Ramesseum & Medinet Habu
Mortuary Temples and Deity Temples of the Theban Necropolis
The Colossi of Memnon
These two isolated statues stand in the middle of a vast space at a height of about 20 meters, bearing witness to the location of the massive temple built by King Amenhotep III, as they stood before the entrance of its first pylon. This temple has completely vanished, and nothing remains of it except a sandstone slab lying behind the two statues (which have been restored recently) and parts of various architectural elements.
Amenhotep III erected these two statues at the entrance of his mortuary temple. When the first century BC arrived—about 1,300 years after their erection—some parts of them cracked, and a crack occurred in the northern one. Whenever the morning breeze passed through those moisture-saturated cracks, a whistling sound resembling singing was heard. This prompted Greek historians who visited Egypt in the first century BC to claim that the statue sings at sunrise. They recorded this strange phenomenon in writing on the statue's leg and base, and wrote poems in Greek about it.
Many became interested in this phenomenon until the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his wife came and spent several days near the statue to enjoy its singing. Many dignitaries and historians were keen to record their names on the statue, and we see the names of eight Roman governors of Egypt recorded on it.
As for the link between these two statues and "Memnon," the Greeks have a playful legend about it. They attributed the two statues to an Ethiopian hero named Memnon, who participated in the Trojan War, and Achilles, one of the Greek heroes in that war, happened to kill him. Memnon was considered the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn, and they claimed that this hero who died a violent death greeted his mother with every dawn breeze in a sad voice. They also claimed that the dew falling at that time was the tears of his grieving mother.
Fate wanted to put an end to the legends woven around these two statues when a Roman emperor repaired the cracks of the statues around 200 AD, stopping forever that sound which had long been a reason for visitors and travelers flocking to Egypt. The actual truth remained: that these two statues belong to King Amenhotep III, one of the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
The Ramesseum
This mortuary temple of Ramesses II was named the Ramesseum after the king himself. Some researchers in antiquities tried to compare this temple with what they imagined were grain stores during the era of our master Joseph, but the truth is that we do not know why they associated Ramesses II with our master Joseph, as it is difficult for us to assert that they lived in the same period.
The fame of this temple is due to the many surrounding mud-brick stores, in which many papyri were found (among them the Tale of Sinuhe). The temple is also famous for that massive granite statue lying broken in the temple courtyard, considered the largest statue sculpted by human hands, weighing between 900 and 1,000 tons.
Among the most important scenes depicted on the walls of this temple are the Battle of Kadesh, which King Ramesses fought against the king of the Hittites, as well as many astronomical scenes and offering scenes uniting the king with the Theban Triad.
Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu holds a special sanctity among ancient Egyptians, as they believed that the eight creator gods according to the Hermopolitan theology landed in this region where the temple was established.
The truth is that the Medinet Habu area contains three temples for three different historical periods. Since the temple of Ramesses III—one of the kings of the Twentieth Dynasty—is the greatest and most massive of the three temples, the area became famous for it more than the others.
The oldest temple there dates back to the Eighteenth Dynasty, begun by King Amenhotep I, and new additions were introduced during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut and other Eighteenth Dynasty kings.
When Ramesses III wanted to build his temple, he did not stray far from the old temple in the region—meaning the temple of Amenhotep I—due to that king's sanctity throughout the New Kingdom as indicated before.
Ramesses III's temple begins with a high tower whose design Egyptian engineers adopted from Asian military structures they saw during Egyptian military campaigns. The tower consists of three rooms that were allocated for palace ladies to watch activities taking place in the temple courtyard.
The tower is followed by a huge courtyard flanked by columns, then two pylons, another courtyard, and many rooms. Intaglio inscriptions on the temple walls recorded the battles fought by Ramesses III against the Sea Peoples who wanted to invade Egypt, in addition to many religious scenes and festivals.
To the south of the temple lies the palace of King Ramesses III, consisting of a waiting hall resting on six columns, then a small throne room. The harem had a special wing, and the king had a bathroom whose remains are still surviving. The palace walls contain many scenes where the artist depicted King Ramesses III driving his chariot on a hunting trip, chasing wild bulls where one fell dead, then a scene of presenting captives to the god Amun, and other scenes.
As for the third temple, it is dedicated to the Divine Consort of Amun—from the 25th Dynasty.
Deity Temples
While royal mortuary temples and valley temples were established to perform rituals and rites concerning kings, deity temples were dedicated to deities so that worship rituals could be performed for them.
Since humans were guided to the idea of religion, they began drawing close to gods and goddesses through symbols housed in simple places that evolved to become temples. These simple places were like shrines or sanctuaries where statues of deities were placed to perform specific worship rituals for them.
Perhaps the oldest deity temple is the one built in front of the Sphinx statue for the sun god (Horemakhet), where offerings were presented to him and commemorative stelae were placed.
