Hatshepsut's temple
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
: ''Ḏsr-ḏsrw'' meaning "Holy of Holies") is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture. Its three massive terraces rise above the desert floor and into the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. Her tomb, KV20, lies inside the same massif capped by
El Qurn El Qorn ( ar, القرن lit. "the horn"), is the highest point (420 m) in the Theban Hills, located on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, modern Luxor. Its ancient name was Ta Dehent, or "the peak." It has an almost pyramidal shape ...
, a pyramid for her mortuary complex. At the edge of the desert, east, connected to the complex by a causeway lies the accompanying valley temple. Across the river Nile, the whole structure points towards the monumental Eighth Pylon, Hatshepsut's most recognizable addition to the Temple of Karnak and the site from which the procession of the Beautiful Festival of the Valley departed. The temple's twin functions are identified by its axes: its main east-west axis served to receive the barque of Amun-Re at the climax of the festival, while its north-south axis represented the life cycle of the pharaoh from coronation to rebirth. Construction of the terraced temple took place between Hatshepsut's seventh and twentieth regnal year, during which building plans were repeatedly modified. In its design it was heavily influenced by the Temple of Mentuhotep II of the
Eleventh Dynasty The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the late ...
built six centuries earlier. In the arrangement of its chambers and sanctuaries, though, the temple is wholly unique. The main axis, normally reserved for the mortuary complex, is occupied instead by the sanctuary of the barque of Amun-Re, with the mortuary cult being displaced south to form the auxiliary axis with the solar cult complex to the north. Separated from the main sanctuary are shrines to Hathor and Anubis which lie on the middle terrace. The
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
es that front the terrace here host the most notable reliefs of the temple. Those of the expedition to the Land of Punt and of the divine birth of Hatshepsut, the backbone of her case to rightfully occupy the throne as a member of the royal family and as godly progeny. Below, the lowest terrace leads to the causeway and out to the valley temple. The state of the temple has suffered over time. Two decades after Hatshepsut's death, under the direction of Thutmose III, references to her rule were erased, usurped or obliterated. The campaign was intense but brief, quelled after two years when Amenhotep II was enthroned. The reasons behind the proscription remain a mystery. A personal grudge appears unlikely as Thutmose III had waited twenty years to act. Perhaps the concept of a female king was anathema to ancient Egyptian society or a dynastic dispute between the Ahmosid and Thutmosid lineages needed resolving. In the
Amarna Period The Amarna Period was an era of History of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the ...
the temple was incurred upon again when Akhenaten ordered the images of Egyptian gods, particularly those of Amun, to be erased. These damages were repaired subsequently under Tutankhamun, Horemheb and Ramesses II. An earthquake in the Third Intermediate Period caused further harm. During the Ptolemaic period the sanctuary of Amun was restructured and a new portico built at its entrance. A
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...
monastery of
Saint Phoibammon In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
was built between the 6th and 8th centuries AD and images of Christ were painted over original reliefs. The latest graffito left is dated to c. 1223. The temple resurfaces in the records of the modern era in 1737 with Richard Pococke, a British traveller, who visited the site. Several visitations followed, though serious excavation was not conducted until the 1850s and 60s under
Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...
. The temple was fully excavated between 1893 and 1906 during an expedition of the
Egypt Exploration Fund The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and an ...
(EEF) directed by Édouard Naville. Further efforts were carried out by
Herbert E. Winlock Herbert Eustis Winlock (February 1, 1884 – January 27, 1950)Note: ''Who Was Who'' notes death on January 27, Spring 1998 ''KMT magazine'' article states January 25. was an American Egyptologist and archaeologist, employed by the Metropolitan Mu ...
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) from 1911 to 1936, and by
Émile Baraize Émile Baraize (28 August 1874 – 15 April 1952) was a French Egyptologist. Life In 1912 he succeeded Alessandro Barsanti as director of the director of works within the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Throughout his life, he worked to restore ...
and the
Egyptian Antiquities Service The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...
(now the
Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...
(SCA)) from 1925 to 1952. Since 1961, the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA) has carried out extensive consolidation and restoration works throughout the temple.


