TARGET The Rameses Temple at Abu Simbel
The Rameses Temple at Abu Simbel
|
|
Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising
two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the
western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest
of Aswan. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage
Site known as the "Nubian Monuments", which run
from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan).
The twin temples were originally carved out of the
mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses
II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument
to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate
his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and
to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the
complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s,
on an artificial hill made from a domed structure,
high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir.
The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid
their being submerged during the creation of Lake
Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir
formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on
the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's
top tourist attractions.
|
|
|
With the passage of time, the temples fell into
disuse and eventually became covered by sand.
Already in the 6th century BC, the sand covered
the statues of the main temple up to their knees.
The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss
orientalist JL Burckhardt ( Story Below ) found
the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt
talked about his discovery with Italian explorer
Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but
was unable to dig out an entry to the temple.
Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in
his attempt to enter the complex. He took everything
valuable and portable with him. Tour guides at the
site relate the legend that "Abu Simbel" was a young
local boy who guided these early re-discoverers to
the site of the buried temple which he had seen
from time to time in the shifting sands. Eventually,
they named the complex after him: Abu Simbel.
|
|
|
The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about
twenty years to build, was completed around year
24 of the reign of Rameses the Great (which
corresponds to 1265 BCE). It was dedicated to
the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well
as to the deified Rameses himself. It is generally
considered the grandest and most beautiful of the
temples commissioned during the reign of Rameses II,
and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.
Four colossal 20 meter statues of the pharaoh with
the double Atef crown of Upper and Lower Egypt
decorate the facade of the temple, which is 35
meters wide and is topped by a frieze with 22
baboons, worshippers of the sun and flank the
entrance. The colossal statues were sculptured
directly from the rock in which the temple was
located before it was moved. All statues represent
Ramesses II, seated on a throne and wearing the
double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The statue
to the left of the entrance was damaged in an
earthquake, leaving only the lower part of the
statue still intact. The head and torso can still
be seen at the statue's feet.
|
|
|
Next to the legs of the colossi, there are other
statues no higher than the knees of the pharaoh.
These depict Nefertari, Ramesses's chief wife,
and queen mother Mut-Tuy, his first two sons
Amun-her-khepeshef, Ramesses, and his first
six daughters Bintanath, Baketmut, Nefertari,
Meritamen, Nebettawy and Isetnofret.
The entrance itself is crowned by a bas-relief
representing two images of the king worshiping
the falcon-headed Ra Harakhti, whose statue
stands in a large niche. This god is holding the
hieroglyph user in his right hand and a feather
while Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice)
in on his left; this is nothing less than a gigantic
cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name,
User-Maat-Re. The facade is topped by a row
of 22 baboons, their arms raised in the air,
supposedly worshipping the rising sun. Another
notable feature of the facade is a stele which
records the marriage of Ramesses with a daughter
of king Hattusili III, which sealed the
peace between Egypt and the Hittites.
|
|
|
In 1959 an international donations campaign to
save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost
relics of this ancient human civilization were under
threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were
about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam.
The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964,
and cost some USD $40 million. Between 1964 and 1968,
the entire site was cut into large blocks (up to 30
tons averaging 20 tons), dismantled and reassembled
in a new location – 65 m higher and 200 m back from
the river, in what many consider one of the greatest
feats of archaeological engineering. Some structures
were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser.
Today, thousands of tourists visit the temples daily.
Guarded convoys of buses and cars depart twice a day
from Aswan, the nearest city. Many visitors also
arrive by plane, at an airfield that was specially
constructed for the temple complex.
The complex consists of two temples. The larger one
is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's
three state deities of the time, and features
four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The
smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor,
personified by Nefertari, Ramesses's most beloved
wife (in total, the pharaoh had some 200 wives and
concubines). The temple is now open to the public.
|
|
|
The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as
the Small Temple, was built about one hundred meters
northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was
dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's
chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the second
time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple
was dedicated to a queen. The first time, Akhenaten
dedicated a temple to his great royal wife, Nefertiti.
The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of
colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The
statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the
king and his queen. On the other side of the portal
are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown
of Upper Egypt (south colossus) and the double crown
(north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the
queen and the king. What is truly surprising is that
for the only time in Egyptian art, the statues of
the king and his consort are equal in size.
Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next
to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than
his knees. This exception to such a long standing rule
bears witness to the special importance attached to
Nefertari by Ramesses, who went to Abu Simbel with his
beloved wife in the 24th year of his reign.
As the Great temple of the king, there are small
statues of princes and princesses next to their parents.
In this case they are positioned symmetrically: on
the south side (at left as you face the gateway) are,
from left to right, princes Meryatum and Meryre,
princesses Meritamen and Henuttawy, and princes
Rahirwenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef, while on the
north side the same figures are in reverse order.
The plan of the Small Temple is a simplified version
of that of the Great Temple.
|
|
Photo during Move of Temples
|
|
Artists Redition after the Move of the Temples
|
FEEDBACK MAP
|
If you gained information in your session which was not
covered in the feedback, please look at the:
MAY 1969 National Geographic
And also take a look at these sites:
A pdf file
From the International Council of Monuments and Sites
This is Very Extensive and should provide Any
information about the move of the Temples
Click here for a YouTube Presentation
|
Additional Information
A different Timeline about the Rameses Temple at Abu Simbel
Pharaoh Rameses II (Ramesses II - ruled 1279-1213 BCE)
ordered the building of two temples at Abu Simbel
(Abû Sunbul, Aboo Simbul or Abo Simble). Nearly the
entirity of the larger temple, including the entrance
and most of the now famous statues of Rameses, was
covered with sand for many centuries and forgotten.
The author of the first description, John Burckhardt,
is credited with the discovery of the larger Ramesses
temple, although, as he would say, the nearby Queen's
temple was well known at the time. The entrance to
the larger temple of Ramesses at Abu Simbel was
cleared by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817.
Both of the Abu Simbel temples were moved to higher
ground in 1963 - 1968, before the completion of the
Aswan high dam which would have flooded them.
The $40 million project is the greatest feat of
rescue archaeology ever attempted. The Rameses
temple was cut from the cliff, segmented into
1036 numbered blocks weighing a total of about 15,000
tons and reassembled in a concrete shell above the
new waterline. The broken torso of the second Rameses was
replaced at the feet of the statues. The entire
complex now looks out over Lake Nasser and the
large number of tourists who visit every year.
|
|
Abu Simbel Temple Of Ramesses II, by David Roberts, 1838
|
Excerpt from: Travels in Nubia by John Lewis Burckhardt
|
A Journey along the Banks of the Nile Published in 1819.
The Pharaoh's Temple
March 22nd, 1813.
Having, as I supposed, seen all the antiquities of
Abu Simbel, I was about to ascend the sandy side of
the mountain by the same way I had descended;
when having luckily turned more to the southward, I
fell in with what is yet visible of four immense
colossal statues cut out of the rock, at a distance of
about two hundred yards from the temple; they stand
in a deep recess, excavated in the mountain; but it
is greatly to be regretted, that they are now
almost entirely buried beneath the sands, which are
blown down here in torrents.
|
|
Abu Simbel Temple Of Ramesses II, by David Roberts, 1838
|
The entire head, and part of the chest and arms of
one of the statues are above the surface; of the
one next to it scarcely any part is visible, the
head being broken off, and the body covered with
sand to above the shoulders; of the other two,
the bonnets only appear. It is difficult to determine
whether these statues are in a sitting or standing
posture; their backs adhere to a portion of rock,
which projects from the main body, and which may
represent a part of a chair, or may be merely a
column for support. They do not front the river,
like the Queen's temple, but are turned with their
faces due north, towards the more fertile climes of
Egypt, so that the line on which they stand forms
an angle with the course of the river.
The head which is above the surface has a most
expressive, youthful countenance, approaching
nearer to the Grecian model of beauty than that
of any ancient Egyptian figure I have seen; indeed,
were it not for a thin oblong beard, it might well
pass for a head of Pallas. This statue wears the
high bonnet usually called the corn-measure, the
arms are covered with hieroglyphics, deeply cut
in the sand-stone and well executed; the statue
measures seven yards across the shoulders,
and cannot, therefore, if in an upright posture,
be less than from sixty-five to seventy feet in
height: the ear is one yard and four inches in length.
|
|
Ra-Harakhti,
Entrance to Abu Simbel Temple of
Ramesses II, by David Roberts, 1838
|
On the wall of the rock, in the center of the
four statues, is the figure of the hawk-headed
Osiris (now believed to be Ra-Harakhti), surmounted
by a globe; beneath which, I suspect, could the
sand be cleared away, a vast temple would be
discovered, to the entrance of which the above
colossal figures probably serve as ornaments in
the same manner as the six belonging to the
neighboring temple of Isis. The leveled face of
the rock behind the colossal figures is covered
with hieroglyphic characters; over which is a row
of upwards of twenty sitting figures, cut out of
the rock like the others, but so much defaced,
that I could not make out distinctly, from below,
what they were meant for; they are about six feet
in height.
