Temple of Ramses II of Abydos

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Temple view from the northeast

The temple of Ramses II of Abydos is a 13th century BC BC by King ( Pharaoh ) Ramses II (1303–1213 BC) in the ancient Egyptian city ​​of Abydos, built for millions of years , a cult building mainly serving the god-like elevation of the king. The ruins of the temple are located on the southwestern edge of today's settlement area of ​​Arāba el-Madfūna and about 270 meters northwest of the mortuary temple of Seti I , the father of Ramses'. The ancient Egyptian site of Abydos is located in the Sauhadsch Governorate , about 45 kilometers southeast of the administrative center of Sohag and 90 kilometers northwest of Luxor . The temple of Ramses II was dedicated to the Abydenean triad, the gods Osiris , Isis and Horus , as well as some guest gods and the royal cult.

history

In ancient times Abydos extended over eight kilometers along the edge of the desert. This included settlements, shrines, memorials and graves. Even the kings of the first and second dynasties of the early dynastic period of Egypt and their ancestors erected their tombs in the desert plain within a bay of the receding Libyan plateau. The area was later associated with the tomb of Osiris, the mythical divine king and ruler of the realm of the dead. Through the resulting Osiris cult, Abydos became a place of pilgrimage to a cultural center of Egypt.

Temple of Ramses II of Abydos (Egypt)
Temple of Ramses II of Abydos
Temple of Ramses II of Abydos
Location in Egypt

Seti I, ruler of the New Kingdom , built his million year house 1.5 kilometers east of the royal necropolis of the first two ancient Egyptian dynasties in Umm el-Qaab on an area of ​​220 x 273 meters, the limestone main building of which is 157 meters long and 56 meters wide was. The completion of the work on this largest building in Abydos was not carried out until his son Ramses II, who then built such a temple himself northwest of the Sethos temple. Around 1250 BC The temple of Ramses II built in BC was smaller than that of his father and is now in a poorer state of preservation. The first courtyard of the Ramses Temple can hardly be seen and the roofs are almost completely missing from the building.

The medieval Arab historian al-Maqrīzī seems to have described the temple site of Abydos, confusing it with the temple of Achmim . At the beginning of the 18th century Abydos was mentioned by the traveling Jesuit Father Claude Sicard before scientists from the Napoleonic expedition mapped the site. Archaeologists first described the temple complexes in the 19th century, Robert Hay in the 1820s and Karl Richard Lepsius in the 1840s . The temples of Seti I and Ramses II were uncovered and examined by Auguste Mariette in 1863. Many of the inscriptions were published. In contrast to the Sethos Temple, the Ramses Temple has been less explored up to the present day.

The reason for the missing parts of the temple of Ramses II today, like most of the roof and more than half of the wall layers, can be seen in the use of the temple as a quarry for the construction of new houses. The King's List , an incompletely preserved duplicate of the King's List of the Temple of Seti , was excavated from the Chapel of the Royal Ancestors in the south of the temple by William John Bankes and acquired by the British Museum in London , where it is currently located. It was not until early 2020 that excavations by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University found the foundations on the south-west corner of the temple.

description

Plan of the temple

The blueprint of the temple of Ramses II resembles those typical of the temples of the New Kingdom. Two pylons were followed by an open courtyard on a longitudinal axis. Two elevated porticoed halls connected to the second courtyard behind an entrance gate lined with pillars. The rear part formed the sanctuary, in this case with the three sanctuaries of the main and six of the guest gods. It is not known whether the temple had an enclosure wall , as hardly any excavations have been carried out on the surrounding area. It is missing, as are the two pylons and large parts of the first courtyard. Of this, only the granite foundation of the entrance area and the remains of a small festival chapel on the southeast side have been preserved.

Entrance from the first to the second courtyard

The passage to the second courtyard is blocked by a modern metal gate. Through the gate, into the interior of the temple, we come to purchase your tickets before the temple of Seti I at the entrance to the second courtyard the remaining vertical parts are the portal of the second pylons. Reliefs showing figures and hieroglyphics are worked into the portal posts made of rose granite . In the undamaged places in the upper area of ​​the northeast side you can see the king Ramses II standing in front of Osiris, below the seated god the scribe , the ibis-headed Thoth , as he inscribes the hieroglyphic writing on the stone . The gate lintel of the portal is missing, as are the remaining systems of the second pylon.