Design

From her accession to the throne, Hatshepsut renewed the act of monument building. The focal point of her attention was the city of Thebes and the god
Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, by whom she legitimized her reign. The preeminent residence of Amun was the Temple of Karnak to which Hatshepsut had contributed the Eighth Pylon, two tall obelisks, offering chapels, a shrine with two further obelisks, and statues of herself. Facing Karnak from across the river Nile, she built a mortuary temple against the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. The pinnacle of her architectural contributions, it is considered to be among the great architectural wonders of the ancient world. At its far eastern end, lay a valley temple followed by a long, wide causeway, which also hosted a barque station at its midpoint, that led to the entrance gate of the mortuary temple. Here, three massive terraces rose above the desert floor and led into the Djeser-Djeseru or "Holy of Holies". Nearly the whole temple was built of limestone, with some red granite and sandstone. A single architrave was built of violet sandstone, purportedly sourced from Mentuhotep II's temple. This temple, built centuries earlier and found immediately south of Hatshepsut's, served as the inspiration for her design. On its main axis and at the end of temple, lay the temple's main cult site, a shrine to Amun-Re, which received his barque each year during the Beautiful Festival of the Valley in May. In the south were the offering halls of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut and to the north was the solar cult court. Outside, two further shrines were built for Hathor and Anubis, respectively. In total, the temple comprised five cult sites. The identity of the architect behind the project remains unclear. It is possible that Senenmut, the Overseer of Works, or
Hapuseneb Hapuseneb was the High Priest of Amun during the reign of Hatshepsut. Biography His mother, Ah-hotep, was a member of the royal harem; the name of the mother has survived on a piece of limestone found in the temple of Thutmose III at Qurna (Exca ...
, the High Priest, were responsible. It is also likely that Hatshepsut provided input to the project. Over the course of its construction, between the seventh and twentieth year of Hatshepsut's reign, the temple plan underwent several revisions. A clear example of these modifications is in the Hathor shrine, whose expansions included, among other things, a conversion from a single to dual hypostyle halls. Its design was directly inspired by Mentuhotep II's adjoining temple immediately south, although its manner of arrangement is entirely unique. For example, whilst the central shrine of Mentuhotep II's temple was dedicated to his mortuary cult, Hatshepsut instead elevated the shrine of Amun to greater prominence. However, her mortuary cult was otherwise afforded the most voluminous chamber in the temple, harkening back to the offering halls of the pyramid age. There are parallels between the temple's architectural style and contemporaneous
Minoan architecture The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
, which has raised the possibility of an international style spreading across the Mediterranean in this period. Hatshepsut may also be of partly Cretan descent. Overall, the temple is representative of New Kingdom funerary architecture which served to laud the pharaoh and to honour gods relevant to the afterlife.


