entrance to this temple with its three sanctu¬
aries is formed by a brick pylon, which is the earliest known example of this typical
form of Egyptian temple gates.
The position of this small shrine, on a rather inaccessible mountain-top, indicates
that there must have been many temples of the Middle Kingdom in Thebes. In a few
places near Thebes, in Armant,Tod and Medamud, relief blocks with the names and
representations of kings of Dynasties XI and XII have been found incorporated into
later structures; the exceptionally high technical and stylistic quality of these reliefs

Page 81
Reliefs in the White Chapel in Karnak Amun-Re, the "King of the Gods".
The square pillars in the White The striking relief pictures act as a
Chapel, so called because of the counterto the strictly geometric
white limestone used to build it, are structure of the building.
decorated with flat reliefs depicting Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII,
Sesostris I making a sacrifice to c. 1950 B.C.
Head of a statue of King Sesostris I The White Chapel of King

Many architectural components Sesostris I in Karnak
and parts of statues from the Between 1927 and 1938 inthe
oldesttemple at Karnak have Temple of Karnak, a whole chapel
been found incorporated into was excavated block by block from
later buildings. The statue head the foundation walls of the Third
which was unearthed in front of Pylon, which was built by Amen-
the First Pylon of the Karnak hotep III (1390-1353 B.C.). 600
Temple is one of a series of large years earlierthe chapel had been
pillarfigures which probably once built as a staging shrine by
stood around a court. Their great Sesostris I forthe jubilee celebra¬
size is an indication of the dimen¬ tions forthe renewal of kingship.
sions of the architecture that has Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII,
been lost. c. 1950 B.C.
c. 1950 B.C.; limestone;
Luxor, Luxor Museum
Lost Classical Period

shows that Thebes retained its new role as the religious and artistic centre of the Temple on the mountain of Toth in
country, even after the royal court in the transition from Dynasty XI to XII moved Western Thebes
Standing on one of the highest
north to Memphis in around 1991 B.C., the traditional site for the royal residence in
mountain peaks in Thebes is the
the Old Kingdom. As a result of the move the terraced structure of tomb from
small brick temple of Mentuhotep
Thebes, introduced by Mentuhotep II in Deir el-Bahari and continued nearby in the III. The pylon of this temple is an
unfinished funerary complex of his successor, Mentuhotep III, was now replaced in early example of a typically Egyp¬
Memphis by the traditional Old Kingdom shape of royal tomb, the pyramid. tian form fortemple entrances.
Architectural aspirations in the Middle Kingdom were now directed towards The temple seems to be oriented
building temples to the gods. The lack of such temples in the Old Kingdom is not towards Karnak on the opposite
bank of the Nile.
solely explained by the fact that none have so far been discovered, but by the
changed religious and political situation at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom.
c. 2000 B.C.
The individual districts in the kingdom had grown in significance and one way of ex¬
pressing their new-found identity was through their local gods. Shrines were con¬
structed throughout the land. Often they are only nowto be found incorporated in
the foundations of later buildings, but some individual parts of buildings have been
discovered that afford us insight into the formal variety of architecture in this
period of emergence.
One tern pie that was typical of many at the time was the Temple of Medinet Madi
with its three sanctuaries; it was built at the end of Dynasty XII to the south-west of
Cairo in the Fayum oasis, an area which was irrigated for cultivation during the Mid¬
dle Kingdom. The Temple of Kasr el-Sagha, to the north of the Fayum, high on the
edge of the desert, is an exception with its seven sanctuaries, and it appears all the
more unusual because only the innermost temple section was actually completed,
and the columned hall, court and pylon are lacking. No less original are the two
shrines described by Herodotus - the monumental statues of Amenemhat III
(1844-1797 B.C.) - of which all that now remains are their gigantic bases close to
Medinet el-Fayum near Biahmu, and the unusual stela monument of the "Obelisk"
of Abgig from the time of Sesostris I (1971-1926 B.C.).
The Lost Classical Period

Temple of Kasr el-Sagha in the
Fayum
Nowadays this temple lies in the
middle of a rocky desert in the
Fayum oasis. Originally, however,
the water level of the lake was
much higher and the temple would
have stood on the banks of the
lake. The temple, consisting of
seven sanctuaries arrayed in a line,
was unfinished and there are no
inscriptions indicating the names
of the gods to whom it was to
have been dedicated.
c. 1800 B.C.
Temple gateway of Amenemhat II

in Hermopolis
The remains of a large pylon in
the centre of the temple ruins of
Hermopolis indicate that this was
once an important shrine in the
Middle Kingdom, probably ded¬
icated to the god Thoth orto the
eight deities of Hermopolis.
c. 1990 B.C.
!
I
i
!
Relief of Amenemhat I from Lisht
As in the Old Kingdom, the kings
of Dynasty XII also built pyramids.
Amenemhat I and Sesostris I chose
sites close to their residence in
Lisht. This relief, which was in¬
corporated into another building,
probably comes from the com¬
pletely destroyed mortuary
temple at Amenemhat’s pyramid.
c. 1975 B.C.; limestone; New
York, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art
The joy of experimentation at the beginning of this new epoch is evident also in Page 85 below
the architecture of the funerary complexes of Dynasty XII in Lisht, El-Lahun, The fortress of Buhen
Expansion southwards to the
Dahshourand Hawara. Their basicform is still derived from the pyramids of the Old
Second Cataract brought Egypt
Kingdom, but since the time of Sesostris II they consisted of millions of mud bricks,
into direct confrontation with the
laid in layers and clad with limestone capping. In the system of corridors leading to
Nubian kingdom of Kerma. Enorm¬
the burial chamber, however, and in the temple complexes and enclosing walls, new ous fortresses were built to
forms and types of construction were being tried out, in the kind of innovative spirit secure the southern frontier. In
reflected in the newdepiction of man evident in the statues of the kings of Dynasty the course of construction of the
XII. The largest of the pyramid temples of the Middle Kingdom, built by Amenemhat Aswan dam these buildings were
flooded and are now lost for ever.
III in Hawara on the eastern edge of the Fayum, is only preserved in descriptions by
classical writers, who tell of this amazing "Labyrinth". The technical feats achieved
c. 1900-1750 B.C.
in these pyramids reached gigantic proportions: the monolithic sarcophagus cham¬
ber in the Hawara pyramid weighs about 100 tons.
The remains of temples from the Middle Kingdom can only be seen in a few
places, as most disappeared under new buildings or were cleared entirely. In Her-
mopolis in Middle Egypt, a religious centre in Ancient Egypt, the remains of a
temple gateway in limestone rise up in the middle of temple ruins from the New
Kingdom, the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. Built by Amenemhat II in around 1900
B.C., the temple to which the gateway belongs must have been very large, and was
probably dedicated to the god Thoth and the old gods of Hermopolis.
On the island of Elephantine, which since ancient times has marked the southern
border of Egypt at the First Cataract on the Nile near today's Aswan, are the
temples of Mentuhotep II and Sesostris I, the shrine forthe local god Heqaib, and
fortified walls dating backtothe early Old Kingdom; all bear witness to a high level
of building activity which reached far into the south, up to the Second Cataract,
which becamethe new southern borderof Egypt afterthe Nubian campaigns of the
kings of Dynasty XII. In view of the military and political strength of Egypt's south¬
ern neighbour, the kingdom of Kerma, nofewerthan fifteen forts were constructed
in Lower Nubia and at the Second Cataract. Their associated tombs, bastions, gate¬
ways, drawbridges, rampart walks and embrasures are reminiscent of mediaeval
fortresses, and in terms of their functionality and gigantic dimensions they are
among the most impressive architectural achievements of the Middle Kingdom.
Much excavation and documentation still remained to be done on these structures
when they were flooded by Nasser's dam, but they are now lost to archaeological
research for even.

Fortress of Buhen
The ditches, bastions and walls of
these Middle Kingdom fortresses
at the Second Cataract were a for¬
midable obstacle to invasion by
Egypt's southern neighbour, the
Kingdom of Kerma. Small Egyptian
towns grew up inside the fortress
walls.
c. 1900-1750 B.C.
i psy
i
I
I

The huge dimensions of these forts on the Second Cataract are to be understood
primarily, but not exclusively, in terms of military and political considerations.
These buildings also demonstrate the power of the Egyptian empire to those bey¬
ond. The inclusion of temple complexes in these fortresses also provides the border
divine guardians. When, in the New Kingdom, King Sesostris III is depicted and
named as the tutelary god of the Second Cataract in the Temple of Semna, this is
evidence for the lasting effects of the architectural activities of the kings of the
Middle Kingdom on the border with Upper Nubia.
On the Semna stele, found at the Second Cataract, Sesostris III himself com¬
ments on his presence at the border to the south: "I have pushed my border beyond
that of my father, I have increased that which I inherited. Every son of mine who
keeps this border that my majesty has made, he is my son. He that lets it fall and does
not fight for it, he is not my son and was not born of me. My majesty has also had a
statue of my majesty made on this borderthat my majesty has made, so that it will
flourish and so that you will fight for it."
A similarly close link between architecture and royal cult at geopolitically ex¬
treme locations is to be found in the Sinai peninsula, in the eastern border region of
Egypt. In Sarabit el-Khadim, in the middle of the turquoise mines area, kings of the
Old and Middle Kingdoms appear as gods on reliefs and in inscriptions in a rock-cut
temple of the Middle Kingdom and in the elongated asymmetrical front building of
quite un-Egyptian design.
Semna stele of King Sesostris III

The long hieroglyphictext praises
the Egyptian king as the glorious
ruler of the world and describes
the cowardice and weakness of his
Nubian enemies. This piece of po¬
litical propaganda originally stood
near the Second Cataract.
c. 1820 B.C.; quartzite; Berlin,
Agyptisches Museum

Temple of Sarabit el-Khadim, Sinai Despite the lack of any substantial archaeological remains of Middle Kingdom
As far back as the Early Dynastic
temples to the gods in the Egyptian heartland, various indicators suggest that ori¬
Period and intheOld Kingdom the
ginally these temples were numerous. Building activities at the time are docu¬
Sinai peninsula was prized by the
mented in authentic texts such as reports of royal building projects and Ancient
Egyptians for its deposits of
turquoise and copper. The Temple Egyptian architectural plans of temples. Fragmentary remains of a temple plan and
of Sarabit el-Khadim, which con¬ a hieratic text on the foundation of a temple by Sesostris I, for example, give an
sists of a long series of courts impression of temple architecture in Heliopolis, one of the major religious centres
leading to an underground sanc¬ in Egypt; still the only existing visible remains of this temple at the site are the
tuary, is one of the oldest ex¬
obelisk of Sesostris I.
amples of rock-cut temples in
The Middle Kingdom is not a period of outstanding architectural achievement in
Egyptian architecture.
the history of Egypt, but it is one of the finest periods for sculpture. The portraits
c. 1800 B.C. of Dynasty XII are among the best Ancient Egyptian sculptural works and can take
their place alongside Greek and Roman likenesses. According to their inscriptions
the Middle Kingdom statues of kings and private people, mostly carved out of hard
stone, no longer served as tomb statues (as was their function in the third millen¬
nium), but were now placed in temples. Herein lies their exceptional significance for
architectural history, forasan inventory of thetemples of the Middle Kingdom they
become indirect sources of information on theiroriginal locations, as we can read in
their inscriptions or deduced from their find places.
This produces names of regions of Egypt, which, for lack of any archaeological
remains, seem completely insignificant in architectural history. The Nile Delta to
the north of Cairo, one of the largest habitable expanses in Egypt, possesses only
limited traces of temples from the Middle Kingdom, in such places as Ezbet Rushdi,
Tell Ibrahim Awad and Bubastis. In Tanis, however, Egypt's capital city founded
around 1070 B.C. in the north-east of the Delta, many statues from the Middle King¬
dom have been excavated. Before being dragged in around 1000 B.C. to decorate
the new metropolis in Tanis as 1 000-year-old monuments, these statues had stood
in the Delta residence of Ramesses II (1290-1224 B.C.), 30 km south of Tanis. Their

original locations were probably not faraway, perhaps in Bubastis, near to the mod¬ Tomb of Khety in Beni Hasan
ern town of Zagazig in the east of the Delta. In Bubastis fragments of the colossal The roofs of the wide halls of the
royal statues of Dynasty XII have been found, and it was here, too, that the ruins of rock-cut tombs in Beni Hasan in
Central Egypt are supported by
a palace of King Amenemhet III have been excavated: surely one of the foremost of
slim lotus columns, which give the
Egypt's centres of religion, rich in tradition.
impression that the tomb is a
The number and size of the statues of kings that were reused in Tanis is over¬ canopy held up by plant columns.
whelming. Ten seated figures of granite, each weighing about 8 to 10 tons, repre¬ Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XI,
sent pharaohs from the early part of Dynasty XII. Two standing figures of Sesostris c. 2000 B.C.
I, erected at the temple gates of Tanis, are almost 8 m high and among the largest of
all Egyptian statues. The sphinx type is also present in Tanis in the form of two 5 m
long granite sphinxes built under Amenemhet II and six monumental maned sphin¬
xes from the time of Amenemhet III.
Analogous to the giant temple complexes of the New Kingdom in Thebes with
their equally colossal statues, these recycled statues of rulers of the Middle King¬
dom were probably also surrounded by gigantically proportioned sanctuaries.
Sphinx avenues would have led up to towering pylons, the standing figures posi¬
tioned either side of enormous gates, and seated statues erected between the pil¬
lars of broad temple courts.
Even in the case of the residence of the kings of the Middle Kingdom in Mem¬
phis, the impressive temple architecture of Dynasty XII can so far only be deter¬
mined on the basis of indirect evidence. This evidence has been known for a long
time, but not recognised as such: it comprises the colossal statues of the early part
of Dynasty XII from the ruins of Memphis. Ramesses II had had their original in¬
scriptions replaced with his own name, and so they were regarded as works typical
of Ramesses' love of the gigantic until they were recently "unmasked" as statues
from the Middle Kingdom.

Tomb of Khnumhotep in Beni Thus the royal statues from Dynasty XII afford access to the architecture of that
Hasan time and give it a status which can be compared with the finest products of the
Although the tombs of Beni Hasan
greatest period of Ancient Egyptian temple architecture, the New Kingdom and the
are underground, rock-cut tombs,
Ptolemaic Period.
they also conform with the basic
principle of Egyptian sacred archi¬
The non-royal architecture of the Middle Kingdom does not have to be tracked
tecture, whereby original wood down through such convoluted routes, as it is preserved in several locations in im¬
and mud-brick forms are trans¬ pressive complexes. The district governors of the Middle Kingdom, who, alongside
posed into stone. Above the six- the central government in Memphis, exercised great political influence, had their
teen-cornered pillars atthe en¬ cemeteries erected near to the district capitals. In the Nile valley in central and Up¬
trance and the architrave we can
per Egypt these tombs are rock-cut. Often these subterranean tombs were located
see the stone versions of wooden
high up on a rocky outcrop in the mountains flanking the east and west sides of the
beams used in roof construction.
Nile valley upriver between Cairo and Aswan. The choice of such an exposed posi¬
c. 1900 B.C. tion was determined by the search for layers of firm, solid rockthat would give the
best conditions for building stable structures and working the reliefs. A few of the
rock-cut tombs are abandoned quarry caverns, for which the choice of site was also
governed by the same criteria.
Some of these tombs, such as the ones in the Qan el-Kebir district, have the same
elements as pyramid architecture - valley temple, corridor causeway and tomb
chapel. In Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt, near to the capital of the Sixteenth Upper
Egyptian nome, the tombs consist of a giant underground hall hewn out of an out¬
crop of rock. The columns are graceful clustered pillars with lotus capitals; they sup¬
port architraves on which rests the barrel-vault-shaped roof, painted with textile
patterns and mock wooden beams.
The large tomb halls at Beni Hasan, which can be seen as an autonomous new de¬
velopment in Egyptian architecture, thus follow the basic principle of religious
architecture, in that they imitate the forms of secular architecture. The tomb hall is

a monumental representation of a tent-like building with wooden poles hung with
carpets. Forms taken from timber architecture are also visible in the tomb fagades.
The extensive walls of these hall tombs in Beni Hasan show a wide-ranging pic¬
torial programme carried out in painting. The motifs are taken almost exclusively
from daily life, and in addition to the themes of handicraft, agriculture, hunting and
games that derive from the tomb decoration of the Old Kingdom, they also contain
compositions with many figures engaged in sieges and battles. Typical of these
paintings in Beni Hasan are the wrestling scenes showing hundreds of pairs of
wrestlers in the various stages of a wrestling match.
No less impressive than the hall tombs of Beni Hasan are the rock-cut tombs of
the administrators of the southernmost of the Egyptian nomes near modern-day Rock-cut tombs in Aswan
All of the great necropolises of the
Aswan. The capital of the First Nome of Upper Egypt lay on the Nile island of Ele¬
Middle Kingdom havetheirown
phantine at the northern end of the First Cataract; the architectural history of this
special architectural features. The
site from prehistoric times down to the Islamic period is piled up in a settlement hill
local governors of Elephantine,
some 15 m high. Shrines to the gods of the Cataracts area, the god of creation, who had grown rich through con¬
Khnum, and the goddess Satet, date back to the Early Dynastic Period and include trolling the trade with the south,
the temples of Mentuhotep II and Sesostris I, as well as a shrine forthe local god, were buried high on the edge of
Heqaib, a deified nomarch governorof the Old Kingdom. the desert on the west bank of the
Nile. Theirtombs were cut into
The tombs of the district administrators of Elephantine lie high up on the rocky
the rock, and each had an outer
desert slopes on the west bank of the Nile. Steep flights of steps lead directly up
court with steep steps leading
from the river's edge to a terrace-like, transverse outer court with portico, through down to the river.
which a columned hall is reached. A corridor leads deep into the mountainside to the Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII,
cult chamber. 1900-1800 B.C.
go The Lost Classical Period

Pectoral of King Sesostris III Each of the rock necropolises of the Middle Kingdom displays local peculiarities
The programmatic motif of this
in its style of architecture, relief carving and painting. Wide, pillared fagades are
chest decoration showing the king
typical of Thebes, for example, whereas statue shrines in front of the back wall of
as a griffon above his enemies is
the cult room are only found in Meir, and in Assiut the forms and dimensions of the
placed in an architectural context.
Lotus columns and cavetto indic¬ rock-cut graves of the nomarchs seem to anticipate the rock temples of the New
ate a temple building, on the roof Kingdom.
of which the vulture, as a protect¬ Finally, some of the most precious and artistically valuable examples of archi¬
ing deity, spreads out its wings. tecture in the Middle Kingdom are the items of jewellery either formed to look like
miniature temples, or containing iconographic references to them. Typical Middle
c. 1820 B.C.; gold, carnelian, lapis
Kingdom pectorals show the form of a templefagade with banked walls, roll mould¬
lazuli; Cairo, Egyptian Museum
ing and cavetto. In concentrated form these items bear witness to the claim of the
Middle Kingdom to be the classical period of Ancient Egypt, not only with respect
to the fine arts, literature and writing, but also to architecture.
The Lost Classical Period gi

A State Built of Stone
hiiWm
'9fr‘
Temples to the Gods in the New Kingdom
Page 93 The Temple City of Karnak and Luxor

Head of a statue of King
The physical presence of the ancient world is perhaps nowhere so immediately felt
Tuthmosis III
as in the temple city of Karnak. Still today, as if it were a living shrine, visitors are
Tuthmosis III was one of the keen¬
drawn into its spell and hushed into silence, surrounded by the sacred aura of an¬
est builders in the entire three-
thousand years of Egyptian his¬ other world.
tory. He had temples built in all The origins of Karnak lay at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, around 2000
the important places in his empire, B.C., when for a short time Thebes became the capital of Egypt; the Temple of
from the Nile delta to Gebel Amun-Re, built in this period, soon rose to become the most important shrine in the
Barkal in the Sudan.
whole of Egypt. Every pharaoh saw it as his religious and political duty to extend it
and to add to its splendour. From the Middle Kingdom onwards to make private do¬
c. 1450 B.C.; greywacke; Luxor,
nations of statues to be placed in the court of the Amun temple was a popular reli¬
Luxor Museum
gious practice; those who in this way were close to the temple lord, Amun-Re, were
ensured of his help and grace. Over the centuries thousands of votive figures, small
bronze statuettes and giant-sized granite figures were donated to Karnak. Many of
them were rediscovered in pits in which they had been thrown during the periodic
"tidying up" of the temple.
Despite the almost 2 000 years of architectural history at Karnak the temple's
ground plan is still clear and legible. A main axis runs from the inner Sanctuary in the
east towards the Nile in the west, corresponding to the traditional orientation of
Ancient Egyptian temples, which were placed at right angles to the theoretical
south-north axis of the course of the Nile. A second axis branches off the first, from
north to south, and the extension of this leads to an independent temple complex
dedicated to the goddess Mut, the consort of Amun-Re.
Along these coordinates are arranged the temple gateways or pylons, in not al¬
ways exact chronological order from the inside to the outside. In front of these py¬
lons with theirtwo towers with slanting walls stood colossal statues, flagpoles and
obelisks. What we see today as a temple structure is actually just a sequence of
portals leading to a central zone which has been the earthly home of the gods since
Statue shrine the temple was founded in the early Middle Kingdom.
The temple as an earthly home of Between the pylons of the east-west axis pillared halls were built, which turned
the gods was the most important the original open courts into closed temple rooms.
aim of architecture in Egypt. This
The Hypostyle Hall of Karnak with its 134 columns and a floor area of 5 500 m2 is
repousse-work statue shrine in
the largest enclosed space in Egyptian architecture and is a representative example
gold leaf is a miniature model of a
god's house. It was found in the
of such a hall. Under Amenhotep 111(1390-1353 B.C.) the Third Pylon formed the
tomb of Tutankhamun. The slop¬ westfaqade of thetemple of Amun. Under Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (1353-1336
ing walls, cavetto and roof arching B.C.) building work stopped on the shrine of Amun-Re, who had to give way to the
towards the front are an imitation monotheistic god Aten. In about 1320 B.C., Horemheb, the last ruler of Dynasty
of features found in the oldest
XVIII, moved the temple fagade further west by building the Second Pylon. At the
type of brick architecture and
beginning of Dynasty XIX under Sethos I and Ramesses II the two temple gates were
tent-roofed shelters.
linked together by means of a double row of 21 -m high columns with opened
c. 1325 B.C.; wood and gold leaf; papyrus capitals; this gave rise to three raised central aisles, which were flanked by
Cairo, Egyptian Museum seven side aisles with low roofs supported on papyrus columns with closed capitals.
A State Built of Stone 95

Sphinx avenue in front of the Page 97
Temple of Karnak Ram-headed sphinx in theTemple
The divine inhabitant of the of Amun in Karnak
temple remains hidden in the form A statue of the king stands
of a cult image within the inner¬ between the lion's paws and
most sanctuary of the temple. underthe ram's head of the sphinx
In front of the temple the god figure of the god of Amun. The
shows himself in a variety of king is portrayed as a god-like
statue forms. Sphinxes were used being, in the form of Khonsu.
to flank temple portals since the New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
days of the Old Kingdom. The c. 1250 B.C.
sphinxes either side of the main
approach to the Temple of Karnak
have a lion's body and the ram's
head of Amun.
c. 1380 B.C.; sandstone

[ J j >
&/
• , T4®
*W
I j 'i'^I >yiw ..
JL 4 (Ik <Ml v# )|
0 100 200
I - I ■ - -1 M
I I I --=) FT
0 200 400 600
General plan of Karnak A Amun complex 4. Temple of Khonsu

Two southern axes lead off the 1. Main building of the Temple 5. Temple of Ipet
main east-west axis of the Temple of Amun 6. Temple of Ptah
of Amun. They are oriented to¬ 2. Secondary axis of the Tem¬ 7. Circumference wall
wards the Temple of Mut and to ple of Amun B Montu complex
Luxor. 3. Holy lake C Mut complex

Page 98 above
The spatial impression thus created is not one of a closed, compact building vol¬
Reconstruction of the temple city
ume, but of a covered courtyard with the emphasis on the central aisle. Yet despite
of Karnak
the enormous dimensions of its components the Hypostyle Hall of Karnak does not
Intensive archaeological research
has enabled us to piece together appear as an oppressive stone structure, but maintains instead a certain clear eleg¬
howthis unique conglomeration ance. The lightness of the plant columns, still recognisable as a monumental repres¬
of sacred buildings would origin¬ entation of naturalistic forms, the tapering of the shafts and the papyrus capitals all
ally have looked. The complex conjure up the image of a papyrus thicket, with the sky vaulting above. An exten¬
ranges from the Temple of Montu
sion in front of the Second Pylon takes up this idea and develops it in the kiosk of
in the north, via the extensive
King Taharqa (690-664 B.C.) in which papyrus columns rise upunderan open sky as
Temple of Amun, through to the
Temple of the goddess Mut in the
if they were some kind of interpretative aid to understanding the hypostyle hall.
south. Not until the Ptolemaic Period did the architectural history of the Temple of
Amun reach its close with the construction of the First Pylon, which at 100 m wide,
was to be the largest temple gate in Egypt. However, it was never completed; its
The Hypostyle Hall in the Temple
sandstone blocks are still at the bossage stage, the crowning cavetto was never
of Amun in Karnak
134 columns stand in the
mounted and in several places even today we can still see the construction ramps
Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of made of unfired bricks. These ramps were to be used to transport the sandstone
Amun, in a wide courtyard be¬ blocks of the Pylon to their originally planned height of 34 m.
tween the Second and the Third The cult activities in this, the largest and most significant shrine in Egypt, can still
Pylons. As stone imitations of be deduced today from many architectural details. In front of the First Pylon is a
plant columns and with widely
small harbour basin with a canal link to the Nile. This was the mooring place for the
opened papyrus capitals they give
god's barque aboard which Amun-Re sailed in ceremonial procession to the Temple
an appearance of lightness, bely¬
ing their great weight.
of Luxor and to the Theban temples on the west bank of the Nile opposite Karnak.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX, An avenue of monumental sandstone rams, the holy animals of Amun, leads to the
c. 1290-1250 B.C. temple entrance. On both sides of this path of the gods, in front of the temple gates
A State Built of Stone gg

f the Second Pylon, are the small temples of Sethos II (1214-1204 B.C.) and Page 101
harnesses 111(1194-1163 B.C.), whose cultic centre consists of three shrines next to Temple of Amun in Karnak
Nowadays we can look straight
each other, chapels forthe images of the Holy Family of Karnak, the gods Amun-Re
down the central axis of the
and Mut and their son, Khonsu.
Temple of Amun to the sanctuary
The royal patrons of these "repository temples" thus provide a resting place for forthe divine barque, but once
the divine triad of Karnak, a place which they could enter during the procession and massive doors with metal hinges
from where they could respond to the devotion regularly shown to them by the formed a barrier between the
pharaoh, in daily sacrifices and in the regular festivals forthe gods held throughout pylons, marking a clear division
the year. between the sacred and the secu¬

lar worlds.
Behind the hypostyle hall and the closely positioned Pylons III to VI there is the
Second Pylon with the kiosk of
first cult focus, the chamberforthe sacred barque, so called because of its function
King Taharka in front; New King¬
as the place forthe barque in which the divine image was placed forthe procession. dom, Dynasty XVIII, c. 1300 B.C.,
The granite sanctuary occupying this central place in Karnak was built in about 320 and Late Period, Dynasty XXV,
B.C. by Philip Arrhidaeus, the successor of Alexander the Great; it stands on the c. 680 B.C.
spot where, more than a thousand years before, Queen Hatshepsut had builtasanc-
tuaryof red quartzite, the "Chapelle Rouge". This chapel, however, soon had to give
way to a new building, constructed under Tuthmosis III, but fortunately a large part
of this older chapel still remains, thanks to the habit of Ancient Egyptian builders of
"recycling" components from demolished structures. More than 300 blocks, two-
thirds of the entire chapel building, were rediscovered in the foundations of the
Third Pylon, where they had been put in the time of Amenhotep III.
The precisely cut, hollow reliefs on this chapel are a pictorial record of the cult
activities in the Temple of Amun-Re and also aunique masterpiece of the relief art
of the New Kingdom.
The axial approach from the First to the Sixth Pylon ends here; from here the pro¬
cession of the divine image takes a circuitous route to the inner sanctuary. It pro¬
ceeds around the venerable "Court of the Middle Kingdom" and through Tuthmo¬
sis I IPs festival hall, which is at right angles to the temple axis; this part of the temple
is also a kind of stone court, with lightweight columns shaped like tent poles sup¬
porting a sun-shading roof.
Behind the festival hall of Tuthmosis III, in a rather inaccessible place, is the in¬
ner sanctuary. The huge block of red granite on which the shrine of the golden cult
statue of Amun-Re, the "King of the gods", stood, is still today preserved in its ori¬
ginal position. Immediately in front of the inner sanctuary are two rooms, whose
current description as "Botanical Gardens" conjures up false associations. The wall
reliefs in these temple rooms, created under Tuthmosis III, depict in great detail the
Relief picture on the Third Pylon

of Karnak
Once a year, for the great Feast of
Opet, Amun travelled from Karnak
to Luxor, with his wife, Mut and
son, Khonsu. A relief cycle in Luxor
indicates the route of the proces¬
sion and shows the temple facade
at the time of Tutankhamun and
the Third Pylon complete with
flagpoles.
c. 1330 B.C.
ioo A State Built of Stone

I
n
f ■ kIRiHi ' -•w ' " - wLk m
v».-;«
-, •.
;y 5. iw(pE& '• "•* /r
« * Sj
*«-■ B wmwM fe^W' „y ; \» ‘ *c - .***
Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of
Amun in Karnak
Window grilles, integrated in the
walls, bridged the height differ¬
ence between the central and side
aisles and let in the only light
source to the enormous hall.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
c. 1290-1250 B.C.
Page 103
Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of
Amun in Karnak
The reliefs on the columns in¬
dicate the route taken by the
processions.
c. 1290-1250 B.C.
Plan of theTemple of Amun

Fromthe Middle Kingdom pre¬
cinct (c. 2000 B.C.), the Temple of
Amun was extended outwards
over a period of 2 000 years as far
as the unfinished First Pylon. The
courts between the Second and
Third Pylons and between the
Fourth and Fifth Pylons were built
as columned halls.
I. Pylon I, 2. Court, 3. Temple of
Sethos II, 4. Kiosk of Taharka,
5. Temple of Ramesses III, 6. Py¬
lons II—VI, 7. Hypostyle Hall,
8. Obelisks of Tuthmosis I,
9. Obelisks of Hatshepsut,
10. Sanctuary of the barque,
II. "Court" of the Middle King¬
dom, 12. Festival Hall of Tuthmo¬
sis III, 13. "Botanical Garden",
14. Inner Sanctuary

^ \ V—— t J
' j Hw
-.^V E
Temple of Ramesses III in Karnak
In front of the temple a number of
kings erected staging temples
where the cult images of the di¬
vine family paused when leaving
the temple. It was the divine duty
of the kings to continue the ex¬
pansion of the temple.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XX,
c. 1180-1160 B.C.
animal and plant world of Egypt and its neighbours, in the form of a pictorial encyc¬
lopaedia of zoology and botany. The meaning behind these unusual pictures lies in
the presentation of the work of creation of the "King of the gods", Amun-Re. Their
theological function corresponds to that of the season reliefs of Nyuserre in the sun
temple of Abu Ghurab, and to the reliefs of the sun temple of Akhenaten in
Amarna.
In the east, outside the Temple of Amun and the wall surrounding it, is a small
sanctuary in which Amun-Re was worshipped at a 32-m high obelisk, now standing
in Rome in front of the basilica of Saint John of Lateran. In this part of Karnak Amun-
Re was honoured as "Amun, who hears the prayers", this role of a popular divinity
being echoed also in a shrine to the south of the Temple of Amun begun by Ramesses
!h and dedicated to thegod Khonsu. "Khonsu,the Advice-Giver" was revered as a
god not only in Egypt but also far beyond its borders. In the sequence of gateway.

