IMAGES OF POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT: FOCUS (Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel)

Transcription

1 IMAGES OF POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT: FOCUS (Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel)

2 TITLE or DESIGNATION: Temple of Ramses II CULTURE or ART HISTORICAL PERIOD: New Kingdom Egyptian DATE: c B.C.E. LOCATION: Abu Simbel, Egypt

3 ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: y.org/test-prep/ap-arthistory/ancientmediterranean- AP/ancient-egypt- AP/v/ancient-thebesunescotbs TITLE or DESIGNATION: Temple of Amun-Re CULTURE or ART HISTORICAL PERIOD: New Kingdom Egyptian DATE: c B.C.E. LOCATION: Karnak, Egypt

4 IMAGES OF POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT: SELECTED TEXT (Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel)

5 TEMPLE OF RAMSES II at ABU SIMBEL and the TEMPLE OF AMUN-RE at KARNAK Online Links: Abu Simbel temples - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ramses II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You Tube - Moving Temple of Ramses II You Tube - Abu Simbel Smarthistory - Ramessess II You Tube Abu - Simbel Temple Moved Temple of Amun - Video by AsiaTravel Introduction to the Temple of Karnak - UCLA pdf Opet Festival at Karnak and Ramesseum - YouTube (Reimagined Drawings in Video)

6 Temple of Ramses II (Abu Simbel), c BCE

7 In the course of his long and prosperous reign, Ramses II initiated building projects on a scale rivaling the Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza. The most awe-inspiring of his many architectural monuments is found at Abu Simbel in Nubia, Egypt s southernmost region. There Ramses ordered the construction of two temples, a large one to himself and a smaller one to his chief wife, Nefertari. Like Hatshepsut s funerary temple at Deir el-bahri, the monumental grandeur of the king s temple communicates to the viewer a sense of unlimited majesty. It was carved out of the face of a cliff in the manner of a rock-cut tomb but far surpasses earlier temples created in this way. Its dominant feature is a row of four colossal seated statues of the king, each more than 65 feet tall. Large figures of Nefertari and other family members stand next to his feet, but they seem mere dolls by comparison, since they do not even reach the height of the king s giant stone knees.

8 Ramses wanted to secure the borders, then live in peace having reduced military expenditure. During his reign Egypt flourished for one last time. By glorifying himself with the buildings he commissioned, internal order was also maintained- the king was omnipresent. To leave a record of his dominion over Nubia, his southern neighbor, Ramses II had several temples built or cut into the rocks, the most famous of them being the temple of Abu Simbel, which lies north of Aswan. In front of the entrance are four statues, of the king, each 20 meters high.

9 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 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 Ramses II, seated on a throne. 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.

10 The entrance itself is crowned by a basrelief representing two images of the king worshiping the falcon-headed Ra Harakhti, whose statue stands in a large niche. The 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.

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12 There are various inscriptions on the surrounding rock, including one that tells the story of the marriage of Ramses II with a Hittite princess. Above the main entrance to the temple is an image of Ra- Harakhti, sculpted in strong high-relief. The god is shown walking, from the front, with his arms by his sides. His right hand is resting on a scepter-user, his left on an image of Maat, the goddess of justice. The presence of these two elements leads to a secondary interpretation of the entire composition that, interpreted as a rebus, makes it meaning to be Powerful in justice is Ra.

13 Because these colossi were carved from the same rock as the temples, there was no space on the façade for the images of the king suppressing the forces of chaos, traditionally shown on the outer face of the pylon. In the large temple representations of the Battle of Qadesh were, therefore, carved in sunk relief inside the first pillared hall. This demonstrates the remarkable flexibility of the Ramesside artists responsible for temple decoration, who were prepared when necessary to break some fundamental rules concerning the location of scenes.

14 Inside, the hypostyle hall (sometimes also called pronaos) is supported by eight huge atlantids depicting the deified Ramses linked to the god Osiris, the god of the Underworld, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh.

15 The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns the ruler waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the Battle of Kadesh, on the Orontes river in present-day Syria, in which the Egyptian king fought against the Hittites. The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner. Other scenes show Egyptian victories in Libya and Nubia.

