Mortuary Temple of Seti I (Qurna)
The mortuary temple of Seti is located near el-Qurna in West Thebes . He is a so-called million year house like his temple in Abydos . The ancient Egyptian name of the mortuary temple Sethos I reads: "The house of the spirit of Men-Maat-Re Sethos in the house of Amun in the west of Thebes." After extensive restorations and the reconstruction of the 1st pylon, the temple opened to the public in March 2004 made accessible. In the autumn of 2006, damage to the reliefs of the sphinx plinth became apparent, caused by sewage from the residential buildings in front of the temple, which seeped through the brick walls of the pylon. Rainer Stadelmann from the DAI, supported by restorers from the Conservation Department of the SCA , laid the sandstone blocks on beams to dry and restored the reliefs.
history
Seti I probably began building the temple in the middle of his reign ( 19th dynasty ). The temple was for his own cult of the dead and his father I. Ramses built. Ramses I was unable to build his own temple because of the short reign. The temple was dedicated to Amun-Re . After the death of Seti I, the temple was completed by his son Ramses II .
Architecture of the temple complex
The temple complex was originally enclosed by a wall 124 meters wide and 162 meters long. The wall was 3.20 meters thick and made of Nile mud bricks and was probably 10.50 meters high. It was interrupted by several towers . The entrance to the temple was from the east through the first large pylon .
It is a classic temple complex, consisting of a first and second pylon, the temple building and a building with magazine rooms, a fountain and the temple palace. If you enter the temple through the first pylon, you will find the remains of a large sphinx behind on both sides . The Temple Palace is on the left.
Following the processional street you reach the second pylon. The festival courtyard behind it leads to a portico supported by ten papyrus columns , through which one comes into the main building. The magazines are to the right of the main building. The sandstone for the temple was extracted from the quarries in al-Gabalayn .
1st and 2nd pylon
Both the first and second pylons are made of adobe bricks. Both have a gate made of sandstone, the lintels of the first pylon were made of limestone , those of the second made of granite . The first pylon is decorated with the cartouches of Seti I and Ramses II. Apart from the floor plan, not much has survived from the pylons.
Hypostyle hall with the sanctuaries
In the temple of Seti I, there are several sanctuaries . The largest ( chapels ) was consecrated to Seti I and intended for his royal cult. It is located on the southern outer wall of the main building.
If you enter the temple house through the portico , you stand in a hypostyle hall (columned hall) with six columns. On the left side of the hypostyle are a barque room and the statues room of Seti I. On the right side are the chapel of the valley festival and the chapel for the cult of Isis and Osiris . At the head of the hypostyle to the west is a transverse hall, here are the chapels in honor of the gods Mut , Ptah , Chons and Osiris. The Amun's barge room is located between these chapels .
The Amun's barge room leads to a room with a ceiling held by four pillars. To the right and left of it are the chapels in honor of Min- Amun- Kamutef , Amun-Re, Amun- Re-Harachte - Atum and Osiris. The wall reliefs show Seti I with the respective gods, to whom he makes offerings or performs ritual acts .
The cult of the dead of Seti I can be reached through the hypostyle hall. It is the largest chapel in the main building.
Temple of Ramses I.
The temple of Ramses I in the southern part of the main building can be reached through a small hypostyle with two columns. Three sanctuaries adjoin this small pillared room. The wall depictions of the pillared room show the gods Amun, Chons, and Mut with the kneeling Sethos I on the right. In the central sanctuary, Sethos I is shown anointing the statue of his father . In the other rooms you can see Ramses I and Seti I accepting offerings from Ramses II.
Sonnenhof
The Sonnenhof is located in the northern part of the temple. This court of the sun is the sanctuary of Re-Harachte. The inscriptions on the walls are dominated by sacrificial rituals and temple transactions. There are nine niches in the walls where statues of kings used to be placed. In the middle of the courtyard there is only the remnant of a sacrificial altar . The ceiling was originally supported by ten columns, which have not been preserved.
Royal palace
The temple or royal palace was originally located to the left behind the first pylon. Through a portico one got through two large entrances into a pillared hall and from here into the throne room or into the so-called apparition window . This is a window from which the king attended the festival. Today there are only a few remains of the palace wall.
literature
- Dieter Arnold : The temples of Egypt: apartments of gods, places of worship, monuments. Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-86047-215-1 .
- Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-7608-1099-3 .
- Jürgen Osing: The temple of Seti I in Gurna. The reliefs and inscriptions Volume I. von Zabern, Mainz 1977.
- Rainer Stadelmann : The Temple of Seti I in Gurna. First excavation report. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. (MDAIK) Vol. 28, von Zabern, Mainz 1972, ISSN 0342-1279 , pp. 293-299.
- Rainer Stadelmann: The Temple of Seti I in Gurna. Second excavation report. In: MDAIK 31. von Zabern, Mainz 1975, pp. 353-356.
- Rainer Stadelmann: The Temple of Seti I in Gurna. Third excavation report. In: MDAIK 33. von Zabern, Mainz 1977, pp. 125-131.
- Rainer Stadelmann: Mortuary Temple. In: Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto: Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975-1992, Vol. VI, ISBN 3-447-04468-3 , pp. 706-711.
- Rainer Stadelmann, Karol Mysliwiec: The Temple of Seti I in Qurna. Fourth excavation report. In: MDAIK 38. von Zabern, Mainz 1982, pp. 395-405.
- Martina Ullmann: King for Eternity - The Houses of Millions of Years. An investigation into the royal cult and temple typology in Egypt. (= Egypt and Old Testament. Vol. 51). Görg, Munich 2002; Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-04521-3 .
- Dietrich Wildung : Egypt. From prehistoric times to the Romans. Taschen, Cologne u. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-8365-1028-8 .
Web links
- Mortuary temple of Seti I in Qurna ( Memento from April 27, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department . (DAIK): Newsletter. September 2007, p. 12.
Coordinates: 25 ° 43 ′ 57.8 " N , 32 ° 37 ′ 41" E