Abu Simbel Temples

The rock cut temple of king Ramesses II on the west bank of the Nile at Abu Simbel is the greatest of the seven rock-cut temples which the king constructed in Nubia and the most impressive of all the Egyptian monuments in the area. The temple was not seen by Europeans until the 19th century, when it was discovered by J.-L. Burckhsrdt in 1813 and presented by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817. Today, as a result of the international effort which moved the huge, cliff-cut temple and the small temple to higher ground during the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, the monument is one of the most famous in Egypt.

The temple was evidently begun fairly early in Ramesses’ long reign – it was commissioned sometime after the king’s fifth regnal year but was not completed until his 35th year. During this time the conception of the monument’s purpose may have changed to some degree, and the cult images in the temple’s innermost shrine were re-carved to include a representation of Ramesses himself, along with the three great state gods of late New Kingdom Egypt, Re-Horakhty of Heliopolis, Ptah of Memphis, and Amun-Re of Thebes. At its completion, the temple was called simply Hut Ramesses Meryamun, "The temple of Ramesses, Beloved of Amun".

The forecourt which fronted the temple contained two tanks for the ablutions of the priests, which flanked the stairs leading up to the entrance terrace. On the northern side of this terrace stood a small sun-chapel and on the south a chapel of Thoth. The massive façade of the main temple is dominated, of course, by the four seated colossi of Ramesses which at some 21 m (69ft), are among the tallest made in Egypt. Beneath these giant sculptures are the carved figures of bound Negro (on the south) and Asiatic (on the north) captives – symbolic of Egypt’s borderland enemies. Next to the giant figures of the king, members of Ramesses’ family – including images of his great royal wife Nefertari and mother Muttuya, as well as several children – stand at his feet. The figure of Re (worshipped by flanking images of Ramesses) above the entrance not only spells out the king’s throne name in rebus form, User-Maat-Re, but also stresses the solar nature of the outer temple. A stela at the southern end of the external terrace records one of Ramesses’ diplomatic triumphs, his marriage to a daughter of the Hittite king Hattusilis III.

Within the temple a series of chambers becomes increasingly smaller as the floors of the rooms rise noticeably – following the basic convention of temple design in a somewhat foreshortened manner. The first hall is nevertheless cut on an imposing scale and contains eight large Osiride statues of the king engaged to the pillars which support its roof. The walls are decorated in relief with scenes showing the king in battle (including the great Battle of Kadesh, on the north wall, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the south wall), and presenting prisoners to the gods. The wall carvings retain some of their original color. A series of magazines radiates off from this first hall; behind it the smaller, second pillared hall with ritual offering scenes stands before a transverse vestibule and the sanctuary which is flanked by special storerooms for cultic objects. The sanctuary contains a small altar and, in its rear niche (left to right) are the four statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, the defied Ramesses and Re-Horakhty. While the horizontal rays of the rising sun did illuminate these statues twice each year (and still do through the careful orientation of the relocated temple), the specific dates of these occurrences are not as important as is often thought, as the phenomenon would occur with any south-facing structure of this type at some point or points of the year. Nevertheless, the occurrence itself was important as it achieved the symbolic fusion of solar and chthonic forces celebrated in this great temple.

To the north of the main temple a smaller, yet still impressive, temple was built in honor of Ramesses’ great wife, Nefertari, and goddess Hathor, the deity most closely associated with queenship in ancient Egypt. As with Ramesses’ own temple, the cliff face was cut back to resemble the sloping walls of a pylon and colossal standing figures (about 10 m or 33 ft high) of Ramesses II and Nefertari – four of the king and two of the queen – were cut, along with diminutive figures of the royal family. Inside, Nefertari’s temple is both smaller and simpler in plan, with a single pillared hall – here with carved Hathor images on the sides facing the centre of the hypostyle; a vestibule with ancillary rooms at either end; and the sanctuary. Although the sanctuary itself was completed, two spaces were left on its side walls for doors to rooms which were never cut. The inner chamber contains a number of images interrelating the royal couple and the gods. On the rear wall, in high relief, Hathor is depicted as a cow emerging from the ‘western mountain’ with the king standing beneath her chin. On the left wall Nefertari is seen worshiping before Mut and Hathor, and on the right Ramesses worships before images of his deified self and his wife. The importance granted to Nefertari here and throughout the temple is immense, and the queen is repeatedly shown as participating in the divine rituals on an equal footing with the king.