Among the most famous Old Kingdom temples dedicated to deities are those built by Fifth Dynasty kings for the sun god in Abusir, such as the temple built by King Userkaf. The basic elements of a sun temple consisted of a temple resembling a valley temple, then a causeway leading to the main sun god temple, which consisted of a courtyard centered by an obelisk rising over 20 meters. To its east is an offering table for presenting offerings to the sun god. In the southern corner of the temple is a mud-brick structure shaped like a boat, which used to house a wooden boat for the sun god.
We have Middle Kingdom ruins of deity temples, such as Senusret I's temple in Heliopolis (of which only the obelisk remains), another in Karnak, ruins of Sobek temples in Kiman Faris and Biahmu, the Madinet Madi temple in Fayoum, the Madamud temple, the temple of Heryshef in Herakleopolis, and the Tod temple.
Among the most important New Kingdom deity temples are the Aten temples in Tell el-Amarna, the Luxor Temple, and the Karnak Temples in Luxor; we will briefly mention the latter two:
Luxor Temple
It was known as the "Southern Sanctuary," dedicated to the god Amun, with "Southern" indicating that it is located south of the Karnak Temple. The oldest ruins of this temple date back to the Middle Kingdom, specifically the Eleventh Dynasty, where a piece of stone bearing the name of King Sobekhotep was found. However, the most important parts of this temple date back to the New Kingdom. Since this temple—like other deity temples—was dedicated to the worship of the god Amun, every king contributed to building a part of the temple in hopes of gaining the god's favor.
The temple consists of the basic elements making up the Egyptian temple in the New Kingdom: the pylon, the open courtyard, the pillared hall, and the sanctuary. Among the most important elements of Luxor Temple are the pylon built during the reign of King Ramesses II, the pillared hall from this king's reign, three shrines from the reign of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, and the temple built by King Amenhotep III, which includes the sanctuary inside which Alexander the Great built his famous shrine. There is also the divine birth hall, where Amenhotep III recorded the story of his birth from his father Amun and his mother Mut-em-wia of Mitannian origin—the birth that qualified him to sit on the throne, since the king had to be from a royal Egyptian mother.
A long avenue of paired seated sphinx statues in the form of sphinxes connected this temple and the Karnak Temple. The avenue begins from the tenth pylon in Karnak and the Temple of the Goddess Mut, and ends at the entrance of Luxor Temple (known as the Avenue of Sphinxes). Among the most important scenes recorded on the walls of Luxor Temple are those narrating the story of the Opet Festival, which is the festival of Amun's transfer from his temple in Karnak to his temple in Luxor.
Karnak Temples
The greatest temples built by the kings of Egypt, and their remaining ruins still stand witness to the creations of Egyptian civilization. Karnak was known in Egyptian texts as "Ipt-sut," which perhaps means "The Most Select of Places," given the prominent role this temple played in the state.
Karnak includes a group of temples for the gods Amun-Re, Mut, Khonso, Montu, Aton, and others. However, the greatest of them all is the Temple of Amun-Re, which consists of ten pylons on two axes: six in the west-east direction, and four in the north-south direction. The first pylon is attributed to King Nectanebo I from the 30th Dynasty, the second to Seti I and Ramesses II, the third to Amenhotep III, the fourth and fifth to Thutmose I, the sixth and seventh to Thutmose III, the eighth to Hatshepsut, and the ninth and tenth to Horemheb.
Building this temple began in the Middle Kingdom, and kings continued throughout the ancient Egyptian era and the Greek and Roman periods to contribute to this temple by establishing structures immortalizing their memory with the god Amun, god of Thebes.
The temple includes a jubilee hall from the reign of Thutmose III, the sacred lake, the obelisks of King Thutmose I and Queen Hatshepsut, and the shrines of Senusret I, Amenhotep I, and Hatshepsut in the Open Air Museum, followed by the complete temple of King Ramesses III.
Many historical scenes and texts were recorded on the temple walls, such as the Battle of Kadesh, the campaigns of Shoshenq, the Annals of Thutmose III, the peace treaty concluded between Ramesses II and the king of the Hittites, and scenes representing strange plants, animals, and birds recorded by Thutmose III's campaigns from the lands he conquered.
Module Key Takeaways
- Mortuary temples of Amenhotep III, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III demonstrate the evolution of New Kingdom royal funerary architecture, using monumental statues, pylons, and battle scenes to project royal power and divine legitimacy.
- Deity temples like Luxor and Karnak functioned as divine residences where successive kings from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic period contributed structures to gain the god Amun's favor, creating layered architectural complexes spanning centuries.
- The Karnak Temple Complex stands as the greatest religious architectural achievement of ancient Egypt, with ten pylons on two axes, housing temples for multiple deities and preserving critical historical records including the Battle of Kadesh and the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty.