Wednesday, May 8, 2019

ErkSous


The History of Licorice

Licorice is not a recent discovery. The ancient Egyptians used it as a pharmaceutical, and copious supplies were found in King Tut’s tomb. Egyptian hieroglyphics record the use of licorice as a popular beverage among the men of the time.

Manuscripts from 360 A.D. talk of licorice helping eye ailments, skin diseases, coughs, and loss of hair. Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar are on record as endorsing the benefits of eating licorice. Since the 14th century, it has been used to soothe coughs, colds, and bronchitis.

LICORICE ROOTS
Napoleon Bonaparte found licorice soothing during battle; he allegedly ate so much of it that his teeth turned black. (Don’t worry. The amount of licorice found in most of today’s licorice candy will not discolour your teeth.)

Modern licorice candy dates from 17th century Holland. At the time, Holland was one of the world’s most powerful countries. Her intrepid sailors spread this wonderful delicacy to other European nations. Today, licorice candy is manufactured throughout Europe, America, and Australia.

The Modern scientific Health Benefits of Licorice

Licorice is especially useful in fighting bronchitis, upper respiratory catarrh, and coughs. It stimulates mucus production and helps to loosen sticky phlegm. It also contains a chemical that has cough-suppressant properties.

THE LICORICE PLANT & FLOWER
Licorice also helps reduce stomach acid and increases mucus secretion in the gastric tract, soothing irritation and inflammation. It can be used to fight heartburn, indigestion, and gastric and duodenal ulcers. It may also shorten the healing time of mouth ulcers.

Small amounts of licorice, such as those found in candies, do not pose a risk. However, licorice is a powerful drug, and serious health problems can result from taking it at medicinal levels for long periods of time.


Long back in Italy was a saying, Ladies: 

"(L'amore e' un sogno, dolce come il latte e la Liquirizia)
 Love is a dream, sweet as milk and Licorice

ITALIAN LICORICE SINCE 1731

Quick Facts About Licorice

The licorice plant, a shrub, is officially a weed. It is about four feet tall with purplish flowers and grows in hot, dry places.

Licorice root is one of the most popular herbs in the world. Its botanical name comes from the Greek words meaning "sweet root."

The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, and Hindus recognized the natural medicinal qualities of licorice. Licorice helps relieve the pains that accompany certain types of ulcers, and it is good for the adrenal glands.

LICORICE
Carbenoxolone, a compound derived from licorice root, may help slow the effects of aging on the brain. Licorice root is a botanical ingredient in modern Chinese medicines used to manage cancers. Current research conducted at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, supports the use of licorice in the treatment of prostate and breast cancer.

In the United States, anise seed is a popular substitute flavouring for licorice. Although the anise seed has an unmistakable licorice flavour, it is not related to the European plant whose roots are the source of true licorice.

The root of the drink

MEDECIN MAN
The medicinal use of licorice can be traced back to many ancient civilizations. Babylonians used it some 4000 years ago as a drink to strengthen the body and its immune system. Ancient Egyptians would prepare a licorice drink as a ritual to honour the spirits of the Pharaohs. Raw ErkSous was also found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Ancient Egyptian doctors used to mix ErkSous with various medicines to treat stomach and liver problems,” said Dr. Mohamed Samy, an expert in alternative medicine, who practices herbal medicine.

“The Greeks, Romans and later the Arabs used it as well to treat coughs, indigestion, vomiting, stomach pains and general digestive ailments. Its health benefits have been mentioned in various old scrolls.”

The benefits of ErkSous

LICORICE ALLSORTS
ErkSous, extracted from the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, a plant with blue flowers, has Licorice flower distinct sweet flavour. It contains sugar, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and others minerals. 

Until today Egyptians drink ErkSous to quench their thirst and for its health benefits.

“ErkSous strengthens the immune system,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a spice shop owner and herbal medicine practitioner from Khan-Khalil. “It is a natural antibiotic that helps treat infections in the respiratory system.” that I greatly recommend to my clients, this sweet beverage can help and has no side effects.

“It is also very useful for coughs and throat soars. Some people used it as well to regulate the digestive system and for constipation,” added Ibrahim.

 
Clank.. clink.. clank.. clink…
THE ERKSOUS VENDOR
 PAINTING BY C. CHAROBIM (1894-1975)
The rhythmic clanking of his cymbals resonates distinctively through the thick noise of Cairo’s busy downtown streets on hot summer days.

ErkSous, a healthy cold drink sold by the glass in the streets of Cairo and across the country.

When a thirsty passerby will stops the ErkSous Street Vendor for a cold ErkSous drink, the street vendor, in his baggy Turkish-style pants, thick cloth belt, little vest, and rubber boots, tilts his heavy ice-filled copper container decorated with a bunch of colourful plastic flowers that is strapped to his chest, and pours the brownish juice into a glass held way below his waist so as to foam up the liquid.


After rinsing the used glass with a dash of water sprinkled from a plastic jug slung over his shoulder, he tucks it back into a small rimmed tray fixed to one hip, and then bangs his cymbals again.

Preparing the drink

Preparing ErkSous is very easy and only takes a few hours to make.

A ErkSous Vendor from Souhag in Upper Egypt, has been doing it for years. He buys the raw ingredient from the spice shop. He places it in a bowl and sprays it with water and sodium carbonate, leaving to sit over night for seven or eight hours until it ferments.

Licorice Root Sodium carbonate helps in the fermenting process. ErkSous original color is light brown but turns dark as a chemical reaction to the sodium carbonate and the water.

ROAMING VENDOR
“The next morning, He rub the ErkSous together a little in his hands until it turns dark in colour,” a vendor, who learned the trade of making and selling ErkSous from his father". He then places the raw ErkSous in a sieve lined with fine gauze fabric, and pours water over it. The product is a drink ready to be served cold.

Many Egyptian families prepare this favoured drink in their homes. Some say making it themselves is cheaper than buying it, while others feel it is more hygienic than drinking it from a street Vendor.

The demand and consumption of ErkSous vary according to the time of the year.

Licorice, Kharoub and Sobia Cart
Our sales of raw ErkSous go up especially in the summer and of course during Ramadan,” said a spice shop owner in  Shubra, adding that his customers generally buy depending on the size of the family.

Sales increase in summer because ErkSous is served ice cold and is therefore very refreshing when the temperatures soar. During Ramadan, Egyptians also drink more ErkSous because it helps them prepare for the next day’s fast, as it lessens their thirst.

Times are changing

Today however, things are changing for the wandering ErkSous Vendors. Many have given up this job, finding it difficult to walk the streets with the heavy urns on their backs amidst Cairo’s crowded streets and traffic. Others on the other hand have opened juice shops where they can sell a larger assortment of drinks that better suits the demand of customers.

MODERN TIME
ERKSOUS AND OTHER JUICES
VENDOR ON CART
Life is hard nowadays and with the hot weather in the summer, the traffic and the bustling streets, who could stand walking around all day with that weight on their back,” said a juice shop owner in El-Sayeda. “That’s why my dad and I decided to open this shop to sell ErkSous and other refreshments as well.”

Other Vendors did not give up wandering the streets completely. Instead they have opted for a wheeled cart to help them reduce some of their works’ strain.

In the past the city was not so crowded with people and cars, summer were not that harsh and the pollution was much less, I was also much younger and had a better health, so it wasn’t difficult for me to walk around all day, but nowadays things are different.

COLOURED DRAWING
ON COPPER
After selling ErkSous for many years in the streets the smiling vendor said, I built this cart with wheels, which makes it a lot easier for me now to walk around from street to street without getting too tired. It also allows me to sell more than one type of drink at the same time, so today for example I have ErkSous, Tamr Hindi (a tamarind fruit ice drink) and sobia (a sweet drink made of grinded rice, coconut, sugar and milk mixed together in water). Also I have blocks of ice in the cart, to keep the drinks nice and cool.”

Parts of Article inspired by an Ingrid Wassmann blog.

Monday, April 8, 2019

GOLD


ARTICLE FROM AN INTERESTING SITE 
CALLED ANCIENT ORIGIN


PHARAONIC GOLD RING
The periodic table of chemical elements  turns 150  this year. The anniversary is a chance to shine a light on particular elements some of which seem ubiquitous but which ordinary people beyond the world of chemistry probably don’t know much about.

One of these is gold, which was the subject of my postgraduate degrees in chemistry, and which I have  been studying  for almost 30 years. In chemistry, gold can be considered a late starter when compared to most other metals. It was always considered to be chemically “inert” but in recent decades it has flourished and a variety of interesting applications have emerged.

A long, curious history

Gold takes its name from the Latin word aurum (“yellow”). It’s an element with a long but rather mysterious history. For instance, it’s one of 12 confirmed elements on the periodic table whose discoverer  is unknown . The others are carbon, sulfur, copper, silver, iron, tin, antimony, mercury, lead, zinc and bismuth.