Obelisk of Tuthmosis I in Karnak
In front of the temple gate, or
pylon, stood pairs of obelisks with
golden tips which reflected the
first and last rays of the sun each
day - a symbolic image of the
presence of the sun god on earth
and of his daily cycle.
c. 1490 B.C.
Obelisk of Hatshepsut in Karnak

The obelisks of Karnak once stood
in front of the temple, but later
building work around them effect¬
ively placed them inside the
temple complex, away from view.
c. 1470 B.C.
i
I
I
\
Relief of Hatshepsut
On one of the quartzite blocks in
the "Chapelle Rouge" Queen Hat¬
shepsut is shown dedicating to the
god Amun "two great obelisks,
covered with white gold, and so
high that they pierce the skies".
c. 1470 B.C.; Luxor, Luxor
Museum
1
Pillar in front of the sanctuary of Side view of the symbolic pillar
the divine barque in Karnak of Upper Egypt in Karnak
The plant symbols of Upper and divine barque was stored. The roof Mut, the divine wife of Amun,
Lower Egypt, the lily and the pa¬ they support is the open sky. The embraces King Tuthmosis III. The
pyrus, are supported by a square, architecture of the temple is thus emblematic sparseness of the
free-standing pillar erected in the directly linked with the cosmos. plant and cartouche motif be¬
centre of the Temple of Amun, in New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, comes an image forthe physical
front of the sanctuary where the c. 1450 B.C. encounter between king and
goddess.
c. 1450 B.C.
Built of Stone
Page 7 06 above right sphinx avenue, kiosk, pylon, court, columned hall, barque sanctuary, anteroom and
Symbolic pillar of Upper Egypt in
inner sanctuary, the Temple of Khonsu is a classic example of a New Kingdom tem¬
the Temple of Amun
ple to the gods. An avenue bordered by statues of rams leads from this temple for a
At the top of the pillar, where the
earth meets the sky, and above distance of 2.5 kilometres to the south to the Temple of Luxor, which forms a cult
the three lilies which are the sym¬ unit with the Amun complex.
bol of Upper Egypt, is a cartouche To the east, beyond the outer brick wall enclosing the whole Amun complex,
bearing the name of Tuthmosis III. Amenhotep IV had a sun temple built in honour of Aten. This was in about 1353 B.C.
The imageryforthe role of the
at the beginning of the king's religious reforms, and the temple plan is a fore runner
king as an intermediary between
of the later temple architecture of Amarna. The remains of about forty colossal
godandmanisthusclear.
statues of the king have been recovered on the site, and over 40 000 blocks with
c. 1450 B.C. reliefs from the temple walls have been found re-used in the Ninth Pylon, built at
the end of Dynasty XVIII under King Horemheb.
As large as the temple complex of Amun-Re at Karnak may seem, it is itself but
part of an even larger ensemble. To the north of the complex is the Temple of
Montu, in the south-east, the Temple of Mut, and further south, close to the Nile,
the Temple of Luxor, known in Ancient Egypt as the Opet, meaning "the harem".
j mT. m' ,jjl

i, ». sm
mmmmWfmJwjm
iiMiiifk MmtM WlMA Hfj iBISS
Procession of the divine barque This is where Amun-Re celebrated his divine marriage, once a year, foil owing a noisy
The procession of the cult image procession on the Nile from Karnak to Luxor. At the end of the festival the proces¬
of Amun is depicted on a block in
sion filed down the sphinx avenue backto Karnak.
the "Chapelle Rouge". Hidden in
The temple fagade we see today, facing north in the direction of Karnak, is dom¬
an enclosed shrine on the divine
inated by the pylon erected by Ramesses II. Four colossal standing figures and two
barque, recognisable by the ram's
head decoration on stern and seated figures of the king, and two obelisks and four flag masts form a classical
bow, the cult image is carried out temple front, backed by a giant relief cycle of the Battle of Kadesh, worked in
of the temple by priests. sunken relief on the pylon fagade. In the court behind the pylon stand colossal
New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, granite statues of Ramesses II, placed between the columns of the double-row
c. 1470 B.C.
perimeter colonnade, and two monumental seated figures flank the gateway to the

Page 109 above
"Botanical Garden" in Karnak
This popular name for one of the
innermost rooms in the Temple of
Amun gives a false impression.
The room has four papyrus-bundle
columns and on the walls are de¬
tailed pictures of animals and
plants, which have given rise to its
current name.
c. 1450 B.C.
Festival hall of Tuthmosis III

in Karnak
As in the case of so many Egyptian
temple rooms the festival hall of
Tuthmosis III is not in fact an en¬
closed space, but a courtyard in
which are placed free-standing
columns which support a stone
representation of a light canopy as
a shade from the sun. This func¬
tion of the columns explains their
unusual form, which imitates tent
poles.
c. 1450 B.C.
of Stone
I
Relief in the "Botanical Garden"

The animals and plants depicted in
the reliefs are not shown in their
natural surroundings, but in a kind
of reference work which is a pictor-
ialhomagetothegod Amun, who
is manifested on earth through his
creations.
c. 1450 B.C.

The holy lake at the Temple of
Amun in Karnak
This modern reconstruction of the
lake corresponds to what it origin¬
ally looked like. The holy lake
was not only a reservoir of water,
but also an image of the primeval
ocean and a stage for cult rituals.
It was also a fixed component of
an Egyptian temple.
Obelisk of Hatshepsut in Karnak

The Homs falcon wearing the
crown of Upper and Lower Egypt
represents the divinity of the king.
It is seen here placed above the
first of thefive names of the ruler,
the other names reading vertically
on the shaft of the obelisk.
c. 1450 B.C.
A State Built of Stone m

Temple of the god Khonsu
in Karnak
Also part of the temple complex of
Karnak is a temple to the goddess
Mut and a separate shrine to the
god Khonsu, the son of Amun and
Mut. The slits in the facade of the
pylon are forfixing flagpoles.
c. 1180-1160 B.C.
Columned hall of the Temple

of Khonsu
The well preserved Temple of
Khonsu gives an authentic impres¬
sion of the atmosphere in temples.
The sequence of spaces pro¬
gresses from the court, through
the columned hall and into the
innermost sanctuary.
c. 1180-1160 B.C.
State Built of Stone

Fagade of theTemple of Luxor
With the obelisks and colossal
seated and standing statues the
Temple of Luxor retains part of the
original elements of an Ancient
Egyptian temple fagade. The pic¬
ture reliefs on the pylon walls,
which tell the story of Ramesses
Ill's Battle of Kadesh, were
painted and thus very prominent.
c. 1280-1220 B.C.
Relief picture in the Temple of Luxor

Depicted in a relief in the first
court of the Temple of Luxor is the
temple fagade as it looked in the
time of Ramesses II. In front of the
right-hand pylon tower we can see
an obelisk and two flagpoles, as
well as two standing figures. This
detailed relief has made it poss¬
ible to reconstruct a picture of
how the area in front of the
temple looked, particularly as
many of the original pieces
have survived. New Kingdom,
Dynasty XIX, c. 1250 B.C.

Plan of the Temple of Luxor The Obelisk of Luxor in Paris
Ramesses II only builtthe pylon The western obelisk which ori¬
and the first court. A change in the ginally stood in front of the Tem¬
direction of the axis indicates ple of Luxor was given to the
their later construction. The French as a present by Viceroy
colonnade, second court, col¬ Muhammed Ali. In its position at
umned hall and innermost temple the centre of the Place de la Con¬
rooms were built in the time of corde, it has now become a symbol
Amenhotep III as the "harem" of of the French capital, even
Amun. This was the place to which rivalling the Eiffel Tower.
Amun came from Karnak once a New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
yearto celebrate his divine c. 1250 B.C.
marriage.
1. Outer court with obelisks
and colossal statues
2. Pylon
3. Court of Ramesses III
4. Temple of Tuthmosis III
5. Colonnade of Amenophis III
6. Court of Amenophis III
7. Columned hall
8. Sanctuary of the barque
9. Inner sanctuary
ii4 A State Built of Stone

The Lateran Obelisk from Karnak
in Rome
Ancient Egyptian antiquities have
not only been shipped to Europe
in recent times. Roman emperors
also liked to bring Egyptian monu¬
ments back to Rome, either as
trophies from the conquered land
around the Nile, or as a historic
and religiously symbolic item with
which to decorate the temples to
Egyptian gods in Rome. The
obelisk in front of the Lateran
basilica in Rome originally stood in
the eastern part of the Temple of
Amun in Karnak. The Emperor
Augustus had it broughtto Rome
and placed in the Circus Maximus.
c. 1400 B.C.
pillared walkway. The walkway walls, either side of the 21 -m high papyrus columns,
are decorated with a relief cycle vividly depicting the festival procession between
Karnak and Luxor. These reliefs were worked under Tutankhamun, in about 1325
B.C., but still show strong influences from the style common under Akhenaten and
Nefertiti.
Behind this colonnade is the court of Amenhotep III, which is one of the most
beautiful spaces in Ancient Egyptian architecture; here, in true Ancient Egyptian
tradition, no distinction is made between the heavens and their representation in
the context of the temple. The papyrus-bundle columns around the court and the
pronaos immediately adjacent to the court tower up to the sky, turning the heavens
into the roof over the space and making this man-made temple into a part of the cos¬
mos.
Statues of gods and kings found in this court just a fewyears ago date from Dyn¬
asty XVIII through to the Late Period and indicate that the Temple of Luxor was an
important centre of cult worship. As a mythological place the Temple of Luxor is the
place within the theological structure of the temples of Thebes in which king and
god-king, in other words the pharaoh and Amun-Re, came into immediate contact
with each other. Reliefs in the Luxortemple showthe divine origins of King Amen¬
hotep III. The earthly mother of the king is made pregnant by the king of gods
Amun-Re; the king is the son of god and yet also a human being - the analogy here

Colossal statue of Ramesses II
in Luxor
The court of Ramesses II in the
Temple of Luxor is ringed with
statues, some of which date from
the time of Amenhotep III; others
were created under Ramesses II as
part of an extension of the temple
complex. The seated figure shows
Ramesses II as a divine king, here
given the additional name of "Sun
of the Rulers".
c. 1250 B.C.
with the birth of Christ in the New Testa merit is clear. Luxor is the birth-house of the Page 7 7 7
Temple of Karnak; it is the place where god comes to earth and the human king be¬ Second Court of the Temple of
comes divine. Luxor

The broad court of Amenhotep III
The ideology of the divinity of the king and the closeness of god to humanity is
in the Temple of Luxor is sur¬
ritually expressed in the Feast of Opet, in the marriage feast of Amun-Re, which was
rounded by bundle columns with
celebrated not in holy seclusion, but right in the middle of the bustling capital city, closed papyrus capitals. The archi¬
for Karnak and Luxor were in the centre of Thebes, like mediaeval cathedrals. Sim- traves support the sky as a roof,
i larly the temples were an integral part of the political and economic life of the met¬ which heightens the impression of
ropolises; the land owned by these temples and the tax-collecting functions of the the court as the symbiosis of archi¬
tecture and cosmos. Underthe
temple authorities represented a not inconsiderable political power which could
wide expanse of the skies, the
quite conceivably also have been used against the state authorities and the royal
natural models re-emerge from
house.
the stone columns.
c. 1370 B.C.
t

Colonnade of Amenhotep III in the
Temple of Luxor
An enormous colonnade was
placed in front of the temple of
Amenhotep III in Luxor. The pa¬
pyrus columns are built of indi¬
vidual, drum-shaped sandstone
blocks. Along the side walls is a
long relief cycle from the time of
Tutankhamun, showing the annual
Feast of Opet.
c. 1360 B.C.
Thebes in Ancient Egypt

The complex of the Temple of Kar-
nak in the north and the Temple of
Luxor in the south were the corner¬
stones of "Thebes of a hundred
gateways". The main axis of the
city was formed by a processional
street, more than 2 km long and
lined with statues of sphinxes. The
street linked the two temples.
Thebes was the religious centre of
Egypt for 2 000 years.
Sun Temple of Amenhotep IV in Dynasty XVIII, in the reign of
Karnak (Impression) Horemheb, these temples were
Tens of thousands of relief blocks destroyed with the aim of eradi¬
from the time of Amenhotep IV cating the epoch of the "traitor
have been excavated in Luxor and king" from history. Through a sys¬
Karnak, where they were re-used tematic investigation of these
in the foundations and as addi¬ blocks it is possible to reconstruct
tional material for later buildings. the picture sequences and the
Originally they belonged to original architectural form of the
temples to the sun god, Aten, open courts with their free-stand¬
built by Amenhotep IV at the be¬ ing pillars.
ginning of his reign. At theend of

North Palace at Amarna
Only little remains of the capital
city of Amarna, built byAmen-
hotep IV from the fifth year of his
reign onwards. Ramesses II used
the town as a source of building
material for the construction of
temples in nearby Hermopolis. A
very precise picture of the city of
Amarna can be reconstructed on
the basis of the relief blocks found
in Hermopolis, excavations of the
foundation walls of Amarna and
tomb reliefs depicting the city.
c. 1348-1335 B.C.
Head of a colossal statue of

Amenhotep IV
Artistic styles changed as a result
of the worship of the sun god
Aten, a cult proclaimed by Amen¬
hotep IV. Depictions of the human
form were dominated by the
king's portrait, exaggerated al¬
most to caricature-like propor¬
tions. The almost 4-m high statues
of the king found in Karnak repres¬
ent the culmination of this style.
c. 1350 B.C.; sandstone; Luxor,
Luxor Museum
Amarna
When, in around 1350 B.C., Thebes lost its unchallenged position as spiritual
centre of the country, it was probably just this amalgamation of religion and pol¬
itics, of cult and commerce that prompted King Amenhotep IV to initiate a religious
revolution of quite enormous consequences for the future, even if it was not con¬
sistently followed in Egypt.
With the abandonment of the holy family of Amun-Re, Mut and Khonsu, and all
the other various sacred forms and names of god that had established themselves
over the course of one and a half millennia, Amenhotep IV cleared the way for a
single god, called the Aten, meaning "the sun", a god that could be depicted in only
one way, as the sun disk high in the sky, sending out its rays to earth in the form of
outstretched human hands.
An appropriate architectural form had to be found for this new monotheistic
world-view. The Aten, the god of the sun, lived in the heavens. His places of venera¬
tion were broad courts, open to the skies. This type of temple had already been pre¬
figured in the Temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor, and as such was not a new style, as
the court had always been an important element in the basic language of Egyptian
temple architecture, as a place where earth and sky, god and man met. The first of
these sun temples to the Aten was built in Karnak shortly after Amenhotep IV came
to power (around 1353 B.C.), on a site close to and in confrontation with the
Temple of Amun-Re. The remains of a large court to the east of the Temple of Amun
have been excavated and colossal standing figures in sandstone have been found,
depicting the king as the earthly representation of the god of creation and giving
him almost female body forms.
A State Built of Stone

Painted floorfrom Amarna Five years after coming to power the king and his entire court moved from the
Amainthemeinartduringthe capital city of Thebes to Egypt's new metropolis, Amarna (the modern name). Ori¬
Amarna period was the depiction
ginally called Akhetaten, the "light place of the Aten", this was a new town, straight
of life in nature, as an immediate
from the drawing-board, built half-way between Thebes and Memphis.The king
expression of the presence of the
sun god Aten on earth. The im¬
took the name of Akhenaten, meaning "well-pleasing to the Aten", and the bound¬
pressionistic pictures of nature ary stelae around Amarna are inscribed with his royal decree concerning the founda¬
painted on the floors of the royal tion of the town; "The Aten, my father, it was that pointed to Akhetaten. Look, the
palaces created a scene like a pharaoh found it! No god, no goddess, no ruler, no official and no person can lay
papyrus jungle. "The birds have claim to it. I erect Akhetaten for the Aten, my father, at this place. I build the great
flown their nests, their wings
temple for the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in this place. And I build the small
praise your ka", are the words in
temple for the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in this place. I build the sun-shadow
the great sun song of the king.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, chapel for the great royal consort Nefertiti of the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in
c. 1348-1335 B.C.; painting on this place. I build a jubilee temple for the Aten, my father, on the island of the Aten
stucco; Berlin, Agyptisches in Akhetaten in this place [...]. I build for myself palaces for the pharaoh, and I build
Museum a harem for the royal consort in Akhetaten in this place. I have a tomb built in the
mountain of Akhetaten, where the sun rises, where I shall be buried afterthe mil¬
lions of year's reign, that the Aten, my father, has allocated to me [...]. Tomb com¬
plexes are built forthe high priests and forthe heavenly fathers of the Aten and for
the servants of the Aten in the mountain of Akhetaten, where the sun rises [...]."
A century of archaeological excavation in Amarna has brought the foundation
walls of this new royal capital city of Egypt to light again. We can now see the re¬
mains of the large temple with its sequence of open courts in which hundreds of sac¬
rificial altars stood, the Small Temple and the palaces lining the processional route
which runs from north to south through the entire town for a distance of about 5 km.

Relief block from Amarna
Blocks from palaces and temples
in Amarna which were re-used in
Hermopolis give exact information
about the city of Akhenaten. An
overall picture of the architecture
in Amarna can be built up using
information found on reliefs on
these blocks and from excavations
of the ground plans of buildings in
Amarna. This relief block shows a
part of the royal palace with the
window of appearances.
c. 1348-1335 B.C.; limestone;
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
General plan of Amarna

Maru Aton The city of Amarna, covering sev¬
eral kilometres, was built within
the space of a few years on the
edge of the desert, not far from
the Nile. After just one-and-a-half
2 *
J KM \ decades the city was abandoned.
| l | MILES The royal palace and temples are
o 0.5 i
situated in the centre of the city,
on both sides of the Royal Road.

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The palace district in Amarna A Palace residence The GreatTemple of Aten ing sacrifices to the Aten under
The Palace of the King lies on both 1. King's residence Aten, the sun god, lives in the the open skies.
sides of the Royal Road. The pri¬ 2. Store rooms skies. His temples incorporate the 1. Pylon I
vate and official parts of the build¬ 3. Bridge skies in their architectural con¬ 2. Ceremonial hall
ing were linked by a bridge. The 4. "Royal Road" cept, by replacing closed spaces 3. Pylons 11 —VI
royal couple showed themselves B "Harem" with open courts. Hundreds of al¬ 4. Courts with altars
to the people from this bridge. C Official palace tars, placed close together in 5. Altars
these courts, were used for mak¬ 6. Courts with chapels

1 centre of the town a walled bridge with three openings spanned the proces-
ial route and linked two palace buildings. The royal couple gave their audiences
vn the window of appearances in the middle of the bridge. In the south of the
:own extended the districts with villas and workshops, divided into noble streets
and more modest areas. The rock-cut graves are high up on the cliffs which form a
semicircle to the east of the city. Far away to the east of the town is the king's tomb,
in a lonely desert valley, afterthe example of the Theban royal tombs.
No other place in Egypt gives us so much insight into ancient town planning as
Amarna. Although at the end of Dynasty XVIII Akhenaten's successors razed the
temples and palaces to the ground, leaving only the foundation walls (the same fate
befell the Temple of Aten in Karnak), this ancient city can nevertheless still be
authentically reconstructed, thanks to the very detailed relief pictures in the tombs
of Amarna which give precise information on the town. Further relief images of the
town are to be found on the limestone blocks which originally formed the temple
walls. Under Ramesses II the walls were dismantled and the blocks re-used in nearby
Flermopolis as building material for a temple, ensuring their survival.
As the town was only inhabited for about fifteen years, many of the secular build¬
ings, which unlike the temples of Aten were not destroyed, have survived well, even
down to parts of the wall paintings and interiorfittings. The most spectacularfind
is undoubtedly the studio of the court sculptor of Akhetaten, where many portrait
studies in plaster were discovered, as well as the world-famous bust of Nefertari.
The excavations in Amarna continue each year and are now bringing to light some of
the houses and workshops of ordinary workers on the edge of town. This "Florizon
of the Aten" is thus increasing in significance for settlement archaeology and for the
social history of Egypt, those more difficult areas that have always been robbed of
the limelight by the more spectaculartemples and tombs.
Relief picture of a temple of Aten

The architectural concept of open
ing up towards the skies is also
seen in the construction of doors
and gateways. Depictions of archi
tecture in temple reliefs from
Amarna show that in the temples
of Aten open architraves had
replaced closed doorframes.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

Temple relief from Amarna
One of the most popularthemes in
temple reliefs in Amarna is the
natural world. The world of an¬
imals and plants is an immediate
expression of the presence of the
sun god on earth. As well as being
a purely descriptive listing of the
variety of creation, the Amarna re¬
liefs also have great movement,
which gives them a certain impres¬
sionistic charm.
New York, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Standing figure of King Akhenaten

As in the relief scenes of nature,
portraits of the ruler and his fam¬
ily are also very oriented to this
world, ratherthan the next.
Akhenaten was not shown in an
idealised form, but in an exagger¬
ated form of his real image, thus
creating a new artistic standard.
From Amarna; New Kingdom,
Dynasty XVIII, c. 1345 B.C.; lime¬
stone; Cairo, Egyptian Museum
I
Castles of Eternity
I
I
Temples of the Dead and Tomb Architecture
of the New Kingdom
Page 127 Thebes

