The Complete

Temples of Ancient Egypt

RICHARD H. WILIZINSON

With 535 illustrations, 173 in color

~ Thames & Hudson

Half-title: Entrance pylon of the Temple of Luxor as depicted on the temple wall.

Title-page: David Roberts' depiction of the Temple of Philae, from hisEgypt and Nubia, 1846-50.

Contents pages: The ruins of the Temple of Karnak, from theDescription de L'Egypte, 1809, commissioned by Napoleon.

Any copy of this book issued by the publisher as a paperback is sold subject tothe condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hiredout or otherwise circulated without the publisher'S prior consent in any form ofbinding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similarcondition including these words being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.

© 2000 Richard H. Wilkinson

First published in hardcover in the United States of America in 2000by Thames & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York lOll0

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 99-66106ISBN 0-500-05100-3

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without priorpermission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in Hong Kong

CONTENTSIntroduction:

Temple, Land and Cosmos 6

Map 10

Chronology of the Temple Builders 12

IHOUSES OF ETERNITY

BEDevelopment, Glory and Decline

Temple Origins 16

Old and Middle Kingdom Development 20

New Kingdom Temples 24

A Glorious Decline 26

Early Travellers and Modern Rediscovery 30

IIBUILDINGS FIT FOR GODS

Construction, Growth and Change

Selecting the Sacred Space 36

Rituals of Foundation 38

Building the 'God's House' 40

Decorating the Temple 44

Growth, Enhancement and Change 48

The Role ofthe King

'The king of Upper and Lower Egypt came. He made agreat prostration before [the goddess], as every king hasdone. He made a great offering of every good thing ... as

every beneficent king has done.'

- Inscription of Udjahorresne

(Below) A black granite statueof the pharaoh AmenemhetIII wearing the wig, collar andleopard-skin 0/ a setem priest,from Mit Faris, Fayum.

Nowhere in the ancient world was the ideology ofkingship more highly developed than in Egypt; andperhaps nowhere in human history was it moredeeply intertwined with religious beliefs. As a veri-table son of god the Egyptian pharaoh functionedas a bridge between perceived and believed reality-positioned between gods and mortals, he acted onbehalf of the gods to his people and on behalf ofthe people to the gods themselves.

The service of the godsThe kings involvement in the service of the godsbegan with the very foundation of a new temple orthe expansion of an existing structure in the'stretching of the cord' ceremony (p. 38) wherebythe site was oriented and the boundaries of thebuilding delineated. Theoretically, from this pointon everything which was done within the templewas done in the king's name and on his behalf. Thisincluded not only the building and decoration of thetemple but also, once completed, its protection andupkeep, the perpetuation of its sacred status, andthe regular sacrifices and offerings made for thecare of the gods, as well as the special activities ofthe gods' festivals such as journeys to other

temples or sacred locations.To what extent the king actually took

part in these activities can only be sur-mised. Egyptian kings are known to havetravelled in circuit to participate in the fes-tivals of the most important cults, butwhile they did often personally visit thegods to offer to them and to officiate inimportant ceremonies, it is obvious

that they could not have served allthe gods all of the time in all of thetemples. Thus, in addition to therecording of specific, actual, royalgifts to the gods (such as obelisks,statues and other monuments), the

king's role is constantly depicted in thetemple decoration in purely generic

service. New Kingdom representationsinclude scenes of the king in many aspects of

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the intimate service of the gods, ranging from offer-ing food, drink, incense, clothing and other regulargifts, to leading the god's barque from its shrine inprocessional activities and participating in subse-quent rituals.

The daily ritualThe primary ritual activities of the Egyptiantemple - such as those which were aimed at the careand maintenance of the divine image - were per-formed frequently and with precise regularity bythe king or, in practice, more usually by the priests.

Twice each day - in the morning and evening -the ritually purified king, or the high priest officiat-ing on his behalf, would enter the inner sanctuary ofthe temple and break the seal on the door of theshrine containing the image of the god. Unveilingthe image, the officiant would then prostratehimself before the god, and after intoning hymns ofadoration he would circumambulate the shrine withelaborate censings and other activities such as thepresentation of Maat (see below). The statue of the .deity would then be brought forth and washed, itseyes lined with fresh kohl, anointed with fine oil anddressed in clean clothes and various insignia anditems of jewelry.

