Temple of Amenhotep III

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Area of ​​the former temple complex

The temple of Amenhotep III. (now Arabic كوم الحيطان Kōm / Barely al-Ḥīṭān , "Hill of Walls"), also Memnoneion or Amenophium , was once the largesttempleever built in Egypt with 385,000 square meters. It was the memorial temple for the king ( Pharaoh ) Amenophis III. and was in Thebes , more precisely in Thebes-West about three kilometers west of the Nile .

Like the Luxor Temple , it was built by Amenhotep (son of Hapu) , builder and architect under Amenhotep III. designed and built. Knowledge of this temple was obtained from a large stele found by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1896 west of the former temple site , on which the pharaoh had the statues of his mortuary temple described. Today, in addition to the twin statues of King Amenophis III, which are still in their original location. on the east side of the temple, the so-called Colossi of Memnon , hardly anything has been preserved. These originally stood in front of the first pylon of the temple.

In 1998 and 2004, the temple of Amenhotep III. Listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the world's 100 most endangered cultural monuments.

Temple complex

Thebes-West with the place of the temple

With the construction of the temple, the Amenhotep III. and was dedicated to the imperial god Amun , who was regarded as his father , was around 1385 BC. Started. On a stele the king described the millennium as a "fortress of eternity, ... made of sandstone, completely covered with gold, the floors made of silver, richly decorated with statues". The temple was first completed in 1358 BC. BC, although it was also after that, until the death of Amenhotep III. in 1351 BC BC, there were extensions and the installation of statues. The temple area was bordered by an 8.5 meter thick brick wall.

The surrounding wall of the temple was approximately 700 meters long and 550 meters wide. The interior was divided into several separate areas. The actual temple was in the southern part of the temple complex. From the main entrance in the southeast you walked through three pylons and an avenue of sphinxes , before reaching the 86 x 85 meter large, sandstone-paved forecourt of the temple, the “sun” or “ sedfest courtyard”, through a fourth gate . The courtyard was bordered on its four sides with 14.2 meter high roofed columns in three rows, and on the west side in four rows, which formed a surrounding foyer. Behind it was the temple house with the sanctuary .

In front of the pylons there were four gold-studded flagpoles made of cedar wood , of which traces of the gilding were found during archaeological excavations in front of the second pylon. The pylon passages were flanked by two portraits of Amenhotep III. in the form of larger-than-life-size seat images . Of these, only the so-called Colossi of Memnon, erected in front of the first pylon, have survived. In the past, its height was "40 cubits ", about 21 meters. After losing the crowns, their current height up to the headscarf is 14.76 meters and 13.97 meters respectively, with the base 18.36 meters and 17.27 meters. They were made of red quartzite , the origin of which, according to petrographic studies, points to the Gebel Gulab or Gebel Tingar on the western bank of the Nile near Aswan .

Badly damaged sphinx with crocodile tail

The seat images in front of the second pylon were also made of quartzite, while those in front of the third pylon were made of alabaster , enthroned on bases made of black granite . Other statues of King Amenophis III. adorned the colonnade in front of the temple house. Eight meter high statues of the Pharaoh were erected between the papyrus bundle columns on the east and west sides of the courtyard. They consisted of quartzite on the north side and granite on the south half. Furthermore, the temple was equipped with hundreds of Sekhmet statues, alabaster sphinxes with crocodile tails, sandstone sphinxes with the heads of Anubis and a life-size hippopotamus statue made of alabaster.

Within the outer wall of the temple area were brick outbuildings, gardens, lakes and a smaller temple dedicated to the singular deity Ptah - Sokar - Osiris , an amalgamation of the three gods since the Middle Kingdom . This stood north of the main temple with its own entrance through the surrounding wall from the north. On the sides of this gate were two quartzite statues of Amenhotep III, but from the north entrance there are hardly any indications on the floor plan.

Given the size of the temple of Amenhotep III. little is left of him. Already at the time of Akhenaten , the son of Amenhotep III, the temple remained unused and the name of the imperial god Amun, who was ostracized at that time, was chiseled into inscriptions. The devastation of this time was restored after Akhenaten, but it is believed that the poorly founded temple was built in the early reign of Merenptah around 1220 to 1210 BC. Was badly damaged by an earthquake in which the layers of earth under the temple in the groundwater area liquefied. The annual Nile floods and stone robberies brought further destruction. The ruins of the temple served as a source for building materials. For example, a granite stele Amenhotep III was found. in the Temple of Merenptah 100 meters to the north-west , which is now located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo with the designation Merenptah stele under inventory number CG 34025 .

Archaeological digs

The Swiss Institute for Egyptian Building Research and Archeology in Cairo examined the ruins of the temple area in the 1960s. For several years, archaeological excavations to explore the temple have been carried out under the patronage of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo and the Egyptian Antiquities Administration. During the excavations a crocodile-tailed sphinx and several statues of Amenhotep III were found. In 2009, a team of archaeologists led by Hourig Sourouzian excavated a colossal statue of the Pharaoh. At the beginning of 2010, the accompanying head, over two meters in size, was discovered. In December 2017, 27 partially destroyed statues of the goddess Sekhmet were discovered

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Temple of Amenhotep III.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 , p. 157.
  2. ^ A b Luxor - Memorial Temple of Amenhetep III And The Colossi Of Memnon. www.luxoregypt.org, archived from the original on January 2, 2012 ; Retrieved April 16, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Giovanna Magi: Luxor. Casa Editrice Bonechi, Florence 2005, ISBN 88-7009-619-X , p. 28.
  4. ^ Egypt and the Nile: Colossi of Memnon. www.egypt-nile.co.uk, accessed April 16, 2010 .
  5. ^ The mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. www.wmf.org, accessed April 16, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Anja Herold: The lost temple. Article in Ancient Egypt. ( Memento of February 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) GEO epoch No. 32, July 2008, ISBN 978-3-570-19783-7 , p. 98.
  7. ↑ a b c Anja Herold: The lost temple. July 2008, pp. 102/103.
  8. ^ Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Düsseldorf 2000, p. 158.
  9. ^ Ancient Egypt - Colossi of Memnon. www.ancient-egypt.co.uk, accessed April 15, 2010 .
  10. ^ Egyptian monuments - Temple of Amenhotep III. egyptsites.wordpress.com, accessed April 16, 2010 .
  11. ^ Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III. (No longer available online.) Www.egyptevoyage.net, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 16, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.egyptevoyage.net
  12. ↑ a b Anja Herold: The lost temple. July 2008, p. 105.
  13. ^ A b Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Düsseldorf 2000, pp. 157/158.
  14. ^ The Israel Stela. touregypt.net, archived from the original on October 22, 2007 ; Retrieved April 17, 2010 .
  15. ↑ Anja Herold: The lost temple. July 2008, p. 106.
  16. ↑ Hourig Sourouzian: Resurrection. (No longer available online.) Weekly.ahram.org.eg, archived from the original on October 30, 2009 ; Retrieved April 16, 2010 .
  17. ↑ Head of a pharaoh statue found in Egypt. www.g-geschichte.de, accessed on April 16, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Statues of ancient Egyptian lioness deity Sekhmet uncovered in Luxor - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online. Retrieved December 3, 2017 .

Coordinates: 25 ° 43 ′ 13.8 ″  N , 32 ° 36 ′ 37.2 ″  E