The second courtyard of the temple is surrounded by a half-height preserved wall, which is decorated with reliefs. Here sacrificial processions are depicted, led by priests. Cattle, antelopes, birds and various foods appear as offerings for the temple. On the south-east wall, a priest of the king's statue, carried by another priest, offers incense. The reliefs on the north-west wall show the slaughter of sacrificial animals. In front of the walls, remains of Osiris pillars surround the interior of the courtyard. Osiris pillar is the name given to the pillars that used to support the roof around the roof with statues of the god Osiris in front of them. The number of Osiris pillars was 26, eight of which stood in front of the slightly raised southwest wall and six each in front of the other side walls.

  • Second courtyard of the Temple of Ramses II.

  • East Side

  • South side

  • West side

  • North side

In the middle of the southwest side of the second courtyard, a twelve-step staircase leads up to the level of the first pillar hall. This formerly roofed hall , also known as the hypostyle , can be reached through a portal made of dark granite which, like the portal from the first to the second temple courtyard, is decorated with reliefs. The motifs of the reliefs are also the same. They are supplemented by preserved upper parts of the gate, on which King Ramses II is shown standing before the god Horus. On part of the lintel, the goddess Isis can be seen standing behind the seated Osiris. The inside of the portal also shows these motifs, for example the seated god Thoth in the lower area. In order to reconstruct the overall view of the gate, the remaining parts of the portal were put together with concrete in original size. In front of the portal, between this and the Osiris pillars to the courtyard, there is a colonnade with eight pillars, which is called the pronaos . A small temple-palace of the king was attached to the south-east.

Remains of the first columned hall with portal and entrance to the Anhor chapel on the left

The first pillar hall, also known as the apparition hall, rested on eight pillars, four each in two rows one behind the other. All that remains of the pillars are the plinths and two superimposed blocks decorated with reliefs. The colors of the reliefs on the side walls of the hall are still very well preserved. Sacrificial offerings are shown in a surrounding frieze at a height of about one meter. The larger reliefs above the frieze are incomplete in height. On the side of the first pillar hall are five chapels. In the northwest these are the Chapel of Ramses II and the Chapel of the Unity of the Gods for the cult of the dead, both with access from the pronaos, as well as the Chapel of Anhor ( Greek  Onuris ) with a doorway to the pillar hall. To the southeast is the Chapel of Seti I, which can only be entered from the pronaos, and the chapel of the royal ancestors, the ancestral cult, with access from both the pronaos and the pillar hall, in which the incomplete list of kings, which is now in the British Museum, is located found. The two chambers are almost completely destroyed. Behind both chapels a staircase leads up from the pillar hall.

Statue niche in the western Chapel of the Nine

From the second pillar hall, which is of the same size and also has the same pillar arrangement, which is also called the sacrificial table hall, you get to three rooms on both the north-west and south-east walls. The southeast of these chambers serve as a passage to two larger square rooms in the rear corners of the temple. Here, too, the parts of the building on the southeast side of the temple are more heavily damaged. In one of the rooms there are representations of fabrics, which is why it is sometimes referred to as a closet. The actual function of the three rooms on the south-east side is not known due to the few remains of representations; they may have been used to store offerings. On the opposite side are the chapels of the deities Nun and Thoth , Min and Osiris, which also serve as a passage chamber to the square room there at the western corner of the temple, which, like the southern square corner room, was dedicated to the unity of the gods. Except on the entrance side, these rooms, each equipped with two pillars, have nine niches with reliefs, three on each side, in which statues of gods were probably placed.

At the rear of the second pillar hall, on the southwest side, three door openings lead to the chapels of the three main gods of the temple. The middle sanctuary was dedicated to the veneration of Osiris, to the left was the room dedicated to Horus, to the right the chapel of Isis. In front of the entrance to the Osirissan octuar, an alabaster stele was subsequently erected which originally did not belong in this part of the temple. Hardly anything is left of the former alabaster lining of the sanctuary. The stone roof is also missing and has been replaced by a wooden beam roof to protect against the weather.

Seated statue group with Ramses II., Horus, Osiris, Isis and Sethos I.

On the south-east wall of the Osiris Shrine there is a seated group of statues with five figures made of gray granite, which were found in ruins in this room and probably formed the former cult image, originally placed on the back wall. Osiris is enthroned in the center of the group, directly flanked by his son Horus (whose falcon head has been lost) on his right and his wife Isis on the left. The two outermost figures show the ruler Seti I as the deceased and Ramses II as the living king, each seated on the sides of the gods Osiris and Horus corresponding to their theological role. The documentation of the temple by Klaus-Peter Kuhlmann from 1982 shows the head of Ramses II, which is no longer present, still in situ . This was probably knocked off in autumn 1984 and already shown in an exhibition in San Antonio in 1995, without its origin and identity being recognized as stolen goods. In July 2015, Joachim Willeitner was able to identify the head in an auction catalog. Since then, the Egyptian state has been fighting with the current owner about the return.