Statue of Ramesses II
"For the Aten, my Father" was the dedication on the temples built by Akhenaten in
No other Egyptian king presided
Amarna. According to the wall reliefs, the king, accompanied by the royal family,
over somuchnewbuildingas
played the role of the high priest in these temples, and was the only person in direct
Ramesses II. Still today his
temples in Thebes and Nubia have contact with the Aten. It is not known whether Akhenaten also planned a temple
put their stamp on Egyptian archi¬ complex for the pursuit of a funerary cult, in addition to the royal tomb. A funerary
tecture and the many statues, of¬ cult in the traditional sense would seem to have little meaning in a theology that saw
ten of great size, found through¬ the fulfilment of life under the rays of the Aten, in other words in the span between
out Egypt, indicate that there
birth and death.
were a large number of temples
At the end of the Amarna period the royal court moved to Memphis and from
which have now been lost.
From Thebes; New Kingdom, Dy¬
then on Egypt's capital was to remain in the north. Flowever, Thebes won back its
nasty XIX, c. 1250 B.C.; granite; significance as a spiritual centre in the country and its regained tradition was so
Turin, Museo Egizio strong that Akhenaten's successors and all the rulers of the now commencing
Ramesside period, of Dynasties XIX and XX (1307-1070 B.C.) had themselves
buried in Thebes, in the Valley of the Kings.
Their rock-cut tombs also comprised a mortuary temple which was located at a
considerable distance from the actual tomb, on the edge of the cultivated land. It
had already been the practice amongst kings of Dynasty XVIII to have mortuary
temples built with theirtombs, and these had been arrayed in chronological order
from north to south on the western edge of the valley opposite Thebes; the first row
contains the temples of Amenhotep I to Floremheb, the second parallel row con¬
tains those of Sethos I to the rulers of Dynasty XX. The Ancient Egyptian descrip¬
tion of these mortuary tern pies as "Castles of Eternity" refers to their religious func¬
tion. They were temples in which the dead king would become one with the King of
the gods, with Amun-Re. Flere he overcame his mortality and attained a new divin¬
ity in colossal statues.
Statue of Amenhotep, son of Hapu
The plan of the temples follows the pattern of an axial sequence of pylons,
Architects were highly regarded in courts, columned hall, hall with sacrificial altars, audience hall and inner sanctuary.
Ancient Egypt as leading personal¬ The sanctuary is dedicated to Amun-Re, who, in the form of a temple statue, left the
ities in the culture of the country. Temple of Karnak once every year and visited his Flouse of Eternity on the other
Together with Imhotep, the archi¬ bank of the Nile. In the secondary axis is the sanctuary for the dead king, sometimes
tect of the Step Pyramid in
also for the royal ancestors. In order to be able to convert the millions of years of
Saqqara (c. 2650 B.C.), Amen¬
rule granted to the king by Amun-Re into a never-ending reign in the other world,
hotep, son of Hapu, architect un¬
der Amenhotep III, was honoured
the king also had a part of the mortuary temple constructed as a cult palace, a copy
as a cultural hero and raised to the of his royal palace. The fusion of king and god ensured that the cult would continue,
status of a god a long time after and to help in its perpetuation a whole range of buildings was built around the
his death. This squatting figure, temple - storehouses, stables, offices and accommodation forthe temple priests.
probably a reworked statue from Only very little remains of almost all the Flousesof Eternity of Dynasty XVIII. Of
the Middle Kingdom, shows him
the largest of these, the almost 700-m long complex at the mortuary temple of
as a wise old man.
Amenhotep III (1390-1353 B.C.), all that is left are two colossal statues that once
From Karnak; New Kingdom,
Dynasty XVIII, c. 1360 B.C.; flanked the entrance: the Colossi of Memnon. Just a century and a half after its con¬
granite; Cairo, Egyptian Museum struction the temple was being used as a quarry, probably because of an earth-
Castles of Eternity i 29
ke, and material from it was used to build structures and statues for the nearby
mortuary temple of King Merenptah (1224-1214 B.C.).
Only one of the royal mortuary temples of Dynasty XVIII in Thebes is stil I largely
intact today, and that is the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (1473-1458 B.C.) in Deir
el-Bahari. It is unusual not only for its remarkable condition, but also for its archi¬
tectural form, and as such it is therefore not very illuminating as regards the archi¬
tecture of the destroyed buildings of its predecessors and successors.
The unusual form of Queen Hatshepsut's temple can be explained by the choice
of location, in the valley basin of Deir el-Bahari, surrounded by steep cliffs. It was
here, in about 2050 B.C., that Mentuhotep II, the founder of the Middle Kingdom,
General plan of Thebes
laid out his sloping, terrace-shaped mortuary temple; this terrace structure deter¬
While the east bank, with the an¬
mined the form of the Hatshepsut temple. The pillared galleries at either side of the
cient town of Thebes, is typified
central ramp form the rear walls of both courts, and as such correspond to the pillar by the temples to the gods at the
positions on two successive levels of the Temple of Mentuhotep. Also, the way in modern locations of Karnak and
which the sanctuary and the side chapels of the Temple of Hatshepsut extend into Luxor, the west bank is the king¬
the rock, forming a hemispeos, a half rock-cut sanctuary, is seen, too, in Men- dom of the dead. In a long line
along the edge of the valley are
tuhotep's tomb, which is cut deep into the cliff behind the temple.
the royal mortuary temples, and
From a functional and typological point of view the individual parts of the
to the west of them the necro¬
Temple of Hatshepsut correspond to the classical form of Theban mortuary polises of the officials, and, in the
temples: pylon, courts, hypostyle hall (here as a columned court), sun court, chapel mountains, the tombs of the kings
forthe royal cult, cult palace and sanctuary. As unusual as the architecture are the and queens.
Route to the Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings
Temple of Hatshepsut
Deir el-Bahari
Temple of Mentuhotep II
/ Z * *1 Qurna
Temple of Sethos I
Valley of the Queens
■/ %
Deir el-Medinah
Temple of Ramesses II
Temple of Amenhotep III

Colossi of Memnon
Medinet Habu
Temple of Ramesses I
1000 2000
—I- =1 KM
==\ MILES
1500
Colossi of Memnon
The only remaining part of the
largest of the Theban mortuary
temples, that of Amenhotep III,
are the colossal statues that once
flanked the entrance. The north¬
ernmost of the monolithic statues
was restored under Roman rule
and some new blocks were added.
c. 1360 B.C.; quartzite
themes taken up in the temple reliefs. For the first time in Egyptian art, text and a
pictorial cycle tell of the divine birth of the king and also give a detailed pictorial ac¬
count of an expedition to Punt, the land of incense on the coast of the Red Sea.
Today the terrace temple of Deir el-Bahari can only convey a faint impression of
the original intentions of its architect, Senenmut. All the statue ornaments are miss¬
ing - the statues of Osiris in front of the pillars of the upper colonnade, the sphinx
avenues in the court and the standing, sitting and kneeling figures of the queen; all
were destroyed in a posthumous condemnation of the queen. The architecture of
the temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in
the early part of the twentieth century A.D. It will take many years before current
work by a Polish team can at least in part re-create its original appearance.
A representative example of the temples in DynastyXIX isthe mortuary temple
of Ramesses II, the Ramesseum, not least because of its impressive colossal statue
remains and its well preserved ancillary buildings.
The Houses of Eternity are not restricted to Thebes and not all are close to the
royal tombs to which they belong. The fusion of king and god can also take place in
Castles of Eternity 131
I
Statue of Queen Hatshepsut
The central axis of the terrace
temple of Hatshepsut was an av¬
enue lined with trees and a variety
of statues of thequeen, either
standing, seated or kneeling, or
depicted as a sphinx. These fig¬
ures show her in the full regalia of
a pharaoh.
c. 1470 B.C.; granite; New York,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
0 10 20 30 40 50
1 . I-1- -| | — 1 M
4-
r =1 FT
0 100 150
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut Mortuary temple of Queen
The original appearance of this Hatshepsut, shrine of Anubis
terraced temple has been im¬ In the northwest corner of the first
paired by restoration work carried terrace is a small shrine to Anubis.
out in the early twentieth century. Its architectural form corresponds
Atrue picture will only emerge to Anubis' character as a god of
after completion of the work of a the underworld. Behind a fore¬
Polish archaeological team. The court with sixteen-sided pillars is
colossal column figures of Hat¬ an underground sanctuary cut
shepsut are to be replaced in front deep into the mountainside.
of the columns on the upperter- New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII,
race, which will break up the rigid c. 1470 B.C.
line of the architecture.
c. 1470 B.C.
Page 132 left

Plan of the mortuary temple of Page 132 below right
Queen Hatshepsut Kneeling figure of Senmut
The temple complex rises up two Senmut, the Overseer of Works
terraces from the court to the in¬ for Queen Hatshepsut, is depicted
ner sanctuary, which is hewn out in reliefs and named in inscriptions
of the rock face. A ramp links the as the creator of the Hatshepsut
two terraces. Four small shrines Temple. There are also many
are associated with the main statues of him. No fewerthan
temple. 1. Outer court, 2. Ramps, twenty-five statues have survived,
3. Lower colonnades, 4. Lower including a number showing him
terrace, 5. Upper colonnades, as a kneeling figure with the cult
6. Chapel of Anubis, 7. Chapel of symbol of the goddess Hathor.
Hathor, 8. Pillar of Osiris, 9. Cere¬ From Armant; New Kingdom,
monial court, 10. Sun temple, Dynasty XVIII, c . 1470 B.C.;
11. Chapel of Hatshepsut, granite; Munich, Staatliche Samm-
12. Inner sanctuary lung Agyptischer Kunst
Mortuary temple of Queen
Hatshepsut, shrine of Hathor
The shape of the pillars of the
shrine of Hathor is based on the
sistrum, the cult symbol of the
goddess Hathor. On the front and
back of the capitals is the face of
the goddess, with the ears of a
cow. On top of the head are
stylised cow's horns and between
them the fagade of a shrine with
two uraeuses.
c. 1470 B.C.
Relief from the mortuary temple

of Queen Hatshepsut
The relief decoration of the
Temple of Hatshepsut differs from
the standard pictorial programme
in that, instead of the usual sacrifi¬
cial scenes, it contains long pic¬
ture sequences with unusual
themes. An expedition to Punt,
the land of incense, the myth of
the divine birth of the queen and
the transportation of an obelisk
are all depicted, as well as several
ceremonial processions with
parading soldiers.
c. 1470 B.C.
Castles of Eternity
Reconstruction of the mortuary
temple of Ramesses II
(Ramesseum)
While the tombs of the kings of
the New Kingdom are situated in
remote places in the midst of the
Theban mountains, the mortuary
temples belonging to them were
built at the point where the Nile
valley meets the desert. These
temples were in fact entire com¬
plexes, complete with working
quarters, and they functioned as
independent administrative units.
Second court of the mortuary

temple of Ramesses II
(Ramesseum)
On the north and south side of the
second court of the Ramesseum
stand papyrus columns with
closed capitals; on the east and
west wall, however, are statue pil¬
lars of the king. Their mummy-like
form comes from the pillarfigures
of the king in ceremonial dress,
such as are first seen in large scale
in the ceremonial court of King
Djoser in Saqqara.
c. 1250 B.C.

Relief wall in the Ramesseum
While the wall reliefs inside the
temple depict only religious
themes, the outer walls and the
walls of the court show scenes of
historic events. Ramesses II had
the historic Battle of Kadesh de¬
picted on the walls of several
temples. The large-scale pictorial
account of this battle, in which, in
the eighth year of his reign,
Ramesses vanquished the king of
the Hittites, do not follow the cus¬
tomary format and extend instead
overthe whole wall.
c. 1250 B.C.
Page 137
Wall relief in the Hypostyle Hall of
the Ramesseum
On the wall at the left side of the
southern end of the Hypostyle
Hall in the Ramesseum is a large-
format relief picture of Ramesses
i/i II (on the left) shown approaching
the divine couple Amun and Mut;
the god-king hands Ramesses II
the curved sword and the palm
branch as insignia of rule.
c. 1250 B.C.
Storerooms in the Ramesseum

All around the temple are the
workshops, stables, storehouses
and apartments of the temple
officials. Although only built of
unfired mud bricks, their barrel
vaults are well preserved and give
an authentic impression of how
this area used to look.
c. 1250 B.C.
tlesof Eternity
gggjjgf
y.i;
•tr 5i
yWj#
yri 1
6*9iS
il
LJf
mportant cult places, with the local divinity there. In this context, Osiris, the
:;od ot the underworld and of resurrection, was of particular interest to the kings of
v nasty XIX. In addition to their Theban mortuary temples, Ra messes I, Sethos I and
k a messes II alsohad Houses of Eternitybuiltin Abydos. The reliefs intheTempleof
messes II at Abydos are very well preserved and give us insight into the pictorial
programme. The external walls have historical scenes showing the Battle of Kadesh
in which Ramesses II conquered the king of the Hittites. Inside the temple religious
themes dominate. On the walls of the courts are pictures of processions of priests
and sacrificial animals. At the base of the walls in the hypostyle hall are reliefs de¬
picting personifications of the districts of Upper and Lower Egypt, thus forming the
geopolitical basis forthe encounter of god and king, which is seen taking place in
the relief pictures above. Here, as in the nearby Temple of Sethos I, the iconography
contains many details of the posthumous deification of the pharaoh. In both
temples there are also lists of kings dating back to the beginning of Egyptian history
in about 3000 B.C.
The biggest House of Eternity was built by Ramesses III; his Theban mortuary
temple complex in Medinet Habu is the size of a small town on a site measuring 205
x 315 m. The choice of location in the south of Western Thebes was determined by
an ancient shrine there to a snake-like god of creation; this shrine stands in the outer
court of the temple of Medinet Habu as a venerable monument to an illustrious
Relief in the Temple of Ramesses II
past. The approach to the temple complex is via a high gateway in the form of a
in Abydos
fortress tower. Another element of secular architecture is the temple palace on the
The reliefs in the lowermost
south side of the temple; although it was only designed as a cult building, it is in fact friezes in temples often depict
a reproduction of the real palace, even down to details like the sanitary facilities. personifications of the districts
The actual mortuary temple, closely related to the Ramesseum in design and wall and towns of Egypt. The name of
reliefs, is a classic monumental example of a temple to the gods, with its sequence the place in question is written on
the headdress of each figure, and
of two pylons, two courts, a hypostyle hall and the inner sanctuary for Amun, as well
in their arms they carry offerings
as colourful and very well preserved wall reliefs. The pictorial programme in the sec¬
from the land; in this way they
ondary axes shows the temple's role as a mortuary temple for Ramesses III. In the
symbolise the order of nature as
vignettes of the Book of the Dead Ramesses is shown as a dead person, who, after one of the fundamentals of life.
submitting to the Judgement of the Dead, as all mortals must, is then taken up into New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
the Elysian fields, into the paradise of the gods. The historical reliefs on the seem¬ c. 1250 B.C.
ingly endless outer walls show Ramesses Ill's battle against the Sea Peoples, a pic¬
torial composition of great narrative dynamism and precise historical detail.
I
I
I
Columned hall of the Ramesseum

The architectural scheme of the
columned hall in Karnak is found
again in the Ramesseum. On both
sides of the three raised central
aisles, with their columns topped
with open papyrus capitals, are
the lower side aisles, with closed
papyrus capitals. This structural
principle is well illustrated here as
the outer wall on the south side of
the hall has been destroyed.
c. 1250 B.C.
Plan of the Ramesseum

Atthe southern end of the first
court, leading off the axial temple
sequence of pylon, two courts,
columned hall and sanctuary with
anterooms, is the cult palace. The
temple on the north wall is prob¬
ably a birth house. It is not known
why this plan deviates from a right
angle.
Mortuary temple of Ramesses III
Atthe southern end of the long
row of Theban mortuary temples
is Medinet Habu, the mortuary
temple of Ramesses III. The choice
of location is influenced by an
oldertemple (left), built to vener¬
ate a snake-like god of earlier
times.
c. 1150 B.C.
Plan of the temple of Medinet

Habu
In plan the mortuary temple of
Ramesses III is only slightly differ¬
ent to the Ramesseum, which also
provided inspiration forthe
themes in the temple reliefs.
Page 141
Colonnade in the second court
of Medinet Habu
The paintings on the walls,
columns and ceilings in Medinet
Habu are remarkably well pre¬
served and they give a good im¬
pression of the bright colours used
on Ramesside reliefs.
c. 1150 B.C.
Door lintel in the temple of
Medinet Habu
Spreading above the doorway are
the wings of the sun disc, a symbol
of the god Horus since the begin¬
ning of Egyptian history. The
names of Ramesses III are placed
immediately next to this and
thereby take on the same cosmic
symbolism.
c. 1150 B.C.
The High Gate of Medinet Habu

This gateway construction, several
stories high, forms the entrance to
the temple complex of Medinet
Habu. It is an example of a form
used in secular building, in forti¬
fications, adopted for use in
sacred architecture. As in the case
of the cult palace, the king is pre¬
sented with an image of earthly
reality for his life in the after-
world.
c. 1150 B.C.

Cult palace in Medinet Habu
Built against the south wall of the
temple of Medinet Habu, between
the first and second pylons, is a
small palace, which is associated
with the window of appearances
in the first court. This break in the
wall mimics the audience window
of the royal palace and, like its
model, is decorated with program¬
matic scenes of the king destroy¬
ing the enemies of Egypt.
c. 1150 B.C.
Cult palace in Medinet Habu

Notonlythecolumnedhalland
throne room (with throne plat¬
form) are re-created in the cult
palace, but also the sanitary in¬
stallations. The palace was never
intended to be inhabited in real
life, it was available solely for the
use of the dead king. Cult palaces
are found in many mortuary
temples in Thebes.
c. 1150 B.C.
i
i

Relief in the temple of Medinet
Habu
The battle scenes on the outer
walls and in the courts in Medinet
Habu contain many new individual
motifs which depict the horrors of
war in a very unusual way. After
winning a battle the hands (in
some pictures also the genitals) of
the fallen were hacked off, piled
up in front of the king and
counted.
c. 1150 B.C.
Relief on the first pylon of

Medinet Habu
The Egyptian king as rulerof the
world vanquishes not only the
country's enemies, but also de¬
stroys evil in nature. War and the
hunt are two variants of the reli¬
gious duty of the king in creating
order. The bull hunt depicted on
the back of the first pylon in
Medinet Habu corresponds typo-
logically to the scene on the front
of the pylon, depicting enemies
being vanquished.
c. 1150 B.C.
astles of Eternity
Reconstruction of the temple
complex of Medinet Habu
The fortress-like wall with the
High Gate surrounds the mortuary
temple of Ramesses III and also
the oldertemples in the north¬
eastern corner; cult rituals con¬
tinued to be practised in this
shrine through into the Roman
period.
Wall relief in the temple of

Medinet Habu
In the southern part of the mortu¬
ary temple of Ramesses III a separ¬
ate sequence of rooms is reserved
forthe cult of the dead king. In
the wall reliefs Ramesses is seen in
the context of the Book of the
Dead, working in the fields and
praying to the Nile god Hapi and
to the Benu bird, the "father of
the gods".
c. 1150 B.C.
rrLES of Eternity
The temples of Abu Simbel in their Rock-Cut Temples
new location The two functions typical of Egyptian temples from the early days are particularly
Originally the temples of Abu Sim¬
evident in the Theban mortuary tern pies. To the outside the temple is an instrument
bel were situated on the steep
forthe self-portrayal of royal power. Thetraditional motif in pylon decoration isthe
rocky sides of the Nile valley in
pharaoh setting out to destroy the enemies of Egypt - a heraldic threatening ges¬
Nubia. Today they are60mhigher
up, above the "Nubian Sea", the ture with no reference to a particular historic incident, but full of political symbol¬
dam which stretches 500 km ism. Inside the temple the king and the god enter into an indissoluble union; the
southwards from Aswan. god-like persona of the pharaoh guarantees order in the world.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX, The rock-cut temple, an especially popular structure in Ramesside times, is a par¬
c. 1250 B.C.
ticularly good illustration of this double function. Typical of a number of rock-cut
temples in Egypt and Lower Nubia are two shrines erected by Ramesses II in Abu
Page 146
Simbel, 300 km south of the actual border of the Empire at the First Cataract, in a
Heads of the colossal statues of
part of the Nile valley only thinly populated with Nubians. The colossal seated stat¬
Ramesses II in Abu Simbel
The divine aspects of Egyptian ues of Ramesses II on the fagade of the larger tern pie and the standing figures of the
kingship become the main theme king and Queen Nefertari in front of the smaller temple of Abu Simbel are self-por¬
in the iconography of the Nubian trayals of the deified royal couple, who in the form of these gigantic images seek to
temples of Ramesses II. The colos¬ secure the borders of the empire. The question as to whether the statues in the
sal statues on the facade of the
smaller tern pie in Abu Simbel represent Queen Nefertari in the form of the goddess
GreatTemple of Abu Simbel —
Hathor, or whether the goddess here takes on human form as the queen, is imma¬
seen here during relocation — are
images of the deified king.
terial. Queen and goddess have become one.
New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX, The architecture of the rock-cut temple pushes its way into the rock itself, into
c. 1250 B.C. the subterranean part, beyond the borders of the accessible world into the

Page 149
Colossal statues of Ramesses II in
Abu Simbel
The four colossal statues of Lower Egypt is also found in other
Ramesses II are 22 m high. They colossal statues of the king. The
are hewn directly out of the rock flatness of theface is underlined
face on the fagade of the Great by the wide ceremonial beard and
Temple of Abu Simbel. The the bulky uraeus.
combination of king's headdress New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
and double crown of Upper and c. 1250 B.C.
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel

In the case of a rock-cut temple standing statues, such as the ones
the standard" elements of an in front of the temple of Luxor.
Egyptian temple are located fur¬
The typical relief decoration of •
ther back in the projecting rock the pylon front is moved back in¬
face. The fagade of the Great side the temple; the scene show¬
Temple of Abu Simbel is formed ing the king vanquishing enemies
like a pylon tower with sloping is found on the wall of the en¬
walls, roll moulding and cavetto. trance to the underground court.
The colossal statues of Ramesses II New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
hewn out of the rock face are the c. 1250 B.C.
same in typological terms as free¬

Wall relief in the Great Temple
of Abu Simbel
Ramesses II is shown praying to
three gods. The god in the middle
is a representation of himself in di¬
vine form, flanked on either side
by Amun and Mut. The sun disk
and ram's horns are divine attri¬
butes not normally associated
with royal regalia.
From: I. Rosellini, Monument! dell'
Egitto e della Nubia, 1832-1844
Sanctuary of the Great Temple

of Abu Simbel
The three gods, Ptah (not illus¬
trated here), Amun and Re-
Harakhty, the gods of Memphis,
Thebes and Heliopolis, are joined
in the inner sanctuary of the Great
Temple of Abu Simbel by the
deified form of Ramesses II, who
has taken his place alongside the
gods.
c. 1250 B.C.
Page 151
Hall of the Great Temple of
Abu Simbel
Statue pillars are typical architec¬
tural elements in temple court¬
yards. When found in the large un¬
derground entrance hall of the
Great Temple of Abu Simbel, they
thus define this hall as a court. The
ceiling decoration with vultures
spreading their wings is a rep¬
resentation of the skies spanning
the open court.
c. 1250 B.C.
i
■ longitudinal section of bers. The cult scenes in the wall Small Temple of Abu Simbel underlines the function of the
Great Temple of Abu Simbel reliefs of these rooms indicate A statue of Queen Nefertari is rock-cut temple as the boundary
“he storerooms which in the case more of a ritualistic than a prac¬ placed between each of the two between the upper and the lower
of a free-standing temple are tical function. colossal stepping-standing figures worlds, between the profane out¬
placed around the temple build¬
of Ramesses II. She wears a Hathor side and the sacred inside.
ing, occur in the Great Temple of
crown to indicate her status as a New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX,
Abu Simbel as underground cham
deified queen. The niche structure c. 1250 B.C.
Castles of Eternity
Pillared hall in the Small Temple unknown, the underworld, and as such is the architectural expression of the inter¬
of Abu Simbel linking of the worlds above and belowground, of the secular and the sacred, of king
Hathor pillars are found in the and god. The mystery of caves, which in many cultures has been the impetus for cre¬
Small Temple in Abu Simbel. Here,
ating cave shrines, was also the moving force in Ancient Egypt behind the creation
as with the pillarfigures of the
of special sanctuaries in underground places to ease the king's passage into the
deified Ramesses,the Hathor
emblem of the sistrum becomes
world of the gods. In no other place is Ramesses II depicted in statues and reliefs so
the image of the deified queen, often and so clearly with the insignia of divinity, as in the rock-cuttemples of Nubia.
whose coronation as a goddess is The essential function of a temple as a place where the king as the representative
depicted in the sanctuary. of humanity comes into direct contact with the gods, is here the sole task of archi¬
tecture. The fact that in the thinly populated area of Nubia there were very few
c. 1250 B.C.
peopleto receivethis message from the divine pharaoh, was of little significance in
terms of the building's ability to perform its function. The statement made by its
architectural form, its wall reliefs and statues is inherent within the building itself;
it creates its own reality and needs no observer to ensure its effectiveness or func¬
tion.
jrry and Drawing-Board - Construction Planning and Logistics
Stone quarry at Gabal el-Silsila

From the days of the New King¬
dom onwards sandstone for build¬
ing all the Upper Egyptian temples
came from the quarries at Gabal
el-Silsila to the south of Edfu. Still
today we can see the evidence of
ancient quarrying on the rock
face, which in places reaches 20 m
in height.
In a quarry in Wadi Hammamat

In the eastern desert between the
Nile valley and the Red Sea are
greywacke quarries; this rock was
a favourite material for statues
and sarcophagi. Unfinished blocks
lay in the places where they were
worked.
Formany decades research in Egyptology has de¬ the eastern outskirts of modern-day Cairo, blocks only had to be manoeuvred a short dis¬
voted little attention to the practical aspects of and on the west bank of the Nile near Aswan. tance before loading onto river barges. The fur¬
Ancient Egyptian architecture. The effect on the Anorthosite gneiss, known as "Chephren dior- ther transport of these blocks was aided by the
visitor of the sheer physical presence of the pyr¬ ite", comes from a quarry in Nubia, far into the fact that the quarries were generally upriver of
amids and temples is so hypnotic that all ques¬ desert to the south-west of Abu Simbel. The the building sites, so the heavy barges could just
tions concerning quarrying and transport of ma¬ composition of the stone in the various buildings be steered along on the river current.
terial, technology and organisation and planning and statues enables conclusions to be drawn as Unfinished workpiecesfoundstill lying inthe
are pushed into the background. At the most totheir places of origin, and also enables quarry¬ quarries show that the basic outline of statues
there has been wild speculation about howthese ing dates to be established. and architectural components were hewn at the
gigantic building feats were performed. To the south of Edfu in Upper Egypt, for a dis¬ quarry site itself, in order to save weight in trans¬
A systematic investigation into the quarries tance of several kilometres close by the Nile on port. It seems therefore that work was done to
of the Nile valley in Egypt is now giving precise both banks, are the sandstone quarries of Gabal order for specific commissions, and that there
details on the origin of the stones used in the el-Silsila which were used from about 2000 B.C. was no "stockpile" of hewn blocks.
time of the pharaohs, and on the quarrying tech¬ to the days of the Roman empire to provide build¬ Quarrying was not so straightforward every¬
niques employed. Some of the ancient quarries ing material for the large temple complexes in where as it was in Gabal el-Silsila. Rarer hard
between Cairo and Aswan have survived un¬ Upper Egypt, including, for exam pie, Karnak, the rocks, such as the greenish greywacke popular
changed to the present day, because they have Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, Dendera, Esna, Edfu for use in statues or sarcophagi, had to be quar¬
been unused since Ancient Egyptian times. and Korn Ombo. The cliff faces in this open-cast ried in the eastern desert, in a region which was
Limestone quarries, mostly in the form of under¬ mine reach 30 m in height, showing where shafts still in active use in later times; the Roman em¬
ground cave quarries, are found from Gebel were cut vertically into the rock. Markings left in perors quarried red porphyry here and trans¬
Mokattam near Cairo through the whole of the rock give information on the tools used ported it in great quantities as far as Rome and
Middle Egypt up to the area around Luxor. A par¬ (bronze and iron chisels) and on the dimensions Byzantium. The expedition leaders were faced
ticularly valued form of limestone, calcite-al- of blocks hewn here. The layout of the quarry site with an enormous challenge in terms of trans¬
abaster, was quarried, among other places, in shows that loading ramps were constructed in porting the material 100 km to the Nile valley,
open-cast mines in Hat-nub near Amarna. Basalt ravines cut deep into the rock from the river's
feeding and accommodating hundreds of
quarries are found to the north of the Fayum edge up to the mine shafts, and that some quar¬
workers and all the other administrative prob¬
oasis near Kasr el-Sagha. Quartzite was quarried ries, at least in times of flood, had a direct canal lems of organising a large-scale operation in in¬
both at Gebel el-Ahmar, the "red mountain" on link to the Nile. This meant that the sandstone hospitable and difficult terrain in the desert
Castles of Eternity
Stone quarries in the Egyptian
Nile valley
Along its whole length from
Aswan to Cairo the Nile valley has
ancient stone quarries. Sandstone Mediterranean
was quarried in the south and
limestone to the north of Edfu.
Hard stone was extracted in
Aswan, in the eastern desert, in
the Fayum and at the southern tip
of the Delta. Buto
Sais
Papyrus with site plan of a quarry

This ancient map drawn on pa¬
pyrus was used in finding the way
in the rough terrain of the eastern
desert. It is thought to show a part
□
ofthe Wadi Hammamat.
New Kingdom, Dynasties XIX/XX,
Saqqara* Sinai
1300-1100 B.C. Turin, Museo
Egizio
Red Sea
Libyan Desert Arabian Desert
mountains between the Nile valley and the Red
Sea. It was not without a certain pride that they
told in long inscriptions of their achievements,
complete with interesting information about

Western Thebes • . Karnak
numbers employed, equipment used and the
type and quantity of blocks hewn, some of which
reached a weight of 50 tons.