Though we’re not sure who discovered it, there’s evidence to suggest it was known to the ancient Egyptians as far back as  3000 BC . Historically, its primary use was for jewellery; this is still the case  today, it’s also used in mint coins. Gold is also found in ancient and modern art: it’s used to prepare ruby or purple pigment, or as gold leaf.


Egyptian golden lion sculpture (Dieter Hawlan / Adobe Stock)


South Africa was once the top  gold-producing country  by far: it mined over 1,000 tonnes in 1970 alone. Its annual output has steadily fallen since then – the top three gold producing countries  in 2017  were China, Australia and Russia, with a combined output of almost 1000 tonnes. South Africa has dropped to 8th position, even surpassed by Peru and Indonesia.

But gold’s uses and its chemical properties extend into many other areas beyond jewels and minted coins. From pharmaceutical research to nanotechnology, this ancient element is being used to drive new technologies that are pushing the world into the future.



Ancient Egyptian jewelry bracelets and necklaces of gold (EdNurg / Adobe Stock)


Why and how it’s useful
Of the 118 confirmed elements in the periodic table, nine are naturally occurring elements with radioactive  isotopes that are used in so-called nuclear medicine. Gold is not radioactive but is nevertheless very useful in medicine in the form of gold-containing drugs.

There are  two classes  of gold drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. One is injectable gold thiolates – molecules with a sulfur atom at one end, and a chemical chain of virtually any description attached to them – found in drugs such as Myocrisin, Solganol and Allocrysin. The other is an oral complex called  Auranofin.

GOLD SHOES OF KING
TUTANKHAMON (1332 BC)
Gold is also increasingly being used in  nanotechnology. A nanomaterial is generally considered a material where any of its three dimensions is 100 nanometres (nm) or less. Nanotechnology is useful because it is not restricted to a particular material – any material could in principle be made into a nanomaterial – but rather a particular property: the property of size.

For example, gold in its bulk form has a distinct yellow colour. But as it is broken up into very small pieces it starts to change colour, through a range of red and purple, depending on the relative size of the gold nanoparticles. Such nanoparticles could be used in a variety of applications, for example in the  biomedical or optical-electronic fields.

Another exciting advancement for gold in nanotechnology was the discovery in 1983 that a clean gold surface dipped into a solution containing a thiolate could form  self-assembled monolayers . These monolayers modify the surface of gold in very innovative ways. Research into surface modification is important because the surface of anything can show very different properties than the bulk (that is, the inside) of the same material.


More to come

Pharaonic Gold dentistry
Gold nanoparticles have also proven to be an effective catalyst. A catalyst is a material that increases the rate of a chemical reaction and so reduces the amount of energy required without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. This is important because catalysis lies at the heart of many  manufactured goods  we use today. For example, a catalyst turns propylene into propylene oxide, which is the first step in making antifreeze.

Two discoveries in the 1980s made scientists look at gold catalysis differently. Masatake Haruta, in Osaka, Japan, made mixed oxides containing gold – and  discovered the material was remarkably active to catalyse the oxidation of toxic carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide. Today, this catalyst is found in vehicle exhausts.

At the same time  Graham Hutchings , who was working in industry in Johannesburg, South Africa,  discovered a gold catalyst  that would work best for acetylene hydrochlorination. This process is central to PVC plastic, which is used in virtually all plumbing production. Until then, the industrial catalyst for this process was using environmentally unfriendly mercuric chloride material.

 



3D illustration of gold nanoparticles (Kateryna_Kon / Adobe Stock)







Many applications

In my opinion, gold has many more uses that haven’t yet been discovered. There is much more to come in the world of  gold research .

There will, in the next few years, be new developments in how the element is used in, amongst others, medicine, nanotechnology and catalysis. It will also find new applications in relativistic quantum chemistry (combining relativistic mechanics with quantum chemistry), surface science (the physics and chemistry of surfaces and how they interact), luminescence and  photophysics – and more.

Ancient Peruvian mask made of gold (Carlos Santa Maria / Adobe Stock)

 The article ‘ From medicine to nanotechnology: How gold quietly shapes our world ’ by Werner van Zyl was first published on The Conversation and has been republished under a Creative Commons license.

Goto Youtube for a video about the:  Scientific Uses of Gold

This article is the property of "Ancient Origin
I just present it here as is to my Blog readers with reference to the original...

