The mortuary temple of Mentuhotep I - 11th Dynasty

5th Dynasty: Part I. Userkaf. 2498:2491 BC

Egypt: The Ramesseum (Ramses II's Mortuary Temple) Plan

Luxor, Egypt:

Egypt: Small and Upper Courts, Sanctuary - Hatshepsut Temple part VI Plan

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt: 

To the right of the Birth Colonnade is a small court (E) comprising twelve sixteen-sided columns in three rows, and leading to the chapel of Anubis, which has three chambers. The walls of the court have excellently preserved reliefs, though representations of the queen have all been damaged. On the right-hand wall (m) above the small recess is a scene of the monarch making a wine-offering to the hawk-headed Sokaris, god of the dead. On the rear wall offerings are made to Amon (to the left) and Anubis (to the right) with the sacrificial gifts heaped up before each.

The upper Court (F) was the part of the temple that suffered most severely at the hands of the Christian monks. It has been closed to visitors for more than a year for reconstruction. It includes a small vestibule leading to one of the few altars (C) to come down to us from antiquity on their original sites, and to a sacrificial hall (H) with reliefs adorning the walls. At the back of the court are a number of small recesses, some larger than others, and the central recess leads into the sanctuary itself which was cut directly into the cliff backing the temple. The granite portal forming the entrance dates from the time of the Ptolemies. The Sanctuary (I) comprises three chambers. The first two have vaulted ceilings and adjoining recesses. In the first chamber is a scene (on the upper reaches of the right-hand wall) of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and their little daughter, Princess Ranofru, sacrificing to the barge of Amon. Behind them are the queen's father Thutmose I with his wife Ahmose and their little daughter Bitnofru. A similar scene, somewhat damaged, is represented on

the left-hand wall with Thutmose III kneeling. In the inner room of the sanctuary the reliefs show a marked deterioration from the worthy representations in the reign of Hatschepsut. This room was restored by Euergetes II.

As already mentioned, Hatshepsut's mummy was never found. It was neither in the tomb she constructed in the Valley of the Kings, nor in the one excavated south of the mortuary temple, nor in the shaft at Deir el Bahri, nor in the tomb of Amenhotep II , the 'Safety Tomb' . Whether she was poisoned that Thutmose III might take over the throne, stabbed by her lover, killed by officials jealous of Senmut's favor, or died a natural death remains a matter for speculation.

Egypt: Birth Colonnade Plan - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part V

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt:
The Birth Colonnade corresponds exactly to the Punt Colonnade. As already mentioned, it was constructed to allay concern about Hatshepsut's right to the throne. The theory of divine origin was above discussion, let alone dispute, and this is shown in a scene of the ram-headed Khnum shaping} Hatshepsut and her Ka on the potter's wheel (h) under instructions from Amon who has impregnated the queen mother. Among the particularly fine representations is that of the queen mother Ahmose (I), full with child. She radiates joy and stands dignified in her pregnancy, smiling a smile of supreme contentment as she is led to the birth room.Unfortunately most of the scene in which Amon and the queen mother are borne to the heavens by two goddesses seated on a lion-headed couch, is badly damaged. But the grotesque figure of the god Bes can be seen in the lower row (j).
In the scene of the actual birth the queen mother sits on a chair which is placed on a couch held aloft by various gods. This in turn stands upon an other couch also supported by gods. The queen mother has a retinue of female attendants. Hathor then presents Hatshepsut to Amon and the twelve Kas of th e divine child are suckled by twelve goddesses (k) . Hatshepsut and her Ka have been erased but in the scene at the end of the wall (I) they pass through the hands of various goddesses who record the divine birth.
Hatshepsut's mother is shown in the presence of the ibis-headed Thoth, the ram-headed Khnum and the frog-headed Heket. She also converses with Amon who tells her that her daughter shall exercise kingship throughout the land. By depicting Hatshepsut as a boy and by repeating the theme of Amon laying a hand of blessing on her shoulder, the most important prejudices against her rule are overcome.

