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Philae Temple
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The ancient temples at the north of Lake Nasser, specifically at
philae And they are equally familiar with Abu Simbel far to the
south. Far more obscure are the temples that lie in between,
south of the High Dam and North of Abu Simbel along Lake Nasser.
The land in between these monuments was once known a part of
Nubia When the High Dam was being built, many of these temples
were moved during the salvage operation between 1964 and 1968.
Kalabsha Temple
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Just south of the High Dam is New Kalabsha, Temple of Kalabsha
. The temple was moved to New Kalabsha during the salvage
operation, and is the largest freestanding Egyptian temple in
Nubia. It was built by Agustus Ceasar (27 BC - 24 AD) and
dedicated to Osiris, Isis and Mandulis. The half finished
column capitals, and fragments of relief decorations of the
temple provide considerable insight about ancient Egyptian
construction and carving techniques.
The old Beit el-Wali Temple
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Connected by a path to the Roman era Kalabsha temple is The
older Beit el- Wali (the House of the Holy Man) that was also
moved to New Kalabsha. This small rock-cut temple was originally
fronted by a mud-brick pylon which was not moved, and consisted
of an entrance hall, a hypostyle hall and a sanctuary. It is a
delightful temple with painted decorations in reds, blues and
greens that retain most of their original brilliance. In the
entrance to the temple scenes of Ramesses II show him smiting
his enemies, often accompanied by his pet lion. In the sanctuary
are seated statues of Ramesses II and deities such as Horus,
Isis and Khnum.
The Temple of Kertassi
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The Temple of Kertassi ( Kiosk of Qertassi ) on the south side
of Kalabsha, with two Hathor columns and four elaborate columns
with capitals.
The remains of Gerf Hussein Image
The remains of Gref Hussein are very fragmentary. It was built
by Setau who was a viceroy of Kush during Ramesses II's reign.
Originally a combination rock-cut and freestanding temple
similar to Abu Simbel, it was dedicated to Ramesses II,Ptah and
Ptah- Tatenen (a Nubian-Egyptian creator god). As at Abu Simbel,
gods were carved out of the rock in the sanctuary.
The Temple of Dakka
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The Temple of Dakka, a Ptolemaic temple originally situated
forty miles north of its present location. Built using fragments
of an older 18th Dynasty temple (possibly built by an Ethiopian
king Arkamani), it was dedicated to Thoth of the Sycamore Fig.
The axis of the temple runs parallel with what was once the
river.
The Temple of Mahararqa Image
The temple of Mahararqa which once stood fifty miles to the
north. It was dedicated to Isis and Serapis, but the decoration
was never completed. The most important remains are those of the
hypostyle hall.
The Temple of Wadi al-Sabua
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Just south of the Dakka Temple is Wadi al-Sabua (Wadi as-Sebua)
where two temples are located. It is known as the Valley of the
Lions because of the sphinxes that once lined the avenue leading
to the first temple. It was constructed by Amenhotep III and
added to by Ramesses II. Unfortunately, most of the decorations
were defaced by early Christians. The front is free standing and
the rear was rock-cut. This temple consists of a sanctuary, a
court, a hall and pylons. It was originally dedicated to the
Nubian version of Horus, but was later rededicated to Amun-Re.
The second temple of Ramesses II, Re-Harakhte (a sun god), and
Amun-Re was moved about three kilometers (two miles) to the west
from its original location. This temple was also also originally
free standing and rock-cut.
The Temple of Amada
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The temple of Amada the oldest of the temples, going back to
the 18th dynast with restoration work from the 19th dynasty.
Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep II, and Tuthmosis IV were all involved
with its construction, and Seti I restored sections of it. The
fine preservation of the temple is due to Christians plastering
over the reliefs. The temple, dedicated to Amun-Re and
Re-Harakhte, contains an inscription relating the crushing of a
Libyan-backed rebellion by King Merneptah (1212-1202 BC). At the
back of the temple inscriptions tell about the famous wars in
Syria of Amenhotep II’s and how he bought back the bodies of
rebel chieftains to hang on the walls of Thebes. One body was
hung from the prow of his ship sailing through Nubia as a
warning. This temple was moved about two kilometers (one mile)
from its original site.