Friday, February 15, 2019

Egyptian wine


WINE LABLE FROM EARLY 1900's

Winemaking has a long tradition in Egypt dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. The modern wine industry is relatively small scale but there have been significant strides towards reviving the industry. In the late nineties the industry invited international expertise in a bid to improve the quality of Egyptian wine, which used to be known for its poor quality. In recent years Egyptian wines have received some recognition, having won several international awards. In 2013 Egypt produced 4,500 tones’ of wine, ranking 54th globally, ahead of Belgium and the United Kingdom.

History

Grape cultivation, winemaking, and commerce in ancient Egypt circa1500 BC.


Wine played an important role in ancient Egyptian ceremonial life. A thriving royal winemaking industry was established in the Nile Delta following the introduction of grape cultivation from the Levant to Egypt c.3000 BC. The industry was most likely the result of trade between Egypt and Canaan during the early Bronze Age, commencing from at least the 27th-century BC Third Dynasty, the beginning of the Old Kingdom period. Winemaking scenes on tomb walls, and the offering lists that accompanied them, included wine that was definitely produced in the delta vineyards. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five distinct wines, probably all produced in the Delta, constituted a canonical set of provisions for the afterlife.

GATHERING GRAPES
Wine in ancient Egypt was predominantly red. Due to its resemblance to blood, much superstition surrounded wine-drinking in Egyptian culture. Shedeh, the most precious drink in ancient Egypt, is now known to have been a red wine and not fermented from pomegranates as previously thought. Plutarch's Moralia relates that, prior to Psammetichus I, the pharaohs did not drink wine nor offer it to the gods "thinking it to be the blood of those who had once battled against the gods and from whom, when they had fallen and had become commingled with the earth, they believed vines to have sprung". This was considered to be the reason why drunkenness "drives men out of their senses and crazes them, inasmuch as they are then filled with the blood of their forebears".

Residue from five clay amphoras’ in Tutankhamen’s tomb, however, have been shown to be that of white wine, so it was at least available to the Egyptians through trade if not produced domestically.


OLD AMPHORA 

Winemaking continued to be part of Egyptian culture during Roman rule in Egypt. Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population by the 3rd century, despite a reserved attitude towards alcohol in the Church of Alexandria monasteries are known have stored and produced large quantities of wine. In 2008 two wine presses dating back to Roman rule in Egypt were unearthed near Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, along with ancient coins from Antioch, which could indicate that Egyptian wine was exported to Christians in the region.

The production of wine declined significantly after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Attitudes towards alcohol varied greatly under Islamic rule, Muslim rulers generally showed some level of tolerance towards alcohol production controlled by religious minorities. Jewish manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza recount the involvement of Egyptian Jews in the production and sale of wine in medieval Egypt.  

WINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
The consumption of wine was not necessarily limited to religious minorities however. Western travelers and pilgrims passing through Cairo on their journeys reported that Muslim locals imbibed on wine and a local barley beer, known as "booza" ( بوظة‎, not to be confused with the Levantine ice cream of the same name), even during the most draconian periods of Islamic rule. The most popular wine was known as "nebit shamsi" (نبيذ شمسي‎), made from imported raisins and honey and left to ferment in the sun (hence the name, which roughly translates into "sun wine").

Greek-Egyptian tobacco merchant and entrepreneur, Nestor Gianaclis, who founded the country’s first modern vineyard south of Alexandria in 1882, revived viticulture in Egypt. The country's wine industry expanded under the early 20th century, until the Egyptian revolution of 1952, which saw the country's liberal monarchy unseated, in favor of a presidential system. In 1963 Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized and merged breweries and vineyards in the country, under the previously Belgian-owned Pyramid Brewery, which later came to be known as Al Ahram Beverages Company.

POURING WINE

Mismanagement under state-ownership and an increasingly religious population contributed to the industry's gradual decline. The company was privatized in 1997, at the height of its ruination, part of an economic reform program that sought to restructure the country's economy. This was viewed as a turning point for the alcohol industry as a whole in Egypt.

Its new owner, Egyptian businessman Ahmed Zayat, restructured the company and introduced a line of non-alcoholic beverages that would appeal to the conservative segment of the population.

The company was sold to Heineken International in 2002 for $280 million.


Information and pictures compiled from various internet sources.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

The Abu Simbel Temples


Old picture when Temple was on the banks of the river Nile
Copyright "Ahl Masr Zaman" 

The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples at Abu Simbel, a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan. They are situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km southwest of Aswan. The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments", which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II. They serve as a lasting monument to the king and his queen Nefertari, and commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh. Their huge external rock relief figures have become iconic.