Judging from the features of the colossal statue
visible above the sand, I should pronounce these
works to belong to the finest period of Egyptian
sculpture. A few paces to the south of the four
colossal statues, is a recess hewn out of the rock
with steps leading up to it from the river; its
walls are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions,
representations of Isis, and the hawk-headed Osiris.
an edited excerpt from: Travels in Nubia by John
Lewis Burckhardt, published in 1819
|
|
Cut-away view of Pharaoh Rameses II's Temple,
Abu Simbel by François Chrétien Gau, 1819
|
Clearing the fourty feet of accumulated sand above
the entrance to the Ramesses temple was the work of
several weeks and the cause of continual friction
between Giovanni Belzoni and the local people who
were far more interested in extracting the maximum
amount of money from the Europeans than in the work
of uncovering the temple. But Belzoni and the five
men in his company determined to do the bulk of the
digging themselves and suceeded in opening the temple.
The below discription was written by two companions
of Belzoni soon after the entrance was opened.
|
Edited Excerpt from:
Travels in Egypt
and Nubia, Syria, and the Holy Land
by Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles, 1823
|
The Temple of Ramesses at Abu Simbel is situated
on the West side of the Nile, between 200 and 300
yards from its' bank; it stands upon an elevation,
and its base is considerably above the level of the
river. It is excavated into the mountain, and its
front presents a flat surface, the breadth of which
is 117 feet.
In front of the temple are four sitting colossal
figures cut out of the solid mountain, chairs and
all, each 69 feet (21 meters) tall. They are,
however, brought out so fully that the backs do
not touch the wall, but are fully eight feet from
it; and were it not for a narrow ridge of the rock
which joins them to the surface from the back part
of the necks downwards, they would be wholly detached.
One of the statues has been broken off by a
fracture of the mountain from the waist upwards.
There were originally twenty-two monkeys above the
frieze and cornice, of these there are only twelve
undamaged. Under the arm of one of the great figures
we discovered the remains of the stucco with which
they were once covered, and traces of red paint are
discernible in many places. I think it very probable
the whole front of the temple was once covered with
stucco as the Egyptians have used that material
very liberally and skilfully in the decoration of
the interior. Of the cornice over the door, which
was once perfect, there is not at present more than
a foot in breadth remaining, just over the corner
where we entered.
The four colossal figures in front of the temple
are all of men; they are in a sitting posture,
above sixty feet high, and the two which we have
partly uncovered, are sculptured in the best style
of Egyptian art, and are in a much higher state of
preservation than any colossal statues remaining
in Egypt. They are uncovered at present only as
far as the chest. Before the recent excavations
one of the faces alone was partly visible, as was
part of the head gear of the other remaining
two. The face of the statue, No. 2, whether taken
in the front view or profile, is one of the most
perfect specimens of beauty imaginable. It has so
far resisted the effects of time, as not to have
the least scratch or imperfection; and there is
that placid serenity which one admires in most of
the Egyptian countenances. The face of the statue,
No. 3, has a more serious aspect; the nose is not
so aquiline, nor is the mouth so well turned: it
is not, however, without its beauties,
and perhaps a connoisseur would say the features
possess more character than the former.
Little space has been left between the figures
on either side, and scarcely more in the center
than sufficient for the door. The cornice above
the door presents a very curious appearance; it
has been broken by a fall of part of the rock
above, and the chisel has since been evidently
employed to form the remaining part into some
other shape, or to fashion it for the reception
of a new cornice, or for some other ornament.
|
|
Abu Simbel Temple interior, Statues of Ramesses
II, by David Roberts, 1838
|
The interior of the temple is 154 feet long by 52
broad (exclusive of the side chambers). It is
comprised of fourteen separate rooms. The eight
standing figures of Pharaoh Ramesses, 30 feet high,
which ornament the outer hall, are as well
proportioned as they are highly finished. The
drapery of these statues reaches nearly half-way
down to their knees, and is striped like that of
the figures without. The features of the countenances
are perfect, and they all have the hook
and scourge (the usual emblems of Pharaoh) in
their hands, which are crossed on the chest.
