Kalabsha

Coordinates: 23 ° 36 '  N , 32 ° 49'  E

Kalabsha​

Egypt

The Mandulis Temple of Kalabsha

Kalabsha ( Arabic كلابشة, DMG Kalābaša ) was a place in what is now Egypt in Lower Nubia and is the modern name for the ancient Talmis. The place was about 50 kilometers south of Aswan at an altitude of 195 meters and is now submerged in Lake Nasser .

Cityscape

The place experienced its heyday as a local center of power after the introduction of Christianity in the 6th century. To defend against nomadic attacks, it was surrounded by a city wall similar to that built a few centuries earlier in Faras and in Christian times in Ikhmindi , Sabagura and Sheik Daud. Angled gate porches were characteristic of the Nubian defenses.

Mandulis temple

Kalabsha is particularly known for its temple complex: The main temple, built entirely of sandstone, of the Nubian god Mandulis and the goddess Isis of Philae stood here . The temple, whose temple house alone is 77 meters long, is the largest free-standing temple complex in Lower Nubia. The temple area is surrounded by a 15 meter high brick wall and measures 66 × 92 meters.

Ptolemy VIII had an 18th Dynasty sanctuary replaced by a small temple. This temple was replaced by a larger complex under Augustus . However, the temple's inscriptions and decorations remained unfinished. In Christian times, parts of the complex were converted into a church.

The temple of Kalabsha was broken down into 13,000 blocks during the construction of the Aswan Dam from 1961–1963 under German leadership and rebuilt together with the temples recovered from some other places on the island of New Kalabsha a little south and within sight of the Aswan dam. A previous building discovered in the foundations when the temple was demolished and built under Ptolemy VIII was rebuilt on Elephantine Island . An older gate construction, also found in the foundations and used as filler material, was given as a gift by the Egyptian side to the Federal Republic of Germany for their help as part of the UNESCO campaign to save Nubian antiquities and has been in the Egyptian Museum Berlin since 1973 . A move to the Pergamon Museum is planned. The Kertassi kiosk on New Kalabsha was also rebuilt in the immediate vicinity .

The temple stands on the 1979 World Heritage List of UNESCO .

literature

• Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 , p. 119.
• Dieter Arnold: The temples of Kalabsha. German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department (DAI), Cairo 1975.
• Henri Gauthier: Le Temple de Kalabchah (= Les Temples immergés de la Nubie. ). 3 volumes, Imprimerie de l 'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo 1911/14 ( digitized volume 1 / digitized volume 2 / digitized volume 3 ).
• Edwin Henfling: Kalabsha. In: Wolfgang Helck (Gre.): Lexicon of Egyptology. Vol. 3, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1983, ISBN 3-447-02100-4 , p. 295 f.
• Karl G. Siegler: Kalabsha. Architecture and building history of the temple. Mann, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-7861-2062-5 (reprint of the Mainz 1970 edition).
• George R. Wright: Kalabsha. The Preserving of the Temple. New edition Mann, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-7861-2186-9 .
• George R. Wright: The Ptolemaic Sanctuary of Kalabsha. Its Reconstruction on Elephantine Island. von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0892-2 .
• Hanns Stock, Karl Georg Siegler: Kalabsha. The largest temple in Nubia and the adventure of its rescue. FA Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1965.
• Max-Pol Fouchet: Nubie. Splendeur sauvée. La Guilde du Livre, Lausanne 1965, p. 86 ff.

Web links

Commons : Kalabsha  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: New Calabshah  Travel Guide

• Temples of Kalabsha, Beit el-Wali, Dedwen and Qirtas on www.leben-in-luxor.de
• Plan of the temple of Kalabsha

Individual evidence

1. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann , Peter Grossmann : Nubian research. German Archaeological Institute. Mann, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-7861-1512-5 , p. 89.
2. ^ Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae - UNESCO World Heritage Center