ABYDOS Temple

Abydos Temple

For several thousand years, the site of ABYDOS "the ancient Abdju" flourished as a cemetery for the people of Thinis, the capital of Egypt's eighth Upper Egyptian nome. A local deity, Khentyamentiu (the foremost of the westerners, meaning the chief one among the dead), had a cult center here during Egypt's first two dynasties. In the old Kingdom, this god was joined to another underworld deity, Osiris. Osiris came to be seen as the pre-eminent god of the underworld and the personification of Egypt's deceased kings. By the middle Kingdom, ABYDOS was described as the burial place o Osiris and many increasingly popular and important religious ceremonies were held there to commemorate his death and rebirth in the afterlife.

Pilgrims came in great numbers to make offerings, erect stelae and statues and, if they could afford it, to build a tomb or a cenotaph. The town of Thinis, with which ABYDOS was associated, has never been located. But ABYDOS itself is well-known as one of the most extensive and important cemeteries and cult sites of dynastic times. With good reason, the most famous building at ABYDOS today is the Mansion of millions of years of king Menma'atre "Seti I" who rests in ABYDOS, This temple was begun by Seti I, and completed by his son Ramesses II, it is elegantly decorated and uniquely well-preserved, one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art and architecture. Some Egyptologists have claimed that the temple's unusual Lshaped plan was chosen to avoid damaging the Osireion, an ancient subterranean cenotaph lying immediately behind the temple.But many scholars now believe that the Osireion was also built by Seti I, copying the plans of tombs in the valley of the Kings. They doubt its reputed Old Kingdom origins.

The Temple Of Seti I

The temple of Seti I lies about 15 kilometers west of the Nile on the edge of the desert, a few meters above the village and fields of alBalliana. A modern staircase leads to its ruined first pylon and first court.

The back of the pylon has fourteen niches built into it that originally held Osiris statues. Fragments of some of them can still be seen here, and three statue heads are on display to the left of the entrance in the first hypostyle hall. A pair of large stone ablution basins used by ancient priests for purification stand in the center of the court. The north and south walls of the court are decorated with scenes of battles fought in western Asia.Note at the left (east) end of the left (south) wall a soldier emptying a basketful of severed hands before scribes.

The hands were hacked from enemy soldiers as a method of tallying the number of dead. A narrow terrace stretches along the rear (west) wall of the court. In its left rear (southwest) and right rear (northwest) corners, rows of sons and daughters of Ramesses II march across the walls. Originally, twenty seven sons and twenty nine daughters were shown here, each of them named, and shown in order of their birth.

The Second court......

The second court was also the work of Ramesses II. At the rear stands a portico, 1.25 meters (nearly 4 feet) high, with a row of twelve pillars across the front. Each pillar is decorated with scenes of Ramesses II or Seti I offering to various deities. These are standard scenes, but there is an unusual detail on the right (north) face of the first pillar to the left (south) of the court's main axis. Ramesses II wears a long gown that id depicted so sheer that his leg are clearly visible through it. But the gown also overlaps several hieroglyphs carved on the right, and these cannot be seen through the cloth. The rear (west) wall of the portico was originally designed with doors opening between twelve narrow walls.These were filled in, however to create solid walls on either side of the main gateway and then completely decorated.

The colors here are well preserved, even though the wall has been badly damaged. At the right (north) end, Ramesses II, stands with Horus and Khnum. To the left, he stands before a persea tree flanked by Thoth and Ptah. Ptah writes the king's name on the leaves of the tree and Thoth carries palm branches that have been notched to indicate the many years the king will hopefully live. Nearer the central gate, the king offers ankh-sign to Osiris, Isis and Seti I. South of the central gateway. 116 columns of text describe the youth and early years of the reign of Ramesses II. He boasts of having visited ABYDOS soon after his coronation, and finding his father's temple unfinished, ordering that it be completed. Now the temple of Seti I, its front and its rear were (still) under construction when he entered heaven. There were none who completed its monuments, none who erected its pillars upon its terrace. I being now lord of the two Lands, I shall finish them in proper fashion. I will build up the walls in the temple of the one who begot me ".

The First Hypostyle Hall.....

The first hypostyle Hall is a huge chamber with two rows of twelve papyri form columns that support an 8 meter high ceiling. The walls are heavily decorated with elaborately carved and painted scenes. (The fluorescent tubes that lie on the floor provide an unsatisfactory light, but even so the fine quality workmanship is obvious). We will tour the hall starting in its front left (southeast) corner and proceed counterclockwise to the rear left (southwest) corner. The front (east) wall has three "piers" on each side of the central doorway with large niches between them. At the far right (south), in the upper register, the king pulls the sacred bark of Sokar.

Below he stands before the god "Min". On the second pier, the king kneels on symbols of upper and lower Egypt and is joined by Anubis and Horus. Below, the king makes offerings to Ptah. On the third pier, the king offers vases to Amen-Ra and below, receives purification from Atum and Amen-Ra.

On the fourth pier immediately left (north) of the main doorway, Amen-Ra holds an ankh-sign before the king's face and Osiris offers a miniature pavilion, the symbol of the Heb-Sed Festival, and a notched palm branch representing years of long life. The scene below is similar to that on the third pier. On the fifth pier, at the top, the king hoes the earth, preparing the foundations of the new temple, as Osiris watches. Below the king and the goddess Seshat prepare to drive stakes that will define the temple's plan on the ground. On the sixth pier the king dressed in an elaborately painted costume, presents the now-finished temple to Horus.

Above, he stands in adoration before the god. At the right end of the right (north) wall, Thoth and Horus purify the king with ankh-signs that flow like water from gold vases. In the center of the wall, below a once-grilled window, the king is led into the temple by Horus and Wepwawet to be greeted by Hathor. The goddesses holds symbols that refer both to water and to obeisance. At left Ramesses II presents to Osiris a papyrus case that holds the deed to the temple. Isis and Horus stand nearby. Above the king kneels before Thoth, who writes the royal name on the leaves of a presa tree. At the right (north) end of the rear (west) wall of the hall, Ramesses II receives a royal crown from Horus and a uraeus and sisitrum from Isis. He is suckled by Isis in the scene above. Farther left the king receives the symbol of Heb-Sed jubilees from Osiris, Horus and Isis. Above the king's name is written on his shoulder by Thoth. Near the main axis of the temple, Ramesses II, offers small statuettes to Amen-Ra and his wife Mut and above, the burns incense before Amen-Ra and Khonsu. Similar scenes are repeated on the wall immediately left (south) of the main axis. These are followed by further scenes of the king with Mut, Ptah, Sekhmet and the bark of Sokar. On the left (south) wall of the hall, the birthof Ramesses II, is shown in a badly damaged scene. He is fashioned on a potter's wheel by Khnum, then cared for by Isis.

The Second Hypostyle Hall.....

The Second Hypostyle Hall has three rows of twelve columns each, the back row standing on a low raised platform. Behind this row of columns, seven doorways lead into seven chapels. The front (east) wall of the hall shows Ramesses II offering to various deities. But the workmanship on this wall, and indeed, in much of the temple, pales in comparison to the reliefs on the right (north) end of this hall. Carved in the reign of Seti I but usurped by Ramesses II, these are among the most beautiful reliefs in all of New Kingdom Egypt, and many of them still retain traces of the original paint. At right, Seti I, burns incense and makes libations before Osiris and Horus. The purifying water falls gracefully into three heart-shaped vessels.A superb figure of Horus stands behind them. In the register above, the king kneels, hands in adoration, his body lithe and youthful. In the center of the wall, the king makes offerings before a shrine of Osiris. Farther on, Osiris sits between figures of Ma'at and Renpet, and behind his stand Isis, Imenty, and Nephthys. The goddesses are very finely carved, note especially the details of their hair and dresses. It is also worth pausing to admire the details in the hieroglyphs, the finely feathered birds, woven baskets, and small human figures of remarkable grace. Further left, the king offers Ma'at to Osiris, Isis and Horus, while above, Horus presents symbols of royal office.On the wall that lies opposite the third row of columns, there is an elegantly and elaborately carved djed-pillar.

Seven chapels ... We will describe the seven chapels behind the back wall of the second hypostyle hall from right (north) to left (south). Since the scene in five of the seven chapels are repetitive, we will describe them in general, reserving more detailed descriptions for scenes in the Osiris Chapel and that of Seti I, From north the seven chapels are as follows. 1-Chapel of Horus. 2-Chapel of Isis. 3-Chapel of Osiris (with a complex of other chambers behind it). 4-Chapel of Amen-Ra 5-Chapel of Ra-Horakhty. 6-Chapel of Ptah. 7-Chapel of the deified Seti I.

Chapels 1-6 ....