The outer wall of the temple also has reliefs on the outer sides. For example, detailed scenes of the battle of Kadesh , in which the Egyptians under Ramses II faced the Hittites, have been incorporated on the northwest and southwest walls . The outcome of the battle was glorified as a victory by Ramses II. In fact, none of the warring parties seem to have benefited from the outcome of the battle; a peace treaty was later concluded between the Egyptians and the Hittites . The southeast wall shows reliefs from an extensive festival calendar of celebrations in honor of Osiris. It is not known whether these celebrations actually took place in the temple of Ramses II or whether they were only symbolic representations.

  • Reliefs in the temple of Ramses II.

  • Sacrificial procession on the northeast side of the second courtyard

  • Captive Asians on the northwest wall of the pronaos, including a keftiu

  • Circumferential frieze with offerings in the first pillar hall

  • Alabaster lining of the northwest wall in the sanctuary of Osiris

literature

  • Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 , p. 213-214 .
  • Dieter Arnold: The temples of Egypt . Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-7608-1073-X , p. 173-174 .
  • Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. The Palm Press, Cairo 2003, ISBN 977-5089-71-9 .
  • Klaus-Peter Kuhlmann : Archaeological research in the Achmim area. The temple of Ramses II in Abvdos. Second report on the new addition. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department, Volume 38 . von Zabern, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0552-4 , p. 355-362 .
  • Thomas Kühn: The temple of Ramses II in Abydos . In: Gabriele Höber-Kamel (ed.): Abydos - a holy place - Kemet issue 2/2000 . Kemet Verlag, 2000, ISSN  0943-5972 , p. 30-32 .
  • Stefanie Schröder: Millions of Years: On the conception of the space of eternity in constellative kingship in language, architecture and theology . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 3-447-06187-1 , p. 105-107 .
  • Martina Ullmann: King for Eternity - The Houses of Millions of Years: An Investigation of the King's Cult and Temple Typology in Egypt . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-04521-3 .
  • Martina Ullmann: The temple of Ramses II in Abydos as a "house of millions of years" . In: Horst Beinlich, Jochen Hallof, Holger Hussy, Christiane von Pfeil (eds.): 5th Egyptological Temple Conference . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-04544-2 , p. 179-200 .
  • Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of temples in ancient Egypt . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-18652-4 , pp. 144-146 .
  • Joachim Willeitner : Handel - trade - change or: three heads - three stories . In: Patricia Cichon, Frank Müller-Römer, Silvia Rabehl, Martina Ullmann (eds.): THOTs . Info booklet 24th Collegium Aegyptium, Munich 2020, p. 41–51 ( online [PDF; 5.3 MB ]).

Web links

Commons : Temple of Ramses II of Abydos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Düsseldorf 2000, p. 213 .
  2. ↑ Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 5/6 .
  3. ^ Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Düsseldorf 2000, p. 239 .
  4. ↑ Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 8 .
  5. ↑ Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 29/30 .
  6. ↑ List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II. (No longer available online.) The British Museum (www.britishmuseum.org), archived from the original on February 1, 2011 ; Retrieved April 11, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Nevine El-Aref: Foundation deposits and storerooms of Ramses II Temple in Abydos uncovered. ahramonline, April 8, 2020 (English).;
  8. ↑ a b Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 29 .
  9. ↑ Jeff Burzacott: The Temple Palace of Ramesses II at Abydos . In: Nile Magazine . No. 20 , 2019, ISSN  2206-0502 , p. 19–23 (English, online [PDF]).
  10. ^ A b c d Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Düsseldorf 2000, p. 214 .
  11. ↑ a b Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 28 .
  12. ↑ a b Edwin Brock: The temples of Abydos . An illustrated guide. Cairo 2003, p. 30 .
  13. ↑ Klaus-Peter Kuhlmann: Archaeological research in the area of ​​Achmim. The temple of Ramses II in Abvdos. Second report on the new addition. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. Volume 38, Mainz 1982, p. 360
  14. ↑ Klaus-Peter Kuhlmann: Archaeological research in the area of ​​Achmim. The temple of Ramses II in Abvdos. Second report on the new addition. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. Volume 38, Mainz 1982, plate 102, above.

Coordinates: 26 ° 11 '11.2 "  N , 31 ° 54' 58.8"  E