The largest stone monuments came from the
area around the First Cataract near Aswan; since

o Hard rock A A
the days ofthe Old Kingdom monolithic obelisks
a Sandstone A A
were made from rose granite typical of the □ Limestone

* Korn Ombo
Aswan region. The largest known obelisk never
50 100 150 200
left the quarry, and today still lies unfinished in I
—I— =J KM
its ancient workshop. At about 1 200 tons in =| MILES
weight, it seems to have overtaxed the technical
capabilities ofthe New Kingdom. wmwwnii'waaiHiiinw mi min »i* 1 1
e overland transport of heavy loads is de- general plans or models of whole buildings are
red in tomb reliefs. The vehicle used for this rare. Precise drawings with written descriptions
form of transport was a flat, wooden sled with of two royal tombs have survived, those of Ra-
vide runners, and it was pulled by workers or by messes IV and Ramesses IX, in the Valley of the
cattle used as draught animals. A key part of the Kings; however, these plans are more like records
process was the construction of a path along of finished tombs than plans for use during con¬
which the load could be dragged; a layer of mud struction. The same is true of the few temple
from the Nile spread along the route meant that models which were probably intended as votive
even the heaviest loads could be moved more offerings and not as actual construction aids.
easily. For raising heavy loads, ramps were built Real construction sketches giving dimensions of
and the load dragged up on runners. The re mains vault structures and angles of inclination of pyra¬
of such ramps can still be seen at the First Pylon mids are still the exception.
in Karnak, the pyramid of Medum and in many In addition to drawings of buildings there are
other structures. also descriptions which allow us to reconstruct a
We can have no illusions about working con¬ detailed picture of the furniture and fittings in
ditions at the larger building sites, during trans¬ the temples. Although temples such as those at
port of the blocks and in the quarries. Despite the Medinet Habu and Abydos still give a very vivid
claims of the expedition leaders that all the impression as a result of their coloured wall re¬
workers returned unharmed from the quarries, liefs, they nevertheless lack key elements neces¬
we can assume that the accident and death rates sary for the overall effect of an Ancient Egyptian
were high. Ancient Egyptian representations of¬ shrine. The Harris I Papyrus from Dynasty XX con¬
ten depict the workers as members of lower so¬ tains descriptions of the temple buildings of
cial groups, or as non-Egyptians, many of whom Ramesses III and its associated donations. Again
would have been prisoners of war. and again, in the descriptions of temples in
Only little is known about construction plan¬ Thebes and Memphis, Heliopolis and many other
ning in Ancient Egypt. The "anonymous" archi¬ towns in Egypt, we read of "gates of electrum
Sketch of a stonemason
tecture of ordinary houses, villages and towns and hammered copper", of "windows of appear¬
Ostraca were not only used by
would simply have sprung up spontaneously and ances made of fine gold", of "sacrificial altars of
artists for recording their designs,
organically from the specifics of the local situ¬ repousse silver, mounted in gold" and of "gods' but also as sketchpads, as here.
ation, but basic temple forms changed little over barques of 130 cubits in length made of cedar This quick sketch shows a bald-
the course of millennia, indicating that certain wood, clad to the water line with gold and with a headed, unshaven stonemason
guidelines must have existed. For the individual working on what is clearly a labori¬
shrine in the centre, made entirely of gold and in¬
building components such as pillars, doors and ous task.
laid with all kinds of precious stones, and with
naoi, there are many models and drawings still in ram s heads of gold from bow to stern". The de¬
c. 1300—1100 B.C.; Cambridge,
existence, either on papyrus or on ostraca, but scriptions contained in these texts of temple Fitzwilliam Museum
[AJJLiL
I* ft ft Tomb painting in Deir el-Bersha

H IV IV
In the tomb of Djehuty-hetep in
Deir el-Bersha in Central Egypt
there is a scene representing the
LL LL1L transport of a colossal statue. The
heaviest workpieces were trans¬
ported on wooden sleds with wide
mm runners over a path reinforced
with boards and spread with mud.
Middle Kingdom, Dynasties
XI/XII, c. 1900 B.C.; from:
H. v. Minutoli, Reisezur Oase des
Jupiter Ammon, 1824
Page 156 above
Design for a building
A number of architectural
sketches drawn on ostraca, clay or
limestone fragments have been
found. This hasty sketch on a pot¬
sherd is an elevation of a kiosk.
c. 1300-1100 B.C.; Berlin, Agyp-
tisches Museum
Architectural model of a temple

Architectural projects were also
presented in three-dimensional
models. Here a quartzite block
was used to mark out the locations
of the pylon, obelisks, flagpoles,
statues and sphinxes for a temple
in Heliopolis. The various architec¬
tural elements have been recon¬
structed on the original base.
c. 1290 B.C.; quartzite; New York,
The Brooklyn Museum
walls clad with precious metals are confirmed by examples of Ancient Egyptian wisdom until as
the many examples of dowel-holes to be found late as the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Their
around reliefs or inscriptions; these were the achievements in architecture were representa¬
fixing points for panels of gold and silver tive of their role in the culture of Egypt; architec¬
sheet. Brightly coloured faience and glass insets ture is the immediate expression of national
heightened the general impression of colourful¬ identity and pride. The position of the architect
ness. as a central figure in cultural life can be seen in

The planning and construction of these ex¬ the biographies of various personalities in An¬
tremely valuable temples was one of the most re¬ cient Egyptian history. Senenmut, the Overseer
sponsible and highly respected of state offices. of Works for Queen Hatshepsut (c. 1470 B.C.),
The craft skills and organisational knowledge re¬ built a lasting memorial to himself in the form of
quired for completion of such tasks was passed the terraced temple of Deir el-Bahari, which he
on by word of mouth within the various profes¬ actually builtfor Hatshepsut and in which he left
sional groups, made up of groups of families. many examples of his signature in pictures and in
There are many examples of the family trees of text. Thus, from the Ancient Egyptian point of
master builders, some of which extend over sev¬ view, the history of Egyptian architecture was for
eral hundred years back into the earliest period. all intents and purposes the history of Egyptian
The high regard in which the capabilities of culture itself.
the Chief of Works were held and how closely this
knowledge and ability was linked to individual
Inscription in Wadi Hammamat leading personalities is shown by the fact that

Here an expedition leader has some of them were revered over the course of
immortalised himself in an inscrip¬ centuries or even millennia. One such was
tion in which he lists his forebears,
Imhotep (c. 2650 B.C.) who built the oldest stone
all of whom were builders. He
pyramid in Egypt, the Step Pyramid of Saqqara,
compares the oldest of them to
and another was Amenhotep, son of Hapu
Imhotep, the builderof the Step
Pyramid of Saqqara. (c. 1360 B.C.), Chief of Works under Amen¬
Late Period, c. 580 B.C. hotep III; both men were venerated as shining

Paths into the Next World
One of the main and most exceptional architectural achievements of the Ancient Sarcophagus chamber in the tomb
Egyptians was barely noticed at the time of construction: the royal tombs of the of Tuthmosis III in the Valley of
New Kingdom. With the exception of Akhenaten all the rulers of Dynasties XVIII, the Kings
XIX and XXfora period of about 500 years (1550-1070 B.C.) were buried in under¬ Deep below the earth in the royal
tombs of the New Kingdom in the
ground rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Thebes. After burial the entrance
Valley of the Kings a fictitious af¬
to the tomb was covered by a pile of debris which hid all indication of the burial site,
terworld takes on architectural
and formed a contrast to the royal tomb complexes of the Old and Middle Kingdoms
form. Here in the oval room con¬
with their towering pyramids, visible from afar, which could hardly have been taining the sarcophagus of Tuth¬
greater. mosis III three picture friezes pre¬
The hidden location of the tombs in a rocky desert valley that was difficult to sent and describe the twelve
reach and the concealment of the tomb entrances are often explained in terms of hours of the night as a detailed
topography of the world beyond.
security considerations, but reports of tomb robbers in the New Kingdom show that
these royal resting places were violated very soon after burial. The change in archi¬
c. 1450 B.C.
tectural form has deeper roots; it reflects the changed perspectives of life after
death. In place of the pyramid as a symbolic staircase and memorial to the sun, help¬
ing the king rise to the gods in the heavens, there were now underground rock-cut
tombs representing the underworld spaces traversed by the sun-god during his
night-time journey from setting in the evening to rising again each morning in the
east. The deceased king, now transformed into Osiris, descends into the night
barque of the sun-god Re and, now one with him, travels through the twelve hours
of darkness. "Osiris is this that is in Re. Re is this that is in Osiris" - this is how a tomb
inscription expressed the underworld union of king and god. The tomb architecture
translates these ideas into physical space. Thus the deep vertical shaft located at

the end of a steeply sloping entrance corridor to the tomb is not designed as an
obstacle for tomb robbers, but represents the "cave of Sokaris", in other words an
underworld space through which the deceased must pass. The sarcophagus cham¬
ber (oval-shaped until the middle of Dynasty XVIII) is an image of the space forthe
twelfth hour of the night. The sequence of entrance corridors and columned halls is
repeated inside the tombs; the front part of the tomb is dedicated to the dead king
as Osiris, the following section to the ruler, now united with the sun-god Re.
The decoding of this symbolism of tomb spaces is made possible through the pic¬
tures or inscriptions that cover all the walls and often also the ceilings. Reliefs and
paintings depict in at first incomprehensible, bizarre pictures the underworld as a
place which can be walked through - it has paths, canals and islands. Each hour of
the night has its gateways guarded by fire-spitting snakes and it is populated by
demons which the sun-god overcomes, helped by good spirits. At the end of this
dangerous journey he, and with him the dead king, emerges successfully as a young
A picture of the underworld in the

tomb of Tuthmosis III in the Valley
of the Kings
The path of the sun from evening
to morning is the cosmic pre¬
cedent for the king's passage from
death to resurrection. The repres¬
entation of the route leading
sharply downwards into the
depths of the night is reflected
also in the corridors of the tomb
driven deep into the rock.
c. 1450 B.C.
Ceiling picture in the tomb of

Ramesses VI in the Valley of the
Kings
The goddess of the heavens. Nut,
forms the night sky with her body,
along which the barque of the sun
travels. The sun, swallowed by Nut
in the evening, is born again each
morning from her womb. The
arched ceiling of the sarcophagus
chamber extends the image to
cosmic space.
c. 1145 B.C.
1
1 -
Plans of Theban tombs

Left: Tomb of Tuthmosis III in the
Valley of the Kings. The angled
axis is typical of royal tombs in the
pre-Amarna period. 1. Entrance
corridors, 2. Shaft space, 3. Colum¬
ned hall, 4. Tomb chamber
Centre: Tomb of Sethos I in the
Valley of the Kings. Afterthe
Amarna period tombs were
aligned along a straight axis, with
the idea that the sun's rays could
reach into the darkness. Half-way
between the entrance and the sar¬
cophagus chamberthe axis shifts
Right: Tomb of Ramose in Gurna.
slightly to the side. From here
Behind the forecourt the wide hall
the front section sequence of
extends to form a columned hall
rooms is repeated. 1. Entrance
from where a winding corridor
corridors, 2. Shaft space, 3. Up¬
leads to the sarcophagus chamber.
per columned hall, 4. Upper
1. Court, 2. Wide hall, 3. Deep
tomb chamber, 5. Lower col¬
hall, 4. Statue chamber, 5. Corri¬
umned hall, 6. Tomb chamber
dor, 6. Tomb chamber
god on a newday. An alternative picture of the afterworld with a star-studded night

sky is presented in the ceilings of the sarcophagus chambers from Dynasty XIX on¬
wards. Vaulting over the sky is the female body of the sky-goddess Nut, through
which the sun passes to rise again new-born from her womb in the morning. A char¬
acteristic of the royal tombs of the New Kingdom is that, except for the entrance
corridor, no wall pictures show representations of the king in his tomb. The dead
ruler is consumed entirely by the gods, and the tomb is as a result not so much a
burial place forthe pharaoh as the architectural representation of a mythical space,
an imagined and believed world on the other side of death; it is the concretisation
of a landscape not accessible to the senses.
Until just a few years ago Egyptologists were baffled by this architecture and by
the wall reliefs in the royal tombs of the New Kingdom, but the work of a few re¬
searchers, most importantly the Basle Egyptologist, Erik Hornung, in translating
the texts and providing an impartial and objective description of the pictures, has

Tomb of Nefertari in the Valley
of the Queens
A special place was reserved in
Thebes forthe members of the
king's family. This "Place of
Beauty" is now called the Valley of
the Queens. The tomb of Nefer¬
tari, the wife of Ramesses II, is
notable forthe similarity of its lay¬
out with that of the kings' tombs,
and for its excellent painted re¬
liefs on the walls.
c. 1250 B.C.
Tomb of Nefertari
The pictorial programme in the
tomb of Nefertari combines ele¬
ments from kings' tombs, private
tombs and temple reliefs into a
new concept focusing on the com¬
munion of the dead queen with
the gods.
c. 1250 B.C.

led the way to an understanding and appreciation of this fascinating world of the Forecourt of a private tomb in
imagination. Western Thebes
The tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1323 B.C.) is the only one of these tombs to have The Theban tombs of the members
survived almost complete to the present day, and from it we can at least obtain a of the upper classes are found in
the rocky cliffs of the steep, west¬
glimpse of the riches which originally accompanied the kings into the next world.
ern mountains. In front of the un¬
The very fact that all the other tombs were emptied by tomb robbers is an indica¬
derground rock-cut tomb is a fore¬
tion of the precious nature of the objects they contained.
court cut out of the mountainside
The funerary cult for the deceased ruler was performed in his "House of like a terrace. Often stelae were
Eternity", his mortuary temple, which lay at a distance from the tomb itself, on the chiselled out of the projecting
edge of the cultivated land. The priests engaged in the cult of the dead thus had no rock face at the back of the court.
contact with the actual burial location of the king, and the sacrificial offerings were
slaughtered on altars which lay several kilometres from the body of the person
whom they were to assist in the other world.
Tombs of higher-ranking citizens of Thebes lie in the rocky hills between the Val¬
ley of the Kingsandthe royal mortuarytemples. In contrasttothe royaltombs which
were unrecognisable from the outside, these tombs have architectural fagades with
mock doors, stelae and pillars at the back of the courtyards cut into the rocky slope.
Above the entrance of some of the tombs is a small, steep-sided pyramid with an
east-facing statue niche containing a kneeling figure of the tomb's occupant hold¬
ing a stela with a hieroglyphic hymn to the rising sun. The reference to the solar
aspect of the royal pyramids of the Old and Middle Kingdoms is clear.
Inside the tomb the first room, on a transverse axis, has reliefs and wall paintings
with a strongly biographical theme. They tell of the professional career of the
tomb's occupant and as such are an inexhaustible pictorial encyclopaedia of the
civilisation of the New Kingdom. At right angles to this room, on the same level, is a
narrower room cut deeper into the cliff and often leading to a statue niche. The pic¬
tures in the front part of this room deal with the burial and the "Beautiful Festival in

the Desert Valley", a grand annual festival of the dead, by means of which, through
much feasting, drinking, music and dance, the division between the living and the
dead is removed. The walls in the back part of this room have representations of the
deceased's encounter with the gods of the underworld. This part of the tomb is at
ground level and was used forcarrying out the cult of the dead.
In distinct contrast to these rooms and spatially separate was the sarcophagus
chamber which was to be found deep underthe earth. The shaft that led down to it
was filled after the body was buried, thus making the chamber inaccessible. The
walls of the chamber are decorated with pictures of the deceased and his family in
communion with the gods. The body itself was contained inside a series of painted
wooden coffins, around which was placed the burial objects, furniture and ceram¬
ics, jewellery, clothing and fruits of the soil.
In some tombs this underground part is designed to be accessible by means of a
The remains of a settlement in
gently sloping ramp leading down to the sarcophagus chamber from the tranverse
Deir el-Medinah
entrance room. The formal analogy to the royal tomb is clear and we can assume that
The craftsmen and artists who
here, too, the idea of an accessible underworld was the determining factor in the
worked in the Valley of the Kings
lived in a settlement cut off from architectural design.
the outside world in a mountain More than 400 tombs with reliefs and paintings have so far been uncovered in
valley not far from their place of the Theban necropolis; each year new ones come to light. Yet, despite the shared
work. Here, in the well preserved basic architectural structure and wall-painting themes in these tombs, each one is a
ruins of this craftsmen's village,
distinctive work of art. The artists and craftsmen who created the tombs in the Val¬
many texts have been found
ley of the Kings lived and were buried in the Deir el-Medinah part of the Theban
telling of everyday life and giving
necropolis, and we can assume that they themselves were responsible for design¬
us insight into the organisation of
work, the level of wages and the ing their own tombs. The task of distinguishing the various individual styles has yet
private lives of the workers. to be completed.

A- :er Tnebes, the necropolis of Memphis is the most significant example of non- Tomb relief from the necropolis in
royal tomb architecture of the New Kingdom. The quite d'fferent geographical Memphis
situation here leads to a new building form that differs quite markedly from the Only in the cemeteries of Thebes
and Memphis are there large num¬
leban tomb type. In placeofthe rock-cuttomb with an underground section hewn
bers of tombs whose walls are
directly out of the cliff, the necropolis of Memphis, at its location within sight of the
decorated with long picture
Step Pyramid of Djoser and the pyramids of Seneferu in Dahshour, features a tomb cycles. In Saqqara, the necropolis
in the form of a small temple. An entrance pylon leads through into a pillared court of Memphis, it is the relief picture
(some have several pylons and courts), and behind the court are the shrines forthe which dominates. A detail from
statues of the deceased and his family members. Above this rear section is a small, the tomb of the court jeweller,
Imeneminet, shows the deceased
steep-sided pyramid. The burial chamber itself is often just one of several levels of
in human form and as spirit birds
underground burial rooms. So far only a small portion of these New-Kingdom tombs
at a pond in the afterworld.
in Memphis, mostly the ones south of the causeway to the Pyramid of Unas, have New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII,
been excavated. One find in particular - the sensational discovery of the tomb of c. 1320 B.C.; limestone; Munich,
Wesir Aper-el from the time of Amenhotep III and IV - shows how incomplete our Staatliche Sammlung Agyptischer
knowledge is of this epoch in the necropolis of Memphis. Kunst
The heyday of this New-Kingdom necropolis was in the short period at the end
of Dynasty XVIII, when Memphis again became the capital of Egypt. Amarna, the Wall painting in a Theban tomb
former capital, had been abandoned in around 1333 B.C. following the death of In the rock-cut tombs of Thebes
Akhenaten and it was not until the beginning of Dynasty XIX, in about 1300 B.C., most of the wall paintings were
that the royal residence was transferred to the new capital, the future Ramesside applied directly onto plaster. In a
picture in the tomb of Nakhtamon
town, in the north-east Nile Delta. Thus it was the highest-ranking officials, after
in Deirel-Medinahthe sarcophagi
the king, that were buried in the necropolis in Memphis, close to their seat of office.
of the deceased and his wife are
The tomb of the commander of the Egyptian army. General Horemheb, later to take shown in front of the tomb's
the pharaoh's throne as the soldier king, is also to be found in Saqqara, as well as fagade, where a sharply pointed
that of the finance minister Maja; both men held office during the reign of King Tut- pyramid rises above the door to
ankhamun. Their tombs thus stand at the junction of the Amarna and Ramesside the tomb. The background is an
impression of the rocky cliffs of
periods, and their wall reliefs represent the final examples, one can even say the pin¬
theTheban mountains.
nacle, of the stylistic development of Amarna art, before more traditional forms
were introduced at the end of Dynasty XVIII with Ramesside classicism.
1200-1150 B.C.
The large number of tombs with painting and relief decoration in the two
necropolises of Thebes and Memphis would tend to suggest that similar cemeter¬
ies could be expected at other important towns in the New Kingdom. The poor con¬
dition of the tomb complexes inthetownsinthe Delta (Heliopolis, Bubastis, the city
of Ramesses) may well be due to their damp Delta location, but even the Upper

Necropolis of Deir el-Medinah Egyptian towns or larger settlements in Nubia have only few tombs that are com¬
Just behind the houses of the parable with the Theban ones. In Elkab near Edfu in Upper Egypt there are a num¬
craftsmen's village of Deir el-
ber of rock-cut tombs from Dynasty XVI11, each one consisting of only one room dec¬
Medinah are the entrances to un¬
orated with painted flat reliefs, and also in Hierakonpolis, near to Elkab on the west
derground tombs cut into the cliff
bank, there are simple rock-cut tombs with wall paintings. A faint echo of the tra¬
face. Most of the entrances are
marked with small, steep-sided dition of rock-cut tombs can also be seen in Aniba and Dibeira in Nubia.
pyramids. The sarcophagus cham¬ The concentration in Thebes and Memphis of New-Kingdom private tombs with
bers lie deep down in the rock be¬ reliefs and wall paintings is in stark contrast to the widespread occurrence of this
low the ground-level cult cham¬ type of tomb in the Middle Kingdom and leads us to conclude that such tombs in the
ber.
New Kingdom were the privilege of the political centres and that the relevant
artistic skills were only available in those centres. This geographical concentration
also explains the completely different architectural types in Thebes and Memphis
and the quite unmistakable and distinctive styles of wall decoration in each.

The Cosmos in Stone
From the Delta to Sudan
Page 7 67 Bubastis and Tanis

Mummy mask of King Psusennes In Egyptian archaeology the Nile Delta plays a minor role, although it was and still is
The kings of the Third Intermedi¬
the largest usable area for settlement and agriculture in the whole of Egypt. This
ate Period had theirtombs built
archaeological vacuum has often been explained by the belief that in Ancient
in the temple enclosure of their
residence city ofTanisintheNile
Egyptian times much of the Delta consisted of inhospitable swampland, but recent
Delta. The above-ground struc¬ excavations in the last twenty years have proved this assumption to be false. Even
tures have been completely des¬ as early as the fourth millennium B.C. the Nile Delta had many settlements, and it
troyed. Here, in around 1940, the has been an important economic centre since the days of the Old Kingdom.
grave goods were found intact in
Throughout the whole of the 3 000 year history of the Nile region, original text
the underground sarcophagus
sources give a vivid and detailed picture of a densely populated Delta region with
room and side chambers. Afterthe
many towns and villages.
tomb of Tutankhamun this is the
most important treasure found so The comparative lack of finds in the Delta is primarily the result of geomorpho-
far in Egypt. logical conditions, intensive agricultural use and the dense settlement pattern. The
Third Intermediate Period, archaeologically interesting layers are now in many places located below the water-
Dynasty XXI, c. 1000 B.C.; gold; table and buried under metres of silt deposited there by the annual flooding of the
Nile valley. This for the most part makes excavation a technical and financial im¬
possibility. Many of the ancient settlements and cemeteries that were located on
higher ground, rising above the valley floor as low mounds, have been flattened to
provide more agriculturally usable land. Towns are continually expanding to cope
with a rapidly growing population, and in doing so they are covering over and des¬
troying many historical sites. Today the entire Nile Delta can be described as a re¬
gion in archaeological crisis.
However, the significance of this region in the history of Ancient Egypt justifies
a look at the few remains of the once so important towns here. On the southern
edge of the city of Zagazig in the eastern Nile Delta are the remains of Bubastis, the
town which was dedicated to the cat-goddess, Bastet. The description of the
temple, as given by the Greek historian Herodotus, has been confirmed by archae¬
ological excavations. Toppled pillars, architraves and statues of red granite have
Pectoral of King Amenemope been found on the 50 x 180 m site of the Bastet temple, constructed in the time of
This chest ornament from the Ramesses II (1290-1224 B.C.), on a site which was surrounded by watercourses and
tomb of Amenemope in Tanis contained within holy groves. The reliefs from the gateway leading from the court
shows the sun-god in the form of
to the hypostyle hall are distributed in museums throughout the world. They con¬
a beetle between the goddesses
sist of long picture sequences depicting the Heb-Sed festival for the renewal of
Isis and Nephthys. They are sur¬
rounded by the architectural kingship of King Osorkon II (924-909 B.C.). In the inner sanctuary of the Temple of
framework of a temple crowned Bastet, in a broad, open court, stood seven monolithic naoi, shrines with cult
with roll moulding and cavetto. In statues of the gods. The architectural remains at Bubastis also include a palace from
the centre at the top is the winged the Middle Kingdom (c. 1800 B.C.) and a temple complex from Dynasty VI (c. 2300
disc of the sun, such as is found
B.C.).
above temple gateways.
Bubastis was originally a complex of several square kilometres in area, and to
Third Intermediate Period,
gain an impression of what it may have looked like, it is necessary to visit the ruins
Dynasty XXI, c. 985 B.C.; gold,
lapis lazuli, faience; Cairo, at Tanis, about 75 km to the north-east. Tanis, in the far north-eastern corner of the
Egyptian Museum Nile Delta, was the site chosen in 1070 B.C. for the new capital city of the recently
The Cosmos in Stone 169

independent northern half of Egypt. The ruins of Tanis can be seen on a hill above
the salt flats at one of the estuary mouths of the Nile-a good strategic and trans¬
port location. Measured from north to south they extend for a distance of 1.5 km.
he main temple of Tanis, dedicated to the god Amun-Re, is the Lower Egyptian
counterpart to Karnak, both in terms of theological and architectural significance.
It underlined the equality of status of the kings of Tanis with the kings of Upper
Egypt in Thebes. This main temple stands onatemplesiteof370x430minareaand
Figure of a ram-god with shrine
for its construction the nearby city of Ramesses was used as a quarry. Hundreds of
This little ram figure is part of the
monolithic granite columns, architraves, wall blocks, statues and sphinxes of colos¬
treasure from the tomb of the
sal size were transported the 22 km to Tanis.
"Foremost Archer" and Chief
The omnipresence ofthenameof Ramesses II on the monuments of Tanis was un¬ Priest, Wenw-djebaw-n-djedet in
til recent decades taken as proof for Tanis being the town of Ramesses. However, Tanis. Made of lapis lazuli and
research has nowshownthatat least someofthecolossal statuesfound in Ramesses mounted in gold leaf, this figure is
II s capital, the largest of which weighed about 1 000 tons and was almost 30 m high, accompanied by a miniature naos.
On the walls of the naos is a relief
were brought from other sites, where they had been placed half a millennium be¬
picture of the divine image.
fore, during the Middle Kingdom.
Third Intermediate Period, Dyn¬
One of the original locations for these statues, which include some of the largest
asty XXI, c. 950 B.C.; gold, lapis
ever created in Egypt, was probably Bu bast is, especially in view of the ease of trans- lazuli; Cairo, Egyptian Museum
Statue of King Osorkon I

By transferring the royal residence
to the Nile Delta, the north of
Egypt gained in political signi¬
ficance from the Ramesside period
onwards, and also became a
centre of artistic activity. King
Osorkon had building work carried
out in several towns in the Delta.
From Byblos; Third Intermediate
Period, Dynasty XXII, c. 900 B.C.;
granite; Paris, Musee du Louvre
o The Cosmos in Stone
Relief block in Bubastis
The glory of the once enormous
temple city of Bubastis, the "town
of Bastet", the cat-goddess, can
now only be imagined from the
descriptions written by the Greek
historian Herodotus. Large blocks
have survived from one of the
temple gates - that of King Os-
orkon II. The gate's reliefs, now
scattered throughout the world,
showthe Heb-Sedfestivities
which took place to celebrate the
renewal of kingship.
Third Intermediate Period, Dyn¬
asty XXII, c. 880 B.C.
The ruins of Bubastis

At the edge of the city of Zagazig From the many granite blocks it is
in the eastern Delta is an extensive possible to reconstruct a temple
site with the ruins of the ancient of Ramesses II, to which belong
city of Bubastis, whose buildings several of the statues lying at the
dated backtothe Old Kingdom. site.