Egypt : Punt Colonnade Plan - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut Plan (Deir El Bahri) - Part III

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt:
The Punt Colonnade commemorates an expedition ordered by Queen Hatshepsut to the Land of Punt (in the East Africa\Somalia area) to bring back myrrh and incense trees to be planted on the terraces of the temple. The relief tells us that Amon himself ordered the expedition and it appears that Hatshepsut not only carried out the divine will but made the expedition a major mission.

On the southern wall (II) we can see the village in Punt where the houses are constructed over water with ladders leading up to the entrances. We can see the mayor of the city, the inhabitants, the grazing cattle and even the village dog. The Egyptian envoy and his entourage are greeted in welcome and are shown presenting merchandise for barter. The fat, deformed queen of Punt is there. The hieroglyphics relate that this illustrious monarch traveled by donkey and, with obvious wit, the artists have shown the little donkey itself. Throughout the span of Egyptian history, from pre-dynastic times to the fall of the empire, it was not often that deformed or physically handicapped persons were sculpted or drawn . The few that were belonged to the earlier dynasties and were people of the lower classes. The portrayal of the queen of Punt suffering from the swollen legs of elephantiasis, and without even a royal carriage for transport, makes one feel that neither Hatshepsut nor her artists had much respect for her.

On the back wall at (b) the Egyptian fleet sets sail, arrives in Punt and we see the transportation of the incense trees planted in small tubs (top row) and on board the vessel (lower row). These will be carried back to Deir el Bahri, there to be planted in the court. In tact the roots are still on site to this day. One cannot but feel, divine will not with standing, that more than a little of Hatshepsut's whim and fancy went into the elaboration of the whole mission. In a joyous representation at the center of the long back wall (c) the queen (defaced) can be seen offering the fruits of her expedition to Amon: incense trees, wild game, cattle, electrum and bows. The whole mural speaks of success and pleasure.

Egypt : Lower and Central Courts - Hatshepsut's Temple Plan - Deir El Bahri - Part II

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt: We ascend the temple of Deir el Bahri from the lower court where two colonnades have been restored. These comprise twenty-two columns on each side arranged in double rows. In the southern colonnade is a scene showing two obelisks being transported by water (those Hatshepsut had erected at Karnak). The first row shows them on the deck of the barge and below a trumpeter leads a group of archers to the inauguration ceremony.
Passing between the two colonnades we come to the central court (Plan 12 A), which leads to the upper terrace. We are now faced with two famous colonnades. On the left (B) is the Colonnade of the Expedition to Punt. On the right (C) is the Birth Colonnade.

Egypt : Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut Plan (Deir El Bahri)

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt:
Framed by steep cliffs and poised inelegant relief, stands the temple of Deir el Bahri . Justly deserving its name Most Splendid of All, it was the inspiration of the beautiful Queen Makere Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. What strikes one. first when approaching this temple is its unity with nature. Far from being belittled by the stark purity of the cliffs behind, the temple was so designed that the cliffs form a backcloth.

Hatshepsut, whose royal line age to the Great Royal wife of Ahmose made her the only lawful heir among Thutmose I's children, his sons being by minor wives, was prevented by her sex from succeeding as Pharaoh. She consequently married her half-brother Thutmose II. During his reign and her subsequent co-regency with Thutmose III she retained power in her capable hands.
To appreciate the temple of Deir el Bahri one must know a little of the character of the beautiful woman who conceived it. She was indisputably iron-willed and not willing to let the fact that she was a woman stand in her way. She assumed a throne name-Makere. She wore a royal shirt and ceremonial beard, the badges of kingship.She proved her right to the throne in numerous reliefs of her divine birth.