RAMESSES II TEMPLE - notice size of persons
Photography Sharobim (2006)

The complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968 under the supervision of a Polish archaeologist, Kazimierz Michałowski, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. The relocation of the temples was necessary or they would have been submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River.

Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1264 BC and lasted for about 20 years, until 1244 BC. Known as the "Temple of Ramesses, beloved by Amun" it was one of six rock temples erected in Nubia during the long reign of Ramesses II. Their purpose was to impress Egypt's southern neighbours, and also to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the region.

Rediscovery
1885 PICTURE OF 
Abou Simbel
partially covered by sand
With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand. By the 6th century BC, the sand already covered the statues of the main temple up to their knees. The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss orientalist Jean-Louis Burckhardt found the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt talked about his discovery with Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex.

The collapsed colossus of the Great Temple supposedly fell during an earthquake shortly after its construction. On moving the temple, it was decided to leave it as the face is missing.
In 1959, an international donations campaign to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan 
High Dam.


CUTTING THE TEMPLE
One scheme to save the temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear fresh water dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile. There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962 the idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer Ove Arup. They considered that raising the temples ignored the effect of erosion of the sandstone by desert winds. However the proposal, though acknowledged to be extremely elegant, was rejected.

One of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history.

RECONSTRUCTION
The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964 by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators working together under the UNESCO banner; it cost some US$40 million at the time (equal to $300 million in 2017 dollars). Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 meters higher and 200 meters back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser. Today, a few hundred tourists visit the temples daily. Guarded convoys of buses and cars depart twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city. Many visitors also arrive by plane at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex.

The complex consists of two temples. The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, personified by Nefertari, Ramesses's most beloved of his many wives. The temple is now open to the public.


The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Rameses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Rameses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.


RAMESSES II
Four colossal 20 meter statues of the pharaoh with the double Atef crown of Upper and Lower Egypt decorate the facade of the temple, which is 35 meters wide and is topped by a frieze with 22 baboons, worshippers of the sun and flank the entrance. The colossal statues were sculpted directly from the rock in which the temple was located before it was moved. All statues represent Ramesses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The statue to the left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, leaving only the lower part of the statue still intact. The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet.


Next to the legs of the colossi, there are other statues no higher than the knees of the pharaoh. These depict Nefertari, Ramesses's chief wife, and queen mother Mut-Tuy, his first two sons Amun-her-khepeshef, Ramesses, and his first six daughters Bintanath, Baketmut, Nefertari, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Isetnofret.

The entrance itself is crowned by a bas-relief representing two images of the king worshipping the falcon-headed Ra Harakhti, whose statue stands in a large niche. This god is holding the hieroglyph "user" and a feather in his right hand, with Ma'at, (the goddess of truth and justice) in his left; this is nothing less than a gigantic cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name, User-Maat-Re. The facade is topped by a row of 22 baboons, their arms raised in the air, supposedly worshipping the rising sun. Another notable feature of the facade is a stele which records the marriage of Ramesses with a daughter of king Hattusili III, which sealed the peace between Egypt and the Hittites.

INTERIOR OF TEMPLE
The inner part of the temple has the same triangular layout that most ancient Egyptian temples follow, with rooms decreasing in size from the entrance to the sanctuary. The temple is complex in structure and quite unusual because of its many side chambers. The hypostyle hall (sometimes also called a pronaos) is 18 meters long and 16.7 meters wide and is supported by eight huge Osirid pillars depicting the deified Ramses linked to the god Osiris, the god of the Underworld, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh. The colossal statues along the left-hand wall bear the white crown of Upper Egypt, while those on the opposite side are wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt (pschent). The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns the ruler waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the Battle of Kadesh, on the Orontes river in present-day Syria, in which the Egyptian king fought against the Hittites. The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner. Other scenes show Egyptian victories in Libya and Nubia.

From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with beautiful scenes of offerings to the gods. There are depictions of Ramesses and Nefertari with the sacred boats of Amun and Ra-Harakhti. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah. Ra-Horakhty, Amun Ra and Ptah were the main divinities in that period and their cult centers were at Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis respectively.

Reconstructed temples on lake Nasser 65 meters above the original site
to the right Hator temple and to the left Ramesses temple 

Solar alignment
It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, a god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel to witness this remarkable sight, on October 21 and February 21.