Pc '1 om there to Tan is, along an arm of the Nile. Another pointer is that in the ruins Page 7 73
of Bubastis fragments of colossal statues of kings have been found that date from Temple of Amun in Tanis
the Middle Kingdom. In the stoneless Delta the building
material for the new residence and
In the last decade the remains of the city of Ramesses have been excavated; all
its temples was taken from nearby
mat is left are a few layers of brick, but it is enough to be able to discern the outlines
towns which had temples that
of stables and armouries, indicating the garrison of the royal residence. However, were no longer important. In par¬
this capital city of Egypt, now irrevocably destroyed, rises again in the written ac¬ ticular, the city of Ramesses, just
counts that were used as reading material in Egyptian schools since the death of 20 km to the south, was used as a
Ramesses II and which can give us an impression of what has now been lostto view: quarry. Also found in Tanis are
His majesty has built a castle for himself. It lies between Palestine and Egypt. It is blocks bearing names of kings
from the Old and Middle King¬
similar to Thebes and it endures as long as Memphis. In its western partistheTem-
doms.
ple of Amun and in its southern part is the Temple of Seth; the Temple of Astarte is
on the morning side and the temple of Uto on the north side. The fortress which is Dynasty XXII, c. ninth century B.C.
in its interior is like the horizon of the sky."
All these temples were transported awaytoTanisto be recombined there in new
buildings. At the main gate of the not yet systematically excavated Temple of Amun
in Tanis stand colossal Middle Kingdom statues, re-used first in the city of
Ramesses II, in the court between the second and third pylons was a veritable mu¬
seum of sphinxes from the Middle Kingdom, on which are written the names of
Ramesses II, his successor Merenptah and King Psusennes I of Tanis. A total of
twenty-three obelisks from the New Kingdom have been excavated in Tanis. Al¬
though now the Temple of Amun-Re is surrounded by small hills containing the deb¬
ris of later settlement, when it was built it stood, Acropolis-like, at the highest point
of the town and visible for miles across the flat Nile Delta.
Temple of Amun in Tanis

In the far north-east of the Delta,
on a large tell, are the ruins of
Tanis, the city which became the
capital of the northern part of
Egypt in about 1075 B.C. Upper
Egypt was ruled from Thebes. As a
kind of lower Egyptian Thebes,
the temples in Tanis competed in
size and splendour with those in
Karnak.
Dynasty XXII, c. ninth century B.C.
he Cosmos in Stone
Gate of the Temple of Amun in
Tanis
The colossal statues placed in
front of the gate of King Shoshenq
bearthe name of Ramesses II, but
some of them date backtothe
Middle Kingdom. Ramesses also
used statues made in previous
periods to give added splendour
to his capital city. It is thought
that these colossal figures, which
would have been transplanted
several times, originally stood in
Heliopolis or Bubastis.
Dynasty XXII, ninth century B.C.
At Tanis are also temple complexes for the Near Eastern goddess Anat, the gods
Khonsu and Horus, and also, in the outer court of the Temple of Amun, the royal
tombs of the rulers in Tanis. Royal tombs in the temple court are also found in Mem¬
phis in the same period, and are found again for consorts of the gods in Dynasty XXV
in Medinet Habu and are mentioned by Herodotus for kings of Dynasty XXVI in Sais.
In addition to the simple underground chambers made of re-used granite blocks,
there were also probably burial chapels above ground, butnot race of these struc¬
tures is now evident. The excavations of the royal tombs in Tanis, discovered in
1939, have produced one of the most valuable treasures everto have been retrieved
from the soil of Egypt, second only to that of Tutankhamun. The finds are now ex¬
hibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Maned sphinx of King
Amenemhat III
By equipping the Temple of Amun
in Tanis with statues from earlier
periods, it was virtually turned
into an open-air museum. The
monumental maned sphinxes from
the late Twelfth Dynasty bear the
names of Ramesses II, Merenptah
and of Psusennes, giving evidence
of their multiple re-use. The last-
named user, Psusennes, placed
himself in the context of a long
historical tradition.
c. 1800 B.C.; Cairo, Egyptian
Museum
Temple of Amun in Tanis

No less than twenty-three
obelisks have been found in the
Temple of Amun in Tanis. They
bearthe name of Ramesses II and
thus give the impression that the
temple was built during the reign
of this great king — this may well
have been the political intention
of the kings of theThird Inter¬
mediate Period.
Dynasty XXII, ninth century B.C.

Page 7 77 above
Ruins of the temple of Behbeit
el-Hagar
The most impressive ruins in the
Delta are those of Behbeit el-Ha¬
gar nearto the city of Mansura.
Much still remains of the Temple
of Isis, built in the fourth century
B.C., but probably destroyed later
by an earthquake. A reconstruc¬
tion of the temple would seem
quite feasible.
The Late Period, Dynasty XXX,
380-343 B.C.
Shrine to the gods in Mendes

This isolated shrine atthe highest
point of the ruins of Mendes is all
that is left of fourthat originally
stood here in a temple to the ram-
god. At 8 m high these monolithic
granite shrines are an impressive
relic from this important Late-
Period town in the Central Delta.
Late Period, Dynasty XXVI,
c. 550 B.C.
Mendes and Behbeit el-Hagar

The transfer of the capital city of the pharaohs' empire to the eastern Delta, carried
out in the Ramesside period from 1300 B.C. onwards, shows the increasing political
and economic importance of the north of Egypt. With the exception of the Nubian
Kushites, all subsequent dynasties down to the Ptolemaic period ruled the Nile val¬
ley from the Delta.
In their heyday in the first millennium B.C. the main cities of Lower Egypt were
by no means inferiorto the historical metropolises of Thebes and Memphis. How¬
ever, we are left today with very few aids for reconstructing their former glory and
size. The most complete picture was presented in a travel account by the Greek his¬
torian, Herodotus, who spent several months in Egypt between 450 and 440 B.C.
and recorded eye-witness accounts of all the important cities in the Delta. Now¬
adays these sites are a sorry picture, consisting merely of piles of debris which have
been sorted and resorted overthe centuries.
Sais, in the north-west of the Delta, was the capital of Dynasty XXVI and even at
the beginning of the nineteenth century A.D. it still presented a most impressive
and extensive landscape of ruins. Herodotus wrote about the shrine of Osiris and
the Temple of Neith with its royal tombs; he was full of wonder for the monolithic Relief portrait of King Taharka
in Edfu
10-m long naos of rose granite brought from Elephantine to Sais by 2 000 transport
workers. In Upper Egypt there are few
traces of building work from the
Not fat fiom Sais is Buto, which has been a religious centre in Egypt since pre¬
Late Period. The kings of Dynasty
historic times. Herodotus described the sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Uto XXV built in Karnak, but in Edfu,
in the following words: "Its entire height and length is made from a single stone, and too, the remains of a temple from
all the walls are from that stone, each forty cubits." this time have been found under
Although such travel reports may sound rather exaggerated at first, they are in the court of the Ptolemaic Temple
of Horus. The head of King
^ ^1 -!omg confii med by archaeological finds in one of the main towns in the central
Taharka (690—664 B.C.) shows the
Delta, in Mendes, the capital city of Egypt in Dynasty XXIX. All that remains of its
excellent quality of the relief
•i vj x 700 m temple area is one of the original four impressive monolithic granite decoration in this shrine.
The Cosmos in Stone

shrines, 8 m high, standing on a hill. As in Bu bast is and Butothe shrines were placed
in an open court, thus mirroring a typical feature of the sun temples of Dynasty V in
Abu Ghurab and of the Amarna period. In Mendes, too, the royal tombs are located
within the temple area, as in Tan is. The ancient town, still with some well preserved
houses, towers up out of two giant mountains of debris, under which are also con¬
cealed a necropolis of the Old Kingdom, and which give an impression of the scale
of what lies beneath.
The desolate condition and the endless dimensions of the ruined sites of these
Relief block from the Temple of
Isis in Behbeit el-Hagar towns have so far daunted archaeologists. Only in one place is the lost glory and size
The walls of theTemple of Isis in of the Delta towns in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt still to be seen, and that is in
Behbeit el-Hagar are decorated Behbeit el-Hagar, near to the city of Mansura in the eastern Delta. Piled up in a
with reliefs. These differfrom the mountain of black and red granite, basalt and quartzite are column drums and hol¬
sandstone reliefs in Upper Egyp¬
low cornices, stair steps and blocks with reliefs and inscriptions of the highest
tian temples in their material, red
craftsmanship and artistic quality. They form part of the Iseum, the temple to Isis in
and grey granite, and in the fine
quality of the sculpture.
Hebet, erected in Dynasty XXX (380-343 B.C.), which was similar in architectural
The Late Period, Dynasty XXX, form to theTemple of Hathor in Dendera. Although some of the relief blocks are to¬
c. 380-343 B.C. day scattered among the world's museums, the building material still on site is com¬
prehensive enough to make a reconstruction of the temple of Behbeit el-Hagar
quite feasible. It is thought that an earthquake was the cause of its destruction.
Individual finds of architectural components and statues at many other places in
the Delta indicate the presence of countless other towns and deliver the archae¬
ological proofforthestatements in Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Latin and Arabictexts,
in which the Delta was described as the busiest and richest part of Egypt.
Afterthe NewKingdomthe Nilevalleybetween Memphisand Elephantine,from
Cairo to Aswan, became much less important than the Delta. Although extensions
and renovations were indeed carried out on the temples of Thebes, and also on ad¬
ditional smaller temples built there, the main interest of the pharaohs of the Third
Intermediate Period and the Late Period lay in the north.

hus the architectural achievements of the first half of the first millennium B.C.
° Upper Egypt were not in temple-building, but in the development of new types
of private tombs. In Dynasties XXV and XXVI, between 700 and 550 B.C., important
people, such as the Theban governors under the Kushite and Saite kings, had
enormous tombs built for themselves in the Assasif valley, which lay in front of the
terrace temple of Queen Hatshepsut (tombs of Montemhet, Harwa, Anch-Hor,
Pabasa, Petamenopet and Ibi).
Ideas were taken from the architecture of temples and royal tombs; above
ground large brick pylons marked the entrance to the tomb, while the actual sar-
Tomb of Montemhet in West

Thebes
The most amazing architectural
achievements of the Late Period in
Upper Egypt are the tombs of
high-ranking people in the Theban
necropolis. They lie at the foot of
the mountains with the tombs
from the New Kingdom, in front of
the temples of Deir el-Bahari.
Above ground they are marked by
brick ramparts and a brick pylon.
The actual tomb is below ground.
The most significant architectural
part is a shaft-like court through
which sunlight could penetrate
into the underworld.
The Late Period, Dynasty XXVI,
c. 650 B.C.

cophagus itself was reached via steps and shafts in the various underground levels
leading to the burial chamber.
A new architectural device was open light-wells reached by steps; light could
penetrate down them deep into the underworld, whose image is the grave. At the
rear of these light-wells was a false door leading to the burial chamber, a motif
found as far back as the Old Kingdom, demonstrating the continuing strength of
tradition in Ancient Egyptian architecture.
Tomb architecture in the enormous burial complexes of the Late Period in Thebes
was not the only area in which forms were used from earlier periods - the same ar¬
chaic tendencies are evident in reliefs and inscriptions. In part these were simply
direct copies from tombs and temples of the Middle and New Kingdoms. The style
is in some cases such a perfect imitation of models from centuries or even millennia
before that it is almost impossible to distinguish the one from the other.
Section through the tomb of An additional major influence on the art of this time, around 700-600 B.C., can
Montemhet be seen in the Nubian art of the Kushite kings of Dynasty XXV. These kings ruled
The underground chambers of the Egypt for a hundred years. Two building types are typical of Kushite architecture:
great Theban tombs from the Late the kiosk placed in front of the temple entrance, such as is found on all four sides of
Period extend over several levels
the area of the Temple of Amun in Karnak, and the barque station placed in the
downwards to the sarcophagus
columned hall. The African component in Kushite art is seen especially in the style
chamber. Their architecture is
reminiscent of the underground of the reliefs, which show the king, and all other persons, as athletic figures with
tombs of the New Kingdom. Most short necks, full lips and low brows.
of these tombs are still awaiting The contact between Egyptian and Kushite art not only had an effect in Egypt,
complete excavation and invest¬ but also, after the end of Dynasty XXV, began to be felt in the homeland of the
igation.
Kushites, in Upper Nubia and in the Sudan. The empires of Napata and Meroe, fol¬
1. Pylon
lowing on from that of the Kushites, drew continued inspiration from this century
2. Entrance
3. Light-well
of close contact with the Egypt of the pharaohs and carried the richness of the
4. Tomb of Osiris Egyptian cultural heritage further up the Nile to the Sixth Cataract, near to present-
5. Tomb chamber day Khartoum.

Pyramids and Temples in the Sudan Pyramid site of Nuri (Sudan)
In the third millennium B.C. the southern border of Ancient Egypt lay at the First During their rule over Egypt the
Cataract, tothe south of Aswan. Atthe beginning of the second millennium, during kings of Dynasty XXV, a Sudanese
the Middle Kingdom, it was extended to the Second Cataract and secured by build¬ line, did not engage in a great deal
of building activity. In their home
ing fortresses as a bulwark against the serious threat from Egypt's immediate neigh¬
country, however, they erected
bour at the time, the Kingdom of Kerma, centred around the Third Cataract. The
royal tombs modelled on the
New Kingdom extended the territory under Egyptian rule down to Napata at the Egyptian style. These pyramid
Fourth Cataract. The Lower Nubian temples of Ramesses II underline this claim to tombs represented a revival of a
dominance, as do the temples of Amenhotep III in Soleb and Sedeinga above the style which in Egypt itself had
Third Cataract, and the shrines of Tuthmosis III at Gebel Barkal, neartothe Fourth died out a thousand years before.
Cataract. In terms of overall plan and iconography these New Kingdom temples on Beginning with King Taharka
(690-664 B.C.) the Sudanese kings
the upper Nile adhere to the generally accepted rules of Egyptian architecture, yet
of Napata were buried in Nuri
in terms of style they show signs of their special position outside Egypt proper. The
for the next three and a half
colossal statues of Ramesses II in the temple of Garf Hussein, and the ones on the centuries.
fagade of both temples of Abu Simbel, are more compact in their proportions than
the figures in Egyptian temples. The papyrus-bundle columns in the temple of
Amenhotep III in Soleb are shorter and wider than the pillars of the same type and
from the same time in the Temple of Luxor.
The unique artistic style of the Nubian-Sudanese Nile valley did not, however,
come to full expression until the region gained political independence when the
local royal house in Napata extended its influence beyond the Nubian-Egyptian
to' dei to the north and brought the whole of Egypt under its rule in about 760 B.C.
hese Nubians, called Kushites, after the Ancient Egyptian word "OKush" for Nu¬
bia, adopted the form of the pyramid for their royal tombs. It was a form that had
The Cosmos in Stone
already been abandoned for royal tombs in Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom
and the Second Intermediate Period, and replaced with tombs cut into the rock. The
model for the renaissance of the pyramid style was, however, not the Old and
Middle Kingdom necropolis in Memphis. Typically Sudanese pyramids have a 70° in¬
clination, and seldom reach more than 20 to 25 m in height. Both of these features,
small format and steep sides, are found in the pyramids above private tombs of the
New Kingdom in theTheban necropolis. Thebes, as a centre forthe cult of the god¬
The GreatTemple of Amun on
dess Mut, consort of Amun and most revered protector of the Kushite king, was
Gebel Barkal
most probably the source of inspiration for the Sudanese royal pyramid style, as
Begun underTuthmosis III around
1450 B.C., the Great Temple of were also the burial pyramids in Deirel-Medinah, in Gurna and in Dira' abu el-Naga.
Amun at the foot of the holy The Sudanese royal tombs differ from their Egyptian forerunners both in their cult
mountain was extended underthe buildings and in the type of burial chamber. Built on to the east side of the pyramid
kings of Napata from the eighth is a sacrificial chamber, a small, mostly one-roomed mortuary temple. The sar¬
century B.C. onwards. For a thou¬
cophagus chamber is hewn in the rock underthe pyramid, and reached by a sloping
sand years the Gebel Barkal was
ramp which starts far beyond the east side of the pyramid.
the religious centre of the
In addition to the formal differences between Egyptian and Sudanese royal
Napatan and Meroitic Kingdom,
andassuch a kind of Sudanese pyramids there is also a completely new type of structure forthe royal necropolises.
Thebes. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms the individual royal tombs were separate com-
Plan of the temples on Gebel Barkal

The temples of the Napatan kings
on the Gebel Barkal were pre¬
ceded by the buildings of the New
Kingdom erected by the Egyptians
during the period of colonial rule.
Traces of the Nubian Kerma culture
(2500-1500 B.C.) on the Gebel
Barkal indicate that the oldest
temples on the "holy mountain"
date back before the New Kingdom.

The royal cemetery of Meroe
Atthe end of thefourth century
B.C. Meroe became the capital of
the Sudanese kingdom. From
about 270 B.C.-A.D. 320the kings
and queens of the Meroitic king¬
dom had their pyramid tombs built
in the desert, on the mountains to
the east of the town, where hun¬
dreds of years before members of
the royal family had been buried in
small pyramids. The steep-sided
pyramids reach a maximum height
of about 20 m. On their eastern
side are small temples for sacrifi¬
cial offerings. The temples each
have an entrance pylon.

Diagram showing the northern
cemetery of Meroe
The pyramids which had been
destroyed wilfully in the early
nineteenth century A.D. were
partly reconstructed between
1970 and 1985 by the German
archaeologist Friedrich Hinkel, on
behalf of the Sudanese govern¬
ment. This reconstruction shows
the original appearance of the
northern cemetery, located on a
range of dunes high above the
Nile valley.
pi exes set in broad sites encompassing a valley temple, causeway corridor and mor-
tuary temple, as well as the tombs of other members of the royal family and the royal
court.
The Sudanese pyramids, however, are grouped in pyramid sites, and placed very
close together, sometimes almost touching. This aspect follows a tradition that
reached back before the time of the Kushite dynasty; the tumulus tombs of the
chiefs of Napata from pre-Kushite times lie very close together in the cemetery of
El Kurru, in which are also buried the founder of the dynasty. King Pye (Piankhy), and
other Kushite rulers.
In the Sudan it was less the individual identity of the dead king that determined
where he was buried than his membership of a dynasty. The pyramid site of Nuri,
just a few kilometres upstream from the capital city of Napata, contains the royal
pyramids of all the rulers of the "Napatan" dynasty, following on in about 650 B.C.
from the Kushite dynasty. The steep-sided pyramids, including a "bent" pyramid,
stand in closely placed rows, one next to the other, together with smaller pyramids
of members of the royal family. This arrangement of individual structures as a group
is a clear architectural expression of a philosophy of rule in which the tribe, or dyn¬
asty, is the focus, and not the individual within it.
The capital city of Napata lay as a kind of political and spiritual centre, half-way
between the Kushite royal cemetery in El Kurru and the Napatan royal necropolis in
Nuri. Although the actual site of the town of Napata has not yet been located, its
size and importance are nevertheless indicated by the temples, lying at the foot of
the Gebel Barkal, an impressive table-top mountain dominating the whole sur¬
rounding region. This was a mountain that, as the "holy mountain", had been re¬
garded by the kings of Dynasty XVIII, in their conquest of land up to the Fourth
Cataract, as a suitable site for a temple to Amun-Re. The temples started by Tuth-
mosis III (c. 1450 B.C.) were developed in Dynasty XXV into great shrines which fol¬
lowed the Ancient Egyptian sequence of pylons and court, but introduced non-

Pyramid site on Gebel Barkal
The tombs of a few Meroitic kings,
around 300 B.C. and 75 B.C., are
located on the Gebel Barkal, close
to the site of the ancient temples
// // V. A,
on the holy mountain and not
' I 11!I i’.i
I ’.I
I m
I I T
farfrom the cemeteries of the
founders of the Napatan-Meroitic
kingdom in El Kurru and Nuri. m i'''11' 'I
v.-l
I , 1,1,11 , \ , I I , I , I , VlAr
'' i1 l.l i,lil 1
r| —
■man 1
Section and plan of a Meroitic

pyramid
A flight of steps leads to the burial
chamber of the steep-walled pyr¬
amid andtotheantechamberun-
der a small temple on the east
side. The steps are cut out of rock
and start well beyond the pyra¬
mid, to the east. The sarcophagus
stood on a stone plinth; the ap¬
proach to the chambers was
walled in and the steps covered
overafterthe burial.

, ,/c ian traditions in terms of their extended linear plan and the kiosks placed in
pie axis. These capita I-city temples atGebel Barkal were decorated with an-
statues from the time of Amenhotep III (c. 1360 B.C.) brought all the way from
colossal statues of rams, a motif of the god Amun-Re, which now flank
. ie approach to the largest of the temples at Gebel Barkal, were all dragged from
Soleb.
In about 350 B.C. political power shifted from Napata to Meroe, between the
Sixth Cataract in the south and the confluence of the Atbara and the Nile in the
north. Meroe then remained the centre of the Meroitic kingdom for the next six
hundred years. The royal tombs of Meroe lie on higher ground to the east of the
town of Meroe. Theirform corresponds to that of the steep-sided pyramids in Nuri,
and the sacrificial chapels on the east side of the tombs have a pylon as a gate, an
idea taken from Egyptian temples. The content of the reliefs on the pylon, showing
the enemy being conquered, is also Egyptian in origin.
The reliefs in the offering chambers show a wide variety of themes and indi¬
vidual motifs that are also purely Egyptian: among them are pictures of the de¬
ceased at the sacrificial altar, before the judgement of the gods and during the rit¬
ual of weighing the heart in the balance. However, the numerous iconographic ele¬
ments that do not come from Egypt and the quite different style and composition
of the reliefs lead us to wonder whether here a new language was being written us¬
ing the letters of an old alphabet. The unique character and style of Meroitic art is
also expressed in the architectural details of the pyramids, the edges of which are
emphasised by smooth edging strip and, in the upper part of some pyramids, by roll
moulding. The Meroitic pyramids do not end in a pointed tip, but are flattened off
and may originally have had sculptural decoration atthis point, perhaps a (bronze?)
statue of Ba, a bird with a human head, depicting the soul of the deceased. In some
pyramids there is a flat niche opening high up on the east side of the shrine, a fea¬
ture which perhaps led some to believe that treasure chambers were hidden behind
these niches. In 1834 many of these pyramids were “beheaded" in an attempt to ex¬
pose the hidden chambers. Only in one of the pyramids was a valuable treasure
found, and that was the gold jewellery of Queen Amanishakhete (c. 20 B.C.), which
is now exhibited in museums in Berlin and Munich. As in architecture, the iconogra¬ Shield ring of Queen
phy and style of the goldsmiths' work here is quite differentto Egyptian jewellery, Amanishakhete
and represents the creation of a new independent Meroitic style of art using tradi¬ Most of the burial chambers under
tional elements. the Meroitic pyramids were plun¬
dered. In only one of them, the
Pyramids were erected in the royal necropolis in Meroe, first in the south cemet¬
pyramid of Queen Amanishakhete,
ery, later in the north cemetery, overthe course of 600 years. Members of the royal
in the northern cemetery of Meroe,
family and high dignitaries are buried in very small pyramids in the west cemetery, did the entire burial treasure re¬
which lies on the plain between the town and the royal pyramids. In total there are main intact. It was found in 1834
more pyramids in the three burial grounds in Meroe than in the whole of Egypt. and is today divided between the
The royal town that was the centre of political power in the Meroitic empire for Egyptian museums in Munich and
Berlin. This shield ring shows the
more than half a millennium has hardly been investigated. Lying between the Nile
ram's head of the god Amun, be¬
and the edge of the desert, its Temple of Amun marks the end of a processional
fore a temple fagade and encircled
street lined by several smaller shrines; this temple, in contrast to Ancient Egyptian
by a wide jewelled collar.
tradition, does not face the Nile, but looks east, to where the pyramids of the royal Roman Period, c. 10 B.C.; gold,
tombs are arrayed along the horizon, an arrangement which again breaks with glass, carnelian; Munich, Staat-
Egyptian custom, where tombs were located in the west. The giant mountains of liche Sammlung Agyptischer Kunst
debt is that mark the site of the ancienttown of Meroe are covered with a thick layer
of slag-like material, and this has given rise to the belief that there may have been
iron-workings inthetown. However, we mustawaitfurtherexcavationstodiscover
whether Meroe was the ancient world's equivalent of Birmingham.
Although not yet fully investigated archaeologically, there is one other Meroitic
town that can give us an insight into the basic forms of Meroitic architecture. This is
the ruined town of Naga, to the south-east of Meroe, far from the Nile valley, on a

Ram-headed statue from the Temple of Amun in Naga
Temple of Amun in Naga The layout of the Temple of Amun
An avenue lined with twelve ram¬ in Naga, a town in the middle
headed statues leads to the of the desert to the northeast of
Temple of Amun. Between each Khartoum, follows the spatial
set of front paws is the statue of a sequence of Ancient Egyptian
king. This type of statue is evi¬ temples, from the columned hall
denced 1 500 years earlier in the through to the inner sanctuary.
Egyptian temples of the New The relief decoration on the
Kingdom; typically Meroitic, how¬ temple gates also follows. The
ever, is the representation of the Temple of Amun was built around
sheepskin as spiral curls. the time of Christ underthe
Roman Period, around the time of Meroitic King Natakamani and
Christ; sandstone Queen Amanitore.