Architecture


Terraces

The opening feature of the temple is the three terraces fronted by a
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
leading up to the temple proper, and arrived at by a long causeway that led from the valley temple. Each elevated terrace was accessed by a ramp which bifurcated the porticoes. The lower terrace measures deep by wide and was enclosed by a wall with a single wide entrance gate at the centre of its east side. This terrace featured two Persea (''
Mimusops schimperi ''Mimusops laurifolia'' is a large evergreen tree, native to the Ethiopian Highlands and the highlands of southeastern Arabian Peninsula.Kilian, Norbert, Peter Hein, and Mohamed Ali Hubaishan (2004). "Further Notes on the Flora of the Southern C ...
'') trees, two T-shaped basins which held papyri and flowers, and two recumbent lion statues on the ramp balustrade. The wide porticoes of the lower terrace contain 22 columns each, arranged in two rows, and feature relief scenes on their walls. The south portico's reliefs depict the transportation of two obelisks from
Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
to the Temple of Karnak in Thebes, where Hatshepsut is presenting the obelisks and the temple to the god Amun-Re. They also depict
Dedwen Dedun (or Dedwen) was a Nubian god worshipped during ancient times in ancient Egypt and Sudan and attested as early as 2400 BC. There is much uncertainty about his original nature, especially since he was depicted as a lion, a role which usually ...
, Lord of Nubia and the 'Foundation Ritual'. The north portico's reliefs depict Hatshepsut as a sphinx crushing her enemies, along with images of fishing and hunting, and offerings to the gods. The outer ends of the porticoes hosted tall Osiride statues. The middle terrace measures deep by wide fronted by porticoes on the west and partially on the north sides. The west porticoes contain 22 columns arranged in two rows while the north portico contains 15 columns in a single row. The reliefs of the west porticoes of this terrace are the most notable from the mortuary temple. The south-west portico depicts the expedition to the Land of Punt and the transportation of exotic goods to Thebes. The north-west portico reliefs narrate the divine birth of Hatshepsut to Thutmose I, represented as Amun-Re, and Ahmose. Thus legitimizing her rule both by royal lineage and godly progeny. This is the oldest known scene of its type. Construction of the north portico and its four or five chapels was abandoned prior to completion and consequently it was left blank. The terrace also likely featured sphinxes set up along the path to the next ramp, whose balustrade was adorned by falcons resting upon coiled cobras. In the south-west and north-west corner of the terrace are the shrines to Hathor and Ra, respectively. The upper terrace opens to 26 columns each fronted by a tall Osiride statue of Hatshepsut. They are split in the centre by a granite gate through which the festival courtyard was entered. This division is represented geographically, too, as the southern colossi carry the Hedjet of Upper Egypt, while the northern colossi bear the Pschent of Lower Egypt. The portico here completes the narrative of the preceding porticoes with the coronation of Hatshepsut as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. The courtyard is surrounded by pillars, two rows deep on the north, east and south sides, and three rows deep on the west side. Eight smaller and ten larger niches were cut into the west wall, these are presumed to have contained kneeling and standing statues of Pharaoh Hatshepsut. The remaining walls are carved with reliefs. The Beautiful Festival of the Valley on the north, the Festival of Opet on the east, and the coronation rituals on the south. Three cult sites branch off from the courtyard. The sanctuary of Amun lies west on the main axis, to the north was the solar cult court, and to the south was chapel dedicated to the mortuary cults of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I. By ovedc - Temple of Hatshepsut - 01.jpg, Remains of a Persea tree of the lower terrace, alt=The dead stump of a tree protected by a metal fence Temple of Hatshepsut, Statue of Horus, Luxor, Egypt.jpg, Balustrade adorned with a Horus statue, alt=Statue of a falcon (foreground) and stone ramp (background) Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor, Egypt.jpg, Punt portico of the middle terrace, alt=Facade of two levels of porticoes and several statues interspersed Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple 73.jpg, North portico of the middle terrace, alt=Columns of a portico but only a section of architrave preserved Temple of Hatshepsut, Osirian statues, Luxor, Egypt.jpg, Osiride statues of Hatshepsut of the upper terrace, alt=Tall stone statues of Hatshepsut with crossed arms holding a sceptre and a flagellum


Hathor shrine

At the south end of the middle terrace is a shrine dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The shrine is separated from the temple and is accessed by a ramp from the lower terrace, although an alternative entrance existed at the upper terrace. The ramp opens up to a portico adorned with four columns carrying Hathor capitals. The walls of the entrance contain scenes of Hathor being fed by Hatshepsut. Inside are two hypostyle halls, the first containing 12 columns and the second containing 16. Beyond this are a vestibule containing two columns and a double sanctuary. Reliefs on the walls of the shrine depict Hathor with Hatshepsut, the goddess Weret-hekhau presenting the pharaoh with a ''Menat'' necklace, and Senenmut. Hathor holds special significance in Thebes, representing the hills of Deir el-Bahari, and also to Hatshepsut who presented herself as a reincarnation of the goddess. Hathor is also associated with Punt, which is the subject of reliefs in the proximate portico. Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple 122.jpg, The shrine to Hathor, alt=A stone building with many columns but no preserved roof Totentempel Hatschepsut Hathorkapelle 12.jpg, Entrance into the Hathor shrine, alt=Facade of a building with painted artwork Chrám královny Hatšepsovet - panoramio (11).jpg, Hathor capital columns, alt=Tall stone columns arranged in rows


