Ancient Egyptian Temples

On a souvent à juste titre rapproché rituel funéraire et rituel du culte. L’offrande des tissus, utilisés aussi bien dans l’enveloppement de la momie que dans la parure de la statue, en offre un exemple particulièrement significatif. La communication se propose d’étudier de façon diachronique l’usage de l’étoffe idémi, depuis son utilisation dans les Textes des Pyramides et les Textes des Sarcophages jusqu’à l’offrande présentée à la statue dans les temples d’époque ptolémaïque et romaine, en passant par le Rituel du culte journalier à Abydos. Ces divers documents témoignent d’une phraséologie constante à travers les siècles et dans des espaces différents, expression d‘une similitude dans la fonction du rituel, mais aussi probablement d’une équivalence du support : momie et statue divine comme effigie pérenne de ceux qui appartiennent à un autre espace-temps.

Abstract
Funeral ritual and cult ritual have often been correctly compared. The offering of fabrics, used both in the wrapping of the mummy and in the adornment of the statue, offers a particularly significant example. The paper proposes to study in a diachronic way the use of the Idemi fabric, from its use in the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts to the offering presented to the statue in the temples of the Ptolemaic and Roman period, through the Ritual of the daily worship in Abydos. These various documents bear witness to a constant phraseology over the centuries and in different spaces, an expression of a similarity in the function of the ritual, but also probably of an equivalence of the support: mummy and divine statue as a lasting effigy of those who belong to another space-time.

Lecture title: The Smell of Temples in Ancient Egypt
Date: November 27, 2019
Lecture series by Dora Goldsmith: The Scent of Ancient Egypt, November 20 - December 11, 2019
Location: Haus Bastian, Center for Cultural Education, Egyptian Museum Berlin

This article aims at giving an overall view of the real and mythical topography of the Abaton of Biggeh, which housed a relic, the left leg of the God Osiris, in connection with the rituals. After a geographical and archaeological presentation, I will stress in particular the different species of trees growing on and around the Abaton. A new French translation will be provided, with commentary, of the Abaton Decree, in relation to the depictions on the Gate of Hadrian in the temple of Philae. A discussion of all the classical sources in chronological order will follow, in order to draw comparisons with the Egyptian sources. Lastly, the possible location and spatial organization of the Abaton in comparison with other sacred mounds will be addressed.

Acercamiento, a través de su clero, a la vida cotidiana y religiosa del Egipto faraónico. Los sacerdotes en el antiguo Egipto eran miembros de una élite, formada por hombres y mujeres que dedicaron parte de su existencia al servicio del los dioses pero que también gozaban de una activa vida pública semejante a la de muchos habitantes del Valle del Nilo.

En esta obra se analiza cómo estaban estructurados, como vivían, como se alimentaban, sus fiestas, sus ritos, sus virtudes y sus vilezas y un sinfin de distintos aspectos, de esta cultura .

Los miembros del clero estaban sujetos a una serie de reglas y deberes, así como algunos –no todos- a ciertos estudios. Debían observar ciertos tabúes que incluían unas reglas de alimentación, variables dependiendo del clero y la posición en la jerarquía. Al mismo tiempo, en ocasiones puntuales se vestían y adornaban de forma especial para la celebración de fiestas oráculo, culto, etc.

Résumé
C'est en 1869 que A. Mariette publie son premier volume sur les fouilles d'Abydos, essentiellement consacré au temple de Séthy Ier. S'il est admiratif de la qualité des reliefs, il est profondément déçu par le plan et l'organisation du temple. Les jugeant à l'aune des grands temples ptolémaïques auxquels il s'est intéressé, il les considère comme peu clairs et déplore le caractère répétitif des textes et représentations des chapelles. Sa publication reste pourtant encore aujourd'hui essentielle pour l'étude et la compréhension de ce temple.

Abstract
A. Mariette published his first volume on the excavations of Abydos, mainly devoted to the temple of Seti Ist in 1869. Although he admired the quality of the reliefs, he was deeply disappointed by the plan and organisation of the temple. Judging them by the standard of the great Ptolemaic temples he had studied, he considered them unclear and deplored the repetitive nature of the texts and representations of the chapels. Nevertheless, his publication remains essential for the study and understanding of this temple.

"Observations on Context and Functioning of Royal Statues in the temple of Amun at Karnak" - ATTENTION ... PLATES WILL FOLLOW - Since its publication in 2001 unrevised, original PhD-thesis (1999 in Egyptology at Humboldt-University Berlin) with the two chapters: "Royal statuary of Karnak temple mentioned in hieroglyphic inscriptions" (p. 10-141) and "Representations of royal statuary in the temples of Karnak" (p. 142-246) as well as two Excursus-chapters on inscriptions in Luxor temple mentioning statues and a summary of the results (p. 247-251). - PLEASE NOTE: All what is written concerning "Dok. A.3.8" (p. 114-118) is NOT VALID anymore due to a latter possibility of studying in detail the inscription on the statue at Luxor Museum.

This paper deals with the identity of the third temple mentioned in the so-called Decree of Cambyses, copied on the verso of the demotic P. Bibl. Nat. 215 (Paris). Three temples, in the copy preserved on the early Ptolemaic document, were privileged by the Persian king and were exempted from his austerity measures. In his edition of P. Bibl. Nat. 215, Spiegelberg read the name of the third temple as Pr-Hapj-(n)-iwnw, identifying it with Babylon in the Heliopolitan area. So far this has been accepted by most scholars, with a few exceptions. This article reviews the question on the basis of the available data and proposes to read the name of the temple as “Serapeum” (Pr-Hp), interpreting the following signs as “Hnk (n) AH(.w)”, “the donated lands”. Such a reading goes beyond the simple philological restitution of the name of the third temple and casts new light on the well-known and long-standing debate over Cambyses’ policy towards Egyptian temples and the sacred bull Apis, since the Serapeum was indeed one of the major Memphite sanctuaries he chose to privilege.

in: Baumann, S. / Kockelmann, H. (Hgg.), Der ägyptische Tempel als ritueller Raum
Theologie und Kult in ihrer architektonischen und ideellen Dimension. Akten der internationalen Tagung, Haus der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. 9.-12. Juni 2015, Wiesbaden 2007, 473-492.

Athribis befindet sich auf dem Westufer des Nils bei der modernen Ortschaft Nag′ al-Schaych Hamad ungefähr 7 km südwestlich von Sohag auf dem Gebiet des antiken 9. oberägyptischen Gaues. Seine Hauptstadt war Achmim, die östlich von Athribis auf der gegenüberliegenden Nilseite lag.

in: AiD - Archäologie in Deutschland Heft 6 / 2016.

This dissertation provides the first systematic overview and analysis of the ritual scenes decorating the interior walls of the forecourt of Ramesses II at Luxor Temple, completed in the third year of Ramesses’s reign (c. 1279-1213 B.C.E.), and their relationship to this monument’s cultic function.
Each ritual scene is accompanied by individual photographs, a general discussion of the scenes’ content, the main iconographic features pertaining to the king and divine figures, and general epigraphic observations regarding the relief’s preservation. I am also providing a thorough description, translation and commentary of the relief of the walls forming the south-west corner of the forecourt. These scenes contain unique iconographic and textual elements, a prime example of which is the Litany of Amun-Re covering most of the middle register of the eastern wall’s south wing.
A careful analysis of the ritual episodes depicted on the forecourt’s interior walls indicates that it served primarily as a venue for the processional rites of the Opet festival, the Min festival and the Decade festival (the latter two celebrating the ithyphallic form of Amun-Re).The cultic themes present in the ritual scenes follow a bilateral division along the main south-north axis of the forecourt, with the western side depicting ritual episodes pertaining to the Opet festival procession, while those in the eastern half center on rituals dedicated to the ithyphallic Amun-Re Kamutef and the Min festival.
The forecourt displays a series of innovative features in temple relief decoration that will recur in subsequent temples built by Ramesses II. These reconceptualized decorative elements, although based on traditional models, go hand in hand with the new royal ideology of the early 19th Dynasty kings, emphasizing their divine nature and close link to Amun-Re.

To download the thesis go to:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gPWp412fOjSooD9rMc-kB4yGCB7qQQNs/view?usp=sharing

Two information boards presenting crucial information about the Main Sanctuary of Amun in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari situated in Ptolemaic Portico of the temple. Texts were prepared by Dr F. Pawlicki and layout was designed by A. Golijewskaja.