'3C 51 te covering more than 1 km2. Although its existence has been known about Northern pylon tower of the Lion
•iO beginning of the nineteenth century, little architectural excavation has so Temple in Naga
ar taken place here, yet the town has been preserved almost intact, thanks to its The traditional Egyptian motif
■Jc Jon far from the major routes of communication. Much of the stone architec- of vanquishing enemies as a
programmatic threatening gesture
. j e nas collapsed, but has remained in piles where it fell, and several temples are
of the pharaohs is found every¬
still standing. These temples clearly show the three components of the architecture
where on the facades of Meroitic
of the Meroitic empire.
temples and shrines. An unusual
In the period of transition the Amun temple was built, with an approach avenue feature of Meroitic art is that in
lined with statues of rams, such as had been constructed for the first time almost this motif Queen Amanitore is also
oneanda halfthousand years before, linking Karnak with Luxor. The kiosk with its shown as a conqueror of enemies.
Roman Period, around the time
intercolumnar walls, placed in the middle of the avenue of rams, also follows old
of Christ
Pharaonic tradition. The temple itself, with its sequence of gates and halls, is a
miniature version of the great classical shrines in the Nile valley in Egypt. Perhaps
the small temple to the right of the avenue can also be compared with Ancient
Egyptian temple plans and interpreted as a mammisi, or birth house.
King Natakamani, who ordered the construction of theTemple of Amun in Naga,
also built the Lion Temple there, named after its chief god, the lion (or merely lion¬
headed) god Apedemak. The front elevation follows classical Egyptian tradition in
temple fapades: the temple gate is placed between two pylon towers. The large-
format reliefs on the front of the pylons show the traditional motif of the king
threatening his enemies. A significant feature of Meroitic art is found in the relief
decoration of the right-hand pylon tower: it shows, not the king in a threatening
pose, but the queen, indicating thedominanceofthequeenandthequeen mother
in the Meroitic kingdom. Behind the pylon is a single temple room, the roof of which
was supported on four columns. Relief decoration covers all the walls. This type of
"one-room temple" is not typical of Egyptian architecture but is a local form, one
that can be found in several places in the Sudan, for example in Musawwarat el-
Sufra, not farfrom Naga.
A third component added to these two types of temples is the Hellenistic ele¬
ment. It can be seen in several temple ground plans that follow the schemes laid
Lion Temple in Naga

The Lion Temple in Naga,
dedicated to the Meroitic god
Apedemak, depicted either with a
lion s body or with a lion's head,
contains an element of Egyptian
temple architecture in its double-
towered pylon. The temple itself
consists of only one room, with a
wooden roof held up on four pil-
Isrs. The shrine to the god stood
on a stone base. These “one-room
temples" are an architectural form
characteristic of the Meroitic
Empire.
Roman Period, around the time
of Christ

Kiosk in Naga down in the peripteros and dipteros type of Greek architecture, with a single or
In addition to the Egyptian and double ring of columns surrounding the actual temple building. Ancient Egyptian,
the Meroitic architectural influ¬
Meroitic and Hellenistic formal languages are not merely found to co-exist in Naga,
ence in the Temple of Amun and
they are mingled within individual buildings. The kiosk of Naga, probably built in
the Lion Temple, a third element,
the third century A.D., is Egyptian in ground plan and has parallels with the Trajan's
the Hellenistic-Roman style, can
also be seen in the temples in kiosk in Philae and with the ones on the roof of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera.
Naga. This kiosk in Naga, with its The round-arch windows, however, have no parallel in Pharaonic architecture and
capitals and round arches overthe can only have come from Hellenistic-Roman architecture. Typical Meroitic motifs
windows, is the southernmost are interwoven in the details of the architectural ornament.
example of the influence of
The kiosk of Naga is the southernmost example of Hellenistic-Roman art. The
Alexandrine architecture. It dates
link established by the Meroitic empire with the Roman world to the north is
from around A.D. 300.
matched by an equivalent link that is beginning to show itself. Clear analogies are
emerging between Meroitic art and the art of the contemporary culture in Nok, on
the area now known as Nigeria, which was continued in the sculptures of the Yoruba
and in Benin. This points to clear cross-links with Central and West Africa, eviden¬
cing an east-west axis of influence in addition to the north-south axis, with the
empire of Meroe at the centre. To what extent architecture can be drawn into
this framework of influences cannot as yet be established, because of the lack of
architectural research in Nigeria.
Egyptian art, whose origins in the fifth and fourth millennia B.C. lay partly in the
African continent, returned, at the end of its uniquely long and continuous history,
to its roots.
The Cosmos in Stone i8g

Temples of the Ptolemaic and Roman Period
in Upper Egypt
Page 191 The Temple of Horus in Edfu

Statue of a falcon in the Temple of When the world-famous temples of Edfu and Dendera, Korn Ombo and Philae are
Horus in Edfu
held up as representative examples of Ancient Egyptian temple architecture, then
Pictorial and architectural styles
we may wonder, particularly in view of their date of construction, just how it is
dating back thousands of years
reached perfection in the temples possible to see in them the essence of 3 000 years of continuous architectural
of the Ptolemaic period. The history. For none of these temples, as we see them today, was built before the third
falconasthegodoftheskiesand century B.C.; all belong to a time when the Macedonian Ptolemaicdynasty (304-30
the protective deity of the king B.C.) and the Roman emperors (30 B.C.-A.D. 395) occupied the pharaoh's throne as
isasoldastheempireofthe foreign rulers.
pharaohs. And here, in one of the
Despite their late construction date (in Egyptian terms), these temples are
latest temples of Ancient Egypt,
the Temple of Horus in Edfu,
nevertheless typical examples of the temple architecture of Ancient Egypt, both in
the dignity of this divine animal terms of architectonic structure and individual architectural forms. They are bound
continues undiminished. up in a continuity which encompassed all aspects of life in Ancient Egypt, one deter¬
Ptolemaic Period, c. 100 B.C.; mined ultimately by the Nile valley environment, and for which we can still see much
granite evidence today. These latertemples of Egypt are extremely well preserved, due in
part to their relatively young age of just over 2 000 years, and the overall impression
conveyed by their courts, halls, corridors and sanctuaries must be very close to that
intended when they were first built. It was these same temples which inspired the
illustrators of the Description de t'Egypte, the publication produced after
Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, to fill the hypostyle halls with priests and cult
ceremonies.
Today visitors can still descend into the dark underground crypts, climb up to the
sun-baked roofs and sky-high pylons, and experience these temples as functioning
organisms. The relief pictures and inscriptions, covering not only all inside and
Relief representation of the
outside wall surfaces but also the columns and ceilings, hold the key to under¬
goddess Hathor
standing the theology and cult ceremonies of such shrines. However, it is a key
The over-rich jewellery, the ample
figures and the soft, rounded
which can only be used by those who not only master the highly complicated system
facial features are indications of the latest stage of hieroglyph writing, with its thousands of symbols, but who
that the reliefs were completed also know the code for deciphering this systematically constructed, but very
towards the final period of Egyp¬ complex, pictographic writing.
tian art under Roman rule. This
The Temple of Horus in Edfu, built between 237 and 71 B.C. on the site of a
representation of the goddess
ruined Ramesside building, is very well preserved and can be used to illustrate the
Hathor appears on the outside of
individual architectural components of a Ptolemaic and Roman temple.
the south wall of the birth house
in the temple complex of Dendera, Since the days of the Old Kingdom the function of an Egyptian temple was to
which was decorated with reliefs depict the divine order of the cosmos. The two pylon towers can be seen as the
and inscriptions between A.D. 90 image of the horizon, from which the sun rises; even in the sun temples of Amarna
and 120. The formal basis for this this idea was already quite clear, and on the pylon of the Temple of Horus in Edfu it
kind of representation has re¬
is represented pictorially. This cosmological symbolism is supported and put in
mained unchanged for 3 000 years.
concrete terms by placing the function of the pharaoh within that world order: the
It combines front and profile
views in a cubist design to produce
front of the pylons carry a representation of the king, holding a sword aloft in a
an image which is unrealistic, but threatening gesture tothe enemies of Egypt, in orderto subjugate them beforethe
nevertheless complete. god standing in front of him.
Late Flowering 193

' court behind the pylon represents the architectural link between earth and Pronaos of theTemple of Horus
en 1 he colonnade encircling the court has plant motifs in the column bases and in Edfu
capitals, depicting the vegetation shooting forth from the fertile Nile valley The transition from the light-
upwards towards the sun. Both the column shafts and the walls behind the ring of flooded court to the secret dark
interior of the innermost temple
columns are covered in frieze reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The themes in
rooms is formed by the pronaos,
the picture fields seem at first glance to be rather uniform; they show the pharaoh
whose half-height intercolumnar
making an offering to the gods. However, iconographicand inscription details show
front wall nevertheless still en¬
that each individual picture has a specific function, whether that of depicting a ables light to penetrate. The inter¬
particular phase of the cult ceremony, or as part of a geographical system that rupted door lintel also underlines
includes the whole of Egypt in the theology of the temple. The relief pictures fill the the opening of the pronaos towards
court, as the architectural model of the world-view, with life. the outside. As the room heights
decrease inside, this is mirrored
From the court narrow openings on both sides of the pronaos lead to an ambu¬
on the outside by the falling level
latory surrounding the temple, like a deep, dark ditch, between the doorless and
of the roofs in the roof court.
windowless encircling wall and the outer walls of the temple building, protecting it Ptolemaic Period, c. 237-71 B.C.
■f- T
Pylon of the Temple of Horus
in Edfu
The basic design of Egyptian
temple fagades remained essen¬
tially unchanged for thousands of
years. The two pylon towers with
the fixing points forthe flagpoles,
the large-format relief pictures of
the king, before Horus and
Hathor, setting out to conquer his
enemies, and the monumental
sculptural decoration had already
appeared in the temple fagades of
the New Kingdom.
Ptolemaic Period, c. 237-71 B.C.
Elevation and section of the pylon

of the Temple of Horus in Edfu
Inside the pylons are rooms which
were used to give access to the
flagpoles. These rooms were
reached via a staircase.
Late Flowering 195

ke an insulating layer against the outside world. A horizontal band of inscriptions
V large hieroglyphs runs along the base of the outer wall from one side of
the temple to the other. It contains a kind of record of the construction of the
temple of Edfu, and contains the following information on Ptolemy IX (c. 110 B.C.),
.D 0,dered the building of the temple: "He found the temple as a work of his
fathers like the horizon of Horus, who is at the top of the sky. The two fronts of
the antechamber are carried by lotus and papyrus columns, and it is as splendid as
the great palace. He constructed an outer court and a pylon with its gate, he
protects its surroundings with this wall on all four sides, following to the book of the
order of a temple, drawn up by the High Priest and teacher, Imhotep, the Great One,
sonofthegod Ptah. Hemadea court with columnsalong itssideanda pylon, reach¬
ing to the skies. He surrounded its ambulatory on all four sides with a wall of firm
light sandstone, and in this kept to the plan that was begun by his forefathers and
as set out in the great plan in this book, that fell from heaven to the north of
Court of the Temple of Horus
Memphis."
in Edfu
The history and the architectural form of the temple of Edfu are bound up in a The floral capitals of the columns
tradition that stretches back over millennia, as far back as Imhotep, the architect of indicate the origins of the form
the Step Pyramid of King Djoser in Saqqara. This awareness of tradition on the part of Egyptian columns in nature.
of the later builders in Egypt is again expressed in a picture field in the ambulatory: The sky, supported by the plant
columns, spans the court like a
Imhotep is here once more named and represented as a ritual leader in a staged
roof - an impressive combination
presentation of the Horus myth told in a long series of pictures and text on the outer
of architecture and cosmos.
western wall of the ambulatory.
96 Late Flowering
Relief figure showing the
personification of a district
Since the Old Kingdom the bases
of walls in Egyptian temples
had been decorated with reliefs
showing long processions of
bisexual orfemale figures who are
personifications of the districts or
towns of Egypt. They bring offer¬
ings from the Nile valley - water,
plants andall kinds of animals-as
sacrificestothegods, andthus
signify the material basis of life.
Ambulatory around the Temple of Returning to the court, the visitor enters the pronaos in the temple axis. The
Horus in Edfu front of the pronaos consists of columns and, in the same way as in the court colon¬
The ambulatory between outer
nade, the general impression intended by the mix of ancient palmiform capitals and
wallandtemplebuildingisinthe
typical Ptolemaic, composite floral capitals, is a unified one, a kind of resume of the
form of a deep trench, presenting
wide span of thousands of years of creative activity.
a barrier between the secular and
the sacred. Its defensive role is Intercolumnar walls are placed between the pillars of the pronaos front - these
underlined by the lion-headed are probably the stone representation of carpets hanging in front of the temple
water spouts which, according to fagade. They screen the inside of the temple from the court, but allow daylight to
their inscriptions, ward off storms enter into this part of the temple, which represents the transition from the secular
and rain and all evil things.
to the sacred. Before crossing this threshold even the king, as high priest, had first
to undergo certain rites. The intercolumnar walls show pictures of the cleansing of
the king before he entered the temple, a ritual carried out by the gods Horus and
Thoth.
The roof over the pronaos, supported on eighteen columns with composite,
floral capitals, bears relief pictures of the starry sky and thus translates the struc¬
ture of the open court into architectural form. The rear wall of the pronaos is
Late Flowering ig7

constructed like a pylon tower with sloping sides, roll moulding and cavetto Section and plan of theTemple of
cornice, and thus indicates a tent-like structure placed in front of the actual temple Horus in Edfu
building. So the whole can be seen to imitate its ancient prototypes. As the level of the floor rises from
Through the columned hall, the sacrificial altar and the Hall of the Ennead, is the the court to the inner sanctuary
sanctuary, in which stands the shrine with a statue of the god Horus - in Edfu this the height of the rooms decreases,
such that in theory the line of the
shrine originally camefrom an oldertemple, with inscriptions from the time of King
floor rising from the earth to the
Nectanebo II (c. 350 B.C.). Around the sanctuary, which seems to stand as an
skiesjoinsupintheinner sanctu¬
independent structure in a larger space, are chapels to other gods. From the court ary with the line falling from the
to the sanctuary the floor level rises from room to room, and the room height skies to the earth. The world of
decreases at the same rate, so that the rising floor level and the falling skyline meet humans and that of the gods
at the point where the image of the god is placed; access to this secret, dark place, therefore come into direct contact
at this point.
away from the brightness of the court, was reserved for the king or a high priest
1. Pylon, 2. Court, 3. Pronaos,
representing him, forthe performance of the daily ritual of the cult image.
4. Columned hall, 5. Inner sanctu¬
From the outside, looking from the pylon to the temple, this gradual reduction ary with naos, 6. Ambulatory,
in height can be seen in the stepped roof, which is not visible from ground level 7. Nilometer, 8. Encircling wall
outside the temple, because of the high outer walls. This area on the roof of the
temple, under the open skies, played an important part in cult ceremonies and
therefore steps were built leading to it from ground level.
98 Late Flowering
Coronation of the King
Nekhbet of Elkab, with the Upper
Egyptian crown, and Uto of Buto,
with the crown of Lower Egypt,
as goddesses of the two halves of
Egypt, perform the coronation of
the pharaoh. His crown unites the
two styles of crown in a double
crown. Crowned by the gods, the
ruler is nowtheir earthly repres¬
Columns in the court of the entative and the one who carries
Temple of Horus in Edfu out the daily ritual in the temple,
Not only the floral capitals reveal as a model of the world.
the inspiration from nature, but Temple of Horus in Edfu; Ptole¬
also the bases of the columns. maic Period, c. 150 B.C.
A stylised ring of leaves twines

around the base of the column,
showing it as a stem rising out of
the round stone base as if out of
a mound of earth.
f .* » m
fi lU
3WERINC 99
Page 200
Pronaos of the Temple of Horus
in Edfu column, reflecting the variety in
The closeness of the plant nature, and above them is the
columns in the pronaos does not stone roof which, with its depic¬
give the impression of a room, but tion of astronomical features,
of a stone forest. The form of the represents the sky.
capitals varies from column to Ptolemaic Period, c. 237-71 B.C.
Sanctuary in theTemple of Horus

The sanctuary is placed almost room enters through openings in
like a separate volume in the the roof, the beams of sunlight

innermost section of the temple. piercing the darkness to illuminate
The home forthe image of the god the space and the once brightly
is a sacred shrine encased within coloured relief decorations on the
the multiple layers of temple walls.

architecture. The only light in the Ptolemaic Period, c. 237-71 B.C.
Late LOWERING 201

Nowthatthe inscriptions and reliefs in the Horustemple in Edfu have been made
Inner room of the sanctuary in
accessible, in publications covering nearly a hundred years of research, the difficult the Temple of Horus in Edfu
task can begin of translating them and evaluating the content of the entire picture The inside of the innermost
and text programme of the temple, which focused on the myth of Horus. The sanctuary is completely dark. Only
elemental conflict between good and evil is represented in the battle between the during the daily ritual of the cult
image does daylight penetrate to
god Horus and Seth, who killed his brother Osiris, Horus's father. The triumphant
the shrine and the altar block on
victory of the youthful hero, Horus, is the mythical expression of the role of the
which the god's barque could
Egyptian king as a guarantor of political and cosmic order, for the pharaoh sits on
be placed. From inside this place
the Horus throne . From the earliest times, the pharaoh bore the name Horus as of quiet and sanctity, the outside
the first of his names; he was the earthly form of god. world seems far away, kept at a
The ancient surroundings of the temple of Horus lie under 10 to 15 m of the distance by the succession of
debris of later occupation, on part of which the modern town of Edfu stands. In the temple rooms, courts and peri¬
meter walls.
course of millennia the town grew up around the temple and finally covered it
entirely. It was not until the excavation work in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries that the temple was again brought to light - almost undamaged, apart
from the systematic hacking off of faces, hands and feet from all the representa¬
tions of people. This was carried out by early Christians, eager to destroy the work
of heathens and to convert Ancient Egyptian shrines into Christian churches, a
process that can be seen in many other places.
02 Late Flowering
Shrine to the gods in the Temple In excavating the temple a small shrine was found close by, to the left of the main
of Horus in Edfu temple axis. In its position in relation to the main temple, its architectural type.and
The king as high priest (orthe its pictorial programme, this temple is very similar to the birth houses in Dendera.
high priest representing the king)
This shrine or birth house is the place in which Horus and his goddess Hathor
processed from the secular
celebrated the divine marriage, and from which the youthful god Harsomtus
outside world to the sacred inner
sanctuary along a long path to emerges, "Horus, who unites the two lands"; in other words, a divinity closely
perform the ritual of the cult related to the king. The myth of the divine birth of the Egyptian king, as evidenced
image, at the shrine with the god's in the temple in Luxor for Amenhotep III and in Deir el-Bahari for Hatshepsut, is
statue. This shrine, which actually translated here into divine spheres.
comes from an oldertemple,
In its alignment parallel to the south-north course of the Nile, the Temple of
was the most precious part of the
Horus in Edfu breaks the basic rules for placement of Ancient Egyptian temples,
whole complex. It bears the name
of Nectanebo II (c. 350 B.C.) and
which were usually positioned at right angles to the Nile, but in its clarity of ground
is made from a granite monolith. plan it is nevertheless the classic example of a "house of god".
Inside it was asmallshrineofgold
in which the golden statue of the
god was kept.
Late Flowering 203

The Temple of Isis on Philae
A very individual and unusual temple complex from the Ptolemaic-Roman period, The Temple of Isis on the island of
quite unlike that in Edfu, is situated in the far north of Nubia atthe beginning of the Philae
First Cataract, on the Nile island of Philae. Here, at the border between Kushite The greattemples of the Ptolem¬
tribal land and Egypt proper. King Taharqa (690-664 B.C.) of Dynasty XXV built a aic Period in Upper Egypt were
built as farsouth as Philae. This
shrine to the god Amun, perhaps as a kind of religious and political interface
island onthe Nile, just south of
between the two regions. Under Amasis (570-526 B.C.) the first Temple of Isis was
the First Cataract, in fact lies
built on Philae, and many hundreds of the relief blocks used in its construction have beyond the borders of Egypt, in
survived.
the far north of the Nubian Nile
The history of the temple complex we see today began with Nectanebo I valley. As a result of this location
(380-362 B.C.) who built a kiosk on the southern tip of the island. To the north of the temples on Philae were virtu¬
the kiosk he built a temple gate and a hundred years later this gate was integrated ally predestined to be the model
fortemples builtfurtherto the
in the First Pylon of the Temple of Isis. From that time onwards, into the period of
south, between the First and the
the Roman emperors, many individual temples were constructed all over the island,
Second Cataracts, during the
their location probably determined by the rocky terrain. This is also an explanation Ptolemaic-Roman Period. Philae's
for the irregular plan of the Temple of Isis; a giant lump of granite was reformed into influence can even be seen much
a stele and used where it stood in the right-hand tower of the Second Pylon. further to the south in the
The outer court of the Temple of Isis extends in a trapezium shape from the kiosk Meroitic Kingdom.
Ptolemaic and Roman Period,
of Nectanebo towards the First Pylon, thus gaining optical depth. The steps,
c. 250 B.C.-third century A.D.
flanked by lion statues and leading to the First Pylon, are a very un-Egyptian build¬
ing form, which can perhaps be explained by the need here to accommodate the
steeply sloping granite terrain. The temple axis changes direction twice, and, for
; easons of lack of space, the birth house, which should lie at a right angle to the axis,
in front of the temple, is placed here instead between the First and Second Pylons
and is turned into the temple axis.
34 Late Flowering
Elevation (from the west) and
plan of the temples on Philae
The axis of theTemple of Isis is angle to it, is found here parallel 5. First pylon
angled a number of times along to the axis, between the first and 6. Court
its length from the kiosk on the the second pylons. Also, the 7. Birth house
southern tip of the island to the changes of level between the 8. Second pylon
inner sanctuary. The ancillary outer court and the innertemple 9. Columned hall
temple structures are also ar¬ zone are here more clearly marked 10. Inner sanctuary
ranged irregularly. The reason for than in othertemples. Again the 11. Temple of Hathor
this unusual layout probably lies in topography is thought to have 12. Roman kiosk
the problems posed by the topo¬ been the determining factor. 13. Hadrian's gate
graphy of the island and its 1. Kiosk of Dynasty XXX
granite cliffs. The birth house. 2. Outer court with colonnades
which should normally be placed 3. Temple of Arensnuphis
in front of the temple at a right 4. Chapel of Imhotep
Late Flowering 205

West colonnade of the outer court
ofthe Temple of Isis on Philae
The outer court in front of the first
pylon in the Temple of Isis is unusu¬
ally long and narrow. Its left-hand,
western colonnade stands on the
inside of a court wall which falls
away steeply towards the Nile.
The changing shapes ofthe plant
capitals create the impression that
the court, as an island in the Nile,
is surrounded by a papyrus thicket.
Roman Period, first century A.D.
According to the classical model of the Temple of Horus in Edfu, behind the
Second Pylon should bea columned court,the pronaos with its intercolumnarwalls
and the hypostyle hall. However, in the Temple of Isis, lack of available building
space has led to an original compression ofthe plan. The court has shrunk to 5 m in
depth, and the colonnades on both sides consist of only a single column. Immedi¬
ately behind the intercolum nar walls ofthe pronaos facade is the hypostyle hall with
just one row of columns.
In this compact enclosure stands the Temple of Isis like a fortress ofthe gods at
a pc"nt on the Nlle that has been ofthe greatest importance for the whole of Egypt
nee ancient times. The First Cataract was thought to be the source ofthe Nile; it
was here, from the rapids around the granite cliffs of the cataracts, that the river
owed int0 E9YPA at Elephantine. The god of creation worshipped on the island of
36 Late Flowering
Capital at Trajan's kiosk on Philae
The 2 500-year-old motif of the
papyrus column developed in the
composite columns of the Ptolem¬
aic Period into a bundle of papyrus
plants, built up from the bottom
of the column to the top in layers
of increasing thickness.
Roman Period, c. A.D. 100
First Pylon of the Temple of Isis on

the island of Philae
The sharp difference in levels would stand here, as seen in front
between the court and the pylon, of the pylon tower on the right.
created by the lie of the land, also The door leads to the birth house
prompted the use of a flight of directly behind the pylon. The
steps, in a way quite untypical of central door arch in the pylon
Egyptian temples. Also unusual is dates from Dynasty XXX; the
the door in the pylon tower on the pylon towers were added later,
left; normally two statues of gods during the Ptolemaic Period.
OWERINC 207
Page 209
Birth house in the Temple of Isis
on Philae
The birth house stands like an
independent architectural unit on
the western edge of the court
between the first and second
pylons of the Temple of Isis. Placed
around the actual temple struc¬
ture is a ring of columns with
composite and Hathor capitals,
supporting the roof like a shade¬
giving canopy. Between the
columns are half-height inter-
columnar walls which are meant
to screen from view the inside of
the temple, the birth-place of the
divine child.
c. 250 B.C.-third century A. D.
Capital on the birth house of the

Temple of Isis on Philae
The shape of the columns is appro¬
priate to the function of the birth
house, i.e. as a place in which the
goddess-mother gives birth to
her divine offspring. The capital
shows the head of the goddess
Hathor. In this human features are
combined with the ears of a cow,
thus indicating the animal form
of the goddess of the skies.
c. 250 B.C.-third century A.D.
Elephantine is Khnum, who formed mankind on his potter's wheel. In front of his
temple is the Nilometer", the measuring mark on which the leaner and the fatter
years of life in the valley can be read off. The idea of the First Cataract as the source
of the Nile is illustrated in a temple relief on the island of Philae: the Nile god Hapi,
in human form, is depicted crouching in a rocky cave and pouring water out of a
container.
During the last few centuries before Christ the island of Philae and its temples
formed the border between Ptolemaic Egypt and the independent kingdom of
Meroe. Since the conquest of Egypt by Rome this was also the southern border of
the Roman Empire; various attempts by the Roman emperors to extend their
territory further south failed. The position of the island as a border-post of the
Empue also explains the upsurge in building activity in the first and second
centuries A. D. Under Emperor Augustus the colonnades of the large outer court and
a small Temple of Hathor were built; under Trajan, the grand kiosk on the eastern
edge of the island was constructed; and under Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius
a monumental gate was built to the north-east. A considerable portion of the reliefs
and inscriptions in the entire temple area were executed in the period of Roman
rule.
08 Late Flowering
if*
v4
t A'fi
r.0 lD- ''
S >i
& Hrjv
IP _!.»—ft
Columned hall of theTemple of
Isis on Philae
This idealised view, painted by
the artists who accompanied
Napoleon's Egyptian expedition,
makes the columned hall of the
Temple of Isis on Philae seem
much widerthan was ctually the
case in the narrow confines
between the second pylon and the
innerzone. The colourful wall and
column reliefs, however, give an
authentic impression of the hall
and its spatial effect.
After: Description de I'Egypte, 1809
Columned hall in the Temple of Isis

The lack of suitably broad, flat
expanses on which to build led on
Philae to a fusion of pronaos and
columned hall. Behind the second
pylon is a court which has only one
row of columns, followed by the
columned hall with only two rows
of columns, separated off from the
courtyard by intercolumnar walls.
c. 250 B.C.-third century A. D.
Cult activities on the island of Philae continued into the sixth century A.D.; the
latest hieroglyphic texts (A.D. 394) are to be found on Philae, and so, too, the latest
demotic inscriptions (A.D. 452), and as such the last dated example of a script that
originated three and a half thousand years before. The particular tenacity of
Ancient Egyptian religion on the island is due certainly to its border location; Philae
became an island retreat for believers in the old gods, an escape from advancing
Christendom.
For Egypt's southern neighbours, Nubia and the Sudan, Philae played a multi¬
plier role in terms of relaying Egyptian religion, script and art up the Nile for
hundreds of years. Several small temples in Lower Nubia have reliefs which are
dnect parallels to the Temple of Isis on Philae, and even in more distant places, like
Musawwarat el-Sufra and Meroe in the Sudan, the influence of the texts in the
Temple of Isis can be seen in the hieroglyphic inscriptions in temples and tombs.
On Philae itself the gods of Meroe are not only present in the wall reliefs but also
have shrines dedicated to them. The god Mandulis has a chapel in the east colon¬
nade, and, in about 210 B.C., in a prominent place just behind the entrance kiosk, a
temple was built to the Meroitic god Arensnuphis.
2io Late Flowering

Representation of the source
of the Nile
An unusual picture on Hadrian's
Gate to the west of the second
pylon of the Temple of Isis on
Philae shows the Nile emerging
from its source at the First
Cataract. A plump Nile god
wearing a head-dress of papyrus
leaves squats in a cave underthe
high granite cliffs of the First
Cataract. In his hands he holds
containers from which flows
water. He is thus presented as the
source of the life-giving water.
Roman Period, second
century A.D.
No less than four Christian churches were built on the island, from the middle of
the sixth century A.D. onwards, as a counterbalance to the bulwark of Ancient
Egyptian religion which survived on Philae longerthan anywhere else.
The special role played bythetemples on Philae continues even today. As part of
a UNESCO campaign to rescue the ancient buildings of Nubia now under threat
from the Nasser Dam, these temples were the last to be moved in their entirety to a
higher location on the artificially enlarged island of Agilkia. The monuments on
Philae had already suffered severe damage from the beginning of the twentieth
century, afterthe construction and raising of the old Aswan dam, which resulted in
the island being under water for at least part of the year. The dismantling of the
temples and their reconstruction on a safe site has not only saved these "pearls of
Egypt" with their much lauded harmony of architecture and landscape, for later
generations, but have also provided a valuable opportunity to investigate the older
structures concealed beneath the Ptolemaic temples. It was this archaeological
work which uncovered the Kushite origins of the temples of Philae.
Late Flowering 211

Trajan's kiosk on the island of
Philae
The last monumental building in
the temple complex on Philae is a
kiosk for processions of the gods.
The kiosk was begun in about A.D.
100 but was never finished. There
are almost no reliefs or inscrip¬
tions apart from a few preliminary
drawings and secondary texts. As
in the case of other kiosks there
was no solid stone ceiling, just a
wooden construction to support a
tent-like covering.
Trajan's kiosk on the island of

Philae
Many thin plant stems are bound
together into massive columns
with capitals shaped into variously
sized umbels. The high header
blocks above the composite cap¬
itals were probably intended to be
decorated with Hathor heads, as
in the birth house. Above the
doorway on the cavetto are two
rough blocks, one above the
other, to which sun discs
with uraeuses would have been
attached.
Roman Period, c. A.D. 100
3WERINC
■* ,. .
.x
-A..
The Temple of Hathor in Dendera