The Temple of Derr
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The temple of Derr, built by Ramesses II and dedicated to
himself, Amun-Re, Re-Harakhte and Ptah.. This rock-cut temple is
well decorated with bright, visible colors and was moved from
near the Amada temple in 1964. There is also the tomb of Pennut
here that originally stood at Aniba. Pennut was an administrator
in Nubia during the reign of Ramesses VI and is shown receiving
honors from him in this rock-cut tomb. However, large sections
of wall inscriptions have been cut away.
The Temple of Qasr Ibrim
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The last site before Abu Simbel is a large, mostly flooded
island at Qasr Ibrim. It once housed as many as six temples and
a Roman era fort, encompassing an expanse of historic periods
including the pharaonic, Roman, Christian and Arab/Nubian
eras.
The Temple of Daboud
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In the Parque de la Montaña, near the center of the city one
finds the most surprising monuments of Madrid, the Templo de
Deboud. This authentic Egyptian temple was built in the fourth
century B.C. at the village of Deboud, near the sacred temple
island of Philae. The Deboud Temple was dedicated to the gods
Amon and Isis.
The temple was built approximately 2200 years ago to honor the
gods Amon and Isis.Constructed in the Nubian town of Debod (thus
its name) it was later enlarged and redecorated by the
Ptolemanic pharaohs and the Roman emperors.
With the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt between
1960 and 1970, many historical monuments were in danger of being
flooded. Spanish engineers helped the Egyptian government to
move these monuments to safe areas. In 1968 Egypt donated one of
these monuments, the Templo de Deboud, to Spain in recognition
of their support.
The temple was moved to Madrid and reconstructed in the Parque
de la Montaña (an extension of the larger Parque del Oeste) at
the site of a former army barracks, near the Plaza de España.
The temple was officially opened in 1972. Inside an exhibition
depicts the reconstruction of the temple in Madrid.
The Temple of Abu Simbel
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The monuments at Abu Simbel were practically unknown in the
Egyptological world until Johan Ludwig Burckhardt visited the
site in 1813 when he saw the upper part of a temple facade
almost covered by sand. Giovanni Battista Belzoni visited the
site shortly afterwards in 1817 and discovered the entrance
door. Since that time many adventurers have been struck by the
awe-inspiring facade of the temple built by Rameses II around
3000 years ago with its giant colossal statues of the king
sculpted from the mountain rock. In the 1960s the new High Dam
was built at Aswan which resulted in a build-up of water which
threatened to engulf the monuments along its Nubian shores. In a
dramatic race against time UNESCO began a US$40 million rescue
operation in 1964, the like of which had never been seen before.
In the incredible salvage operation the temples were dismantled
and cut up into manageable-sized blocks, then painstakingly
reconstructed 65m higher than the original site, away from the
dangers of the encroaching water. Inside a specially constructed
mountain, two gigantic reinforced concrete domes protect the
rebuilt temples .
The Great Temple of Rameses II
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The facade of the Temple of Rameses II is dominated by four
colossal seated statues carved out of the cliff face, each 20m
high and depicting the king, with Nubians carved in the base at
his feet. The faces of the statues appear to show Rameses in
different stages of his life, although it is thought that the
temple was built quite early in his reign. The figures are
immense when you are standing at their base looking up at them.