Once Hatshepsut had secured her right to the throne she embarked on the building of temples and monuments and also on the restoration of damaged sanctuaries. This was perhaps especially important to her since she could hardly record her name in history through military conquest and sought to do so through architectural magnificence. The obelisks she had erected in Karnak temple were so placed that the glittering tips should inundate the Two Lands just as it appears in the horizon of heaven. And she planned her mortuary temple to be no less spectacular. Her architect Senmut, whilst drawing inspiration from the adjacent 11th Dynasty temple of the Pharaohs Mentuhotep II and III, carried it out on a very much larger scale. Adopting the idea of the terrace and adding an extra tier, he made such imposing use of it that he deserves special credit. He designed a terraced sanctuary comprising courts, one above the other with connecting inclined planes at the center. Shrines were dedicated to Hathor and Anubis and chambers devoted to the cult of the queen and her parents.

It was a labor of love, for Senmut, who first entered the service of Hatshepsut as tutor to her daughter Neferure, had ambitions and abilities that took him high on the ladder of success. He not only ended with no fewer than forty titles but conducted himself as a member of the royal family, enjoying privileges and prerogatives never before enjoyed by a man of humble birth. He was Hatshepsut's supporter and lover and doubtless also her political adviser. He was also granted a privilege accorded to no official before or after : that of constructing his tomb near the mortuary temple of his monarch.

Hatshepsut had two tombs. Her body was found in neither. The first she had dug in the Valley of the Kings, where all members of the royal family were laid to rest in the 18th Dynasty. The second, after she became monarch, was in the Taker Zeid Valley, south of Deir el Bahri and overlooking the Valley of the Kings. The former tomb was so designed that the corridors, burrowed 213 meters beneath the barrier hill, should lead to the tomb chamber itself directly beneath the mortuary temple. It was as though, while wishing to construct her tomb in the royal valley, she wanted at the same time to conform to the ancient practice of linking the tomb with the mortuary temple. She never achieved her goal. Bad rock or other causes led to the passage being continued in a swerve of 98 meters below ground level and then abandoned. It is devoid of relief and inscription and, apart from limestone slabs relating chapters from the Book of the Dead in red and black sketch form, is a rather pathetic and crude passage. In her red sand stone sarcophagus the body of her father Thutmose I had been laid to rest, until the priests of the 20th Dynasty removed his mummy to the shaft of Deir el Bahri for safe keeping. In fact Hatshepsut's sarcophagus had been enlarged to receive his body. Why was Thutmose I laid to rest in his daughter's tomb? Because his own had already been used by Thutmose II, who died prematurely after a short co-regency with Hatshepsut. And Hatshepsut's mummy?It probably suffered the same fate as her statues and representations in murals. For, when Thutmose III finally asserted himself and expelled her from the throne, his years of frustrated energy swelled forth in a campaign of destruction when he obliterated from every temple throughout the land, but from Deir el Bahri in particular, every reference to the female Pharaoh.

Later, when Akhenaten removed references to Amon from the temples of Egypt , the inscriptions of Deir el Bahri were further mutilated. Ramses II endeavored to restore them but the workmanship was inferior. And in this condition the beautiful temple remained, with only minor alterations taking place until Christian monks setup a convent there. Sadly, but understandably, they too scraped the walls and added to the overall desecration.

Explore Deir el Bahri (Hatshepsut's Temple) in details:
Lower and Central Courts - Hatshepsut's Temple - Deir El Bahri - Part II
Punt Colonnade - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part III
Shrine of Hathor - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part IV
Birth Colonnade - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part V
Srnall and Upper Courts, Sanctuary - Hatshepsut Temple part VI

Egypt : Temple of Mut - Karnak Complex XV, Luxor, Egypt.

Thutmose II's arrows pierce a sheet of Asian copper.