With this volume of Études and Travaux we would like to present the Centre for the Research on the Egyptian Temple, established at our Institute in 2016, to our colleagues and friends – partners in scientific discussions. The multi-generation team of the Centre consists of researchers connected with the Polish missions working at Temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Deir el-Bahari, the Temple of Thutmose I and the small Ramesside temple, both at Qurna, the French mission at Karnak and its studies on the Late period temples, the German and the Swiss missions on Elephantine examining relics of e.g. Ptolemaic-Roman temples, and, starting from 2020, the Italian-Polish mission researching solar temples at Abu Ghurob. This diversity of interests is an important inspiration in undertaking scientific initiatives leading to expansion and confrontation of areas of research and displaying a wide variety in terms of chronology and topography.

Full-text PDF available here: http://etudesettravaux.iksiopan.pl/images/etudtrav/EtudTrav_otwarte/EtudTrav_33/EtudTrav_33_01_Editorial_compressed.pdf

The Temple Kit includes 16 bottles – 15 individual scents that made up the smell of ancient Egyptian temples, and the “temple smell” itself, which is the reconstruction of the smell of ancient Egyptian temples in a bottle. The Temple Kit is based on my PhD research on the sense of smell in ancient Egypt and was developed as an educational tool to bring students of Egyptology and the general public closer to the ancient Egyptian culture through their nose. The Temple Kit includes a four-page long description detailing the significance of each scent in the temple with quotes from ancient Egyptian sources.
Price: 150€ + shipping

Sometimes, Egyptian text-image-compositions show an inscription as being currently written by one of the divine figures. Some of these cases that illustrate the Egyptians' deliberate play with the medial qualities of image and writing are presented and compared to similar metaleptic transgressions of ontological as well as diegetic boundaries in other (visual) cultures.

Los himnos Esna II, 17 y 31: interpretación teológica e integración en el programa decorativo de la fachada ptolemaica del templo de Esna Abraham I. FERNÁNDEZ PICHEL Las publicaciones dedicadas a las inscripciones de la fachada ptolemaica del templo de Esna en las últimas décadas han permitido avanzar en nuestro conocimiento de las complejas teologías de este santuario egipcio de época grecorromana. En la presente contribución se analiza la configuración en los himnos de los soubassements de la fachada (Esna II, 17 y 31) de un díptico complejo consagrado a las divinidades principales de la región de Esna (Khnum-Ra y Neith, por un lado, y Shu y Tefnut, por otro) y a la creación del mundo y de la existencia. Las analogías temáticas constatadas con los textos e imágenes que decoran la fachada ptolemaica justifican plenamente su integración en el programa decorativo de este ámbito del templo. Hymns Esna II, 17 and 31: Theological Interpretation and Integration into the Decorative Programme of the Ptolemaic Façade of the Temple of Esna The publications dedicated to the inscriptions on the Ptolemaic façade of the temple of Esna in recent decades have enabled us to advance our knowledge of the complex theologies of this Egyptian sanctuary from the Greco-Roman period. The present paper analyses the configuration in the hymns of the soubassements of the façade (Esna II, 17 and 31) of a complex diptych devoted to the main deities of the region of Esna (Khnum-Ra and Neith, on the one hand, and Shu and Tefnut, on the other) and to the creation of the world and existence. The thematic analogies found with the texts and images that decorate the Ptolemaic façade fully justify their integration into the decorative programme of this area of the temple. Palabras clave: Khnum-Ra/Neith, Shu/Tefnut, soubassements, religión.

The decorative programs of ancient Egyptian temples represent a rich source for the thoughts of the priestly and the ruling elites of Egypt. This is especially true regarding the speculations about the socio-religious role of the king. In my research, the elaboration of these ideas as found in the decoration of New Kingdom Temples (ca. 1550-1050 B.C.) is investigated by conducting a discourse analysis of the monumental space.

Despite Senusret I’s fame as a great pharaoh, there is evidence of disastrous crop failures during his reign: the second letter of Heqanakht, the tomb biographies of the nomarch Ameny and overseer of priests Mentuhotep; probably “The Story of Sinuhe”, B 154−155, and some “year of death” in pReisner I. According to S. Hodjash and O. Berlev, the seven year famine which started in Year 24 made the king shift his heb-sed festival by one year.
These data show that even under the greatest kings, Egyptians were allowed to publicly mention acute food shortages. Hence the absence of such mentions in the Old Kingdom and during dynasty XII after Senusret I’s reign testifies to relative prosperity, in comparison with which the crop failures of the XXII−XX centuries B. C. seemed enormously frequent and disastrous.
The sources do not mention any extraordinary measures aimed at supplying food to the hungry by Senusret I’s central government. At the same time, however, he launched a large scale building program in almost all important temples, which is considered to have given him a reason to tighten control over the country. But could an objective of this program also be to persuade the gods to save Egypt from crop failures? In two compositions about the seven year famine, in the “Famine Stela” and the introduction to the “Book of the Temple”, it is deficient Nile floods that are said to have forced kings to swiftly increase royal favors to temples. J. F. Quack considers dating the “Book of the Temple” to the Middle Kingdom. Could it be the reign of Senusret I, with its series of crop failures and large scale building program in temples? His inscription on Elephantine mentions a god’s revelation to the king in a dream, which is also key episodes in the “Book of the Temple” and “Famine Stela”.