Anubis shrine

At the north end of the middle terrace is a shrine dedicated to the god Anubis. This shrine is smaller than its counterpart to Hathor in the south. It comprises a hypostyle hall adorned with 12 columns arranged into three rows of four, followed by a sequence of two rooms terminating at a small niche. Images presented on the walls are of offerings and cult activity, with a relief showing Anubis escorting Hatshepsut to the shrine. The name of Anubis was used to designate the heir to the throne, which the Egyptologist Ann Macy Roth associates to the reliefs depicting Hatshepsut's divine birth. Hatschepsut-Tempel 09.JPG, The shrine to Anubis, alt=Facade and portico of a building Aegypten1959-033 hg.jpg, Anubis presented with bounteous offerings, alt=Anubis seated at a table with mounds of food Deir el-Bahari 09.jpg, Sokaris (Osiris) presented with wine by Thutmose III, alt=Two subjects facing each other, one giving a gift to the other


Amun shrine

Situated at the back of the temple, on its main axis, is the climactic point of the temple, the sanctuary of Amun, to whom Hatshepsut had dedicated the temple as 'a garden for my father Amun'. Inside, the first chamber was a chapel which hosted the barque of Amun and a skylight that allowed light to flood onto the statue of Amun. The lintel of the red granite entrance depicts two Amuns seated upon a throne with backs together and kings kneeling in submission before them, a symbol of his supreme status in the sanctuary. Inside the hall are scenes of offerings presented by Hatshepsut and Thutmose I, accompanied by Ahmose and Princesses Neferure and Nefrubity, four Osiride statues of Hatshepsut in the corners, and six statues of Amun occupying the niches of the hall. In the tympanum, cartouches containing Hatshepsut's name are flanked and apotropaically guarded by those of Amun-Re. This chamber was the end point of the annual Beautiful Festival of the Valley. The second chamber contained a cult image of Amun, and was flanked either side by a chapel. The north chapel was carved with reliefs depicting the gods of the Heliopolitan
Ennead The Ennead or Great Ennead was a group of nine deities in Egyptian mythology worshipped at Heliopolis: the sun god Atum; his children Shu and Tefnut; their children Geb and Nut; and their children Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. The Ennead ...
and the south chapel with the corresponding Theban Ennead. The enthroned gods each carried a '' was-sceptre'' and an '' ankh''. Presiding over the delegations, Atum and Montu occupied the end walls. The third chamber contained a statue around which the 'Daily Ritual' was also performed. It was originally believed to have been constructed a millennium after the original temple, under
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon ( gr, Πτολεμαῖος Εὐεργέτης Τρύφων, ''Ptolemaĩos Euergétēs Tryphon'' "Ptolemy the Benefactor; c. 184 BC – 28 June 116 BC), nicknamed Physcon ( "Fatty"), was a king of the Ptolema ...
, giving it the name 'the Ptolemaic Sanctuary'. The discovery of reliefs depicting Hatshepsut evidence the construction to her reign instead. The Egyptologist Dieter Arnold speculates that it might have hosted a granite false door.