Rameses the Great obviously did not want to be forgotten when he
built this Nubian Temple . His mother Tuya, his Chief Wife
Nefertari and some of his many children can be seen in smaller
scale at his feet. The monument is dedicated to the gods
Re-Horakhty, Amun and Ptah, as well as the divine Rameses
himself. There are later inscriptions carved on the statues. A
Greek inscription by the soldiers of Psamtek II of Dynasty XXVI
is carved on the most ruined of the colossi . Above the entrance
door the king worships the figure of the falcon-headed sun god
Re-Horakhty who is also greeted by carved baboons on top of the
wall. Inside, the temple is conventional in its design, with the
floor level rising noticeably towards the sanctuary at the rear
and in the first pillared hall there are eight Osiris pillars in
two rows. On the left, the colossal statues depict Rameses
wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt and on the right the king
wears the double crown of the Two Lands. On the walls of this
first hypostyle hall are scenes showing the king's victories
over his enemies, usually Libyans and Nubians. The north wall is
painted with scenes of the battle of Kadesh, Rameses' greatest
victory, and on the other walls are various depictions of the
king in single combat or being presented with prisoners from
various lands. The goddess Nekhbet on the 'vulture ceiling'
leads us inwards towards the Vestibule . Nubia . Beyond the
Vestibule, 65m in from the entrance to the temple, we come to
the most sacred place, the Holy of Holies or Sanctuary. Four
seated statues of Re-Horakhty, the deified Rameses II, Amun-re
and Ptah are carved from the rock of the back wall. A pedestal
still remains in the sanctuary on which the sacred barque would
have stood. The temple was aligned so that twice a year, on
February 22 and October 22, the sun's rays penetrate the length
of the temple and flood the sanctuary with light (which may or
may not be significant!). The decoration of the Great Temple of
Rameses II at Abu Simbel serves to glorify the divine pharaoh
Rameses, who is seen adoring and making offerings to his deified
image. Perhaps it was also a monument intended to keep the
wayward Nubian population in line by showing them the might of
their great Egyptian ruler.
The Major Temple: It is the most consummate, beautiful and
artistically rich of the temples built by Ramses II in Nubia. It
has a splendid facade, 33m high and 38m wide. It was carved in
the form of a colossal structure on top of which exist about 20
statues of monkeys standing on their hind legs raising their
hands to salute the sun rise.In the middle of the facade above
the entrance there stands a statue of a man with a falcons head;
the god Ra Hur Akhti. During the reign of Ramses II and the
great kings of the Modern Kingdom, this temple was built to
glorify Ra Hur Akhti together with Amun Ra, the god of state
The Minor Temple: Situated north of the major temple, it was
carved into the rock in honour of the god of love and beauty
Hathour and Ramses most beloved wife Nefertari. Although it
looks small it has an outstanding artistic significance. On the
facade, there are three niches on each side of the door. On the
middle one there is a statue of the Queen Nefertari and on both
sides a statue of the king. Each of the six statues in the
entrance is more than 11 m-high. In the hall of the temple there
are 6 pillars with cappings shaped like Hathours head. The three
sides of each pillar show drawings of gods among which is
Nefertari. Mural paintings portray the king or queen or both
worshiping god. Moreover, on the western wall the head of a caw
representing Hathur was carved together with a statue of the
king.
The Temple of Dendur
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Temple of Dendur, Nubia, 15 B.C. Sandstone; From gate to rear of
temple 82 ft .Given to the United States by Egypt in 1965,
awarded to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1967, and installed
in The Sackler Wing in 1978.
After a confrontation with a Nubian Candake, Augustus
commissioned the construction of a temple at Dendur, Nubia.
Ostensibly depicting Augustus worshipping the Nubian local
deities, the relief decoration and accompanying inscriptions pay
particular homage to brothers, Pahor and Pedese, who are
believed to have been sons of a local Nubian elite ruler and who
seem to have met their fate by drowning in the Nile River,
apparently resulting in their being deified. The temple of
Dendur celebrates these two brothers and contains within the
thickness of its rear wall, which abutted the hillside into
which the temple was constructed, a chamber serving as their
cenotaph.
This temple appears to have replaced an earlier rock cut shrine,
or speos, in which the cult of these two brothers was apparently
celebrated. The rituals celebrated at Dendur in the name of
Augustus on behalf of these two brothers were contemporary with
other rituals performed at Sayala in the vicinity of Abu Simbel.