The chapels have vaulted ceilings recalling the shape of the small reed huts that served as shrines in predynastic times. The last three chapels (numbers 5,6 and 7) were never painted, in contrast especially to the chapel of Osiris, where the paint is still fresh and bright. On the rear wall of each chapel is an elaborate double false door. On the right (north) wall, the king grasps the two handles of double-leaf doors on the tall, narrow shrine, then deity inside. Farther left, the king stands before an offering table, offering foods and incense before the god's bark, then gives fresh linen dresses and ointments to statues of the god or goddess. On the left (south) wall, the king again censes statues of deities and offers clothing and jewelry. Farther left he presents insignias to the gods and adjusts their crowns. When these ceremonies are completed, the king pours sand from a small bowl onto the floor and departures. The sand will then be swept to erase any footprints, leaving the chapel in pristine condition until the round of ritual feeding, censing, and clothing is repeated.

Chapel 3 ...

Although the scenes on the chapel walls are similar to those in chapels 1-6, the rear wall of the chapel 3, or chapel of Osiris, has a real doorway in place of a false that leads into a chamber with ten columns and well- painted walls. On the front wall, right (south) of the doorway, the king stands before a shrine of Osiris and Isis, and makes offerings of incense, bread, wine, and Ma'at to various deities including Anubis, Heket (a frog goddess) , Horus, and a goos-headed Hapy. On the rear (west) wall, the king and Isis erect a djed-pillar and dress it linen garments. At the far right Seti Im raises a very finely carved standard of ABYDOS, and at left he offers incense to the standard of Thoth, depicted here as an ibis. At the right (north) end of the columned hall, doors lead into three small sanctuaries dedicated to Horus (with Osiris and Isis), Seti I (with Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Thouth and Horus son of Isis), and Isis (with Horus). All three are very decorated, carved with great attention to detail and with much color still preserved. In the Horus sanctuary, Seti I offers to the god (right wall), while Isis presents the king to Horus who offers a crook and flail (rear wall). At the right end of the left wall, an unusual scene shows the king scrubbing an offering table and filling an incense burner. The central Seti I, sanctuary, the king makes offerings and receives the symbol of the Heb-Sed festival. At the southern end of the columned hall, a doorway leads into a room with four columns and three small sanctuaries beyond its rear wall. In the central sanctuary, Osiris lies on a bier with the king and various deities in attendance. Much in these rooms has been badly damaged.

Chapel 7 ...

Scenes in chapel 7, or chapel of the Deified Seti I, are devoted to the celebration of the King's Heb-Sed festival, his coronation, the recognition of his royal authority by the gods, and the activities of his mortuary cult. On the right (north) wall, the king is led forward by Montu and Atum and various goddesses to be united with his royal ancestors. The procession is followed by Thoth and the souls of Nekhen (symbolizing the most ancient rules of Upper Egypt). In an especially beautiful composition, Seti I, is embraced by goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Horus and Thoth tie together symbols of the Two Lands. On the left (south) wall, Thoth offers to the king, and other deities watch as he is crowned by Horus. The souls of Pe (ancient rulers of Lower Egypt) and Nekhen are preceded by eight standards, each carried by anthropomorphic ankh-signs.

Hall Of Nefertum and Ptah-Sokar.....

In the rear left (southwest) corner of the Second Hypostyle Hall, a door leads into a three-columned hall dedicated to two mortuary deities of the Memphite area. Nefertum wears a lotus blossom on his head out of which the sun is said to rise. PtahSoker a syncretism of two deities is a god closely associated with the afterlife and with Osiris. The wall adjacent to the door shows Ptah-Soker offering an ankh-sign to the king. The god's titles and forty-three lines of text relate to offerings being made. To the right of the hall are two small shrines. That on the right is dedicated to Ptah-Soker and shows the king before a list of fifty-two Memphite deities. Below is a scene of the resurrection of Osiris. On the left (south) wall, Osiris lies upon a bier flanked by deities. The left-hand shrine is dedicated to Nefertum and its walls are carved with figures of many other gods as well. The rear (south) wall of the hall has four niches, Atum, Thoth, and Soker are in the first, Osiris, Min and a third god are in the second.

Hall Of Ancestors....

The entrance to this corridor, also called the Gallery of the Lists, lies immediately left (east) of the Hall of Nefertum and Ptah-Soker. The left (east) wall of the corridor shows the king offering to many deities, but it is the right (west) wall that visitors come to see.

Even better known than the superbly carved walls in the second Hypostyle Hall, this wall is the most famous at ABYDOS because of its historical importance and its fine carving. Standing with his father, Seti I, young Prince Ramesses (soon to become Ramesses II) holds a papyrus bearing the names of his royal predecessors. His father holds incense before the king list (known as the ABYDOS king list), which is written in a series of rectangles on the wall before them. Beginning with Menes at the top left (traditionally the first king of the first Dynasty), the list names seventy-six king, ending at the bottom right with Seti I, Minor kings are excluded, as are such female rulers as Hatshepsut and the rulers of the "heretical" Amarna Period, Amenhetep IV (Akhenaten), Smenkhkare, Tutankhamen, and Ay. Thus, Horemheb becomes the immediate successor of Amenhetep III. Farther south along this corridor, doorway lead into rooms used by priests for the storage of temple equipment and for the preparation of offerings. Immediately beyond the king list, a door cuts through the right (west) wall into a sloping corridor sometimes called the Corridor of the Bulls.

The Corridor of the Bulls.....

On its walls well-carved scenes show (on the right) Ramesses II and his eldest son, Amen-her-khep-shef. Lassoing a bull, Farther west the king pulls a bark of Sokar. On the Left (south) wall, the king drives four calves toward Khonsu and Seti I. To the west, the king and others pull on a bird net, trapping wild ducks and presenting them to Amen-Ra and Mut. Such scenes are meant to show the king's control over untamed nature. Above scenes recount the foundation ceremony when the temple was first built.

Osireion

The corridor of the bulls leads out of the temple to The Osireion, a cenotaph of Seti I, also regarded as the burial place of the god Osiris. Work on the building was begun by Seti I, but it was not completed until seventy years later, by his grandson Merenptah.

Modeled on the plan of a New Kingdom royal tomb in the valley of the Kings, its long L-shaped corridor leads to a subterranean faux burial chamber. Built in a huge pit cut into the desert behind the temple, the structure was then covered over with debris. The burial chamber pillared hall measuring 30 by 20 meters, was constructed of red granite. A sarcophagus sat on a low mound in the center of the Hall, surrounded by a water-filled channel. The mound represents the primeval island on which creation first took place, the channel represents the ocean in which the island lay. Today ground water at ABYDOS has risen and the entire building is flooded year-round. Fish can even be seen swimming in the deep pools that cover the floor. The walls of the original corridor leading down from the surface were decorated with scenes and texts from the Book of Gates. Beyond after the corridor turns sharply to the left, astronomical scenes and texts from the book of dead can be seen on walls and ceilings. An especially elegant scene of the sky goddess Nut covers the ceiling at the back of the burial chamber. A modern wooden staircase leads down to the center of the structure.

The Temple of Ramesses II

About 300 meters north of Seti'S Temple stand the remains of a temple built by king Ramesses II, Like Seti's Osireion, this too is a cenotaph, but it is modeled on a New Kingdom Theban temple, not on a royal tomb. In spite of its missing roof and Upper walls, the standard scenes carved on its walls are of special interest because of their remarkably well-preserved paint. The exterior walls of the temple display an elaborate calendar of festival on the south wall, and scenes of the battle of Kadesh on the north and west walls. Inside, an open court has Osirid pillars around its perimeter and offering scenes on its walls west of the courtyard, behind a small portico, four small chapels are dedicated (from right to left) to Ramesses II, the Ennead, royal ancestors, and Seti I. Another chapel, for the god Onuris, lies behind them on the right. Around the second of two eight-pillared halls, other chapels, several of them especially well-carved, are dedicated to Osiris, the Theban Triad m Thoth and Min. The stela at the rear of the temple, placed here only recently, hides the entrance to a chamber housing a large granite statue group of Ramesses II, Seti I, Amen and two goddesses.

Who Is Akhenaten ?

The re construction of the splendid capital created in 1376 BC, by Akhenaton and which disappeared when its creator died, is the result of continual studies carried out since the beginning of the 20th century on the few ruins left at Tell al-Amarnah, an area about 20 km, from Hermopolis "Ashmunein", 280 km south of Cairo and 350 km in a long band along the eastern bank of the Nile. An extensive necropolis was gradually created in the rocky mountains behind the city "to the east and not the west as in the other large cities" in between the two was the village for the workers building the city of the living and the city of the dead .