Solar cult court

The solar cult is accessed from the courtyard through a vestibule occupied by three columns in the north side of the upper terrace courtyard. The doorjamb of the entrance is embellished with the figures of Hatshepsut, Ra-Horakhty (Horus) and Amun. The reliefs in the vestibule contain images of Thutmose I and Thutmose III. The vestibule opens up to the main court which hosts a grand altar open to the sky and accessed from a staircase in the court's west. There are two niches present in the court in the south and west wall, the former shows Ra-Horakhty presenting an ''ankh'' to Hatshepsut and the latter contains a relief of Hatshepsut as a priest of her own cult. Attached to the court was a chapel which contained representations of Hatshepsut's family. In these, Thutmose I and his mother, Seniseneb, are depicted giving offerings to Anubis, while Hatshepsut and Ahmose are depicted giving offerings to Amun-Re.


Mortuary cult complex

Situated in the south of the courtyard was the mortuary cult complex. Accessed through a vestibule adorned with three columns are two offering halls oriented on an east–west axis. The northern hall is dedicated to Thutmose I; the southern hall is dedicated to Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut's offering-hall emulated those found in the mortuary temples of the Old and Middle Kingdom pyramid complexes. It measured deep by wide and had an vaulted ceiling high. Consequently, it was the largest chamber in the whole temple. Thutmose I's offering-hall was decided smaller, measuring deep by wide. Both halls contained red granite false doors, scenes of animal-sacrifice, offerings and offering-bearers, priests performing rituals, and the owner of the chapel seated before a table receiving those offerings. Scenes from the offering-hall are direct copies of those present in the
Pyramid of Pepi II The pyramid of Pepi II was the tomb of Pharaoh Pepi II, located in southern Saqqara, to the northwest of the Mastabat al-Fir’aun. It was the final full pyramid complex to be built in Ancient Egypt. Long used as a quarry, the pyramid was excava ...
, from the end of the Sixth Dynasty.


Foundation deposits

Prior to its construction, the 'stretching of the cord' otherwise known as the 'foundation ritual' was performed. The ritual is depicted in detail on the south portico of the lower terrace. The ceremony opens before the goddess
Seshat Seshat ( egy, sš3t, under various spellings) was the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing, wisdom, and knowledge. She was seen as a scribe and record keeper; her name means "female scribe". She is credited with inventing writing. She also bec ...
, it follows Hatshepsut and her ka scattering ''besen'' grains before she offers her temple to Amun-Re. The next scene has been lost, it preceded the closing scene of the 'Great Offering' to Amun-Re-Kamutef. During the ceremony, the consecration of foundation deposits would take place, a practice that started as early as the Third Dynasty of Egypt at the Pyramid of Djoser. There are sixteen known foundation deposits at Hatshepsut's temple, that generally outline its perimeter, and a further three at the valley temple. Broadly, pottery, votives, food and ritual offerings, tools, scarabs and seal amulets were deposited into the prepared holes. The titles of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, and Neferure are incised into some of these items, as are images and names of gods. Ointment_Jar_MET_DP115759.jpg, Travertine vases and lids retrieved from a foundation deposit, alt=Two vases and lids covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions Scarabs from Hatshepsut Foundation Deposits MET 27.3.257 bot.jpg, Scarab bearing the inscription ''Mꜣꜥt-kꜣ-rꜥ nb tꜣwy'' meaning Lord of the Two Lands, Maatkare, alt=A small steatite scarab with hieroglyphs incised into it Amuletic Knot MET DP115760.jpg, Delicately inscribed hammering stone, knot amulet, and ''msḫtyw'' adze, alt=A wooden knot amulet, wooden hooked ritual tool and an oval stone with hieroglyphic inscriptions