A couple of years ago, a broad study of ancient temples and oracles in Greece was published by M. Ranieri in 2014 [1]. In this interesting work, Ranieri describes a very special behaviour of the orientation for the majority of the studied temples, by identifying the diagonals of the temples to be oriented, mainly, towards one of the cardinal points. Furthermore, he establishes that the dimensions of each temple obeys a condition related to a Pythagorean triangle, as already identified in a previous study. [2]

List of all graffiti on the walls of the southern temple from Taffeh, now displayed in the Leiden Museum of Antiquities, with facsimile drawings and interpretation. The graffiti are mainly figural and dating to the X-group period but include several Coptic and 19th-century specimens.

Résumé :
Les scènes de consécration de l’offrande carnée sont particulièrement fréquentes dans le temple égyptien et ce à toutes les époques. La représentation la plus courante, très stéréotypée, montre la consécration par le roi de quatre animaux appartenant aux domaines de la Vallée et du désert. Elle n’a guère variée au cours du temps,  s’enrichissant cependant de légendes et commentaires de plus en plus complexes. Tandis que l’image symbolise en premier lieu la destruction de l’ennemi, assurant ainsi un rôle de protection, le contenu du discours qui l’accompagne est susceptible de nombreuses variations, principalement fonction de l’emplacement de la scène et des rapports qu’elle entretient avec celles qui l’entourent. On s’attachera plus particulièrement à l’analyse de doubles représentations symétriques du temple d’Hathor à Dendara, comportant des variantes iconographiques mineures mais s’accompagnant de discours variables et complémentaires, en examinant plus précisément les scènes de consécration de la paroi nord du vestibule central.
Abstract :
The scenes of consecration of the flesh offering are particularly frequent in the Egyptian temple and this at all times. The most common representation, very stereotyped, shows the consecration by the king of four animals belonging to the domains of the Valley and the desert. It has hardly varied over time, but has been enriched by increasingly complex captions and commentaries. While the image primarly symbolizes the destruction of the enemy, thus ensuring a protective role, the content of the speech accompanying it is susceptible to many variations, mainly depending on the location of the scene and its relationship with those around it. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of symmetrical double representations of the temple of Hathor in Dendara, with minor iconographic variants but accompanied by variable and complementary discourses, by examining more precisely the consecration scenes of the north wall of the central hall.

This paper explores 32 inscribed objects from foundation deposits of the Temple of Thutmose III, Djeserakhet, at Deir el-Bahari. They contain ointment jars, chisels, saws, axes, surveyor’s stakes, ‘Opening of the Mouth’ adzes, a grinder, and a model of a rocker. They are kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the museum database records that they were found at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna; however, the method of acquisition is unknown. This paper evaluates these pieces of information in light of the inscriptions on these objects and other objects from foundation deposits for the same king from the same site, Djeserakhet (which are scattered in different museums around the world), to reconstruct their archaeological context. This paper also notes the current museum inventory numbers of these objects to create a network of the entire group. It closely scrutinizes these objects, their inscriptions, the techniques used for engraving them, and the addressed deity

Wie roch das antike Ägypten? Mit experimenteller Archäologie das alte Ägypten begreifen: Die Ägyptologin Dora Goldsmith

https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/der-duft-der-vergangenheit-wie-roch-das-antike-aegypten.2147.de.html?dram:article_id=492810

Astronomical Aspects of Early Sacral Architecture in Ancient Egypt as Part of Constructing of the Sacred Space


The paper presents the earliest sacral structures in Egypt. The analysis of the cult places is focused on their orientation to specific astronomical events or celestial bodies. The aim of the paper is to look for common astronomical orientations in attempt to explain the reasons why certain astronomical events or celestial bodies were chosen as the orientation points.
One can observe that the predominant way of orientation of the earliest temples was on an angle from the four cardinal directions of the world, aiming at south-east. These orientations are analysed in context of hierotopy (constructing of the sacred space).