Although various high priests claim that theyalone performed these rituals or that they per-formed them with their own hands, it is likely thatvarious attendants assisted. At Memphis, in the OldKingdom, for example, the offices of 'robing priest'and 'keeper of the headdress adorning Ptah' wereprerogatives of the high priest himself, thoughother high-ranking priests may have held practicalresponsibility for the god's wardrobe and treasuresas they are known to have done elsewhere.

After the cleansing and revestment were com-pleted, an elaborate meal was offered to the god, the

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'menu' of which is often to be found inscribed on thewalls of the temple sanctuaries. Foods mightinclude bread of different kinds, meat of oxen, cowsand goats as well as wild animals such as antelopesand gazelle, and different types of birds such asducks and geese. Vegetables, especially onions andleeks, and fruits such as dates, figs and pomegran-ates, were all presented in this meal, along withgyptian

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(Opposite) A relief showingthe shrine of the cult imageof Amun being opened bythe king, from the temple ofSethos 1at Abydos. Directseroice of the image of thegod was a royal prerogativeexercised on at least certainoccasions.

(Left) The jubilee 'race' wasanother royal ritual thataffirmed the king'srelationship with the godsthrough the fulfilment of hisdivinely sponsored role. Thisrelief shows Djoser engagedin the ritual run, from the'South Tomb' in his pyramidcomplex at Saqqara.

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The King and the Templesin the Decree of CanopusAlthough it is from the latest period in Egyptianhistory, the Canopus Decree - issued in 238 BCby a synod of priests in the reign of Ptolemy III -well shows the balance of interaction between theking and the temples, with the king's benefits tothe gods and their temples being reciprocated bypriestly support and deification for members ofthe royal family. The following points representthe main clauses of the decree:

I Date.II Introduction.III Reasons for the decree. The royal couple

are doing good deeds for the temples.IV Care of the royal couple for the divine

animals. Return of statues of gods stolenby the Persians.

V Protection of Egypt against foreignenemies and the maintenance of law.

VI The mitigation of famine.VII Decision of the priests to increase the

glory of the royal couple.VIII Appointment of priests of the 'beneficent

gods' and arrangement of a fifth class ofpriests.

IX Selection, rights and regulations of thenew class of priests.

X The festival for the 'beneficent gods' to becelebrated on the day of the heliacal risingof Sirius.

XI Intercalation of a sixth epagomenal or leapday to prevent a displacement of thecalendar year.

XII At the demise of tile princess Berenike thepriests apply for her apotheosis andestablish a cult for her.

XIII The ceremony for the deified princessBerenike.

XIV Setting up of a golden procession statue ofthe princess, with a special crown.

XV Preparation of a second statue of thedeified princess Berenike and its worship.

XVI The living of the daughters of the priests.The 'bread of Berenike'.

XVII The manner of publication of the decree.

A painted limestone reliefdepicting bearers of offeringsbrought at the pharaoh'sbehest, from the temple ofHatshepsui, Deir el-Bahri.

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The Role ofthe King

A kneeling 'nome 'figure withpapyrus and water offeringsrepresenting the produce ofthe land, from the mortuarytemple of Ramesses 1l atAbydos.I

ii

water, milk, wine and beer. Often the drink offeringswere presented in two matching jars symbolizingthe offerings of Upper and Lower Egypt.

All these foodstuffs were simply placed on thealtar before the god's shrine or in the hall of offer-ings immediately outside the sanctuary. Thepractice of making burnt offerings is usuallythought to have appeared only relatively late inEgyptian history and to have been of foreign origin- although a burnt offering is made in the MiddleKingdom story of the Shipwrecked Sailor, some ofthe offering scenes from Amarna appear to depict -burnt offerings, and there are certainly instances ofthis practice depicted in New Kingdom private

The king himself is shownpresenting a variety ofofferings in this relief ofAmenophis III in the barqueshrine at Luxor Temple. Theofferings are represented bothin literal depictions and in aformulaic tabular version.

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tombs. Normally, after the god had been given theopportunity to take whatever nourishment or enjoy-ment he desired, the items sanctified as offeringsreverted to mundane status and were removed fordistribution among the priests and other templepersonnel. The offerings given to the deity werenevertheless acknowledged by the announcementthat the deity had established ongoing life and sta-bility for the king - and by extension, the peopleand land as a whole.

In the evening the process was repeated: the godonce again received offerings and was then pre-pared for rest. The shrine was finally resealed andthe footprints of the retreating priest swept fromthe floor in order to leave the sanctuary clean andunmarked.

The presentation of MaatOf the many offerings which the king is shown pre-senting to the gods, the most abstract yet importantwas the 'presentation of Maat' in which the kingoffered a small figure of that goddess as a symbol ofhis maintenance of the order established by thegods. In the New Kingdom, Maat was primarilyoffered to Amun, Re and Ptah - the three great godsof the imperial triad which ruled in that period -stressing the great importance of the ritual.

As a deity, Maat represented truth, order,balance, correctness, justice, cosmic harmony andother qualities which precisely embodied theresponsibility of the king's role. In presenting Maat,therefore, the king not only acknowledged hisresponsibility in this area, but also effectively main-tained Maat through the potency of the ritual itself.There were also other ways in which the presenta-tion of Maat symbolized the kings role. Maat wasthe daughter of Re and thus the sister of the kingwho was 'son of Re'; and the king could also be seento be acting in the role of the god Thoth, husband ofMaat, so that the ritual underscored the king'sspecial, divinely related status. As a result, he isoften shown in the company of the gods themselvesin representations of this important ritual.

The king's presentation of Maat can be viewed, infact, as the supreme offering into which all otherofferings were subsumed. This equivalence of thepresentation of the goddess with all other offeringscan be seen in the epithet of Maat as 'food of thegods' and parallel statements which affirm that thegods 'live on Maat'. Emily Teeter, who has studiedthis ritual in great detail, has shown that represen-tations and inscriptions of the king presentingMaat are in fact essentially identical to those inwhich the king presents food, wine or other forms ofsustenance to the gods - and in some cases, 'depic-tions of the presentation of wine jars are actuallylabelled as the 'presentation of Maat'.

In fact, for the Egyptians, the metaphor wenteven beyond food and drink and could include virtu-ally anything. Erik Hornung has pointed out that in

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(Left) The king presents asmall figure of the goddessMaat, a key ritual in Egyptianmonarchical ideology

one version of the daily temple ritual the priestintoned 'Maat is present in all your dwellings so thatyou are furnished with Maat. The robe for yourlimbs is Maat. Maat is breath for your nose ... .' Theritual presentation of Maat therefore highlights theking's role in the service of the gods. Not only didthe king's offerings supply the needs of the gods,but also from the Egyptian perspective through theoffering of Maat he also renewed and strengthenedthe underlying fabric of the universe itself.

The king's cosmic roleThe maintenance of order symbolized by the ritualpresentation of Maat was also expressed in manyaspects of temple iconography. Scenes of the kingsmiting enemies, hunting hippopotamus or nettingwild birds in the marshes are thus not so muchrecords of isolated activities of the king as they arevirtual models of the suppression of elements sym-bolizing the forces of disharmony and disorderwithin the land of Egypt and in the cosmos at large.In fact, activities such as these were sometimes

planned and performed in a ritual manner. In thePtolemaic temple of Edfu - and very probably inearlier structures on the same site - the destructionof the inimical god Seth was vividly portrayed in anannual ritual drama in which an actual, or morelikely model, hippopotamus - symbol of Seth - wasdestroyed by harpoons (p. 206). Here the fulfilmentof an action under ritual conditions is evident,though typically in the representations of the eventthe king is depicted in the company of the gods.In other instances, it is clear that the king is

acting on behalf of the gods in mythical or purely'iconographic' actions that could only be accom-plished by deities themselves - for the king is aservant of gods of whom he himself is at least par-tially a manifestation. The king is thus frequentlyshown holding up the ceilings above the god'sshrines, which were decorated on their upper sur-faces with the form of the sky hieroglyph to signifythe king's symbolic upholding of the cosmos.

Religious and political interactionAlongside, and functioning together with themythic and ritual aspects of the king's religiousrole, there was, of course, a political reality - what[an Assmann has called a theopolitical unity -which is not always clear to us. We do not know, forexample, at what historical point the Egyptian kingtook over the role of highest priest of the variouscults or if his office incorporated this from thebeginning. We may surmise that the relationshipbetween the religious and political spheres wasbound by kings who saw that this was to theiradvantage in terms of strengthening their own posi-tion. But it must be remembered that the relationshipbetween the king and the temples was a mutuallyprofitable one which fulfilled the needs of both.

(Top) The king spears ahippopotamus, representingSeth and symbolically chaosand disorder, in a relief fromthe temple of Horus at Edfu.

(Above) A relief from thetemple of Amun at Karnakincludes diminutiverepresentations of RamessesII holding up the barque ofthe god and by extensionsupporting the cosmicframework itself.

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