The main axis of the city was lower, nearer to the Nile and consisted of a large boulevard, 100 meters wide, known as the road of the Sultan, which joined the Greek North Gate with the South Gate. The of the high priest lay almost parallel about 800 meters away while approximately 400 meters further on was the Road of Artisans. Effectively, the road of the high priest divided the city into two broad strips, one towards the Nile, access to which was from the road of the Sultan, destined for the residences of the King, the officials, the port and Government services, and one towards the interior, on the east, reached from the road of the Artisans, where the other citizens lived. All around at the foot of the rocky chain which stretches out behind Akhetaten like a great plateau, numerous boundary stelae still exist. A monumental House of the king is located in Tell al-Amarnah. Like all the structures of this city, the house had neither the colossal size nor the massive structures capable of defying time and the elements.Its scale is human and is in harmony with the environment, as it was conceived for the temporal and spiritual life of the man and his family.The dwelling stands on a rise above the "Road of the Sultan", with three tiers of hanging gardens around it and a carriageway with a pedestrian stairway joining it to the road. Most of the area is occupied by a small park, 3500 meters square, filled with plants and flowers. Husband and wife have separate quarters, composed of a room with an alcove, a bathroom and a wardrobe. The king also had a painters studio where brushes of palm fiber and fishbone "pencils" have been found. The daughters have six rooms around a court of their own. All the walls, the ceiling and even the paving are decorated and painted with scenes of outdoor life, with flowers, plants, domestic animals and birds.

Akhenaton and the letters of Tell al-Amarnah

In 1887 an elderly peasant was walking through fields near the ruins of the village of Amarnah looking for "sebakh" (a natural nitrous manure that is used in making mud bricks), when he came across hundreds of clay tablets with unusual engraved writing. They were taken to Luxor and sold for barely ten piaster. Subsequent, examination by the English archaeologist A.Sayce proved them to be genuine and the tablets were recognized as the originals and the copies of diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian court, and the governments of neighboring Babylonia, Assyria, Anatolia, etc. The passer-by had unwittingly discovered all that remained of what we could well call the State Archive of Akhenaton. The tablets are engraved with cuneiform characters in the Akkadian language, a mixture of the languages of Assyria and Babylonia, used in diplomatic affairs. About 350 still remain in existence.

Archaeological sites of ElMinya

Tunah al-Gabal

Tunah al-Gabal is the necropolis of the city of Hermopolis, located 12 kilometers to the south-west of the remains of the city whose deity was Thoth "identified with Greek god Hermes". The location of an interesting group of tombs dating from the Ptolemaic period, it represents a genuine funerary and cultural complex. Two tombs here are clearly of considerable importance, the tomb chapel of Petosiris "literally meaning a gift of Osiris" High Priest of Thoth during the reign of Philip Arrhidaeus, Half brother of Alexander the Great and also his successor, consisting of a vestibule and an older chapel decorated with traditional Egyptian themes, and the Tomb-chapel of Isadora a young woman who lived in the second century and drowned in the Nile while attempting to reach her lover. There are also three underground burial chambers for sacred animals principally containing ibis and baboons animals sacred to Thoth, the god of Hermopolis. Another interesting monuments in this area, just a couple of kilometers from the necropolis, is a large stele, one of the boundary markers placed to indicate the extent of Akhetaten "AlAmarnah" the capital city built by the pharaoh Akhenaton.

Beni Hasan

Half way between the royal cities of Thebes and Memphis in Middle Egypt, situated on the river Nile in an area of luxuriant oases and palm groves, Beni Hasan is famous in particular for the remains of a large necropolis with spectacular rock-cut tombs literally excavated in a cliff face and dating from the 11th and 12th Dynasties. Most of these are monumental burial places of the nomarchs, the Governors of the 16th "oryx" Nome of the Middle Kingdom, who were, at this time, in competition with the kings. The progressive strengthening of their power during the Middle Kingdom was a result of the decentralization of power by which they were also conferred the recognized right to an eternal resting place worthy of their rank.

And indeed, the tomb chapels of Beni Hasan are really quite exceptional, both for their extraordinary architectural structure and the quality of the decorations painted on stucco portraying various subjects "farming, sailing, hunting, military operations and many arts and crafts". There are altogether 39 rock-cut tombs in Beni Hasan "the name is derived from an from an Arab family who controlled this reign between the 18th and 19th centuries" some of which have a portico in front. To the south of the necropolis id Speos Artemidos, a rock- cut temple built by the female king Hatshepsut to the lion goddess Pakht, identified with the Greek goddess Artemis.

Hermopolis

On the left bank of the Nile and known in ancient times as Khmunu "city of The Eight referring to the primeval Gods of Ogdoad, a fundamental cosmological and theological element in Egyptian religious thought that had many devoted supporters among the priests of this region" Hermopolois was the splendid capital of the Hare Nome of Upper Egypt, corresponding to al-Ashmunayn near Tell al-Amarnah. For centuries a powerful religious center, the city was particularly famous for the cult of the highly venerated Thoth, god of health and wisdom, patron of scribes and inventor of the calendar, messenger of the gods and therefore identified with Hermes, for whom the city was eventually maned. Throughout the Greek and Roman periods, the city succeeded in maintaining its prestige intact by its dedication to another cult, that of Hermes Trismegistos "the thrice great", master of alchemists and initiates. The main evidence of the city's past splendor are the remains of the magnificent Temple of Thoth restored by Queen Hatshepsut "1479-1457 BC", later enlarged by Ramesses II "1279-1212 BC" and often restructured until the 4th century AD. Two imposing baboons "animals sacred to Thoth" reconstructed from elements of the four colossal statues erected by Amenhotep III, still stand guard over the sacred remains and the ruins that reveal the existence of a vast Graeco-Roman agora. Numerous red granite columns and long arcades surround quite a large area. Today the entire ancient city is below the level of the water table, while the necropolis are situated outside the residential center.

Tell al-Amarnah

Between the world of the pyramids and the world of the temples and sanctuaries, including that of Thebes, lies geographically as well as ideally and stylistically, the world of Akheenaton, the "heretic king". This brief period of just a few decades which passed so fleetingly in the history of Egypt, was certainly the result of a transcendental impulse that began with the sphinx, matured with the event of Imhotep, and finally emerged in the pyramids. This ideal of the God-man which flashed into the collective conscience had for centuries been latent in the intuition of a few initiates and in particular the creators of the world of the pyramids.

Akhenaton's vision took on concrete form in the city of Akhetaten "Horizon of Aten" in Tell al-Amarnah.

Abu-Sir, Memphis, Dahshur and Maydum"

Dahshur

Although the reason is not known, Senferu, founder of the fourth dyansty and father of Khufu, again moved the royal necropolis from Saqqara to Dahshur where he built two pyramids, one known as the "Bent Pyramid" or "rhomboid" and the other as the "Red Pyramid".

The "Bent Pyramid" owes its name to the fact that half way up, the walls change dramatically from one angle of incline "54d30" to another "43d". The Pyramid also has two entrance, one on the north side and one on the west, leading to two chambers covered by a corbelled roof. It has been possible to attribute the second pyramid to Sneferu from some stone facing where his name was found written in red ink. Its name derives from the warm color of the stone at sunset. This is the first monument to have the perfect classical, Pyramid form. Sneferu also had another pyramid built at Maydum, known as the "false pyramid" and was thus the only sovereign to possess three altogether.

Abu-Sir

A small village in the Nile Valley, Abu-sir is a site of great historic and architectural importance, as an Egyptian necropolis of the fifth dynasty was located here. The site is of particular note as it was chosen for royal burials although not all the pyramids of this dynasty were built at Abu-sir, two are to be found in nearby Saqqara, slightly further south "the pyramids of Unas and Userkaf". However, numerous pyramids made in local stone are found here and their appearance, less grandiose compared to the usual monumental structures, could be an indication of a period of economic crisis for Egypt, or even of a difficult moment for the power of the royal dynasties , coinciding with the time of their construction.

The pyramids of various sovereigns can be seen at Abu-ser. such as those of Sahrea "with subsidiary pyramids", Nyuserre "with a subsidiary pyramid and two queens pyramids" Neferikara "the most impressive which, with the other two, forms the upper group of monuments dominating the archaeological site, and visible even from quite a distance ", Neferikara and queen Khentkawes II, wife of Neferikara. Also quite interesting is the only mastaba here, beloging to Ptahshepses a high-ranking official during the reign of Sahura. Most of the papyri attributed to the Old Kingdom come from this site and provide great insight into life and economy at the time of the fifth dynasty. About a kilometer from Abu-seris Abu-Ghurab where there are remains of several sun-temple, also dated to the fifth dynasty whose members were devotees of the deities connected with the cult of the sun, such as Ra and Aten.

