Egypt Historical Places
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Visit the most historical places of
Egypt and and see an exhibition
of photographs showing the different historical places.
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Abu
Simbel
(The Temple of Ramesses II)
(The Temple of Nefertari dedicated to Hathor)
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Not
only are the two temples at Abu
Simbel among the most magnificent monuments in
the world but their removal and reconstruction was
an historic event in itself. When the temples (280
km from Aswan) were
threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the
construction of the High
Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support
of UNESCO and launched a world wide appeal. During
the salvage operation which began in 1964 and continued
until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised
over 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had
been built more than 3,000 years before. Here they
were reassembled, in the exact same relationship to
each other and the sun, and covered with an artificial
mountain. Most of the joins in the stone have now
been filled by antiquity experts, but inside the temples
it is still possible to see where the blocks were
cut. You can also go inside the man made dome and
see an exhibition of photographs showing the different
stages of the massive removal project.
Abu
Simbel was first reported by J. L. Burckhardt
in 1813, when he came over the mountain and only saw
the facade of the great temple as he was preparing
to leave that area via the Nile. The two temples,
that of Ramesses II primarily dedicated to Re-Harakhte,
and that of his wife, Nefertari dedicated to Hathor,
became a must see for Victorians visiting Egypt, even
though it required a trip up the Nile, and often they
were covered deeply in sand, as they were when Burckhardt
found them. |
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Location
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Suhag,
Egypt
Situated on the West Bank of the Nile, 12 km south-east
of Al-Ballyana, it was the chief center for worshipping
the god Osiris.
How
to get there :
By daily air conditioned trains, scheduled at regular
hours.
By private vehicles, taxis and tourist buses.
For information and reservation contact the Upper
Egypt Bus Company which organizes excursions to Al-Minya.
Tel : +20-2-2609304/9297/8.
Description
On
the west bank of the Nile, 90 miles (145 km) north
of Luxor, lies the
Temple of Abydos.
Abydos is linked
to the earliest dynasties recorded, and in 1993, the
earliest known tomb was found here, along with some
of the oldest hieroglyphics ever discovered. The Temple
dates to around 3150 BC, and the records have provided
scholars with much of what is known about the earliest
periods of recorded history. This area, sacred to
Osiris, was a
very powerful location to those who believed in the
next world. The ancient Egyptians said that at sunset,
the area looked like a golden staircase leading to
the afterlife, and thus many people wished to be buried
here. It was here, too, that Osiris,
after being killed by his brother Seth, returned to
power. Seth had killed Osiris
and scattered the pieces of his body all over Egypt.
Osiris' wife
and sister, Isis, gathered the pieces one by one,
put them back together, and restored life to her husband.
It was said that Abydos
was where the final piece, his head, was buried, and
so it was here that Osiris
was brought back to life to become the judge of the
dead and lord of the netherworld. |
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original Temple of Osiris
was built by Seti I, who came to power 29 years after
the collapse of the regime of Akhenaten.
Seti wished to restore the beliefs in the traditional
gods and so built this temple to show his devotion.
The way leading into the temple had two courts and a
pylon, which were built by Ramesses II. The way these
courts and pylon were positioned gave the entrance the
illusion of sloping upwards. Sadly, this entrance has
been mostly destroyed. The front of the temple is now
12 rectangular pillars, covered with sacred images welcoming
Osiris, Isis, and
Horus. The first (outer) hypostyle hall was built by
Ramesses, but the quality of the decorations on the
columns are not as impressive as those found in the
second (inner) hall, which Seti built. It is widely
thought that Ramesses used the best craftsmen in building
his own temple, but used lower quality workers on this
temple after the death of Seti. Just beyond the second
hall are the seven separate sanctuaries dedicated to
Seti I, Osiris,
Isis, Horus, Amen, Mut, and Khensu. Originally, seven
doors led to the sanctuaries, but Ramesses, for reasons
still unknown, had all but one covered over. When the
temple was in use, each of the sanctuaries would have
contained the god's barque (sacred boat), and would
have had a stele placed in front of a false door. The
sanctuaries were locked and only the high priests of
each god could enter, as the Egyptians believed that
the gods actually lived inside their sanctuaries. The
sanctuaries are highly decorated with bas-relief paintings
dedicated to the several gods of the temple. Many of
the bas-reliefs in the sanctuaries still have their
coloring, but the best decorations are the masterful
unpainted moldings. One scene in Seti's sanctuary shows
him being crowned by the goddess of Upper and Lower
Egypt, but by far the most incredible paintings are
the ones found in Osiris'
sanctuary. The temple also possesses a King's Gallery,
a room that lists all over its walls the names of the
gods along with over 70 of Seti's predecessors (minus
some omitted for political reasons such as Akhenaten
and Hatsheosut), making it an invaluable resource for
historians. |
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Through
the rear door of the temple is the Osirieon,
the only visible tomb at this site, which was built
before the main temple. Much of the damage to the
Osirieon has
been from flooding, as it was built at water level,
yet it is not much diminished. Red Aswan
granite pillars, each weighing about a hundred tons
apiece, support equally massive archways. This temple
was built as a symbol of Seti's closeness to Osiris
and contains a sarcophagus, though Seti was not buried
here. Seti's actual tomb is in the Valley
of the Kings in Luxor.
This was a fairly common practice among many of the
pharaohs, having "public" tombs in one location,
but actually being buried in another. The Osirieon
is currently inaccessible because of the rising sand
and the flooding that has occurred. Excavation has
been done on the south side passage, which revealed
texts from The Book of the Gates and The Book of What
is in the Duat. This section was begun by Seti and
finished by his grandson, Merneptah. It is a complete
tomb structure, all ready to receive the mummy of
a king, yet it does not appear ever to have been used
so.
Abydos
does have a reputation for these "false tombs"
or cenotaphs. Some theorists state that Abydos
does not even have a single actual tomb in it, but
that all the dead who have tombs at Abydos
are actually buried elsewhere. The cemeteries of northern
Saqqara certainly have a great number of royal mastabas,
of which many have been linked to the Archaic rulers.
It is very possible that actual burials of kings and
high-ranking officials were carried out at Saqqara,
which is near Memphis, the new court city. Thus the
monuments at Abydos
are precisely that : monuments. It is fairly simple
to see why this might be so. The rulers would no doubt
have a desire to be buried near the place they ruled,
but Abydos was
also a powerful site because of its religious ties,
as well as being deep in the ancient homelands. Thus,
the rulers arranged to have themselves "buried"
in both places. The body at Saqqara or another site,
and a cenotaph built at Abydos.
Of course, the reverse could be true, with Abydos
as the true burial site and all the tombs at Saqqara
are cenotaphs. Or perhaps the explanation involves
a little bit of both, with some rulers desiring to
be buried near Memphis, and others at Abydos,
but each ruler building two tombs, one in each location.
It
would be rather unusual for the rulers to remain as
visible as possible in their new capital during life,
and then at death, simply passing from view. Thus
much of the current consensus is that Saqqara is the
actual burial site and that Abydos
is the site of the royal monuments. The tombs at Saqqara
as a whole are larger and more luxurious than those
at Abydos (with
the exception of the valley "temples" of
Abydos which
are immense and have no known Saqqaran counterparts),
suggesting that Saqqara is the true burial site. |
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