John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series EGYPT and the SAHARA www.johntyman.com/sahara |
|
3.1 Religion of the Pharaohs - Part II: 146-164 |
| . |
|
John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series EGYPT and the SAHARA www.johntyman.com/sahara |
|
3.1 Religion of the Pharaohs - Part II: 146-164 |
| . |
 |
| .146. At Edfu they have a barque (or a reproduction of the same) ... a wooden carriage in which the statue of their god (in their case Horus) would have been taken out of the temple during festivals. |
 |
| 147. The pharaohs and their subjects believed in an after-life, and that the soul of the dead dwelt near its body. Graves were equipped accordingly -- with food, tools, toiletries etc. In this painting the priest touches the facemask of the mummy with a series of implements, symbolically unstopping the mouth, eyes, ears and nostrils so the corpse can regain its faculties. (BritishMuseum.org) |
 |
| .148. Since the continued association of the spirit with the body required the preservation of the body itself, it was not only mummified but buried in the desert far from damp and decay. More than 60 tombs, most of them of pharaohs, have thus far been discovered in the Valley of the Kings. |
 |
| .149. Excavations continue, however, and more tombs are bound to be discovered in time. Queens were buried separately, in a valley of their own which houses the remains of 80 queens and their offspring. (Excavation in progress) |
 |
| .150. The magnificence of royal tombs was meant to match the god-like status of the monarch. The pyramids of the Giza plateau are the best known, but 70 other pyramids have been identified. One advantage of burial in a pyramid instead of an underground grave was that it pointed to the sky. Those at Giza were built almost 5,000 years ago and are the only one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” still standing ... though they have been pillaged over time, and only one of the pyramids here (that of Khafre) retains any part of its original external casing. |
 |
| .151. They were built to house the remains of Khufu (Cheops), his son Khafre (Chephren), and his grandson Menkaure (Mycerinus). Khufu’s, on the left, is actually the biggest, and since it lay north of the others was the first tomb to catch the rays of the rising sun. Khafre’s pyramid was almost as big. His son’s (on the right) was much smaller. |
 |
| .152. Their construction was a massive undertaking. The pyramid of Cheops, for example, comprises 2.3 million limestone blocks each weighing about 2.5 tons: and, having no giant cranes in those days, they were dragged into position up an earth ramp using rollers. The guards here give an idea of the size of the blocks. |
 |
| .153. The Sphinx of Gaza stands near by, close to Khafre’s funerary temple. The head of the Sphinx is said to be a portrait of Khafre himself, but no one knows for sure: and in Arabic the statue is labelled “ Father of Terror”. It has suffered from weathering over the years and various attempts have been made to restore it ... with limited success. |
 |
| .154. The Greeks named it the “Sphinx” because in their minds it resembled their mythological winged monster with a woman’s head and a lion’s body who thought up riddles and killed those unable to answer them. |
 |
| .155. In addition to cult temples devoted to the worship of gods, funerary (or mortuary) temples were built to house the spirits of individual pharaohs and perpetuate their worship after death. It was essential that the statues they contained should be accurate representations of the original, in order that the departed spirit of the dead pharaoh might recognize and enter its image. Since a person’s soul was believed to leave and enter by his/her mouth and nose, these might be smashed later by enemies to ensure that the deceased would not be reborn. Hatshepsut was the only female ruler to reign over ancient Egypt (about 1500 BCE) and had legitimized her claim to the throne by declaring herself the daughter of the god Amun-re. (Funerary temple of Hatshepsut) |
 |
| .156. It was believed that the names (or cartouches) of dead pharaohs carved into the walls of their tombs ensured that they would not be forgotten when they died; so these too might be damaged. This cartouche of Ramses II from Abu Simbel is in near perfect condition, but Thutmosis III was so angered by Hatshepsut (his predecessor and a usurper) that he erased her name wherever it appeared in her temple and substituted his own or that of his father. The cartouche in this photo was damaged long afterwards, by European soldiers who carved their names into the walls of the temple. |
 |
| .157. The manner in which particular pharaohs assumed god-like proportions is most obvious in the temples at Abu Simbel. The largest of the two (on the left) honoured four gods -- Amun, Ra-Harakty (a manifestation of Horus), Ptah (god of creation) and the pharaoh himself -- Ramses ll (who, admittedly, was considered the greatest of all pharaohs). |
 |
| .158. In addition to demonstrating his divinity, the giant statues of Ramses II at the entrance to his temple also reminded Nubian boatmen entering the kingdom of the pharaohs of their authority and power. They were built in the 13th century BCE and were buried under by sand till 1813. |
 |
| .159. There were four statues originally but one collapsed long ago and lies on the ground. Accompanying these large statues are smaller ones of the pharaoh’s mother Queen Tuya and his queen Nefertari and some of their children. |
 |
| .160. The outer hypostyle hall of Ramses’ temple is supported by eight columns fronted by statues of a god-like pharaoh. Beyond it there is a second pillared hall, and beyond that the sanctuary. (Courtesy Dennis Jarvis at Wikipedia ) |
 |
| .161. Within the sanctuary the four gods wait for dawn. The temple was carved out of rock in such a way that twice each year, at the spring and autumnal equinoxes, the first rays of the rising sun reach across the Nile to penetrate the temple corridor and shine for five minutes on the faces of the waiting gods, 65 metres from the entrance! |
 |
| .162. The second temple is dedicated to the Hathor, goddess of love, though four of the six statues at the front, 10 metres in height, are of Ramses II. Significantly, the other two are of his wife Queen Nefertari (with smaller images of their children). This is the only temple in which the wife of a pharaoh is honoured with a statue as large as that of her husband! |
 |
| .163. Ramses II had seven wives/consorts but Nefertari was his favorite. She is shown here wearing the plumed tiara of Amon and the solar disc of Ra. (Wikipedia) |
 |
| .164. While their position alongside the Nile allowed these temples to overawe visitors from the south long ago, it was to prove hazardous much later, when the level of water in the Nile was raised following the construction of the Aswan High Dam. As a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of Egypt’s top tourist attractions, carved out of solid rock, it was dismantled, together with the cliff out of which it had been carved, and reassembled on higher ground in 1968 ... which explains the cut blocks visible in the photo. |
Text and photos by John Tyman
unless otherwise indicated.
Intended for Educational Use
Only.
Contact Dr. John Tyman at johntyman2@gmail.com
for more information regarding
licensing.
www.hillmanweb.com
Photo processing, Web page layout,
formatting and hosting by
William
Hillman ~ Brandon, Manitoba ~ Canada