16 The king of the Hittite Empire was Hattusilis III; the Egyptian king was Ramses II. In summary, the treaty states that neither of these nations would battle one another. Further, if another nation were to attack either of them, they would rise to their assistance against the aggressor.

17 Lion Gate (Boghazkoy, Turkey), c.1400 BCE, limestone

18 From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with scenes of offerings to the gods. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra- Horakhty, the deified king Ramses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah.

19 It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 21 and February 21, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark. These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day respectively, but there is no evidence to support this, though it is quite logical to assume that these dates had some relation to a great event, such as the jubilee celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the pharaoh's rule.

20 Mummied remains of Ramses II He is also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses's throne name.

21 Temple of Amun-Re, Karnak, Egypt, begun 15 th century BCE

22 One of the most famous cities of ancient Egypt is Thebes, a major religious center and the burial place of the kings of the New Kingdom. The city s tombs, including the Valley of the Kings and Queens, are located on the west bank of the river Nile, in the area s limestone cliffs. The mortuary temples of many of the New Kingdom kings edge the flood plain of the Nile. The houses and workshops of the ancient Thebans were located on the river s east bank. Little remains of the ancient city, as it is covered by the modern city of Luxor. A series of important temples, composing the religious heart of Thebes, are most of what remains today. To the south, close to the banks of the Nile, lies the temple of Luxor. To the north and connected by the sphinx alleyway, stand the temples of Karnak. Karnak can be divided into four sections: south Karnak, with its temple of the goddess Mut, east Karnak, the location of a temple to the Aten, north Karnak, the site of the temple of the god Montu, and central Karnak, with its temple to the god Amun.

23 The temple of Amun at Karnak is made up of a series of separate structures and features that combine to form one huge building complex. Arriving at the temple, the worshiper passed the ceremonial tribune and proceeded down a sphinx-lined alleyway. Extending out from the west side of the temple towards the Nile, this would have been the main temple entrance from the 22nd Dynasty onwards. Before entering the temple, one passed through a monumental stone pylon. This structure, called the first pylon, was actually the last one built at the temple. The temple was divided into sections by a series of nine more pylons, ten in total, creating an east/west axis, as well as a north/south axis.

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25 Once past the first pylon, the visitor stood in one of the temple courtyards. This openair court, which includes a colonnade and encloses a number of smaller structures, is called the first court. The first court led through the second pylon and into the hypostyle hall. The hall has a central raised nave and is supported by a veritable forest of sandstone columns. Its rear wall originally stood independently as the third pylon.

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27 Filing Karnak s gigantic hypostyle hall were massive columns, which supported a roof of stone slabs carried on lintels. The columns have bud-cluster or bell-shaped capitals resembling lotus or papyrus, the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt. The two central rows of columns are taller than those at the sides. Raising the roof s central section created a clerestory.

28 Openings in the clerestory permitted sunlight to filter into the interior, although the stone grilles would have blocked much of the light. This method of construction appeared in primitive form in the Old Kingdom valley temple of Khafre at Giza. The clerestory is evidently an Egyptian innovation, and its significance cannot be overstated.

29 The columns in the hypostyle hall are indispensible structurally. But horizontal bands of painted sunken relief sculpture almost hide their function as vertical supports. To create these reliefs, the New Kingdom sculptors chiseled deep outlines below the stone s surface, rather than cut back the stone around the figures to make the features project from the surface. The Egyptian architects intention was not to emphasize the function role of the columns. Instead, they used columns as image- and message-bearing surfaces.

30 In the sanctuary of Amun, priests washed the god s statue every morning and clothed it in a new garment. Because the god was thought to derive nourishment from the spirit of food, his statue was provided with tempting meals twice a day, which the priests then removed and ate themselves. Ordinary people entered the temple precinct only as far as the forecourts of the hypostyle halls, where they found themselves surrounded by inscriptions and images of kings and the god on columns and walls. During religious festivals, they lined the waterways, along which statues of the gods were carried in ceremonial boats, and were permitted to submit petitions to the priests for requests they wished the gods to grant.