Reconstruction of the temple
Many temples bear the traces of a transformation from Ancient Egyptian shrine to complex of the goddess Hathor
Christian church. In the festival hall ofTuthmosis III in the Temple of Amun in Karnak in Dendera
paintings of Christian saints overlay the column reliefs. The inner courts of the The temple precinct of the
mortuary temple of Ramesses III in Medinet Habu were converted into closed goddess Hathor in Dendera has
church rooms. The term nowadays used for the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut survived very well, due to its late
construction date (54 B.C.-
"Deir el-Bahari", means simply "north cloister", indicating that Coptic monks built
A.D. 60). Insidethe encircling
a cloister in the ruins of the Pharaonic shrine.
wall, on the right in front of the
These later changes to Ancient Egyptian building structures have largely been Temple, are the birth houses and
obliterated in the course of archaeological excavations to uncover the original, the "sanatorium"; in the back
older buildings. However, the interweaving of temple and church can still be seen right-hand corner of the temple is
to this day in the complex of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera. Without destroying the sacred lake and, behind the
temple, a shrine to the goddess
oreven damaging, theshrinestotheold gods, a church was built right infrontofthe Isis. A few hundred metres away
fagade of the pronaos on the west side of theouter court.
to the south-east is a separate
Despite the late date of its construction - started in the late Ptolemaic period, temple precinct to the god
then continued under Tiberius and Nero, but never fully completed - the whole Harsomtus. The Temple of Hathor
Hathor Temple complex is the best preserved example of a late Egyptian temple was never completed. Only rudi¬
complex. Achannel was dug atarightanglefrom the Nileto the temple, thus estab- mentary stone foundations were
llshmg the temPle's axis. Encircling the temple area of 280 x 280 m is a mud-brick laid forthe pylon and the inner
perimeter wall.
wall, 10 m thick. The alternating concave and convex curved segments of the wall
show a clear wave structure, which is probably intended as an image of the primor¬
dial sea out of which the temple rises as a primordial hill, a place of creation.
Late Flowering
-
i vW.
Mia — ( V
%
jftStA.
. } • i * ’ / 1 Si* '*4^1 :9. '4XV

miaiMJ
■finite !
Church in the outer court of the Within this enclosure and to the right of the temple is a well preserved holy
Temple of Hathor in Dendera "lake", which is a 25 x 30 m basin walled with sandstone blocks. It was used for cult
In the late fifth century A.D. a
purposes, such as ritual boat journeys and cult games, and was a mythical place and
Christian church was built be¬
source of holy water. Not far from this pool, on the west side of the outer court, is a
tween the two birth houses on the
right-hand side of the outer court
brick building with small walled basins in its large inner court; around the court are
of the Temple of Hathor. The small cubicles. Inscriptions state that the function of this building was a place of
Ancient Egyptian temples were healing, or sanatorium, where patients were treated by means of a series of baths,
left intact. The sacred sites of the healing sleep and magical practices. Two other temples are situated on the same
older Egyptian and the newer side of the outer court at right angles to the axis of Temple of Hathor, but separated
Christian religion stand side by
from each other by the church erected at a later date; the temples have similar
side in peace and harmony.
ground plans, but are in different states of preservation - the older one, built under
Nectanebo I (380-362 B.C.), has been largely destroyed, while the more recent one,
from the time of the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98-117), is almost fully preserved. The
temple building itself is surrounded by an ambulatory of plant columns with
composite capitals, of which the abacuses are decorated with relief figures of the
god Bes. The function of the building is indicated by the architectural type, Bes
motifs and the reliefs on the intercolumnar walls showing Hathorand heryoung son
Harsomtus; the relief cycles inside the temple elaborate upon this theme. Amun-Re
and Hathor enter into a divine marriage, from which union results Harsomtus,
"Horus, who unites the two lands". The birth house, a fixed component of temple
complexes in the Ptolemaic-Roman period, is a stone version of a tent roof
supported on plant columns, in the shade of which the mother, segregated from the
ATE FLOWERINC 215

Fagade of the pronaos of the
Temple of Hathor in Dendera
As the pylon was not completed
the main front is formed by the
pronaos, which should actually
have been the back wall of the
temple court. The column form,
with its Hathor capitals, is a direct
reference to the divinity to whom
the shrine is dedicated.
Roman Period, c. first century A. D.
Sacred lake in the temple complex

of Dendera
The sacred lake is an integral part
of an Ancient Egyptian temple
complex. It had quite a varied
role in the day-to-day life of
thetemple-asanimageofthe
primeval ocean, as a stage for
ceremonial boat trips and as a
reservoir for water. On all four
sides of this very well preserved
lake basin in Dendera we can
still see the steps which led down
to the bottom of the lake.
Relief at the Temple of Hathor
in Dendera
The Roman emperor, as a pharaoh,
makes a sacrifice to the goddess
Isis and her son, Harsomtus.This
son, "Horus, who united the two
lands", is the original divine image
of the king. The linking of rulers
and religion continued into the
Late Period in Egypt. From an
Egyptian point of view, even the
foreign rulers, Ptolemaic and
Roman, were holders of the high
office of pharaoh, without which
the world order could not be
maintained.
Roman Period, c. 54 B.C.-A.D. 60
Roman birth house in Dendera

Both the decoration of the header
blocks above the composite
capitals with figures of the god
Bes, and the relief pictures on the
intercolumnar walls refertothe
cult function of the temple, as the
place in which the divine marriage
between Amun and Hathor and
the birth of theirchild Ihy was
celebrated. The cult role of the
king bringing sacrifices to the
gods is fulfilled by the ruler, even
though this ruler is now a Roman
emperor.
Late Flowering 217

WERI
Page 218 above left
Water spout at the Temple of
Hathor in Dendera
Water channels cut through the
temple walls drain water from the
roof courtyard above the inner
temple rooms and direct it
through an opening between the
front paws of the lion-shaped
spouts. The inscription describes
the lion as a creature that wards
off evil and protects the temple
from bad weather.
Page 218 above right

Plan and cross-section of the
The ground plan of the temple
differs little from the standard
layout of Ptolemaictemples. The
succession of pronaos, columned
hall, sacrificial hall, hall of appear¬
ances and inner sanctuary is al¬
most identical with that of Edfu.
The cross-section shows the three
levels of crypts concealed within
the outer walls.
Page 218 below

West side of the Temple of Hathor
in Dendera
Only the water spouts indicate the
level of the roof court above the
inner rooms of the temple. This
court is hidden from view behind
the outer wall, which is extended
upwards. The sloping sides and
shaped cornice are reminiscent of
the origins of stone architecture
in mud-brick building.
Pronaos of theTemple of Hathor

in Dendera
The sistrum columns, typical of
Dendera, bearthe face of Hathor
on all foursides of the capitals.
The stranded wig framing the
woman's face and cow-ears of
each Hathor head is at the same
time a very skilful solution for a
smooth transition at the corners.
Late Flowering 2ig
main building, passes her confinement, protected by the gnome-like god Bes.
Roof of the pronaos in the Temple
However, a divine marriage also links Hathor of Dendera with Horns of Edfu, the of Hathor in Dendera
product of which union is Ihy. As god of music he embodies an essential character¬ The roof and the architrave are
istic of his mother Hathor, as expressed in the iconography of her shrines and in decorated with representations of
particular in her temple in Dendera: the columns of the pronaos, the front of which the path of the sun,thusturning
the stone temple roof into an
now forms the fagade of the temple (because the court and pylon were never
image of the heavens. Here in
finished) are in theform of monumental sistra or rattles. Abovethe column shaftthe
Dendera, the skies are not sup¬
capital is in the form of a four-sided Hathor head, a woman's face seen from the
ported by plant columns but by
front, with cow s ears, alluding to the animal form of the mother goddess. On top monumental Hathor sistra, rattles
of the capital, again on all four sides, is depicted the fagade of a chapel, flanked by used in the cult of the goddess.
cow's horns stylised into spirals. In the hypostyle hall these complex capital forms The architecture thus becomes a
sit on top of another, composite capital, thus reducing the shaft length to only half visible and immediate symbol of
that of the column. cult music in honour of Hathor.

Roman Period, c. 54 B.C. - A.D. 60
The Hathor-head motif, so characteristic of the temple fagade, is met again on a
larger scale on the rear external wall of the temple building. Here it takes the form
of a very deeply cut relief, placed exactly on the temple axis, half-way up the wall.
Surrounding the Hathor head we can see dowel holes which would have been used
for fixing gold sheet panels, and also fixing points for a small chapel used as a
popular place of devotion; this would have been a kind of mirror image of the shrine
itself. On the other side of this wall, at exactly the same spot in the central axis of
the temple, is a small Hathor head, placed on the back wall of a temple space on the
upper floor, where the cult image of Hathor was probably kept. The inner sanctuary
could thus be projected to the outside through the temple walls without itself being
subjected to the gaze of the common people.
11 e key events in an Egyptian temple, the encounter between the king and the
image of god, always remained shrouded in secrecy. The brick ramparts protectthe
ate Flowering
Sanctuary in the Temple of Hathor
in Dendera
The pictures of the path of the sun
on the ceiling of the pronaos are
matched in the innermost room of
the temple, in which the sanctuary
stands like a separate building,
with small openings in the roof
and atthetopof the walls. During
the course of the day these
openings allowthe sun to track
across the reliefs on the outer wall
of the sanctuary, bringing this
star into the picture world of the
temple walls.
temple area from the outside world and the encircling wall conceals the actual
temple - in Dendera this wall did not pass the foundation stage and is therefore
particularly easy to recognise. The outer wall of the temple building is continued
upwards behind the pronaos to such a height that it transforms the roof space above
the temple rooms into a broad enclosed court. In this space are several small shrines
of great cult significance. In a kiosk with Hathor columns the union of the cult statue
Hathor with the sun-god was celebrated, and in the two chapels of Osiris cult
ceremonies of the resurrection of the murdered god took place as part of the Osiris
mysteries. Apotropaic, lion-headed gargoyles pierce the outer wall of the temple
roof to keep evil away from the important cult area.
Equally invisible from the outside are the crypts of Dendera, laid out in a corridor
system on three floors inside the massive outer walls of the temple. The exception¬
ally carefully worked wall reliefs tell the secret of the function of these inaccessible
spaces, reached only through hidden hatches; they were the treasuries in which the
Wall relief in the pronaos of the
golden cult objects of the temple were kept. In the texts in the crypts the founda¬
The wall reliefs of Ptolemaic tion of the Temple of Hathor is traced back to the time of the Old Kingdom. Three
temples are generally divided into thousand years of religious and artistic tradition have found lasting expression
a series of small scenes. A closer here.
study of the pictures and the
hieroglyphic inscriptions reveals a
detailed and very well thought out
system of theological, cult and
topographical references in which
each picture has a carefully
worked out place.
Late Flowering 221

ictims of Progress: Temples Destroyed in the Nineteenth
Century
All the large temples from the Ptolemaic-Roman the Old Kingdom until the Roman rule, has a quite Close to Esna, in 1828, the Temple of Isis in
period follow the same rules governing overall unique and individual character. The fewtemple Contra Latopolis (c. 100 B.C.-A.D. 180) was
structure. The sequence of spaces, from pylons remains we can still see today are just a small destroyed, and in 1843 in the same area the small
to the inner sanctuary, is an essential feature, number of the manytemples built from the First temple of El Deir was used to provide the build¬
and fulfils cult requirements in terms of the Cataract down to the Mediterranean. In addition ing material for a factory in Esna. In Central
temple serving both as the place where man and to the well preserved temples at Edfu, Philae and Egypt, in around 1830, the ruins of the Ptolemaic
god meet in the daily cult image ritual and as a Dendera there is also an unusual shrine in Korn temple of Antaeopolis were exploited as a
representation of the cosmos through the Ombo, dedicated to two gods of equal status and quarry, delivering building material for the
themes depicted on the walls and ceilings. In all featuring, accordingly, two parallel temple axes;
construction of a palace in Assiut. The list of
temples the ceilings, with their astronomical in Esna, too, one of the latest Egyptian temples, similar acts of vandalism is much longer, and is
representations, are images of the heavens, worked on until A.D. 250, a unique complex, has
not restricted to buildings constructed in the
opening the temple to the sky, and to a certain survived, although on lythe pronaos is left stand¬ later periods of Ancient Egyptian architecture,
extent also belying their own architectural ing in the Temple of Khnum.
but extends to all periods of Pharaonic history.
substance. The ritual scenes on the walls present, Just two centuries ago, at the time of Two shrines of the New Kingdom on the island of
in a fixed sequence of cult proceedings, a com¬ Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, there were
Elephantine were no longer in existence in 1837,
pressed and ritualised form of I ife. The lower part
considerably more well-preserved temples than although they were shown on illustrations from
of the walls and the temple flooring embody the now. To the south of Thebes, as part of the
the early part of the nineteenth century as
floor of the Nile valley, from which the created
Temple of Montu in Armant, was a birth house completely preserved structures.
world rises up in the form of pillars. The temple as from the late Ptolemaic Period with a unique Under Viceroy Muhammed Ali the industrial¬
a model of the world, an architectural pro¬ double kiosk in front of its fagade. In 1861/62 it isation of Egypt had absolute priority above all
gramme valid from the days of the Old Kingdom, other interests, and thus, in expectation of
was demolished and its sandstone blocks used
is most impressively formulated in the later development aid benefits, he generously
for building a sugar factory. A similar fate befell
temples. allowed foreign museums to collect Egyptian
several temples in Elkab, a shrine to Thoth, the
antiquities. Although nowadays archaeological
Despite this overall scheme fortemple archi¬
main temple of Nekhbet and a barque shrine
research has quite different criteria and prior¬
tecture, each of the major Egyptian shrines, from from the time of Tuthmosis III. ities, we can hardly accuse the archaeologists of
Temple of Montu in Armant

In about 40 B.C., under Cleopatra
VII, a temple was erected in
", - ” trap i < Armant to the south of Thebes.

No trace of it remains today.
Napoleon's archaeologists, how¬
ever, were still able to see this im¬
pressive building. Haifa century
after their visit the temple was
dismantled block by block to
provide building material fora
nearby sugar factory.
After: Description de I'Egypte,
1809
Late Flowering
Temples in the town of Elkab
The rectangular-shaped urban
district of Elkab in Upper Egypt
had a number of New Kingdom
temples within its walls. The only
impression we can still gain of
these buildings comes from early
nineteenth-century publications,
as the same fate befell these
temples as befell the Temple of
Montu in Armant.
After: Description de I'Egypte, 1809
Temple in the El-Kebir district

Man's destruction of the temples
in Egypt was aided and abetted by
nature. In 1821 the Ptolemaic
temple in the El-Kebir district in
Central Egypt was swept away and
completely destroyed by the Nile
floods. The drawings in Descrip¬
tion de I'Egypte give an impression
of how it used to look. All the
columns were plant columns.
Late Flowering 223

Temple of Amenhotep III on
Elephantine
In 1822 two temples on the island
of Elephantine near Aswan were
completely destroyed. The temple
of Amenhotep III consisted of a
two-roomed sanctuary, with a
row of pillars on each long side
and two columns flanking the
entrance. Not farfrom this spot a
temple of Tuthmosis III was also
destroyed in the same year.
After: Description del'Egypte, 1809
that time of irresponsibly stripping the country

of thousands of antiquities and transporting
them away. If it were not for the activities of
those museums, the majority of the works they
collected would by now have been burned in
lime-kilns or incorporated in industrial buildings.
A change in Egypt's attitude towards its ancient
monuments seems only now to be taking place,
less for reasons of historical interest, than out of
materialistic concerns; the care of Egypt's
ancient monuments has become a very important
factor in tourism, which is of key economic signi¬
ficance for the country. However, this new¬
found motivation in preserving the ancient
monuments has been unable to deal with the
immediate threat posed to these monuments by
environmental pollution and the population
explosion.
Temples near Esna

The temples of Contra Latopolis
and El-Deir near Esna were dis¬
mantled in 1828 and 1843to
provide stone for industrial build¬
ings. The only impression we now
have of these Ptolemaic structures
is in Description de I'Egypte, 1809.
LOWERING
Epilogue
Egyptian Influence in the West
At the end of almost three thousand years of history in Ancient Egypt the cultural
tradition of the empire of the pharaohs lived longer in its southern sphere of influ¬
ence than in its Egyptian home. In an Egypt under Roman rule, the formal structures
and motifs of Egyptian art faded into the background and became rare phenomena
in early Christian art in that country. In architecture there was a direct line of devel¬
opment from the floral capitals of the temples during the Roman period, the Temple
of Khnum in Esna being the best example, to the basket capitals of the early
churches; these in turn had an indirect influence via Byzantine art on early
Romanesque art. In the architecture of early Christian monasteries, which made use
of old temples as quarries, certain Ancient Egyptian forms were retained; the outer
wall of the White Monastery near Sohag is crowned by a hollow cornice, for
Propylaeum in the Konigsplatz example.
in Munich Long before its demise, however, Egyptian architecture, as part of Egyptian art,
In classical architecture Ancient had nevertheless left cl ear traces beyond the Nile valley. In view of the political and
Egypt played only a minor role.
cultural dominance of Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean, it can be no surprise to
Greek and Roman influence was
find typical Egyptian forms on Cyprus, in architecture dating from the first half of
so dominant that even when
Egyptian models were used, they
the first millennium B.C. Many Egyptian-style statues and Hathor capitals demon¬
remained a secondary element. strate the popular Egyptian style on Cyprus at the time. Carriers of these motifs
The two pylon towers of the were Egyptian-style designs on Phoenician ivory carvings. Less well known,
Propylaeum in the Konigsplatz in perhaps, is the evidence of the influence of Egyptian architecture in the Nabataean
Munich (1846-1860) are over¬
rock city of Petra, tothe north of Aqaba in present-dayJordan: here wefind notonly
shadowed by the central gateway
obelisks which were probably modelled on Egyptian examples, but also rock-cut
built in the form of a Doric temple.
tombs, some of the fagades of which are finished with roll moulding and cavettos.
Recent evidence of worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis in Petra underlines the
links between this city and its Egyptian neighbour.
An exchange of art forms between places that are close to each other is under¬
standable, but the presence of Egyptian elements in the architecture of Rome, so
far from Egypt, cannot be explained in terms of geographical proximity. No less
than fourteen ancient obelisks stand today in Rome. Their locations are some of the
most important squares in the city: St Peter's Square, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza
Rotonda in front of the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Lateran basilica, Trinita dei
Monti above the Spanish Steps and the Quirinal. Originally there were probably
more than forty obelisks in Ancient Rome. Many of them were brought to Rome
from temples all over Egypt, from Heliopolis to Karnak. In their new location they
served partly as trophies, as symbols of the victory of the would-be world power of
Rome over the former might of the pharaohs, who submitted to Rome with the
suicide of the last of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra. Other obelisks that were erected by
the Roman emperors had a quite different function. They were placed in the heart
of Ancient Rome, on the Field of Mars, in a temple devoted to the worship of the
Egyptian gods, Isis and Sarapis (Osiris-Apis). As far as we can reconstruct from the
Forma Urbis, a town plan of ancient Rome, and from the results of the few excava¬
tions in this area, the architectural form of this temple has no direct reference to
Epilogue 225
Tomb facade in Petra
Examples of roll moulding and
cavetto, as typically Egyptian
building forms, can also be found
in the rock city of Petra in Jordan.
At the end of its 3000-year-old
history Egypt's art, culture and
religion exerted its influence far
beyond the edges of the Nile
Valley.
original Ancient Egyptian architecture, but has instead its own distinct language of
forms. However, it was perceived to be typically Egyptian in style, and is found in
other places within the context of shrines to Egyptian gods. The semi-circular
exedta in the southern part of the Iseum Campense in Rome has a counterpart in
Praeneste, where Isis was worshipped from the second century B.C. onwards, and
in the Villa Hadriana in Tivoli, the Emperor Hadrian's garden palace with its artifi¬
cial Nile, a long pool of water along the edges of which were placed statues of
Egyptian gods. The shrines of Isis in Rome were a mixture of pseudo-Egyptian archi¬
tecture, historicising effects with Egyptianising columns and statues and also a real
museum containing original obelisks and statues, imported from Egypt.
from these first cult shrines to Egyptian gods in Rome, the worship of Isis, Osiris
and Apis spread throughout the entire Roman empire. Thus the death of the Egyp-
Epilogue
Obelisk in the Piazza Navona
in Rome
In the days of the Roman Empire,
Egyptian monuments were trans¬
ported to Rome for two reasons -
on the one hand as trophies and
on the other as prized relics of an
ancient and revered culture. Many
of the Egyptian objects found in
Rome, including several of the
fourteen Roman obelisks, origin¬
ally stood in a temple to the
Egyptian gods which was located
not far from the Pantheon, on the
Field of Mars. The obelisk in the
Piazza Navona bears the name of
Emperor Dorn it ian (A. D. 81 -96),
written in hieroglyphs.
tian religion in Egypt coincided with a spread of Egyptian cults through the entire
known world at the time.
An upsurge of interest in the culture of the pharaohs, fired by this flowering of
Ancient Egyptian tradition far from its place of origin, has been apparent in Central
Europe since the Middle Ages. In the thirteenth century Egyptian sphinxes sculpted
for the Lateran basilica were doubtless modelled on the ancient ones transported
to Rome. In San Marco in Venice the mosaic pictures of the story of Joseph show the
grain stores of the pharaohs in the form of steep-sided, pointed pyramids. Reports
and probably also drawings by the crusaders, who often made a special trip into
Egypt, south to Cairo, may well have been the source of such ideas. The towering
height of the pyramids of Giza seems to have made such a lasting impression that it
led to an exaggeration of the proportions of pyramids.
Epilogue 227
The pyramids in the paintings of Nicolas Poussin and in the architecture of J.B.
Mosaic in San Marco in Venice
Fischer von Erlach are very similar, in terms of their steeply sloping sides, to the One of the channels through
pyramids in Deir el-Medinah and in the Sudan. However, neither Upper Egypt nor which knowledge about Ancient
even the Sudan were on the route of the early travellers to the East. And so it can Egypt has been transmitted to the
only have been their imagination that led to these forms. Hubert Robert, in his West isthe Bible. The Old Testa¬
ment story of Joseph and his
fantastic paintings, delivered the proof: the tips of his steep-sided pyramids disap¬
brothers is sometimes placed
pear completely into the clouds.
firmly in an Egyptian context. The
The rediscovery of the ancient world by Renaissance scholars directed attention grain stores of the pharaoh, which
to Egypt via the writers of antiquity. Egypt was famed as the cradle of wisdom by Joseph so carefully managed, are
both Greeks and Romans, and has ever since in Western tradition become regarded, represented as pyramids in the
in widely differing world-views, as the origin of human civilisation. The guiding mosaics of San Marco in Venice
(thirteenth century).
intellectual forces of the French Revolution looked to Egypt in the same way as the
Freemasons; similarly, for Louis-Frangois Cassas and the Prussian King Frederick
William II, Egypt was a source of inspiration, as it also was for Friedrich Schinkel and
the Bavarian King Ludwig I.
The traces of the architecture of the pharaohs reach down to the present day.
Tne late French president, Frangois Mitterrand, had his monument, the pyramid at
the Grand Louvre, built in Pharaonic dimensions and style.
'ILOCUE
Pyramid of Cestius in Rome
In 15 B.C. the praetor C. Cestius
had a tomb built in the form of a
pyramid. This was not unique in
Ancient Rome. At about 35 m in
height the Pyramid of Cestius was
much higherthan the Meroitic
kings' pyramids, but had the same
angle of inclination.
Pyramid in the "Neuer Garten"

in Potsdam
The Prussian King Frederick
William II had a French-style ice-
cellar built in the shape of a pyr¬
amid in the "Neuer Garten" in
Potsdam (1791). In the tradition of
Freemasonry he saw it as a symbol
of Egyptian wisdom.
Glass pyramid of the Louvre

in Paris
In postmodern architecture the
pyramid shape is enjoying a
remarkable renaissance world¬
wide. The most spectacular
example is the glass pyramid
which nowformsthe main
entrance to the Grand Louvre in
Paris. This pyramid has become
a new symbol of the city.
J.M. Pei, 1982-1989
Epilogue 229
Chronological Sphinx in Giza
Table
2650 First monumental stone building:
Step Pyramid of King Djoser in the Step Pyramid of Djoser in

Saqqara Saqqara
Small cult pyramids from
Elephantine to the Delta
2600-2550 From the step pyramid to the real
pyramid: Pyramids of Medum and

Dahshour
2500-2465 Peak period of pyramid building:
Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren,

Mycerinus in Giza
4th millennium B.C. 2465-2325 Pyramids in Abu Sir
Structure made of wood and mats Sun temples in Abu Ghurab
3100 Beginnings of brick architecture Mastaba tombs with relief decora¬
The first royal tombs in Abydos tion during the entire period of the
3000 Royal cementery in Abydos Old Kingdom
Brick tombs in Saqqara 2325-2150 Pyramids in the south of Saqqara
2800 Funerary temples of brick in Temples in Heliopolis and Bubastis
Abydos and Hierakonpolis Rock tombs in Central and Upper
Monuments First use of stone in building Egypt
3600-2650 B.C. 2650-2150 B.C.

Prehistoric and Early Dynastic Old Kingdom
Historical Events Prehistoric

2650-2575 Dynasty III. State organisation,
3600-3300 Naqada I - Culture based in Upper religion, script and art fully de¬
Egypt, influenced by Nubia and the veloped
Sudan 2575-2465 Dynasty IV. Political and cultural
3300-3100 Naqada II - Culture in Upperand golden age
Lower Egypt, influenced by the 2465-2325 DynastyV. Empire cult of the sun-
Near East god Re
2325-2150 Dynasty VI. Decline in the power of

Early Dynastic
the pharaohs, regional governors
3100-3000 DynastyO. First kings of all Egypt strive for self-rule
3000-2800 Dynasty I. Consolidation of the ter¬
ritory of the empire from Aswan to
the Nile Delta. Capital city is
Memphis. Development of a hiero¬

glyphic writing system
2800-2650 Dynasty II. Last remaining internal
political unrest settled
Statue of King Djoser from Saqqara
Statue of King Chephren from Ciza
1550-1070 Royal tombs in the Valley of the
Kings (Western Thebes)

Mortuary temples and Rock tombs
in Western Thebes
Temple of Karnak
2150-2040 Small royal pyramids in Saqqara 1470 Terrace temple of Hatshepsut in
Rock tombs in Central and Upper Deir el-Bahari (Western Thebes)
Egypt 1450 Temple of Tuthmosis III on the
2040 Terrace temple of King Gebel Barkal in the Sudan
Mentuhotep II in Deir el-Bahari 1360 Temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor
Pylon in the Temple of Luxor
(Western Thebes) and in Soleb (Sudan)
c. 2000 Founding of the Temple of Karnak 1350 The Aten Temple of Amenhotep IV
1950 The "White Chapel" of King in Karnak

Seostris I in Karnak 1348-1335 Buildings in Amarna
2000-1800 Temples built in all towns in the 1325 Tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley
country of the Kings (Western Thebes)
Royal pyramids in Lisht, Dahshour, 1300 Temple of Sethos I in Abydos

El-Lahun, Hawara 1250 Rock temples of Ramesses II in Abu
Rock tombs in Central Egypt (Beni Simbel (Nubia)
Hasan, Meir, Assiut, El-Bershe) and Mortuary temple of Ramesses II in

Upper Egypt (Thebes, Aswan) Western Thebes (Ramesseum)
Fortifications atthe Second 1150 Mortuary temple of Ramesses III in 1070-712 Temples and royal tombs of Tanis in
Cataract in Nubia Medinet Habu (Western Thebes) the Delta
2150-1550 B.C. 1550-1070 B.C. 1070-712 B.C.