Memphis

Very little remains today of the ancient capital of Menufer, called Memphis by the Greeks, the city where Phoenicians, Judeans, Armenians, Greeks, Libyans and Sudanese each had their quarter which extended over fifteen kilometers between Giza and Saqqara, with the citadel of the "white walls" at its center, perhaps begun by the great, architect Imhotep and with a wealth of temples and sanctuaries dedicated to all the gods of the ancient world.

Right, from above the alabaster sphinx of Amun Ofis II, 4.5 meters high and 8 meters long that once flanked the entrance to the temple of Ptah, is one of the largest in existence made from a single block, the imposing colossus of Ramesses II, one of the gigantic 13 meter high statues that originally stood in front of the pylons of the temple of Ptah. The decline began with the creation of Alexandria and by the fourth century AD it was already a mass of ruins. With the rise of Cairo the few temples left standing because they had been used as Christian churches, were demolished and the entire area become a building site for the new city. Today nothing is left but a few ruins that came to light in the excavations that began in the 19th century. The most important are those of the famous temple of Ptah, where the kings were crowned, and a chapel of Seti I, both located near the present village of Village of Saqqara.

Maydum

Almost on a level with Elfayyum, towards the Nile stands the false pyramid, another highly original work attributed so Senferu, the first king of the 4th dynasty. As it stands today the structure is in the form of a high step from which two steps rise. its present aspect might lead one to believe that it was a solar temple, but the great quantity of debris around the base reveals that it looked quite different originally. Other steps must have jutted out from the four sides of the present base, so that the entire structure was in the form of a sharply pointed eight-step pyramid. The summit may have been somewhat like the sun temples of Abu-Ghurab, buitl a hundred years later, with a third obelisk emerging from the tru ncated pyramid.

It is also thought that an outer casing had been planned to turn it into a true flat sided pyramid but that work had come to a halt shortly after beginning. The name of Maydum is also associated with quite a different item, the "Maydum geese" representing one of the oldest wall paintings of ancient Egypt still existing. The painting is tempera on plaster, 1.73 meters in length and dates from about 2700 BC. Originally it decorated the tomb of "Itat" at Maydum and was without doubt part of a larger composition of which it is easy to imagine the decorative detail and natural liveliness. This extremely stylized piece is now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The colors are solid without any shading, the animals are quite symmetrical and are drawn with a sharp profile. The image is therefore abstract but still the attention to detail, the sensitivity to use of color and a clear concern with rality and nature are highly evident.

The Pyramid of Menkaura

Discovered in 1837 by the Englishmen Richard William Vyse and John Shea Perring, the pyramid of Menkaura is 66m. high and 104 m. per side. In 1500 it still boasted its beautiful exterior facing, which was gradually almost completely removed. The lower part of the pyramid is made of blocks of red Aswan granite "much of which is still in place", which contrasted with the upper portion in white Tura limestone. Herodotus described the pyramid as being covered for half its height in Ethiopian stone "the entrance to the pyramid, on the north side at about 4m above ground level, was found on 29 July 1837, Menkaura's burial chamber has a complex structure, unlike those of Khufu and Khafrae this fact reflects a series of transformations that could only have been made during the course of work.

There are thus two burial chambers, one being the original and the other the definitive one. In the latter, Vyse discovered a basalt sarcophagus decorated with the typical "palace facade" reliefs, with its cover broken, containing a wooden sarcophagus and the remains of a mummified body. Unfortunately, both the beautiful sarcophagus and what might have been the remains of Menkaurae were lost in 1838 when the Beatrice sank off Carthage as she was carrying them to England. The interior of the pyramid is quite complex. The original design called for a descending corridor from the base of the smaller original pyramid to the burial chamber, this approach was at some time abandoned, and another entrance was opened on the north side. This leads through an antechamber, the walls of which are decorated with bas-reliefs of the "palace facade" motif to the burial chamber as originally planned. The plans were, however, again modified underneath the original burial chamber another, much larger room was excavated "6.50 by 2.30 m" with a 4 m ceiling and was dressed with granite.

The Mortuary Temple Of Menkaura

Unfortunately, very little remains of the mortuary temple begun by Menkaura in stone and completed in mud bricks by his son and successor Shepseskaf, although is still intact in 1700. Some of the blocks used in its construction weigh as much as 200 tons. The temple stands on the west side of the pyramid and it had a quite complex structure with a vestibule a rectangular courtyard, a double colonnaded portico that led to the sanctuary, and many annexes.

A sloping causeway united the mortuary temple with the valley temple, where the archaeologist George Reisner discovered during excavations conducted in 1907 and 1908, the famous schist triads in which the King is associated with Hathor and other deities symbolizing Egyptian nomes.

The subsidiary Pyramids

The three subsidiary pyramids, of which the largest is flat sided while the other two are stepped, rise to the south of main pyramid pf Menkaura. Each was in turn flanked, also on the south, by a small mortuary temple, in mud brick with wooden columns. Even though no proof has yet come to light, it is thought that the subsidiaries belonged to the royal brides of Mankaura. Two are unknown but the third is khamernebtry II, whose features are those of Hathor in the triads. The measurements of the bases of these three structures are one third those of the main pyramid. Inside one of the subsidiaries, Richard Vyse found the name of the King written in red ink.

The Sphinx "Abu-Elhoul"

An integral and very famous, part of Khafra's funeral complex is the great Sphinx, the gigantic crouching lion with a human countenance that many believe reproduces the facial features of the King. The Sphinx located, located southeast of the great pyramid of Khufu, is 20m tall and 57m long, the head, wearing the typical names, is 6m high. Some 4500 years ago the monument was modeled out of a natural knoll of limestone at Giza, containing rock of three different types. Over the centuries erosion by send and wind have disfigured the powerful body and enigmatic face. To legitimize his ascent the throne, the 18th Dynasty king Tuthmosis IV recounted how the Sphinx appeared to him in a dream and asked him to dig out the sand that covered it almost completely,"Tuthmosis, may son, I'm your father Khepri- Ra-Atum, if you free me from the sand that oppresses me I will make you king and you will wear on your head the white crown and the red crown. "Tuthmosis did as he was told, and also built retaining walls to halt the advance of the sand. To recall the event, he placed a pink granite stele, about 4m in height, between the paws of the sphinx. The Greek term "Sphinx" derives from the ancient Egyptian sheps-ankh "the living image". In the new Kingdom, the great Sphinx was associated with Harmakis "Hours at the Horizon", For the Arabs it was "Abu-Elhoul" the father of terror. In its extraordinary monumentality and mystery, the Sphinx, "half mountain and half crouching beast" as it was defined by Pierre Loti, is a sculpture unique in all of Egyptian art.

The Sphinx Temple.

In front of the Sphinx, slightly to the right, are the remains of a small temple in limestone and pink Aswan granite, with two entrances and a courtyard with an interior colonnade of large rectangular pillars and an alter for offerings at the center. Its structure is similar to that of the valley temple of kung Khafra, which stands alongside it. This temple may have been used for ceremonies on the occasion of the jubilee of the Kingor it might actually have been dedicated to the great Sphinx. Unfortunately, in the temple itself there is no trace of decorative detail and no texts have yet provided us with any information about it.

The Pyramid Of Khafrae

The measurements of this pyramid are slightly inferior to those of Khufu's built a little higher up the slight slope of the plateau so as to give the impression that his mortuary monuments was actually taller than that built by his father. Originally 143.50m in height the pyramid now measures 136.40m, with 215m sides. Of the three pyramids of Giza, this is the only one to have preserved some of its original Tura limestone facing on its topmost part. For a long time it was thought that Khafrae's construction was solid, with no internal burial chambers, but in 1818 the Italian archaeologists Givovanni Battista Belzoni noticed an unusual accumulation of detritus on the north side of the pyramid, and after thirty day's work, I had the satisfaction of entering the interior of a pyramid that had always been believed impenetrable.

