Skip to main content

Abu Simbel


Abu Simbel
Ramses II's temple from top of Hathor's temple  
Temple of Ramses II
Abu Simbel is the location of the most famous temple of Ramses II. The most spectacular aspect of this temple is its setting in the solid rock above the banks of the Nile River between the First and Second Cataracts. As impressive as Abu Simbel is, it probably would not be quite as famous were it not for its relocation because of the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Relocation
Between January 1966 and September 1968, the restoration work crews carved the temples into over a thousand pieces. Some of the blocks weighed as much as 30 tons a piece.  They were removed and raised over 200 feet. The pieces were then reassembled on an artificial hill above the reach of Lake Nasser.
   Ramses II's temple and mountain

Ramses II's statue from below
  
Statues
Ramses II built the Great Temple to honor himself and the gods of the state. The four seated statues of Ramses are about 20 meters in height. At the feet of Ramses stand the statues of his favorite children. Many stelae were found at the southern end of the temple, including the famous Marriage Stela. This stela describes the arrival of the Hittite princess to Egypt to marry Ramses following the treaty with the Hittites.
 

Interior
Inside the temple, eight Osiride statues of Rameses II are attached to pillars and support the roof. The sun shines on Ramses II’s statues only two days out of each year: Oct 22 and Feb 22. These two days were his birthday and his coronation day. Today there are big celebrations at the temple on these two days.
   Ramses II's temple, inside central aisle

Ramses II on chariot  
Battle of Kadesh
The walls depict scenes which show Ramses’ greatness in battle. Ramses was particularly proud of his victory at the battle of Kadesh and depicted this on numerous monuments including this temple.  Scholars today believe this battle with the Hittites was a stalemate.

Temple of Hathor
The Temple of Hathor is to the north of the Great Temple. It depicts Ramses II’s first queen Nefertari on the facade between statues of her husband.  The inside of this temple shows Nefertari participating in the divine ritual in the same capacity as her husband. The holy of holies features a statue of the goddess Hathor represented as a cow.
   Hathor's temple at Abu Simbel
Labels:
Location: Egypt,Aswan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomb of Pabasa (TT279)

Pabasa, who was also called Pabes, has a large tomb at Asasif, just outside the entrance to Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahri. Like Ankh-hor, who held this important title after him, he was the ‘Chief Steward of the God’s Wife Nitocris’ (Neitiqert) during the reign of Saite king Psamtek I.  Pabasa’s tomb still has a large mudbrick superstructure. A steep flight of stairs leads down to the entrance of the subterranean levels and on the lintel above the doorway is a fine relief of a barque, adored by the souls of Pe and Nekhen, by the God’s Wife, Nitocris and by the deceased.  A small vestibule leads to a larger pillared sun court. The vestibule shows scenes of Pabasa’s funeral procession, including mourners and the ‘Abydos Pilgrimage’. There is a long text of Pabasa and depictions of his son, Thahorpakhepesh, who acted as sem-priest at his father’s funeral.  On the inner lintel of the entrance to the court, a relief shows Osiris and Re-Horakhty, in the cent...
Post a Comment
Read more

US authorities return eight stolen ancient Egyptian artifacts

US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artifacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. Today, upon his arrival from the United States, Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim announced that US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artefacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. The objects are to arrive next month. The pieces include the upper part of a painted anthropoid wooden sarcophagus from the Third Intermediate period depicting a face of a woman wea ring a wig decorated with coloured flowers. Two linen mummy wrappings covered with plaster and bearing paintings showing winged amulets pushing the sun disc are also among the artefacts. Hieroglyphic text showing the name and titles of the deceased are also found on the plaster cover. The third piece is a cartonage painted mummy mask from the Third Intermediate period while the fourth and fifth items are Middle Kingdom wooden boats. The other three items are lim...
Post a Comment
Read more

what exactly happened to the Sphinx's nose?

The Sphinx's Nose The nose of the Great Sphinx at Giza is made conspicuous by its absence. What happened to it? The popular story is that the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte used the nose for target practice in 1798. Drawings done for La Description de L'Egypte depict a noseless Sphinx. The Sphinx, 1743. In 1737, British traveler Richard Pococke visited Egypt and made a sketch of the Sphinx that was published six years later. The nose is shown intact, but Pococke likely exercised his poetic license by adding it when it was not there (earlier, in 1579, Johannes Helferich had further taken an artist's liberties by depicting the Sphinx with a nose -- and with decidedly female features). Frederick Lewis Norden, an artist and marine architect, also sketched the Sphinx in 1737. His detailed drawings, published in 1755, were more realistic and showed the Sphinx with no nose. It is very unlikely that Norden would omit the nose if it was present. We can conclude that the...
Post a Comment
Read more