Sun Sanctuary (Ancient Egypt)

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The sun sanctuary was a cult facility in ancient Egypt for the gods of the sun cult Aton , Atum , Chepre , Harmachis , Re , Re-Harachte etc. They are attested since the 2nd to 3rd dynasty and were widespread in Egypt .

overview

The sun sanctuaries can be classified as follows:

  • The Harmachis Temple of Chephren in Giza ( 4th Dynasty ).
  • The sun sanctuaries of the 5th Dynasty near the pyramid districts at Abusir . Of the temples, only those of Userkaf and Niuserre have so far been located and excavated. They consisted of open cult courtyards with a central obelisk or sun mark.
  • The central solar sanctuary in Heliopolis , the shape of which is not known.
  • The sun cult sites in the millions of years old . Examples of this can be found on the roof of the Ach-menu and next to the great temple of Abu Simbel . The latter is equipped with the decoration program and the emblems of the sun symbolism. Presumably they are models for the wabet sites of later temples.
  • The "re-shadow" or "sun mirror" ( schut-re ) of the early 18th dynasty . These were closely connected with the royal cult . The facilities were modestly built and mostly subordinate to a main temple or economically connected. In Amarna , sun shadows are occupied for Teje , Nefertiti , Meritaton and Ankhesenpaaton . They were either functionally equivalent to the sun cult sites in the millions of years old or possibly served the transmission and regeneration of the divine creative power and fertility .
  • Akhenaten's aton temples in Karnak and Amarna . These had pylons as sun gates and courtyards with numerous small individual altars, as well as a monumental walk-in high altar.
  • The Taharqa building of Karnak , which is a special form.

5th Dynasty solar sanctuaries

Reconstruction of the solar sanctuary of Niuserre

A total of six such structures have come down to us with inscriptions, but only two of them have been discovered so far. There does not seem to have been an Egyptian name for this type of temple; all six known solar sanctuaries are inscribed under their respective proper names.

function

The appearance of the sun sanctuaries at the beginning of the 5th dynasty is related to a religious change that began in the middle of the 4th dynasty (around 2670-2500 BC) under Radjedef . The cult of the sun god Re, which grew stronger from this time on, also brought about a change in the royal cult. If the king was previously the highest god of the world, this role was now given to the sun god and the king was now only considered his son. This change also caused a change in the royal cult of the dead. With their western orientation, the sun sanctuaries formed a place of worship for the setting (ie dying) sun god and were thus part of the royal pyramids - even if there were sometimes considerable spatial distances between the two. Both buildings together should enable the king to travel to the hereafter and to unite with his divine Father. At the end of the 5th dynasty there were again significant religious changes, which meant that from now on no more solar sanctuaries were built. In addition to the cult of the sun god, belief in the underworld god Osiris was added. From King Unas , the function of the solar sanctuary was finally transferred from the architectural to the written level. The pyramid texts now formed the decisive role for the ruler's existence on the other side .

In addition to the religious sanctuaries, the sun sanctuaries also had an important economic importance, which mainly concerned the mortuary temples of the pyramids. For example, for the solar sanctuary of Neferirkare, economic texts testify that all offerings for the royal mortuary temple were delivered from here.

overview

Pharaoh Sun sanctuary Ancient Egyptian name Location Remarks
Userkaf Sun sanctuary of Userkaf Nḫn-Rˁ.w
Nechen-Rau
Fortress of Re 		Abusir
Sahure Sun sanctuary of the Sahure Sḫt-Rˁ.w
Sechet-Rau
Feld des Re 		unknown (Abusir?) Remains of the obelisk may have been found in Abusir.
Neferirkare Sun sanctuary of Neferirkare St-jb-Rˁ.w
Set-ib-Rau
Favorite place of the Re 		unknown Most frequently documented solar sanctuary with inscriptions.
Schepseskare No solar sanctuary erected
Raneferef Sun sanctuary of Raneferef Ḥtp-Rˁ.w
Hetep-Rau offering
table of the Re 		unknown
Niuserre Sun sanctuary of Niuserre Šsp-jb-Rˁ.w
Schesep-ib-Rau
Pleasure place of the Re 		Abu Gurob at Abusir
Menkauhor Menkauhor sun sanctuary 3ḫt-Rˁ.w
Achet-Rau
horizon of the Re 		unknown
Djedkare No solar sanctuary erected
Unas No solar sanctuary erected

Construction and components

The sun sanctuaries correspond in their conception to the pyramids at the same time. They have a valley temple , an access road and the actual cult area, which is surrounded by an enclosure wall. The central element of this district is a monumental, accessible stone plinth at the west end, on which a brick obelisk was erected. In front of this pedestal was a sacrificial altar. The sun temple of Niuserre addition has also at its north side of an elongated construction with storerooms and south of the enclosure a of mud bricks built sun ship .

Several phases of construction can be identified for both archaeologically researched solar sanctuaries. It can be reconstructed by the fact that the buildings were originally made of bricks and only later redesigned in stone. During the renovations, they were also considerably enlarged. For example, the base of the Userkaf sanctuary was originally square and was only later expanded to a rectangle. The obelisk was also not built until a later stage of construction, while in the original concept there was only a wooden post in its place.

These modifications were also used as a possible explanation why only two of the total of six sun shrines could be found so far. For example, brick-built sanctuaries that remained unfinished could later be demolished (this is assumed for the Sahure sanctuary, for example) or continued to be used by later rulers (the Niuserre sanctuary could simply be an extension of the original Raneferef sanctuary).

See also

literature

  • Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 , pp. 241-242.
  • Peter Jánosi : The Sun Sanctuaries . In: Christian Hölzl (ed.): The pyramids of Egypt. Monuments of Eternity . Brandstätter, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85498-375-1 , pp. 101-107.
  • Mark Lehner : Secrets of the Pyramids . Orbis, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-572-01039-X , pp. 149-153.
  • Massimilano Nuzollo : The Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples. Kingship, Architecture and Religion in Third Millenium BC Egypt. Charles University, Prague 2018, ISBN 978-8073088965 .
  • Rainer Stadelmann : The Egyptian pyramids. From brick construction to the wonder of the world (= cultural history of the ancient world . Volume 30). 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1142-7 , pp. 163-179.
  • Rainer Stadelmann: Sun sanctuary . In: Lexicon of Egyptology . Volume 5. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1984, column 1094-1099.
  • Miroslav Verner : The Sun Sanctuaries of the 5th Dynasty . In: Sokar. No. 10, 2005, pp. 38-49.
  • Susanne Voss : Investigations into the sun sanctuaries of the 5th dynasty. Significance and function of a singular temple type in the Old Kingdom. Hamburg 2004 (also: dissertation, University of Hamburg 2000) ( PDF; 2.5 MB ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ D. Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Düsseldorf 2000, pp. 241-242.
  2. ↑ Pylon , obelisk, high altar, and baboon figures worshiping the sun.
  3. ↑ P. Jánosi: The Sun Sanctuaries. Vienna 2004, pp. 101-104.
  4. ↑ P. Jánosi: The Sun Sanctuaries. Vienna 2004, p. 104.
  5. ↑ a b M. Verner: The sun sanctuaries of the 5th dynasty. 2005, pp. 42-43.
  6. ↑ M ;. Verner: The Sun Sanctuaries of the 5th Dynasty. 2005, p. 44.