The third terrace of the temple of Hatshepsut

 

 

The third terrace of the temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari is now open to visitors, after a long restoration by a Polish team.
The upper terrace of Hatshepsut's temple has a forefront portico with two rows of columns. The external row is made of square columns decorated with colossal osiride statues of the queen, of which only few remain. The inner row is made of octagonal columns.
When entering the court itself, the first noticeable thing is that it seems empty though it once contained two rows of columns, of which only a few one have been re erected.
On the left and on the right, the re-erected walls have a (very) fragmentary decoration.
The back of the court houses the very heart of the temple: a sanctuary dedicated to the god Amun. It has been cut directly in the mountain.
On each side of the sanctuary one can see nine niches : small cult chapels alternate with niches housing osiride statues of the queen.
On each side of the lateral walls doors lead to chapels (not visitable) respectively dedicated to the royal cult and to the solar cult.

The temple of Mentuhotep

The temple of Mentuhotep II (or I) Neb-Hepet-Re was the first one built

Mentuhotep

in Deir el Bahari. It was called "Akh-set(w)-Nebhepetre: i.e. "Splendid (or Useful) are the places of Nebhepetre". Because of its ruinous state, with very few reliefs, it is seldom photographed.

Neb-Hepet-Re

This temple is a transition between the Old Kingdom temple of the pyramid, and the New Kingdom House of Millions of Years. For the first time, the tomb of the king is united with its mortuary temple. The New Kingdom will later separate the tomb (in the Valley of the Kings) from the House of Millions of Years. It was the (very lucky) Howard Carter who discovered the burial shaft when his horse stumbled into its rubble-filled entrance in 1900.
The temple was discovered in the 1860’s and was excavated by Edouard Naville between 1903 and 1907, and then by Herbert Winlockh between 1921 and 1930.
The multileveled construction and the plan were entirely new, with no equivalent dating from the Old Kindom.
The complex had a valley temple and a 1,2 km causeway leading to the temple itself.
At the lower level there was a pillared lower hall with two rows of octogonal, decorated, colums.
The upper level had a covered central core dedicated to Mentu-Re (Mentu was a primeval god of Thebes, revered by the the warrior kings that had to reunify Egypt after the anarchy of the First Intermediate Period). The roof may have been flat, or topped by an earth mound. The whole terrace was perhaps conceived as a replica of the primeval mound. The enclosure contained chapels and shaft tombs for the king's wives and family.
Around this core was an upper hall with three rows of colums.
The rear part was devoted to the cult of the deified king, who had a statue in a small chapel. Later this was converted in an Amun sanctuary.

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The Graffiti in the ancient Egyptian temples.

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The desire of keeping the self memory revived was not limited to kings and queens of ancient Egypt but was found with the very ordinary people of that time. The hidden reason behind having a lot of graffiti in ancient Egyptian temples or elsewhere was due to believing that the “ Ren” which is the title in the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, once it is kept it can lead the soul of the dead to find and recognize the deceased. Therefore leaving someone’s name can secure his rebirth and according to the ancient Egyptian religion and book of the dead, the creation of Man by god Ra required preparing five elements to make a human created. The first was the “ Ghed” which is the body, the second was the “ Ba” which is the soul, the third was the “ Ren” which is the name , the fourth was the double “ Ka” and the fifth was the “Akh” which is the shadow. The only hope for poor people to secure their rebirth was to carve their names on temples walls or floors or to be mentioned by their nobleman or lord in his tomb which we should not blame them for. The ancient Egyptian royal families and their entourage were able to afford to protect and keep their five elements so they never encounter much of obstacles that can prevent their resurrection, almost all were able to afford the expenses of the mummification so their Ghed can last and were able build tombs with much of texts, hymns and carvings which can lead their Ba back to them, also were rich enough to leave offerings that their Ka can enjoy it and therefore it remains nearby. Even were able to design tombs and burial chambers that overlook the true north to allow their “ Akh” or shadow to remain on sun rise and on sun set and definitely their Ren was easily saved in cartouche frames or carved in stone that can survive.

Ancient Egyptian Graffiti writings on Philae temple, about 300 B.C.


Some of the ancient Egyptian kings were keen to keep and protect their ancestor’s tombs and monuments and some kings were interested to carve their own names on statues of their ancestors after saving it from thefts or after getting it restored. Their aim was to secure the ancestor’s Ren as well as their own one.

A carving “above” from tomb of prince Nekaw, son of king Essi,2500 B.C shows the servant who was entitled to look after Nekaw’s grey hound hunting dog , the servant “Ren” name is mentioned right above. As it was traditional for rich people to allow their popular servants to be described in their tombs by name and exact features to ascertain their rebirth as reward for their achievements.

The carving above represents praises for both king Thutmoses II and Queen Hatshepsut meanwhile it shows the removal of her “Ren” and her praises from the inscription for being her reign counted by the ancient Egyptians an illegitimate.

Nubian finger graffiti on an ancient Egyptian monument.
The Nubian nomadic tribes had inherited the ancient Egyptian graffiti culture. The Nubian pilgrims in their pilgrimage to Egyptian temples used to dig the sandstone with their fingers in a trial to leave their finger-prints and to collect the sandstone dust to bring to their village.
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