From the First to the Second
New Kingdom Third Intermediate Period
Intermediate Period
First Intermediate Period 1550-1307 Dynasty XVIII. Rise of Egypt to 1070-945 Dynasty XXL Division of Egypt into
2150-2040 Dynasties Vll-X. Short-lived world power. Thebes is the polit¬ a northern empire with its capital
reigns, some localised ical, religious and cultural centre in Tanis and a southern empire with
2134-2040 Dynasty XI. Theban rulers 1353-1335 "Amarna period". Monotheist its capital in Thebes
reform under King Amenhotep IV- 945-712 Dynasty XXII. Libyan rule over
Middle Kingdom Akhenaten, foundation of the new Egypt

2040-1991 Dynasty XI. Thebes becomes the royal residence in Amarna. 828-712 Dynasties XXIII-XXIV. Collateral
new capital of Egypt Restoration underTutankhamun lines lead to internal political col¬
1991-1783 Dynasty XII. Egypt becomes one of and Horemheb lapse
the leading powers in the Near 1307-1196 Dynasty XIX. Power politics by the
East. Memphis again becomesthe Ra mess ides against the Hittites

capital city. Thebes becomes the and the Libyans. Residence in the
religious centre eastern Delta
1783-1640 Dynasties XI11—XIV. Many short 1196-1070 Dynasty XX. Threat from mass
governments, decline in power migration ("Sea Peoples") and
internal political decline
Second Intermediate Period
1640-1532 Dynasties XV-XVI. Foreign rule by
the Hyksos from the Near East.
Capital city Avaris in the eastern
Delta
1640-1550 Dynasty XVII. Independent Theban
kings
Statue of King Tuthmosis III from Gold mask of King Psusennes I from
Karnak Tanis
Chronological Table 231

Hellenistic architecture in Alexandria
Hellenistictowns in the Fayum
Hellenistic necropolis in Tuna el-Cabal
Temples in pure pharaonictradition
Ptolemaic and Roman Period

Pyramids of the Napatan kings in 250 B.C.-3rd century A.D.
First Pylon of the Isis Temple on
Nuri (Sudan)
Temple of Isis on Philae Philae
237-142 Temple of Horus in Edfu
150 B.C.-A.D. 250
750-664 Temples at the Gebel Barkal Temple of Khnum in Esna
(Napata) in the Sudan 150 B.C.-2nd century A.D.
Royal tombs in El Kurru and the Temples in Korn Ombo
pyramids of Nuri in the Sudan 54 B.C.-A.D. 60
Temple buildings in Karnak Temple of Hathor in Dendera
700-600 Large tombs in Assasif (Western 300 B.C.-A.D. 300
Thebes) In the Sudan, temple buildings in
500 Temple in the oasis of Kharga Meroe, Musawwarat el-Sufara and
400-350 Temple buildings from the Delta Naga
(Behbeit el-Hagar) to the First Royal pyramids in Meroe and at the
Cataract (Philae) Gebel Barkal Monuments
750-332 B.C. 332 B.C.-A.D. 395
The Late Period Ptolemaic and Roman Period
750-664 Dynasty XXV. Kushite kings from

332-30 Alexanderthe Great and his sue- H IStOfiCS I EVGfltS
the Sudan rule as pharaohs of cessors, the Ptolemaic kings.
Egypt. Karnak becomes an outpost Alexandria becomes the new cap¬
of the capital city of Napata at the ital. Egypt becomes a part of the
Fourth Cataract in the Sudan Hellenistic world. Continuation of
664-525 Dynasty XXVI. Sais in the Delta religious and cultural autonomy in
becomes the capital city of Egypt. Middle and Upper Egypt
Successful resistance against the 30 B.C.-A.D. 395
Kushites and the Assyrians. A Egypt is a part of the Roman
period of renaissance Empire
525-404 Dynasty XXVII. Egypt under 395-642 Egypt is a part of the East Roman
Persian rule
(Byzantine) Empire
404-343 Dynasties XXVIII-XXX. The final
phase of Egyptian independence.

Capital city in Mendes and
Sebennytus in the Delta

343-332 Dynasty XXXI. Egypt again con¬
quered by the Persians
Relief of the goddess Hathor in

Dendera

Glossary
Apotropaic: Preventing evil. Lion¬ stone of a papyrus stem (single ponent of temples since the temples, in the case of the latter
headed gargoyles act as apo¬ or in a bundle) with typical New Kingdom. often with relief decoration.
tropaic architectural elements wedge-shaped cross section. Intercolumnar walls: Half-height Pectoral: A piece of jewellery worn
to keep rain and storms away Papyrus-bundle column: A stone walls between columns. Often on the breast. Often in the form
from temples. representation of several plant used on the front of pronaoi, or of a temple facade.
Architrave: Stone beam placed stems bound together. Atypical on kiosks and birth houses. Pharaoh: The Ancient Egyptian
horizontally across pillars or column form under a capital. Probably originated from the name for a king, originally from
columns to support the roof Cornice: The upper finish of a wall custom of hanging carpets the word pr-o meaning "great
construction over a space. consisting of roll moulding and between roof supports. house".
Barque sanctuary: In Egyptian cavetto. A typical feature in Kiosk: Afree-standing baldachin Portico: Column or pillar arrange¬
temples the barque sanctuary is Egyptian architecture. supported on lightweight pillars. ment at the entrance to a build¬
situated in front of the inner Crypt: Passageways built into the When executed in stone, the ing.
sanctuary in which is placed the walls of temples for storage of roof was generally non-perman- Pronaos: The inner portico in front
image of the god. The barque cult objects. Often extending ent, consisting of strips of tent of the columned hall in the
sanctuary contains the god's over several storeys. Entrances cloth. Intercolumnar walls temples since the New Kingdom.
barque in which the image of the hidden by sliding blocks of between the columns. Either open to the court, or sep¬
god is carried in processions stone. Kushites: A dynasty named after arated by intercolumnar walls.
leading out of the temple. Dynasty: A group of rulers, who, on Kush, the Ancient Egyptian term Pylon: The entrance gateway to a
Book of the Dead: Religious texts the basis of family relationships for Nubia and the Sudan. They temple. Apairof towers, rectan¬
written mostly on papyrus. The or a shared base for their royal ruled over Egypt from 745-655 gular in plan and with slanting
texts deal with the transfigura¬ residence, are seen as a single from Napata (Fourth Cataract). walls, flankthe actual entrance
tion of the deceased. unit in the list of Egyptian Kings. Mammisi: "Birth house"; small portal. On the front are insertion
Cataract: A large waterfall or The dynastic divisions were first temple located in front of and to points for flagpoles. Inside is a
rapids. The Nile has six cataracts, introduced by Ancient Greek his¬ the side of large temple com¬ series of steps leading up to the
from the confluence of the Blue torians and are still adhered to plexes. Regarded as the place in roof of the pylon.
and the White Nile in Khartoum today. which the mythical birth of the Pyramid: A royal tomb with a
to Egypt. The cataracts are Eight deities, the: A group of eight king orgod-child took place. square base and foursloping (or,
impassable for boats. gods which can personify all Monolith: A monument hewn from very occasionally, bent), triangu-
Causeway: A raised paved pathway gods, in that eight is a double of a single block of stone. Obelisks, larsides meeting at the apex.
connecting the valley temple four, the defined plural. naoi and colossal statues are Typical form of royal tombs in
with the pyramid complex. Ennead: A group of gods, repres¬ always monolithic, columns the Old and Middle Kingdoms,
Mostly with stonewalls along enting all gods; nine being the often are. also used by the Kushite,
the sides and finished with a square of the plural number Naos: A shrine to a god. Stone naoi Napatan and Meroitic kings of
stone roof construction. three. stood in the sanctuaries in the Sudan. In the New Kingdom this
Cavetto: Upper, hollowed member Exedra: An open space, raised on a temples and served as places to form was also used for private
found on the upper part of walls podium and open on one side. put the divine image. tombs.
in stone architecture, mostly Fluting: Vertical surface pattern on Necropolis: A city of the dead. The Bent pyramid: The transition stage
found in combination with roll columns, probably fashioned to wide areas covered by Ancient between a step pyramid and the
moulding. resemble wooden posts. Egyptian cementeries justify the real pyramid shape (Dahshour).
Cenotaph: An empty tomb Hed Sed: The jubilee of kingship, term "city". Seldom found in Sudan (Nuri).
designed as a symbolic burial celebrated after 30 years reign. Obelisk: A stone pillar, square in Classical pyramid: A pyramid
place of the gods (Osiris tomb) or Frequency can vary. cross-section and tapering shape, with sides sloping up
of special beings of the king. Hemispeos: Atemple in which the towards the tip. The tip is at a 52° angle and built on a
Colonnade: A row of columns, innermost part at the back is cut shaped like a pyramidion (small square ground plan (Giza,
one ortwo deep, surrounding into the rock (speos = temple cut pyramid) and was sometimes Abu Sir).
a court. into a rock face). gilded. Since the Old Kingdom, Step pyramid: The earliest stage of
Colossal statue: Larger-than-life Hieratic: Cursive form of hiero¬ generally placed in pairs in front development of the pyramid
statues, representing mostly glyphic script, mostly written on of and in temples and in front of form. Dates from Dynasty III
kings and gods, seldom non¬ papyrus. tombs as a cult monument to the (Saqqara, Medum).
royal persons. Placed mostly in Hollow relief: Typical technique for sun-god. Pyramid texts: Hieroglyphic texts
publicspaces (courts and temple applying pictures and inscrip¬ Ostracon: A potsherd or piece of forthe transfiguration of the
fagades). tions to outer walls: the outer limestone used for writing exer¬ dead king. Found on the walls of
Column: An architectural support, limits of the design are marked cises in school orforsketches underground rooms in pyramids
the form of which in Egyptian and the details chiselled out. The and designs in the sculptor's since the end of Dynasty V.
architecture is mostly derived background thus stands proud workshop. Roll moulding: A round section
from models found in nature. around the representation. Palettes: Stone plaques in geomet¬ carved out of the corner blocks
Often carved from a single Hypostyle hall: A columned hall, ric orfigural shapes; in prehis¬ on buildings. The form is derived
stone, seldom composed of a mostly with a raised central nave tory and early history these were from the idea of plant stems
number of blocks. and lowerside aisles. The most used as make-up tablets in used to protect the edges in mud
Papyrus column: The imitation in important architectural com¬ tombs or as votive offerings in brick architecture.
Glossary 233
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gods, cult place forthe dead, a Uraeus: The snake head in the der Pharaonen (Architekturder Wildung, Dietrich: Lehmbau in
world model and mythical place iconography of kings and gods. Welt), Munich, 1964. Agypten, in: Hans Wichmann
are its key functions. It is a being that wards off Edwards, I.E.S.: The pyramids of (Ed.), Architekturder Vergang-
Mortuary temple: In the Old and evil and represents various Egypt, Harmondsworth, 1985. lichkeit - Lehmbauten derDritten
Middle Kingdoms this was the goddesses. Giedion, S.: Ewige Cegenwart, Welt, Basle, Boston, Stuttgart,
place for the cult of the dead in Vault: An arched roof structure Vol. 2, DerBeginn derArchitektur, 1983.
the royal pyramid. The main made of stone or mud brick. Cologne, 1965.
function of the mortuary
Golvin, Jean-Claude and J.-CI.
temples of the New Kingdom is
Goyon: Karnak, Agypten -
as a temple to the god Amun.
Anatomie eines Tempels,
Terrace temple: Style of temple
Tubingen, 1990.
architecture specific to Thebes
Golvin, Jean-Claude and Cl.
(Mentuhotep II, Hatshepsut).
Traunecker: Ducielde Thebes,
The levels rise in terraces from
Paris, 1983.
the outer court to the sanctuary.
Klemm, Rosemarie and D. Klemm:
Valley temple: The entrance
Steine und Steinbruche im alten
structure to a pyramid complex.
Agypten, Berlin, 1993.
Situated on the edge of the val-
Lange, Kurt and M. Hirmer:
ley, and linked to the mortuary
Agypten, Munich, 1967.
temple by a causeway corridor.
Leclant, Jean (Ed.): Agypten, 3 vols.
Tomb: Tombs, as "Houses of
(Universum der Kunst), Munich,
Eternity" are an important type
1979-1981.
234 Glossary/Bibliography
Index - Monuments
Abu Ghurab Deir el-Bersha Sphinx 55,58,58-59,230,230 Royal necropolis (Ptolemaic and
Sun temple of Nyuserre 63-64,64, Tomb of Djehuty-hetep 156,156 Tomb of Idu 68 Roman Period) 182-183,183,
104.177.230 Dendera Gurna 185, 186,232
Abu Simbel Hathor complex 16,16,154,214, Tomb of Ramose 160,160 Temple of Amun 186
Great Temple 146,147,147,148, 215,214 Hawara Minshat Abu Omar
148, 149, 150,150, 151, 151, Birth House 193,203,214,214, Pyramid of Amenemhat III 42,42, Chambertomb 26,27
152,152, 180 215,217,217 84.231 Munich
Small Temple 147,152,152,153, Church 214,215,215 Heliopolis Propylaeum 225,225
153,180 Holy Lake 214,214,215,216, Temple 156,157,157 Naga
Abu Sir 216 Hermopolis Kiosk 188,189,189
Burial complex of Neferefre 60, "Sanatorium" 214,215,214 Temple of Amenemhat II 83,83, LionTemple 188,188,189,232
230 Temple of Hathor 15,15,177, 84 Temple of Amun 187,187,188,
Burial complex of Neferirkare 189,193,214,214,216-222, Karnak 189.232
60-61,61,230 216-221, 232 City 75,95,98,98,99 Nuri
Burial complex of Nyuserre 60-61, Temple of Nectanebo I 215 Montu complex 98, 98, 99,107, Royal necropolis 180,180,184,
61,64, 64,104,230 Trajan's Column 215 130, 130 185,186, 232,232
Burial complex of Sahure 60-63, Edfu Mut complex 95,98,98,99,107, Paris
60-63,230 Temple of Horus 15,15,16,154, 112,130, 130 Louvre Pyramid 228, 229, 229
Abydos 176,193-199,194-203, Temple complex of Amun-Re 75, Obelisk of Luxor 114,114
Royal tombs 25, 26, 27, 28, 28, 34, 201-203,206,220,222,232 79, 79, 98, 98, 99,107,118,118, Petra
35.230 El-Deir 130, 130, 154,179 Tombfaqade 225,226,226
Temple of Ramesses II 138,138, Temple 222,223,224 Holy Lake 98,98, 110-111, 111 Philae
156 Elephantine Temple of Amun 51,51,75,79, Hadrian's Gate 205,205,208,211,
Temple of Sethos I 16,138,156, Shrine of Heqaib 84,90 79, 80, 95, 96, 96, 98, 98, 98, 99, 211
231 Shrine of Khnum 90,208 99-103, 100,102,104,105-109, Nectanebo's Kiosk 204,205,205
Amarna Shrine of Satet 90 105-109, 111,111, 120,130, Temple of Arensnuphis 205, 205,
City 120,121,122,122, 124,231 Temple of Amenhotep III 224,224 130, 170,179,188,214,231 210.211.232
North palace 120,120,122,122, Temple of Mentuhotep II 84,90 Temple of Khonsu 98,98, 104, Temple of Hathor 205, 205, 208
124.231 Temple of Sesostris I 84,90 107,112,112 Temple of Isis 21,21,193,
Royal palace 121,122,122,123, Elkab Temple of Ramesses III 100,102, 204-208,204-207, 210-211,
123.124.231 Barque Shrine 222,223,223 102,104,104 210.222.232.232
Royal tomb 121,124,129,231 Shrine of Thoth 222,223,223 Temple of Sethos II 100,102, Birth house 20,20,204,205,
SmallTemple 121,122,122,124, Temple of Nekhbet 222, 223, 223 102 205,208,208,209,212
129.193.231 El-Kebir WhiteChapel 75,79,80,80,81, Trajan's Kiosk 189,205,205,207,
Temple of Aten 104,107,121, Temple 223, 223 231 207, 208,212,212-213
122,122, 123, 124, 129,193, El-Kurru TempleofAten 107,119,120,119, Potsdam
231 Royal tombs 184,232 124.231 Pyramid 229,229
Armant El-Lahun Korn Ombo Rome
Temple of Montu 222,222,223, Pyramid of Sesostris II 84, 231 Temple 154,193, 222, 232 Lateran Obelisk 104,115,115
Aswan Esna Lisht Obelisk 225,227,227
Rock-cuttombs 90,90,231 Temple of Khnum 16,154,222, Burial complex of Amenemhat I 84, Pyramid of Cestius 229,229
Bebheit el-Hagar 225,232 84.231 Shrine of Isis 226,227
Temple of Isis 176,177,177,232 Fayum Luxor Saqqara
Beni Hasan Temple of Kasrel-Sagha 82,83,83 Temple of Luxor 19,99,100,107, Djoser complex 10,12,28-30,29,
Tomb of Khety 88, 88, 89, 90,231 Gebel Barkal 113, 114, 115,116, 117,118, 32,32-33,34-37,35, 47
Tomb of Khnumhotep 17,17,88, Royal necropolis 184,185,185, 118, 120,130,148,203,231, Ceremonial court 12,29,29,
89.90.89.231 232 231 34-36,35,36,135
Bubastis Temple of Tuthmosis III 180,181, Medum Enclosing wall 29,30,30-31,
City 169,171,171 181,184,231 Step Pyramid 38,38,156, 230 34, 34, 35
Temple of Bastet 169 Giza Memphis North house 12,18,18,29,29
Temple of Ramesses II 171,171 Pyramid of Cheops 38,40,40, Royal residence 28, 29, 30, 32, 89 Pyramid 25,28,29,29,35,36,
Buhen 47-48, 48-50, 50, 52, 52, 60, Tombs seeSaqqara 38,164,230,230
Fortress 84, 85, 85 230 Mendes South house 12,18,18,29,29
Contra Latopolis Temple 50, 50 Shrine to the Gods 176,176 Pyramid of Unas 65, 65,164, 230
Temple of Isis 222,223,224 Pyramid of Chephren 40,40,47- Meroe Tomb of Horemheb 164
Dahshour 48, 48-49, 52, 53, 54, 54, 60, 230 Northern Cemetery 184,186 TombofHuti 68,68,230
Bent Pyramid 38, 39, 39,164, 230 Temple 48,48, 52,55,55,56, Pyramid of Amanishakhete 186, Tomb of Imeneminet 164,164
Pyramid of Amenemhat III 42,42, 57, 58 186 Tomb of Maja 164
84.231 Pyramid of Mycerinus 40,40,48, Royal necropolis (Old Kingdom) Tomb of Mereruka 66,66-67,68,
"Red" Pyramid 38, 38,164,230 48,56, 56,60,230 38,42,42,43 230
Index 235
Index - Persons
Tomb of Metjetji 71,71,230 Tomb of Sethos I 129,130,160, Akhenaton see Amenhotep IV Mycerinus 56, 56
Tomb of Wesir Aper-el 164 160.162.231 (-Akhenaton) Natakamani 188
Saqqara (North) Tomb of Tutankhamun 94,95, Alexanderthe Great 100,232 Nectanebo I 204, 215
Brick tombs 26, 34, 34, 35, 230 129.130.162.169.174.231 Amanitore 188,188 Nectanebo II 198, 203
Sarabit el-Khadim Tomb of Tuthmosis III 129,130, Amasis 204 Nefertari 147,152-153,152,161
Temple 86, 87, 87 158-160,158-160, 162,231 Amenemhat I 84 Nefertiti 7,115,121,124
Semna Valley of the Queens Amenemhat II 84 Nekhbet 199,199
Stele 86, 86 Tomb of Nefertari 129,130, Amenemhat III 82, 84 Nephthys 168, 169
Tanis 161,161 Amenhotep III 80,95,100,114, Nut 159, 159, 160
Temple of Amun 170,172, Venice 115,116,129,157,164,203 Osiris 25,26,64,131,138,158,
172-175,174,175,231 San Marco 227,228,228 Amenhotep IV(-Akhenaton) 64,95, 159,202,221,226
Tomb of Amenemope 168,169,
107, 115,119,120, 120,121, Osorkon II 169,170
231
124, 125,125, 129, 158, 164, Philippus Arrhidaus 100
Tomb of Psusennes I 169,174,231 231 Psusennes I 167,169,172,175,
Tomb of Wen-Djebau-en-djeds
Amenhotep son of Hapu 128,129, 231,231
170, 170, 231
157 Ptah 150,196
Thebes
Amun(-Re) 75,79,80,95,96, Ptolemy IX 196
City 130,130
96-97, 99, 100, 104, 105, 105, Pye 184
Western Thebes
106, 107, 109,112, 114, 115, Ramesses II 88,95,107,113,114,
Colossi of Memnon 129,130,
116, 120, 129,136, 137, 150, 116,116, 120, 124, 127, 129,
131, 131
150, 186, 186,215,217,234 135,135, 136, 137, 138, 146,
Necropolises 130,162,163,
Anubis 133 147, 148, 148-149, 150, 150,
164,165
Apedemak 188 152, 152, 153,161, 170,172,
Ramesseum 12, 130,130, 131,
Apis 226 174, 175,180
135-136,135-137, 139-140,
Aten 95,120,121,123,129 Ramesses III 100,104,138,142,
139, 147,154, 231
Bastet 169 145,145
Temple of Mentuhotep III 79,
Benu bird 145,145
82,82 Re 58,63,64,105, 158,159,221,
Bes 215,217,220 230
Deir el-Bahari
Cheops 47, 50, 50, 58 Re-Harakhty 150,150
Burial complex of Mentuhotep II
Chephren 45,47, 55, 56, 58, 65, Sahure 60, 63, 64, 65, 65
75, 76, 76-77, 78, 78, 82,130,
230,230 Sarapis 225
130.231
Djoser 23, 25, 37, 37, 230, 230 Seneb 69, 69
Burial complex of Mentuhotep III
Eight deities 83,84,233 Seneferu 38, 39, 50, 50
82
Hapi 145, 145,208,211,211 Senenmut 131,132,133,157
Temple of Hatshepsut 76,
Harsomtus 203,215,217,217 Sesostris I 80, 80-81, 84, 87, 88
76-77, 130,130,132, 132, 133,
Hathor 56, 56, 73, 75,133, 134, Sesostrisll 84
133, 134, 134, 157,178, 203,
134, 147,152,153,192, 193, Sesostris III 74, 75, 86, 91,91
214.231
195, 195,203,208,208,215, Seth 62,62,202
Tomb of Montemhet 178,178,
216,217,219,219, 220,221, SethosI 95,138
179,179
232,232 Sokaris 159
Deir el-Medinah
Hatshepsut 105,105, 132,132, Sopdu 62, 62
Craftsmen's settlement 163,
133-134, 134, 157,203 Taharqa 176,176,180,204
163,165
Horemheb 95,119,129,164, 231 Thoth 83, 84,197
Necropolises 42,42,130,163,
Horus 64, 142, 142, 195, 195, 196, Tutankhamun 115,118,162,164,
165, 165
197, 198, 202, 203, 215, 217, 231
Tomb of Nakhtamon 164,164
220 Tuthmosis III 93, 95, 100,106, 106,
Medinet Habu
Huti 68,68 107, 108,222,231,231
Temple complex Ramesses III
Ihy 217,220 Uto 199, 199
130,130, 138,140,140-145,
Imhotep 24, 25, 36,129,157,196
142-145, 154, 156,214,231
Isis 168, 169,217,217,225,226
Qurna
Khnum 208
Mortuary temple of Sethos I
Khonsu 96, 97, 100,107, 112,
129, 130,130,138, 147
120
Valley of the Kings
Maja 164
Tomb of Ramesses IV 129,130,
Mentuhotep II 75, 76,130
156.162.231
Merenptah 172,175
Tomb of Ramesses VI 129,130,
Mereruka 66, 66-67
159,159, 162,231
Montu 75 •
Tomb of Ramesses IX 3,4,129,
Mut 95,100,106, 106, 112,120,
130.156.162.231
136, 137, 150,150, 181
6 Index
Acknowledgements and Credits
The author, together with the photographers and the pub¬

lisher, would like to express their gratitude to the Egyptian
Authorities for the facilities provided and permits granted
during the various assignments undertaken in Egypt for the
preparation of this book.
Their particular thanks go to the Department of Antiquities
in Cairo, and to the directors of the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo and the Luxor Museum. They are also indebted to the
Tourist Information office of the Arab Republic of Egypt for
its assistance in this venture.
The author would also like to express his gratitude to the
Authorities of the Republic of the Sudan for their kind help
during his expeditions to the archaeological sites in their
country.
The following documents are from the author's own arch¬
ives:
Pages: 6, 12, 14 right, 16, 17, below, 19 right, 20 right, 24,
26, 27, 28, 38, 39, 42 above left and below right, 43, 45, 50,
51,53, 60, 61,62, 63, 64, 65, 71,82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 100,
101, 106, 107, 19 below, 112 above, 113 below, 114, 115,
116, 120, above, 121, 122, 124, 125 above, 132 below, 143
below, 145 below, 154, 156 above, 157, 158, 159, 161, 162,
164, 171, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 181, 182/183,
185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 21 1, 215, 225, 227, 228, 229 left
and below.
In addition, a series of documents are from the following
sources:
Page 173: © Joachim WiMeitner, Munich.
Page 23: © Gallimard - L'Univers des Formes, Paris.
Page 85: © Georg Gerster, Zumikon.
Pages 98, 118, 135, 145, 214: ©Jean ClaudeGolvin,
Watercolours from L'Egypte restituee. Editions Errance,
Paris.
Page 119: © Leslie Greener /National Geographic Society.
Pages 86,156 middle: Jurgen Liepe, Berlin.
We extend our special thanks to Alberto Berengo Gardin for
preparing the plans on pages 11, 29, 32, 34, 36, 39, 41,48,
50, 51,56, 61,70, 78, 98, 102, 114, 122, 123, 130, 132, 139,
140, 152, 155, 160, 178/179, 181, 184, 185, 195, 198, 205,
218.
Acknowledgements and Credits 237

The architecture of the pharaohs represents some of the most
impressive creative work ever produced in Egyptian art and yet it has
never been completely assessed. This volume is a singularly complete
record of the architecture of the pharaohs and its sphere of influence
ranging from 3000 B.C. to the Egyptian style of today, from the Sudan
to the Mediterranean, and from simple clay brick buildings to monu¬
mental pyramids - a very special kind of journey through Egypt.
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23 Houses for the Dead and Stairways

45 Building for the Life to Come

73 The Lost Classical Period

93 A State Built of Stone

127 Castles of Eternity

167 The Cosmos in Stone

igi Late Flowering

230 Chronological Table

237 Acknowledgements and Credits

Basic Architectural Forms in Ancient Egypt

Hermopolis • Upper Nubia

o 50 ioo 150 200

Map of Ancient Egypt

Roll moulding and temple wall

Fagade of a tomb in Beni Hasan

Clustered columns in the Temple

Page 23 Abydos - Burial Place of the Founding Kings

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 25

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

28 Houses forthe Dead and Stairways to Heaven

The Pyramid complex of Saqqara

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 2g

30 Houses for the Dead

Pyramid complex of King Djoser

Cross-section of the entrance area

Plants as models for columns

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Early Dynastic Period tomb in

34 Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 35

36 Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 37

Step Pyramid of Medum

"Red" (northern) pyramid of

38 Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Bent Pyramid of Dahshour, plan

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 39

OUSES FOR THE DEAD AND STAIRWAYS TO HEAVEN

Sesostris III - Dynasty XII a

The royal necropolis of Memphis

Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven 41

Burial pyramid in Deir el-Medinah Page 43

Pyramid in Meroe (Sudan) been buried in small pyramids.

In about 750 B.C. the Egyptian

42 Houses for the Dead and Stairways to Heaven

Building for the Life to Come 47

The pyramid site at Giza

The Pyramids of Chephren and

48 Building for the Life to Come

I - I ' - '" ' I FT

Section through the Pyramid of Below: The ground plan of this

50 Building for the Life to Come

Techniques of transport Building ramps on the First Pylon

The procedure of pyramid¬

Building forthe Life to Come 51

The Great Gallery in the Pyramid

52 Building forthe Life to Come

Pyramid of Chephren in Giza

54 Building for the Life to Come

Valley Temple of the Pyramid