Résumé
Abstract
En quoi les mentions ou représentations des pharaons d'autrefois dans les temples d'époque ptolémaïque et romaine témoigne-t-elle d'une mémoire  historique ? Sinon, pour quelles raisons se référer à un ancêtre prestigieux et comment ce choix s'effectue-t-il ? Dans un deuxième temps, on examinera la place particulière de deux maîtres d'oeuvre célèbres, Imhotep et Amenhotep fils de Hapou.
Abstract
Why do the Ptolemaic and Roman temples remember great pharaohs ancestors? Is this an historical reflection and memory? And what about the presence of two prestigious wise men and architects, Imhotep and Imenhotep son of Hapu?

The article considers an autobiographical inscription on the dorsal pillar of statue, which, from stylistic and paleographic criteria, dates to the last decades of the 4th century B.C. The statue belonged to a nobleman, whose name was not preserved; his home region was the 15th Lower Egyptian nome (with the center at Bahu, present-day Baqlia). According to the inscription, he was honoured by a foreign ruler who visited Baqlia and its temple (probably, that of the god Thoth). A number of arguments allow declining the identity of this ruler to Artaxerxes III or Alexander the Great and identifying him with the satrap of Egypt Ptolemy (future Ptolemy I Soter). This episode seem to fall into the mid-300s B.C. (after the compilation of the Satrap Stela in 311 and before Ptolemy’s royal accession in 305/304); by that time the satrap Ptolemy might have been vested, in Egyptian view, with certain sacral qualities appropriate to a legitimate king (among them the ability to fill humans confronting him with the terror-rtḥ). Such “splitting” certain features off the royal sacrality and their transfer to a ruler who did not possess a formal royal status is an interesting and still unvalued phenomenon of the Late Egyptian ideological trends.

The Ancient Egyptian cult is commonly seen as a direct demonstration of a pure and sacred religious belief system. This paper explores a different view, much needed for the global comprehension of this Civilization: the use of the cult as an active tool to control the Cosmos and its events by the Ancient Egyptians. A careful analysis of the Temples, cult practices and even the Ancient Religion beliefs were studied to demonstrate the intrinsic purpose of the cult as a tool of human-divine manipulation. The findings allowed an analysis of several hypothesis: Why did the Temples tend to represent the entire Cosmos or why numerous Cult practices were apparently used to maintain the gods in the best of terms with Egypt and the Egyptians?
For more than three millennia, an Ancient Civilization is here portrayed in its continuing fight to control the Cosmos itself in a superhuman effort to maintain the equilibrium of an immense Historical and physical Empire. The most significant conclusion is the fact that the relation between humans and their goods, forged and maintain by the cult and its beliefs, was indeed used as a tool of Cosmos manipulation, for the good of the individual as well as for the good of all Egypt. In a sense, not only the Ancient Egyptian worked for the gods, maintaining the Cult, constructing Temples and innumerous different ways to satisfy them, but also the gods were expected to listen and mainly act on the Cosmos, following the wishes, and eventually the needs, of their terrain worshipers.

Si offre qui al lettore l’approfondimento d’una tematica nella quale viene indagata l’antica regalità faraonica sopravvissuta in epoca imperiale romana, ossia quando essa, pur avendo perduto l’identità istituzionale politica e giuridica, nondimeno conservava ancora la sua qualità cultuale come elemento centrale della religione templare egizia; inoltre essa manteneva in varia maniera, attraverso i nomi e gli attributi degli imperatori romani scritti in geroglifico all’interno dei cartigli regali egizi, il suo carattere storico fino a Costantino. Il I vol. è dedicato ai grandi templi dell'Alto Egitto dell'epoca in questione così come ai santuari delle oasi di Kharga e Dakhla. Il II vol. tratta la regalità antico egizia nei templi di Età Romana ubicati nella Nubia romana.

A couple of years ago, a broad study of ancient temples and oracles in Greece was published by M. Ranieri in 2014 [1]. In this interesting work, Ranieri describes a very special behaviour of the orientation for the majority of the studied temples, by identifying the diagonals of the temples to be oriented, mainly, towards one of the cardinal points. Furthermore, he establishes that the dimensions of each temple obeys a condition related to a Pythagorean triangle, as already identified in a previous study. [2]