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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.
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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
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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."
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| 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
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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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.