The Temple of Hathor
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The second rock-cut temple at Abu Simbel lies close by to the
north of the Great Temple and is similar in plan but on a
smaller scale. It was built in honour of Rameses' Great Wife and
most favoured of his consorts, Nefertari. This smaller monument
is dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The facade of the temple
shows Nefertari on each side of the entrance standing between
two colossal 10m statues of Rameses, again with smaller images
of royal children at their feet. Never before had a queen been
depicted alongside her husband and on the same scale, on the
facade of a temple. The temple interior is very simple and built
on a much more human scale than the Great Temple . Scenes on the
walls of the pillared hall depict Nefertari taking part in
divine rituals with her husband before Hathor and Mut and in the
same role as the king. They also show the consecration of
Nefertari as divine queen. There are traditional scenes of the
pharaoh Rameses II in his warrior role of slaying captives. Six
square pillars set in two rows and crowned with Hathor heads
give a very gentle and feminine feel to the monument. In the
sanctuary at the rear of the temple a statue in high relief
seems to grow out of the rock wall, showing Hathor as the sacred
cow-goddess emerging from the Western Mountain . Chambers open
to the north and south of the Vestibule with colourful scenes
showing Hathor on her sacred barque. The side chambers have a
cave-like feel, being carved from the mountain rock.
Nearby monuments
There are also other monuments to be seen at the Abu Simbel
site. A number of carved stones documenting Nubian officials
have been set into the base of the cliff. There is also the
remains of a sun-court to be seen to the north of the Great
Temple and nearby is the famous 'Marriage Stela' which tells of
the marriage alliance between Rameses II and a daughter of a
Hittite king.
The lost Temples of Nubia
Quban (Kuban)
Quban, know to the Egyptians as Baki and o the Greeks as Contra
Pselchis, stood on the east bank of the Nile just across from
Dakka. It was a fortress probably built at the beginning of the
12th Dynasty by Senusret I, but it may have had an Old Kingdom
Precursor. Many of the most important sites lost to
Egyptologists beneath the waters of Lake Nasser were Nubian
fortresses, and were perhaps more important for this reason than
for their small temples. Unfortunately, these fortress could
probably have never been saved from Lake Nasser, for unlike the
temples that were moved, they were mostly made of mudbrick.
During the New Kingdom Quban was one of the more important
Egyptian centers in Nubia controlling the gold mines of Wadi
'Allaqi. It contained several temple, of which little today is
known. Apparently, a number of blocks from this temple were
latter used at the nearby Temple of Dakka that was itself saved
from the waters of Lake Nasser.
Faras (Pachoras)
Faras was an important center in Nubia. During the third
century, it was an important town of the Meroe kingdom, and from
the eight century it was the capital city of the Christian
bishops in Nubia. In fact, this site is perhaps more famous as
an early Christian center then for its pharaonic monuments.
This site, which originally stood on the west bank of the Nile
between Abu Simbel and the Wadi Halfa, had a destroyed 18th
Dynasty temple of Tutankhamun and an early New Kingdom rock-cut
chapel of Hathor of Ibshek (perhaps originally constructed by
Tuthmosis III). The latter temple was enlarged in the reigns of
Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. The temple built by Tutankhamun was
designed on a symmetrical plan, consisting of a square courtyard
bordered on either side by a portico (2 rows of columns). It
also contained a hypostyle hall with 12 columns and a sanctuary
with annexes. There were hundreds of Thmosid blocks discovered
at this site that where probably removed from the temple at
Buhen next tot he second cataract.
In addition to the temples unearthed at Faras, there was also
the ruins of an early Christian basilica dating to the seventh
or eighth century, the ruins of a bishop's palace, an early
monastery and other ruins. Over 120 Byzantine-Coptic style
paintings in tempera on dry plaster were removed from these
sites, many of which remain in Sudanese museums and the National
Museum in Warsaw.
Mirgissa
Mirgissa was located in the region of the Nile's second cataract
on the west bank of the Nile about 15 kilometers south of Wadi
Halfa. Here, a small New Kingdom temple of Hathor was built,
perhaps replacing an earlier Middle Kingdom structure. However,
like many of he sites lost beneath Lake Nasser, Mirgissa is
again more familiar to us as a fortress then for its temples.
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