31 The heart of Karnak lies in its sanctuary. It is here, in the central-most part of the building, where the statue of the god Amun-Re would have been housed and where the temple s daily ritual took place. The god s image was stored within a stone naos or shrine. The surrounding sanctuary would have also held rooms for the storage of important and valuable cult equipment. Karnak s sacred lake graces the southern side of the temple. This pool supplied water for cult purposes and served as the location for special rituals with the god s bark.

32 Left: Pylon VIII of the Temple at Karnak To the south, the Karnak pylons create another main route to the temple. This is its southern axis. This axis was important for the temple s participation in festivals and processions. This route led to the temple of the goddess Mut in south Karnak, and it also connects Karnak with the temple of Luxor.

33 Egyptian texts suggest that the pylons symbolically represented two mountains on the horizon, a symbol well known from the hieroglyphic script, between which the sun rose to start life anew each day.6 In its latest form, Karnak temple boasted ten monumental stone pylons, all arranged along the temple s east/west and north/south axis routes. Pylons, including those numbered seven and eight at Karnak, were frequently decorated with carved relief scenes depicting the pharaoh smiting foreign enemies or hunting wild animals, imagery that related the king to the maintenance of world order and control.

34 Below: Obelisk of Thutmose I in court of the fourth pylon Thebes history as seat of the 17th Dynasty and home of the powerful god Amun- Re awarded it a special status, even after the capital of the country again moved to the north at Memphis. Kings and elite administrators chose to site their burials in the hills on the west bank of the river. Additions to the core Middle Kingdom temple by Amenhotep I, Thutmose I and Thutmose II extended the temple to the west and created new cult spaces. Politically, Karnak took on new significance, as the pharaohs began to use the temple as a means of demonstrating their ordained selection as king by the gods. Coronation rituals now took place in the columned hall of Thutmose I, with the god Amun sanctioning the choice.

35 Thutmose III smiting Caanite enemies on the seventh pylon at Karnak describing the Battle of Megido, 15 th century BCE

36 A new ruling dynasty, administering the country from Egypt s capital in the north, took control with the reign of Ramses I. Karnak was again favored with lavish royal patronage, most significantly with the great hypostyle hall of Sety I. The king and his son, Ramses II, decorated the giant new hall, adding beautifully carved ritual scenes inside and monumental battle reliefs on its exterior. From the 19th Dynasty onward, a special emphasis at Karnak was placed on depicting the great military victories of the kings. While the episodes they represent may not fit into our modern definition of historical documents, they do provide Egyptologists with valuable information on foreign relations during these periods.

37 The north exterior wall of the great hypostyle hall includes scenes of Sety I in a successful attack against a fortress of the Pekanan peoples, a march through the desert, the vanquishing of the Yanoam people, and an archery battle against the Kheta. These acts are piously followed by Sety I offering the spoils of war to the Theban gods Amun, Mut and Khonsu.

38 On the hall s south wall, Ramses II included scenes of his own military triumphs against the Assyrians and Hittites. Ramses II referred to the temple as the place where the common people extol the name of his majesty.

39 Because of his special connection with the gods and his latent divinity, the pharaoh served as the hypothetical high priest in every cult of the land. He portrayed himself in this role on the walls of the temples that he commissioned or decorated. In theory, the king would have served the god during the many rituals performed for his or her statue in the cult temple each day. In actuality, priests of each temple filled in for the king, performing his role all over the country.

40 Ancient Egyptian festivals were often linked to astronomical phenomena, agricultural seasons, and political events. The Opet Festival was a festival of national importance. Once a year, in the second month of Inundation season, Amun-Ra of Karnak and his divine family Mut and Khonsu left their temples and processed to the temple of Luxor to the south. Both the guide and video document the routes of the divine bark in the reigns of Hatshepsut and Ramses II. The Beautiful Feast of the Wadi celebration seems to have its origins in a popular festival linked with the goddess Hathor. This annual Theban festival's meaning and form during the reigns of Hatshepsut and Ramses III are presented in both guide and video. The stops along the route are highlighted and labeled for the viewer. The Wehem Ankh (repetition of life) involved a procession wherein statues of Thutmose III and his queen Sat-Yah are transported between Karnak and the temple of the goddess Mut.

41 VIDEO: You Tube Abu - Simbel Temple Moved