|
Egypt News |
|
|
|
Soon |
Customers Trips Reviews |
|
|
Ancient temples
Temple of The Ramesseum
Ramses II built the Temple of the Ramesseum as a funerary
Temple in 1304-1207 B.C, and it
was dedicated to the God Ra. Most of the Temple is in a very bad
condition nowadays, or in ruins. The entrance to the Temple once had
two pylons that have now collapsed. In the first courtyard, of the
Temple, there is only a colonnaded hall that has survived.
In front of the ruins of the first pylon, there once stood a
colossal statue of Ramses that was more than 1000 Tons in weight and
18m high! You can still see the remains of it today.
Many other Kings have superimposed monuments in the Ramesseum such
as Mernptah and Ramses III.
The Greeks identified this as the Temple of Memnonium (they
associated the colossal statue in front of the Temple with their
legendry hero, Memnon, the son of Aurora who's mother, Eos, was the
Goddess of dawn. Also they sometimes called it “the tomb of
Ozymandias”, a name that might have be derived from the ancient
Egypt word “User-Maat-Ra”.
This huge Temple later inspired a poetic verse by Percy
Bysshe Shelley: -
I
met a traveller from an antique land who said: Two vast and
trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip,
and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions
read,Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand
that mocked them, and the heart that fed,And on the pedestal these
words appear:"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:Look upon my
works, ye Mighty, and despair!"Nothing beside remains. Round the
decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level
sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822
The
Roman historian, Diodorus, was under the impression that the Temple
was the work of the legendry King called Ozymandias, and his tomb
was located in there. He even give detailed descriptions of the tomb
of Ozymandias and described the inscription that was on its
entrance, which says: -
" I am Ozymandias, King of Kings. If anyone
would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass any of my
works."
The Temple measures 600 feet by 220 feet. The eastern pylon
of the Temple was the main entrance and was once decorated with
scenes of the battle of Kadesh, but it is in ruins today! On the
right wing of the pylon you will find inscriptions that represent
the 118 cities that Ramses III had conquered during his military
campaigns. You will also see scenes of prisoners taken to the King.
On the left wing of the pylon there are scenes of the famous battle
between Ramses II and the Hittites. After that you will proceed onto
the first open courtyard, where you will see many damaged statues.
Once there was a colossal statue of Ramses II, and at its feet, it
read:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look upon my works, ye
Mighty, and despair"
In the great hypostyle hall there are 29 columns that are still
standing, the ones in the middle are shorter than those on the sides
to allow light into the Temple! Here, on the left side, you can see
more scenes of the battle of Kadesh.
On the right of this hall, and outside the walls of the hypostyle
hall, lies a much older Temple, built by Seti I and dedicated to the
God Amon Ra. The Second courtyard is in a much better condition,
than the first one, and you can see on both sides, two rows of
Osiris columns, representing Ramses II. Further south there is
another small hypostyle hall that once had 8 papyrus-bud columns. In
here the hall of astronomy is located, where the first 12th month
calendar is illustrated. This hall is decorated with scenes of
offering, and scenes of the sacred boat of Amon Ra. On the western
wall you will see Ramses II sitting under the tree of life, where
the God Thoth and the Goddess Seshat are recording his name, in the
leaves of the tree, for long life.
If you go further into the western side, there are the
ruins of two vestibules that lead you to a library, linen room and
the badly ruined sanctuary, which was dedicated to the God Amon Ra.
To the south of the Temple, Ramses II built a great mud break palace
where he stayed during his visits to the site. To the south of this
section, lies the small Temple of Mern-Ptah, the successor of Ramses
II. In 1896, the great Egyptologist, William Flinders Petrie, did
extensive excavations at this site.
Petrie found here a very important Stella, known as the “Israel
Stella”, which contained the first reference to the “Tribe of
Israel”. Because of this Stella, many archaeologists believe that Mern-Ptah is very likely to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus
The Karnak Temple
-
Luxor Temple
-
The Temple of Deir El-Bahri
-
The Temple of
Abydos -
Temple of Dendera
-
Temple of
Madinat Habu -
The Temple of Edfu
-The
Temple of Kom Ombo -
The Temple of Philae
-
The Temple of
Isis -The
Temples of Abu Simbel -
Temple of The Ramesseum
|