The interior of this temple is a work not inferior
to any excavation in Egypt or Nubia, not even
excepting the tombs of the kings at Thebes. Indeed,
the effect produced on first entering it is more
striking than any those can afford. The loftiness
of the ceiling, the imposing height of the square
pillars and of the erect colossal statues attached
to them, and the dimensions of the apartments,
which are on a much larger scale than any of the
other excavations, all contribute to render the
interior of this temple no less admirable than
its splendid exterior.
The sculpture on the walls is not so well finished,
nor is the coloring so perfect, as in the tombs
of the kings; but the composition and invention
of the designs, and their spirited execution,
may be considered as equal to anything in Egypt.
The extreme heat and closeness of the chambers,
caused by the lack of free circulation of air,
has injured the paint, but enough of the coloring
still remains to enable the spectator to convince
himself of the original beauty of the work. The
most conspicuous groups represent the victories
of Pharaoh Ramesses, the same as is depicted at
Luxor, Karnac, and other parts of Egypt, together
with triumphant processions and consequent offerings
to the deities.
|
|
Art from Rameses II's Temple, Abu Simbel
(Aboo Simble)
by François Chrétien Gau, 1819
|
In one of the groups is represented the storming
of a fortress, of very singular construction. On
the top are seen women, among whom one is in a
sitting posture, wholly divested of drapery, and
of a light complexion, bearing no resemblance in
character or attitude to those represented in other
places by the Egyptians. The hero who directs the
assault is, as usual, of gigantic stature. On
the plain below are seen the peasants driving
their cattle away from the conqueror, designed
with much spirited action; some of the besieged
party are also kneeling and imploring clemency.
The arrows are flying from all quarters amongst
the defenders; and some are seen plucking them
from their foreheads, arms, and other parts of
their body.
In this temple we found several detached statues
of calcareous stone. One of these, a little larger
than life, is executed in a better style than is
generally to be met with in Egyptian sculpture.
The head and lower part of the legs are missing,
as well as one of the arms, but the remaining parts
sufficiently attest to the skill and good taste
of the sculptor. The figure is an upright one,
and seems to have represented Osiris, or Pharaoh
Ramesses. The surface of what remains is
scarcely injured; but the substance of the stone
is so decayed by time, that any attempt to remove
it would probably occasion its total destruction.
|
|
More art from Rameses II's Temple, Abu Simbel
(Aboo Simble) by Salvador Cherubini 1832 - 1844
|
A light black substance, which seemed to be
decayed wood, was found in every apartment,
in some places of the depth of 2 ft. Its
substance, at the surface, was not unlike
that of snow when it has been frozen over by
one night’s frost. It cracked under the foot,
leaving an impression. Many small pieces of
wood were strewn about, apparently little
injured by time, but which, on being touched,
crumbled into dust. The wooden pivots on which
the doors traversed still remain in the upper
corner of all the entrances to the different
chambers; and we also found fragments of wood
in many places. Some of these appeared so
perfect, that we thought of bringing them
away, but they mouldered at the first touch.
We were, therefore, very careful in leaving
what remained for the benefit of future
travelers. A broken brass socket, for the
pivot of a door to traverse on, was also found.
The extreme heat of the temple was such, that
Mr. Beechey spoiled his drawing-book while
copying one of the groups, the perspiration
having entirely soaked through it.
In the depths of the sanctuary is a bench with
four sitting statues.
Edited excerpts from: Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria,
and the Holy Land by Charles Leonard Irby and
James Mangles, 1823
|
|
The Sanctuary of Ramesses II,
two hundred feet deep in the rock,
is illuminated by the Sun twice a year.
Left to right: Ptah, Amun, Ramesses II, Re.
Abu Simbel Temple, by David Roberts, 1838
|
|
Floorplan of Rameses II's Temple, Abu Simbel (Aboo Simble)
by François Chrétien Gau, 1819
A small chapel of Thoth cut into the cliff on the left
and a free standing Sun chapel on the right
were still covered by sand and unknown to the artist.
|
|
The Temple of Rameses at Abu Simbel
Many thanks to Ray McClure for suggesting this
target, as well as doing the initial programming
for the page.
|