In the central chamber he found no treasure, but only a pink granite sarcophagus "buried almost level with the floor". Using lampblack to write Belzoni's inscription "Discovered by G. Belzoni, 2 March 1818" is still visible on the wall. But Belzoni knew better than any other that he was not the first "discovered" and that the pyramid had been opened and then resealed long before his time, probably in about 1200. In fact he found a number of phrases written in charcoal on the wall , in Arabic script, one of these read, "Mohamed Ahmed, quarryman, opened this with the assistance of Othman and the consent of king Ali Mohamed, from the beginning to the end. The Mortuary complex of Khafrae .. In front of the east side of the pyramid was the mortuary temple of Khafrae. Unfortunately, today there remain only a few traces of the structure, among which a block of granite weighing more than 400 tons. The façade of the temple must have been about 110m. in length, with a large vestibule with columns and a vast rectangular hall "also surrounded with columns" opening onto a board porticoed courtyard. The pits containing the solar boats of the king were dug on the north and south sides. A causeway 494m long united this temple to valley temple discovered by Mariette in 1852 which has survived in good condition. The valley temple is a solemn, austere edifice of large blocks of pink Aswan granite, the broad great hall, in the form of an inverted T, was supported by sixteen monolithic pillars each 4.15m high. Along the walls there originally stood twenty three diorite and alabaster statues of the king, which have all disappeared except one found by Mariette and today on display at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

The Great Pyramid Of Khufu

The name of Khufu, the second king of the 4th Dynasty, in the ancient Egyptian meaning He "The god" protects me ", the derived Greek form being Cheops. We know very little of this King likewise, few images have come down to us. Paradoxically, all that remains of the builder of the world's largest, pyramid is a tiny ivory statuette, just 7cm "2.76 inches" high, bearing the features of the man Herodotus described as an evil, cruel ruler who even went, so far as to force his daughter into prostitution to obtain financing for construction of his monument. The Great Pyramid, which the ancient Egyptians called "Khufu" belongs to the Horizon, was built 45 centuries ago and is the largest at Giza. Our notions of its history come mainly from the historian and "journalist" Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 460-455 BC. He tells us that the pyramid was "twenty years in the making" and that work was continuous with groups of hundreds of men at a time working for three months, he also relates that 1,600 silver talents were spent.

Herodotus talks of one hundred thousand workmen altogether but we must remember that Herodotus saw the pyramids 2700 years after their completion and in many cases he was he was only repeating hearsay. The estimates by today ' The architect was apparently a certain Hermiunu who, in building his creation, used 2.300.000 blocks of limestone averaging about 2.5 tons each, for a total weight of approximately 5.750.000 tons, The outer facing has disappeared since, from the 13th century onwards , the beautiful slabs of limestone were removed for reuse in building the homes and the mosques of the new city of Cairo, thus exposing the gigantic structural blocks.

1) - Entrance to the Pyramid at 25m, above ground level, on the north side. 2) - Sloping corridor leading down to the subterranean chamber. 3) - Original burial chamber, at 30m, below ground level.

4) - Descending passage, probably used to permit the workers to leave the pyramid after the king's chamber had been sealed. 5) - Ascending passage, a little over 1m, in height, leading to the queen's chamber. 6) - The queen's chamber or middle chamber, lying exactly on the axis of the pyramid. Measuring 6.7m, 5.7m, long and 5.2mm it was never completed. 7) - The Grand Gallery, the architectural masterpiece of ancient Egypt. It is 47m, long and 8m, high with a ceiling formed of massive blocks fitted together with astonishing precision. 8) - Three red granite "shutters" that slid vertically and hermetically sealed the burial chamber. 9) - The burial chamber or king's chamber 5.85m, in height, 10.45m long and 5.22m wide, at 48m from the ground level, completely faced in blocks of pink granite. The ceiling is composed of nine slabs each weighing 400 tons. On the west side of the chamber is the red granite sarcophagus of the king, with no cover and no inscriptions. It is 2.24m long and 1.03m high. Nothing was found inside it neither mummy nor ornaments.

10) - The construction chambers a system of five small, empty compartments, one above the other and extremely low, the top one having a double sloped roof. The first of these chambers was discovered by Nathanial Davision in 1765, the others by Perring and Vyse in1837, They were thought to be mainly designed to relieve the enormous pressure exerted by the overlying mass of the pyramid on the ceiling of the king's Chamber. 11) - ventilation shafts. These two ducts, which open at a height of 76m. on the north and south faces of the pyramid carry fresh air to the interior of the burial chamber.

Khufu and the Stars

The fifth century philosopher Proclus of Byzantium stated that, the great gallery of Khufu's pyramid was originally an astronomical observatory that the king only later used as his tomb. This view was shared by a number of 18th century astronomers. In any event, scholars have demonstrated that at the time of construction of the pyramids the ventilation shafts of the Royal Chamber, which communicate with the outside, were aligned with quite specific stars, the north shaft with the stars of Thuban, and the south shaft with the three stars of Orion's belt. The construction and purpose of the pyramid have been explained in the most disparate ways, an astronomical observatory, a magical temple, a work by aliens or the people of the fabled Atlantis, and many others. In fact, the pyramid is a magnificent transposition of the sun's rays into stone, and today we with all our sophisticated technology can only continue to ask ourselves how was it ever possible to transport two and a half million blocks of stone to such heights in an age when the wheel, the pully, and the winch were unknown.

Napoleon Ponparte was one of the many visitors to have ventured inside the Great Pyramid. He entered it on 12 August 1799, the chronicles of the time recount that when he emerged, he was visibly shaken and refused to speak of his experiences to anyone. It is said that even much later, as he lay on his deathbed on Saint Helena, all Napoleon would say to his faithful valet, who insisted on knowing what, had happened was that it was useless to tell "since no one would believe it anyway ".

The pyramid of the Queens

The three monuments known as the Pyramids of the Queens are located to the eastern side of the great pyramid of Khufu. Like the Great Pyramid, they were built of blocks of limestone and covered with a casing. They all have an inclination of 52 dg, and a simple corridor giving access to the rock hewn burial chamber. Standing before the eastern face of each was a mortuary temple similar to that of Khufu.

Tradition has it that the southern most pyramid belonged to Queen Henutsen, Khufu's wife and half sister and mother of Khafre. The central pyramid is attributed to Queen Meritites, mother of Redjedef, and the last pyramid to Queen Hetepheres, wife of Senferu and mother of Khufu.During the reign of Psusennes I, a king of the 21st Dynasty, the mortuary temple of the pyramid of Henutsen was transformed into a chapel dedicated to the cult of Isis, the "Lady of the pyramids" Despite the legends, the attribution of the three small pyramids to the three queens is supported only by one inscription found in this chapel, we must therefore at least consider the hypothesis that the three monuments may have had another purpose. A polish scholar has advanced the intriguing theory that these pyramids were models, in about 1: 5 scale.

The step pyramid

The step pyramid of King Djoser and his funeral complex in Saqqara Covering an area of eight kilometers, the necropolis of Saqqara is the largest in Egypt. Historically it is also the most important as all the main dynasties are represented, from the first up to the Ptolemaic and Persian eras. Rising like a citadel surrounded by pyramids and mastabas of all periods, the funerary structures of Djoser represent the ideal center. To the north a series of quite beautiful tombs spreads out, including the pyramid of Teti and the Serapeum. Partron of the necropolis was the god Sokar "and the area is named after him" often portrayed clothed in green and with a hyena's head.

Splendid images of the monumental site of Saqqara dominated by the step pyramid that, was the last resting place of Djoser. The most fascinating element in the king's funerary chamber is the decoration of the walls "detail below" consisting of thousands of blue and green majolica tiles representing bundles of rushes. The horizontal limestone moldings are similar to the cords that bound the stalks of the papyrus.

The Step Pyramid a residence for eternity

Although the third dynasty actually began with the king Sankhat, of whom little is known despite a reign that lasted for eighteen years, the real founder is considered to be Djoser, a name derived from "geser" in Egyptian meaning sacred and whose importance is such that his name is written in red ink in the Turin Canon of kings. Djoser is Saqqara and Saqqara is Djoser perhaps only in the case of Abu Simbel and Ramesses II has a king been so closely identified with his architectural monument. The majestic step pyramid of Djose, at the center of the funerary complex of Saqqara, is the oldest structure in the world entirely built of stone. Discovered in 1821 by the Prussian General von Minutoli, it was systematically explored and studied some twenty years later by the German archaeologist Lepsuis.Originally it was constructed in the form of a normal mastaba. The mastaba "which in Arab means bench or shelf" was the tomb of nobility and court dignitaries, rectangular in shape and with slightly inward- leaning walls. A second mastaba was added on top of the first, then a third and several more until a pyramid of six gradually diminishing the Sumerian Ziggurat.

As it stands today, the pyramid is 62 meters in height and the base measures 109 by 125 meters. The burial chamber of the king was located almost at the center of the pyramid, at the bottom of a large vertical shaft 28 meters deep.

From here a labyrinth of rooms, corridors, chambers and passageway and protecting the eternal rest of the sovereign spreads outwards over an area of more than five kilometers. The shards of about forty thousand alabaster pots, plates, bowls and vases were found here and some four thousand have been restored to their original form. The complex of Saqqara in enclosed by a rectangular peripheral limestone wall ten meters high with 14 false doorway creating recesses and reliefs in imitation of the facade of the royal palace of Memphis.

The South Tomb

The replica of the tomb found inside the pyramid is a complete secondary funerary monument. Built to house the canopic vases of the king, it has the same architectural and decorative elements, the stairway that that is 30 meters long reaching a well 28 meters deep, the crypt built of granite and the chambers decorated with blue faience porcelain tiles.

The "House of the South" and the "House of the North"

Built in the north eastern part of the courtyard, at the back of the great pyramid, these two structures are also dummies as the interiors are bricked and have no chambers. They may perhaps have been intended to symbolize Upper and Lower Egypt as, reproduced on the capitals of the columns that decorated the façade, are respectively the lotus flower for the "House of the South" and the papyrus for the "House of the North" . Visible above the entrance door of the former is the elegant frieze known as a "Kheker" an imitation in stone of a roof covering made from bundles of reeds.

The Courtyard of Heb Sed "Jubilee Courtyard"

The great courtyard named for the festival of Heb Sed lies to the east inside the Djoser complex. On the north side is the immense hulk of the step pyramid, on the east side were thirteen chapels with vaulted roofs, while the façade had three slender grooved columns. These chapels, dedicated to the jubilee celebration, have no interior and were probably dummies dedicated to the Egyptian deities. The South tomb is at the south west corner of the courtyard and has various funerary chambers which probably housed the internal organs of the King. A chapel beside the tomb has a characteristic frieze decorated with a cobra, the king's protective symbol. In a corner of the courtyard stand three statues of imposing size, supported by a pilaster like a caryatid, these are a rare example of the statuary of the Old Kingdom. They are much damaged, but the central one clearly represents Djoser, with the long artificial beard, the arms crossed on the breast, holding the symbols of power, and the long adherent costume worn on the occasion of Heb Sed.

What is the Heb Sed or Jubilee Festival?

During the 25th or 30th year of a king's reign the ceremony of Heb Sed took place and was to all extents and purposes, a jubilee when the sovereignty of the ruler was again recognized and confirmed. The ceremony which began during the first dynasty, is frequently portrayed in wall paintings and it has therefore been possible to reconstruct the event. It was celebrated on the first day of the month of Typi during the season when crops were sown "Peret", and was originally held in a series of structures made of leaves and papyrus and lotus stalks. The king Djoser decided that the event should be more important and had stone, and therefore permanent, buildings made to accommodate it.The festival began with a great procession lead by a High Priest and was celebrated in the various chapels situated around the courtyard. Once the gods had given their consent to the king's spiritual suitability, he had then to demonstrate his physical suitability by undergoing tests that could vary from one sovereign to another. The test may have been a bullfight, or shooting arrows to the four cardinal points, but the most common was a race running along a course indicated on the ground of the court, around the house of the North and the house of the south. At the end of the race, the king was crowned for a second time with the white and the red crowns of the two kingdoms.

Who is Imhotep?

Imhotep is one of the great geniuses in the history of mankind. Architect, magician, philosopher, so great a doctor that the Greeks identified him with Asclepius, their god of medicine, he was without doubt the author of a Book of knowledge which, however, has been entirely lost. family tradition his father was Kanofer whom the King personally appointed to be in charge of all the kingdom's buildings. He learned his trade in his father's workshop, probably in Memphis, firstly carving stone vases, then becoming a sculptor and architect and subsequently rising to assume the highest offices of the state, both religious and administrative.

The high priest of Heliopolis as well as grand vizier, on the base of a statue erected in honor of Djoser an engraving describes him as "first after the King". On becoming a deity, Imhotep- whose name means "he comes in peace" joins the triad of Ptah, to whom he is son and Sekhemkht. He is represented seated, dressed in a long tunic, his head shaved and a papyrus scroll on his lap. According to Manetho, it was Imhotep who "discovered how to cut stone for building of monuments, yet also introduced the new techniques extensively, bringing about an unprecedented artistic revolution.

How Were The Pyramids Built?

The rivers of ink have flowed in the debate over the system of construction used to raise the pyramids. Architects, engineers, archaeologists and scholars of every persuasion have expressed their ideas in merit and made their contribution to finding a solution to one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, the copious iconography regarding daily life in ancient Egypt is not matched by a similar store of documentation regarding the construction of the most important monuments of Egyptian architecture. Most certainly, the stone was quarried, cut into blocks, loaded onto sleds runners, or rollers, and dragged to the pyramid construction site. Once there, however there arose the problem of how to lift these gigantic stones. The most highly credited theory is now that involving ramps, wide inclined planes, built of mud brick or sand, that gradually increased in slope and height as the pyramid went up.
The ramp may have been straight and perpendicular to the pyramid, built up to one side of it and becoming narrower at the top and longer as the pyramid grew in height. Or the ramp may have been helicoidal. spiraling around the structure. Concerning the construction of the pyramids Herodotus wrote "it look ten years to make the causeway for the conveyance of the stones, a work not much inferior, in my judgment, to the pyramid itself .... It is built of polished stone, and is covered with carvings of animals. To make it took ten years, as I said or rather to make the causeway, the works on the mound where the pyramid stands, and the underground chambers. The Pyramid itself was twenty years in building. It is a square, built entirely of polished stone, fitted together with the utmost care. The pyramid was built in steps. battlement wise as it called or according to other, alter wise. After laying the stones for the base, they raised the remaining stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this there was another machine, which received the stone upon its arrival, and conveyed it to the second step, whence a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many machines as there were steps in the pyramid, or possibly they had but a single machine, which being easily moved, was transferred from tier to tier as the stone rose, both accounts are given, and therefor I mention both. The upper portion of the pyramid was finished first, then the middle, and finally the part which was lowest and nearest the ground.

The Machines
Obviously the machines were differently built according to the varying heights involved and the weights to lift. For blocks of around two tons that had to be lifted to a height of six meters, a machine eight meters high at most might need not much more than half an hour. so that it would take a block six hours to be hoisted to a height of a hundred meters.
With a series of machine of machines on all sides, about two hundred blocks a day could then be unloaded on the uppermost work yard.

A series of machines was not required for the fairly limited number of blocks weighing forty or fifty tons and one or two specially built pivoted levers sufficed, aided by levers and counterweights like those used later to erect the obelisks. These particular pivoted levers used used for heavy loads would certainly have been of appropriate dimensions and beams of Lebanon cedar, like the masts of boats, measuring up to fifty meters in length were employed.

The Function Of The Pyramid

When the king died, the lengthy ritual of embalming and burial began at the temple dwelling of the King. Once the body had arrived with the procession of sacred boats, the purification ceremonies began at the Valley Temple and the preparation of the mummy was completed. The principal ceremony was the purification by water, comparable to that of the Sun which is reborn every morning from the Lake of the lily. Purified and covered with propitiatory amulets, the mummy passed the "Guardian of the threshold" then began his journey of ascent, hidden from profane eyes, through the gallery and reached the upper temple for consecration. As the body proceeded from one columned hall to the next, the number of initiates and the purified who accompanied him "consisting of priests and relative" dwindled. When it reached the large central court only the great initiated and the King's heir continued into the "sancta sanctorum" of the mortuary temple where the fundamental ceremony of the "opening of the mouth and eyes" took place. The royal heir presided over this ritual which "opened" the communication of the deceased with the after world, in front of the five chapels, the five statues of the god king one for each attribute given to the king at the time of his royal consecration . Officially reunited with the gods, the deceased was taken through secret ways to the subterranean chapel. Once sealed, the precious sarcophagus was set among his dearest possessions and treasures after which the worker priests retracted their steps, closing the marble shutters and obstructing all the passageway so that no one might disturb the king as he waited for his final ascent to the sun . The last secret ceremony was that of placing the statue of the king in the serdab the small bricked cell at the heart of the mortuary temple, from which the image of the king would "see" the ceremonies and offerings made in his honor for the rest of time.

An "Architectural Absurdity"

The Oldest tombs of the kings resemble the palace castle of the first Dynasty, followed later by the stepped pyramids, and lastly those with smooth sides. while it may be easy for us to see how the palace of the living king could become the "palace" of the deceased king "Just as the house of the living prince became, with the mastaba, the house of the deceased prince", it is more difficult to grasp the relationship of the pyramid with the world of the living and with the after world. With the arrival of the pyramids, the image of a house was swept away and any connection with the real world or with tradition was abolished.

It was in Djoser's time "2700 BC" with the works designed by the great architect Imhotep that this Sudden, apparently inexplicable, leap ahead took place.

Indeed, in the marvelous architectural complex at the center of Saqqara, three substantially different structure types are found, the beautiful enclosure wall which echoes the architectural traditions of the royal palaces, the stupendous massive buildings and colonnaded vestibules which represented completely new perspectives in architecture for the entire ancient world, the hermetic mass of the stepped pyramid which looms up in the center of the complex, and for which no reference either to traditional architecture or to the architecture invented by Imhotep himself, can be found. How can we explain the conceptual abyss between Imhotep's most important work and other structures, this apparent rejection of all architectural forms and furnishings previously attempted or invented? The abandoning of tradition becomes clearly evident on examining the construction of the pyramid. Initially the structure was a "mastaba" with a square ground plan. The house tomb was in fact twice enlarged. but still in keeping with tradition.The king's burial chamber lies under massive mastaba, at the end of a shaft sunk in the rock. While the second enlargement was in course, the programmer was abandoned for no apparent reason and the first pyramid with four steps a great protective shell appeared over the mastaba and subsequently three sides of this disappeared under the final six step pyramid. The question again arises, why was the traditional tomb, that image of a living person's dwelling swallowed up by a form that was completely new, even for the inventor himself? This is all the more problematical in view of the fact that barely a hundred years later the stepped pyramid was replaced by one with smooth sides. The leap from the stepped pyramid to the smooth pyramid is to be found in Maydum, and is encapsulated in the original structures of the pyramid built by Sneferu, founder of the Fourth Dynasty. In terms of construction, the difference is not great. Indeed it seems almost natural that s stepped pyramid should eventually be protected by a sloping surface so as to resist the wear and tear of time. moreover the concept of flat sides is an integral part of all the great pyramids, starting with Djoser's where the construction developed with a series of sloping flat walls around a central core "the core of the pyramid of Khufu is like a giant obelisk 146 meters high , without a point ". The stylistic alteration is, however of much greater import as one passes from an outline which has at least some tenuous relation to the architectural concepts of the time, to another where all contact with reality is lost.

It should also be remembered that his latest "novelty" was not the result of a momentary caprice, but endured until the end of the sixth Dynasty, and a magnificent example was built at the end of the third millennium. The golden age of the stepped pyramid lasted not much more than a hundred years, while that of the geometric pyramid lasted five hundred years.Whatever were the reason that caused Khufu to attempt, this "architecture absurdity" a macroscopic pyramid even further removed from reality than Djoser's a costly undertaking that stretched the limits of human possibility, they must have been forceful and imperative. Since we have absolutely no precedent for this extraordinary form in earlier Egyptian works, no hint at what the stimulus might have been, the answer must be sought in the world of religion and in experiences that cannot be explained by history alone. "Spiritual pyramids" are to be found in Egyptian theology and cosmogony, in that "science" of the world before and after the land of the Nile ,. These mysterious pyramidal forms have powerful echoes in the primordial tumult arising out of Chaos, the source of the great egg lotus which opens to give birth to the sun. There is a strong formal analogy in the pyramid shape with rays of light, a great stream diminishing to a point in infinity that transports the elected to a true Egyptian Nirvana, which is reached by crossing the bridge uniting heaven and earth. Akhenaten, the king prophet of the revealed religion, continually reproduces this pyramid of infinite arms which reach out from the sun to benefit all men, none excluded, arms outstretched almost as if to embrace mankind as a whole and carry it back into heaven.

The pyramid texts themselves, which transcend history, tell us "I have walked on the rays as if an a stair of light to ascend to the presence of Ra .... heaven has made the rays of the sun solid so that I can elevate myself up to the eyes of Ra ... they have built a staircase leading to the sky by which I can reach the sky " The Great pyramid as well as the sphinx is thus none other than a gigantic ideogram derived from the past, which signifies the staircase which par excellence leads to eternity.

Giza archaeological sites

The world of the pyramids is an apt name for the series of necropolis which lie along the western bank of the Nile stretching from the ancient city of Heliopolies almost as far as Herakleopolis. Over eighty pyramids, in a continu ous chain fifty kilometers long, lie to the north and south of Memphis Surrounded by a myriad of mastabas or oblong tombs with sloping sides and a flattish top, a great many of the pyramids have smooth sides while a few are stepped. Almost at the end of this series of monuments stand the great pyramids of Giza. Almost five thousand years ago, The Giza plateau, on the west bank of the Nile "the region of the dead" became the royal necropolis of Memphis, the capital of the kings of the 4th Dynasty.

The Giza sites lies about 15 kilometers west of modern Cairo and covers an area of about 21,500 ft,. On the southwest side, a 40 meter "130 ft" cliff descends to where a channel of the Nile once ran making the borderline between fertile land and the desert. The site of Giza is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world to have survived to our day, the others "the king of Alexandria, the Colossus of Phodes, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, have long since disappeared, Giza however still hosts the tombs of three kings of the 4th Dynasty, "The pyramids of Khufu, khafrae, and Menkaure, and the Sphinx" the father of terror. The fascination of these stones and the air of mystery that has emanated from them since ancient times, has deeply affected the minds and souls of scientists and archaeologists, writers and posts, painters and soldiers over the ages. Not even Napoleon was immune to their seduction. On 21 July 1789, when his soldiers were about to engage in battle with the Mamluk army whose troops stood arrayed before the hazy geometry of the pyramids, Napoleon turned to them and, indicating the monuments exclaimed "Go and think from the top of these monuments forty centuries are watching you " soldiers from a top these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you" The three pyramids are located in relation to the four cardinal points on a diagonal axis from northeast to southwest, so that none of the pyramids ever blocks the sun of the others. This perfect alignment has led to theories that the ancient Egyptians, experts in astronomical measurements, took the positions of certain stars into consideration in their construction plans.

According to the archaeologist Robert Bauval, the three large pyramids of Giza are actually meant to be in an alignment corresponding to the three stars in the belt of the Orion constellation. The pyramids are built mainly of limestone and granite, The former from the quarries of Tura, across the Nile from Memphis, and the latter from Aswan. Unfortunately, in the 13th century local inhabitants began removing the precious facing from the limestone blocks and used them to built homes in Cairo. The pyramids are not isolated constructions, each is part of a funerary complex made up of a mortuary temple "or upper temple" to the east of the pyramid, a causeway a sort of ceremonial route and a valley temple. The valley temple symbolized the entry of the king into the world of the gods, it was here in fact that the sacred ritual ceremony "opening of the Mouth" was performed. The Valley temple of Khufu has been almost completely destroyed, but a large portion of Khafrae's is instead well preserved. The funeral procession traveled the causeway to the mortuary temple and the pyramid, carrying the dead king on the sacred boat toward his place of eternal rest. In the mortuary temple, the king became a divinity and as such was venerated. A common feature of all three pyramids is the burial chamber, almost exactly aligned with the central axis of the construction. The Pyramids of Mankaurae and Khufu are each flanked by three subsidiary pyramids, while that of Khafrae has only one.

Introduction about Archaeological Sites In Egypt

Although much of the history of Egypt is still based on various hypotheses and suppositions its beginnings lie in the Paleolithic period when the appearance of the Nile Valley was quite different to that of today. The river covered almost the entire region and this, combined with a much damper climate than that of today, created a vast swamp that stretched as far as the Delta. Towards the end of the Paleolithic era, the climate began to change and as a result the Nile changed its course, eventually becoming that of today. The slow but progressive transformation of the surrounding area into desert meant that life become concentrated along the fertile banks of the river. In the Neolithic period m about 10,000 years before the birth of Christ. two quite distinct populations of different origins were present, the first was African from the center of the continent, while the second was Mediterranean from the heart of Asia. Yet there was still a third race, people who may have come from the legendary Atlantis and who reached the Nile Valley after traveling across Libya. Thus two civilizations developed, one remained in the north of the country around the Delta, Establishing Merimda, the first settlement, while the second group remained in the south where the major town was Tasa. Thus even in the earliest times, the population of Egypt was split, and despite the later unification of the country, this territorial division survived in the names of which Upper Egypt had 22 and Lower Egypt 20.

This was the dawn of the Egyptian civilization, the period that the Egyptians were to call the "time of The God" the time when King Osiris sat on the throne of The country. According to legend it was Osiris who succeeded in bringing the two groups together, but this unification did not in fact, last long and Egyptian history can really only be thoughts of as beginning around 3200 BC.

The history of Egypt really begins therefore with king Narmer often identified as the mythical Menes who succeeded in uniting the two kingdoms and founded the first of thirty one dynasties that alternated on the Egyptian throne until 332 the year in which Alexander the great conquered the country. An implacable and ferocious king, he is portrayed in the famous Narmer stele, 74 cm. high, dated about 3100 BC, that was found in Hierakonpolis "Now Elkab" a sacred city in the prehistoric kingdom of Upper Egypt.

On one side of the stele, which is actually a simple schist palette for cosmetics, the king is represented brandishing a cudgel in one hand and grasping his enemy by the hair with the other as he lies already defeated on the ground. On this side of the stele, the king king wears the conical crown of Upper Egypt, and on the other side he is seen standing before numerous beheaded enemies, wearing the crown of Lower Egypt. The symbol of royalty, there were in fact three crowns, the white crown of the south, the red of the north and the double crown formed by the combination of these, symbolishing the united kingdom. The symbol of Upper Egypt was the vulture, and that of Lower Egypt the Cobra.

The Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom began around 3200 BC and is considered by many to represent the most splendid period of the entire Egyptian civilization.

When the capital was moved from Abydos to Memphis, the main town of the first nomes of lower Egypt, the kingdom also become known as the Empire of Memphis. During this period civil and religious laws were established and writing and artistic styles developed. The 3rd Dynasty began with Djoser who built the pyramid of Saqqara, the first large stone structure in Egypt. He also appointed a prime minister who could substitute him and assisted with the administration of the kingdom which was now by necessity rather complex and quite extensive. For sheer architectural grandeur however, he was surpassed by three other kings of his own dynasty "Khufu, Khafre, Mankaure" who were responsible for the famous complex at Giza. Unfortunately little is known about them, though Khufu lead several military campaigns towards Sinai. The god of Ra himself was said to have fathered the first three kings born of a wife of one of his priests, and from then on all the kings were known as the son of Ra the most important figure of the last dynasty of the Old Kingdom seems to have been Pepi II, who came to the throne at the age of six and ruled for 94 years the longest reign in Egyptian history.The fifth dynasty originated in the city of Heliopolis. At the end of the 6th Dynasty, however central power was weakened by the nomarchs, the administrative officials who fought among then selves for control while the king was unable to intervene or suppress them.

This lead to the first intermediate period, a dark and troubled time during which Egypt experienced anarchy and social upheaval beginning around 2180 BC with the 7th Dynasty and continuing until the start of the 11th Dynasty.

The Middle Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom began about 2060 BC. King Mentuhotpe reasserted power over Lower Egypt with the help of the Egyptian bourgeoisie. Commerce and trade were strengthened under his successors Mentuhotpe II and Mentuhotpe III, a commercial route was opened towards the red sea and the policy of expansion towards Nubia was reactivated. The 12th Dynasty began around 2000 BC and was one of the most splendid and famous in Egyptian history.

The founder was Amenemhat I who favored the cult of Amun, elevating him to the rank of principle deity. A capable administrator, under his rule Egypt experienced a period of great prosperity.He was succeeded by his son Senusert I who shared the throne with his eldest son in order to ensure continuity of the dynasty, a practice that was adopted by his successors. However, we know little of Amenemhat II and Senusert II except that they developed trading links with Phenicia and drained the region around Fayum. In contrast, one of the most important kings of Egypt was Senusert III who in four military campaigns, finally colonized Nubia, advanced as far as Palestine and built numerous fortresses along the border with Sudan. With the 12th dynasty, the Middle Kingdom came to an end and was followed by the second intermediate period, still today one of the most obscure in Egyptian history, fraught with problems and dominated by the invasions of foreign peoples of Semitic origin, known as Hyksos a corruption of the Egyptian word Hekakhasut meaning the "heads of foreign countries". These peoples invaded the fertile plain of the delta, fortified the city of Avaris and made it their capital. With their much superior military power, Heksos easily defeated the weak Egyptian government and for a century were supreme rules.

Eventually a group of Egyptian princes succeeded in creating a coalition with other dynasties of Upper Egypt and together they initiated the reconquest and liberation of the country, a process that continued until 1622 BC, when Ahmose, founder of the 18th dynasty drove the enemy into southern Palestine once more uniting Egypt under his rule.

The New Kingdom

In 1580 BC, during the New Kingdom, Egyptian power triumphed over the entire known world of the day. This was an epoch of both military power that was no longer based on defense but cultural splendor. Thebes was still the capital and the priests of the god Amun were increasingly influential. The successors of Ahmose, Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis II were primarily interested in military campaigns and conquests, but not so queen Hatshepsut.

After the death of his aunt, Tuthmosis III reclaimed his throne, can celled the name of his usurping aunt from all monuments and reigned for 34 years, one of the most splendid periods in Egyptian history.She removed her young nephew Tuthmosis III from the throne, proclaimed herself regent and reigned on her own for 22 years during which time she wore a beard and dressed in male clothes. In 1372 BC the throne passed to Amenhotep IV, who has passed into history not only as a poet king but also as heretical and schismatic leader. Worried by the priests of Amun, who had all but created aa state within the state, he replaced the religion of Amun with that of Aten, a sun go represented by aa disc, who could be worshiped without intermediaries thus enabling him to close the temples and disband the priesthood. He abandoned Thebes and founded a new capital, Akhetaten "the Horizon of the Aten" now called Tell al Amarnah. Finally he changed his own name from Amenhotep which meant "Amun in happy" to Akhenton "pleasing to Aten". However, the schism would not survive its instigator. The crown Passed to the youthful Tutankhaton Who Convinced by many, Including the beautiful Nefertiti "the beautiful one has come" the sister bride of Akhenaten "Eventually returned to Thebes, Reinstated the cult of Amun and changed His Own name to Tutankhamen.

As Egypt slipped gradually into a state of anarchy, power passed to the military leaders, Horemheb, Ramesses I "a professional soldier", Seti I who continued the policy of expansion towards the east, and lastly Ramesses II, known as Ramesses the Great, who concentrated all his energies on defeating the Hittite army. The Third intermediate period began in 1070 BC with the 21st Dynasty whose capital was at Tanis. The next Dynasty saw power in the hands of Libyan kings and later Ethiopian rulers "the capital was moved to Napata in Sudan ". At the age of 18 he died unexpectedly and is principally renowned for the fascinating discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. This was followed by the era of Persia and Sais and under the 27th Dynasty the Persians of Cambyses conquered Egypt for the first time. He succeeded in at least halting them in an epic battle at Kadesh, During the 67 years of his reign this king gave expression to his might with colossal monuments at Luxor, Karnak and Abu Simble. His son Merneptah succeeded him and the slow, inexorable decline of the Egyptian empire began. The already precarious internal equilibrium broke down with anarchy from within and the arrival of Indo European populations in Libya. Asia and the entire Mediterranean area during the end of the second millennium. In 332 the Egyptians sought the the aid of Alexander the Great who was seen as their liberator and was declared a "son of Ra" by the oracle of Luxor.

He founded the new city of Alexander, destined to become the cultural capital of the ancient world, and here he was buried in 323 BC. On his death, the Ptolemaic period began and the process of Hellenization can be traced to this time. The two centuries that preceded the birth of Christ saw the continuing decline of Egypt, increasingly crushed by the growing power of Rome and eventually becoming merely one of its colonies. Finally, with the death of Theodosius in 395 AD, Egypt became part of the Eastern Roman Empire and a pall of sand seems to have descended over the past, almost as if to obliterate all memory of it.

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Abydos Temple

Abydos Temple

Abydos Temple

The Temple Of Seti I

Osireion

The Temple of Ramesses II

Who Is Akhenaten ?

Who Is Akhenaten ?

Who Is Akhenaten ?

Akhenaton and the letters of Tell al-Amarnah

Archaeological sites of ElMinya

Archaeological sites of ElMinya

Archaeological sites of ElMinya

Tunah al-Gabal

Beni Hasan

Hermopolis

Tell al-Amarnah

Abu-Sir, Memphis, Dahshur and Maydum"

Abu-Sir, Memphis, Dahshur and Maydum"

Abu-Sir, Memphis, Dahshur and Maydum"

Dahshur

Although the reason is not known, Senferu, founder of the fourth dyansty and father of Khufu, again moved the royal necropolis from Saqqara to Dahshur where he built two pyramids, one known as the "Bent Pyramid" or "rhomboid" and the other as the "Red Pyramid".

Abu-Sir

Memphis

Maydum

The Pyramid of Menkaura

The Pyramid of Menkaura

The Pyramid of Menkaura

The Mortuary Temple Of Menkaura

The subsidiary Pyramids

The Sphinx "Abu-Elhoul"

The Sphinx "Abu-Elhoul"

The Sphinx "Abu-Elhoul"

The Sphinx Temple.

The Pyramid Of Khafrae

The Pyramid Of Khafrae

The Pyramid Of Khafrae

The Great Pyramid Of Khufu

The Great Pyramid Of Khufu

The Great Pyramid Of Khufu

Khufu and the Stars

The pyramid of the Queens

The step pyramid

The step pyramid

The step pyramid

The Step Pyramid a residence for eternity

The South Tomb

The "House of the South" and the "House of the North"

The Courtyard of Heb Sed "Jubilee Courtyard"

What is the Heb Sed or Jubilee Festival?

Who is Imhotep?

How Were The Pyramids Built?

How Were The Pyramids Built?

How Were The Pyramids Built?

The Function Of The Pyramid

An "Architectural Absurdity"

Giza archaeological sites

Giza archaeological sites

Giza archaeological sites

Introduction about Archaeological Sites In Egypt

Introduction about Archaeological Sites In Egypt

Introduction about Archaeological Sites In Egypt

The Old Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom

The New Kingdom

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