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :
Now completely in ruins, the Temple of Mut was surrounded on three sides by a horse shoe-shaped lake. It was dedicated to the consort of Amon and comprised a pair of open courts, one following the other, and a sanctuary surrounded by ante-chambers. The construction extended through many generations from Amenhotep III to Ptolemaic times.
Among its many statues and murals is a grotesque figure of the god Bes, and at least 600 statues of the war-goddess Sekhmet in black granite. These surrounded the entire court, in places packed closely in double rows.

Egypt : Temple of Osiris and Opet - Karnak Complex XIV

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :

The Temple of Osiris and Opet adjoins that of .Khonsu to the south-west. It comprises a rectangular hall which has a well-preserved ceiling resting on two Hathor-decorated columns, a second small hall which is flanked by two rooms, and a sanctuary. The sanctuary has representations of King Euergetes II before various deities.

A flight of steps from the sanctuary leads to the lower chambers of the basement and the exit door, which once connected this temple with that of Khonsu .

Egypt : Akhenaten Temple Project - Karnak Complex Part XII

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :

What is now known as the Akhenaten Temple Project was originally undertaken by the University Museum of Pennsylvania. Now it is subsidized in part by the Antiquities Department and in part by the Smithsonian Institution, and is the first scientific study of antiquities by computer. It entails the extraction of the blocks and the feeding of details of their design, inscriptions, etc. into a computer, which will match the pieces and prepare the way for reconstruction. Modem techniques may thus concentrate a lifetime's work into a decade. The question is whether the blocks will prove to be parts of one immense temple, a worthy companion to the temple of Amon,
or a complex of many.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Akhenaten Temple Project is one of the most important pieces of work being  done in Luxor today. To date there is a gap in the history of the area. Only in the tomb of Ramose is there an opportunity to compare the age-old tradition of artistic expression with the new . realism characteristic of Akhenaten's time. What a drama when, within the very precincts of Amon's sacred temple where he enjoyed unquestioned dominance for generations, there will rise a structure from a period meant to have been forever forgotten. Side by side with Amon's power and supremacy will be Akhenaten's new faith and symbol , the sun, with its radiating force ending in the gesture of giving.
The eastern avenue of sphinxes extends from the tenth pylon to the Gate of Philadelphus, which is excellently preserved. The temple of Mut is to the south. To the west is the temple of Khonsu and the temple of Osiris adjoins it.

Egypt : Southern Buildings, Karnak Cachette, Seventh to Tenth Pylons - Karnak Complex part XI

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :

The buildings extending southwards from the central court of the main temple of Karnak are mostly in ruin today. A brief survey will be made, however, to show the importance of the plan of reconstruction over the next ten years. A group of architects arc under contract with the Department of Antiquities for the complete reconstruction of the Karnak area, of which this is only one section, but perhaps the most important.
Proceeding from the central court (lying between the third and fourth pylons) are the remains of a court where there is a good view of Ramses II's famous treaty with the Hittites, followed by the seventh pylon. This court was the site of a temple of the Middle Kingdom and it was here that Legrain extracted a fantastic number of works of art from what became known as the Karnak Cachette. Buried in a pit were thousands of pieces including statues in stone and bronze, sphinxes and sacred animals. The bronze items alone numbered 17,000.  It seems that one of the Pharaohs decided to have a spring clean in the temple and remove all the junk. Though most of the pieces are of little artistic merit, the find shows that the temple could well have housed the 86,486 statues mentioned in the Great Harris Papyrus. The seventh pylon was built by Thutmose III, and facing it to the south are the remains of two colossal statues of him in red granite. Between the wall suniting the seventh and eighth pylons, to the east, is as mall shrine dating also from the reign of Thutmose III. The eighth pylon was the work of Queen Hatshepsut and is the most ancient part of the structure. In fact there is very little proof of her having built this pylon, for her name was removed from the reliefs by Thutmose II. And following Akhenaten's removal of all allusions to Amon, Seti I restored them, often inserting his own name in place of those of the older rulers. Reconstruction of this area may yet supply the missing clues to the overlapping reigns of the Thutmosides.
In the doorway at the rear left-hand of this court is an important historical relief on the left. It is the first instance in Egypt's long history where the high priest, in this case Amenhotep, is depicted in the same size as the Pharaoh. Standing with arms up lifted, Amenhotep offers flowers to Ramses IX. This relief indicates the growth of priestly power. Faithful traditionalists of the established religion, the priests of Amon had hitherto been righteous, just and devout. The power of leadership had been firmly vested in the throne and they had recognized and accepted this. Over the years however their simple piety had turned to mild interest in earthly matters, then acute interest, and finally to intrigue and a craving for political power. The high priest depicted in this mural makes offerings to the Pharaoh while being draped in linen by two servants. A reciprocal gesture of appreciation? Or a royal bribe?
Beyond the eighth pylon is a row of six royal personages. The best preserved are Amenhotep I (in limestone) and Thutmose II (inredgranite), both to the west. The ninth pylon was built by Harmhab the one-time general. When repairs started it was found to be filled, like its companion the tenth pylon, with blocks from Akhenaten's temple to the Sun. Together with the 40,000-odd blocks from this same period found beneath the hypostyle hall and the second pylon, these number some 60,000 blocks and are valuable clues to a period about which there are many gaps in our knowledge. When the first small,distinctively uniform sand stone blocks were discovered in the pylon of Ramses II, it was at first erroneously assumed that they had been brought lip-river from a dismantled temple in Tel eI Amarna, Drain age operations subsequently led to the excavation of parts of no less than seventeen colossal statues of Akhenaten himself. Akhenaten in fact had had the temple erected before he changed his capital to Tel eI Amarna and while Thebes was witnessing the slow indoctrination of a new religious concept.

Temple of Ramses III - Karnak Complex part III

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :

Across the court stands the Temple of Ramses III. This is the only temple still standing in the whole of Egypt which was built on a homogeneous plan by a single monarch. The pylon which forms the entrance has now been repaired and shows, on the left-hand tower, a relief of the Pharaoh wearing the double crown and

holding a group of prisoners by the hair, whilst in his other hand he raises a club to smite them.

Amon stands before him handing him the sword of victory and delivering to him three rows of vanquished cities each represented as a human figure rising out of a symbolic fort which bears the name of the city.

On the right-hand tower the theme is repeated but with the Pharaoh wearing the crown of  Lower Egypt . Large statues of the Pharaoh flank the doorway over which Ramses III receives the symbol of life from Amon.

Passing through the entrance pylon we come to an open court surrounded by covered passages on three sides, each supported by eight square pillars with statues of Osiris in front of them. On the terrace at the rear are four similar pillars and four columns which have bud capitals. The reliefs on the back wall of the pylon show Ramses receiving the hieroglyph for "jubilee" from the enthroned Amon.On the east wall is a procession of standard bearers and the Pharaoh leading the priests who hear the sacred barges of Amon , Mut and Khonsu.

The hypo-style hall of the temple of Ramses III has eight columns with papyrus-bud capitals, adjoining which are three shrines respectively dedicated to Mut, Amon and Khonsu.

This temple is a cameo. Its charm is its size, its value is its adherence to the traditional, its historical importance is its completion according to the unadulterated blue print of Ramses III.

Ramses III ruled at the tail end of a long line of imperial Pharaohs and he was the last of the Ramessides to carve a place for himself in history. Though wealthy-having reaped the fruits of his ancestors' battles - he was far from great, a fact that he seems himself to have recognized by placing his modest temple across the axis of the main structure at Karnak as though to say, "I do not wish to compete". During his 32-year reign he fought three important battles, and his architectural activities included a temple at Medinet Habu, where he recorded his battles, and the initial construction of the temple of Khonsu, which was completed by his successors. He also enriched the temples of Memphis and Heliopolis but ended his days severely criticized by his contemporaries, who despised his weakened position under the priests of Amon.