SUN ILLUMINATION 
These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day, respectively. There is no direct evidence to support this. It is logical to assume, however, that these dates had some relation to a great event, such as the jubilee celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the pharaoh's rule. In fact, according to calculations made on the basis of the heliacal rising of the star Sirius (Sothis) and inscriptions found by archaeologists, this date must have been October 22. This image of the king was enhanced and revitalized by the energy of the solar star, and the deified Ramesses the Great could take his place next to Amun Ra and Ra-Horakhty.

Due to the displacement of the temple and/or the accumulated drift of the Tropic of Cancer during the past 3,280 years, it is widely believed that each of these two events has moved one day closer to the Solstice, so they would be occurring on October 22 and February 20 (60 days before and 60 days after the Solstice, respectively).

Greek Graffito
A well-known graffito inscribed in Greek on the left leg of the colossal seated statue of Ramesses II, on the south side of the entrance to the temple records that:

"When King Psammetichus (i.e., Psamtik II) came to Elephantine, this was written by those who sailed with Psammetichus the son of Theocles, and they came beyond Kerkis as far as the river permits. Those who spoke foreign tongues (Greek and Carians who also scratched their names on the monument) were led by Potasimto, the Egyptians by Amasis".

Kerkis was located near the Fifth Cataract of the Nile "which stood well within the Cushite Kingdom."



HATOR TEMPLE
The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as the Small Temple, was built about one hundred meters northeast of the temple of pharaoh Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the second time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple was dedicated to a queen. The first time, Akhenaten dedicated a temple to his great royal wife, Nefertiti. The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the king and his queen. On either side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt (south colossus) and the double crown (north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the queen.



The gods Set (left) and Horus (right) blessing Ramesses in the small
 temple at Abu Simbel


Remarkably, this is one of very few instances in Egyptian art where the statues of the king and his consort have equal size. Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. Ramesses went to Abu Simbel with his wife in the 24th year of his reign. As the Great Temple of the king, there are small statues of princes and princesses next to their parents. In this case they are positioned symmetrically: on the south side (at left as one faces the gateway) are, from left to right, princes Meryatum and Meryre, princesses Meritamen and Henuttawy, and princes Rahirwenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef, while on the north side the same figures are in reverse order. The plan of the Small Temple is a simplified version of that of the Great Temple.


Nefertari offering sistrums to seated goddess Hathor, 
frieze inside the Small Temple


As the larger temple dedicated to the king, the hypostyle hall or pronaos is supported by six pillars; in this case, however, they are not Osiris pillars depicting the king, but are decorated with scenes with the queen playing the sistrum (an instrument sacred to the goddess Hathor), together with the gods Horus, Khnum, Khonsu, and Thoth, and the goddesses Hathor, Isis, Maat, Mut of Asher, Satis and Taweret; in one scene Ramesses is presenting flowers or burning incense. 


SET BLESSING RAMESSES (close-up)
The capitals of the pillars bear the face of the goddess Hathor; this type of column is known as Hathoric. The bas-reliefs in the pillared hall illustrate the deification of the king, the destruction of his enemies in the north and south (in this scenes the king is accompanied by his wife), and the queen making offerings to the goddess Hathor and Mut. The hypostyle hall is followed by a vestibule, access to which is given by three large doors. On the south and the north walls of this chamber there are two graceful and poetic bas-reliefs of the king and his consort presenting papyrus plants to Hathor, who is depicted as a cow on a boat sailing in a thicket of papyri. On the west wall, Ramesses II and Nefertari are depicted making offerings to god Horus and the divinities of the Cataracts — Satis, Anubis and Khnum.

The rock cut sanctuary and the two side chambers are connected to the transverse vestibule and are aligned with the axis of the temple. The bas-reliefs on the side walls of the small sanctuary represent scenes of offerings to various gods made either by the pharaoh or the queen. On the back wall, which lies to the west along the axis of the temple, there is a niche in which Hathor, as a divine cow, seems to be coming out of the mountain: the goddess is depicted as the Mistress of the temple dedicated to her and to queen Nefertari, who is intimately linked to the goddess.

BAS-RELIEF in TEMPLE
Each temple had its own priest that represents the king in daily religious ceremonies. In theory, the Pharaoh would have been the only celebrant in daily religious ceremonies performed in different temples throughout Egypt. In reality, the high priest also played that role. To reach that position, an extensive education in art and science was necessary, like the one pharaoh had. Reading, writing, engineering, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, space measurement, time calculations, were all part of this learning. The priests of Heliopolis, for example, became guardians of sacred knowledge and earned the reputation of wise men.

Article and pictures compiled from different sources