Function


Mortuary complex

It has been suggested that Hatshepsut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV20, was meant to be an element of the mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahari. The arrangement of the temple and tomb bear a spatial resemblance to the pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom, which comprised five central elements: valley temple, causeway, mortuary temple, main pyramid, and cult pyramid. Hatshepsut's temple complex included the valley temple, causeway, and mortuary temple. Her tomb was built into the massif of the same cliffs as the temple, beneath the dominating peak of
El Qurn El Qorn ( ar, القرن lit. "the horn"), is the highest point (420 m) in the Theban Hills, located on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, modern Luxor. Its ancient name was Ta Dehent, or "the peak." It has an almost pyramidal shape ...
(
AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...
) that caps her tomb, in a sense, like the pyramid capped the tomb of an Old Kingdom pharaoh. Further, her tomb lies in-line with the offering hall of the mortuary cult complex. There is another analogous relationship, that between the mortuary temple and Karnak and that of the pyramids and Heliopolis. Though KV20 is recognized as the tomb of Hatshepsut, there is dispute over who commissioned its initial construction. Two competing hypotheses suggest that the tomb was built originally during the reign of either Thutmose I or Thutmose II and that Hatshepsut had the tomb altered later with an additional chamber for her own burial. The principal function of the temple was to serve the royal mortuary cults of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I. To fulfill this purpose, a mortuary cult complex was built where offerings could be made for the kꜣ, or spirit, of the king. In the Egyptian conception, the deceased continued to rely on the same sustenance as the living. In life, the aspects of the soul, the ''kꜣ'', ''bꜣ'' and ''ꜣḫ'', were contained in the vessel of the living body. On death, the body was rendered immobile and the soul was able to leave it. In her temple, the offering of food and drink was performed before the granite false doors of the offering chapels. The mortuary ritual, lists of offerings, and the recipient of the rites were depicted on the east wall of both chapels.


Beautiful Festival of the Valley

The sanctuary of Amun was the end point of the Beautiful Festival of the Valley, conducted annually, starting at the Temple of Karnak. This celebration dated back to the Middle Kingdom, when it concluded at the temple built by Mentuhotep II. The procession began at the Eighth Pylon at Karnak led by Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, followed by noblemen and priests bearing Amun's barque, accompanied by musicians, dancers, courtiers and more priests, and guarded by soldiers. A further flotilla of small boats and the great ship ''Userhat'', which carried the barque, were towed. In Hatshepsut's time, the barque of Amun was a miniaturized copy of a transport barge equipped with three long carrying-poles borne by six priests each. The figure of a ram's head, sacred to Amun, adorned its prow and stern. In the centre of its hull a lavishly ornamented ''naos'' was installed and the statue of Amun, presently bejewelled, cloistered within. The barque likely measured in length. The procession crossed the Nile, visited the cemeteries in remembrance, before landing at the valley temple to proceed along the long causeway to the temple proper. Halfway up was the barque station, beyond which the path was flanked by more than 100 sandstone sphinxes up to the terraces. This is the oldest attested sphinx avenue, though the practice is thought to date to the Old Kingdom. The valley temple and barque station were points at which offerings were made and purification rituals conducted. The procession carried on through the entrance-gate, up the temple's great ramps, and into the sanctuary where the barque and Amun were kept for a night before being returned home to Karnak. On this day, bounteous offerings of food, meat, drink and flowers were presented on tables to Amun, with smaller quantities reserved for the king. On all other days, priests performed the 'Daily Ritual' upon the statues of Amun and Hatshepsut.


Daily ritual

Before dawn each morning, a pair of priests visited the temple's well to collect water for transfer to libation vessels. Other priests busied themselves preparing food and drink as offerings to the gods while the head priest, ''ḥm-nṯr'', visited the ''pr–dwꜣt'' to be purified and clothed in preparation for the ceremony. The ''naos'' containing the cult image of Amun-Re was first purified with incense. At first light, the head priest opened the shrine and prostrated himself before the god declaring that he had been sent on behalf of the king, while other priests performed recitations. The shrine was purified with water and incense and a statuette of '' Maat'' was presented to the cult image which was then removed. The statuette was de-clothed, cleared of oil, and placed on a pile of clean sand, a representation of '' benben''. Fresh paint was applied to its eyes, it was anointed with various oils, dressed in new garments of cloth, and provided with accessories. Lastly, its face was anointed and sand scattered around the chapel before the image was returned to its resting place. By now, the god's breakfast offering was presented to him. A final set of purifications were conducted and the doors to shrine closed with the head priest sweeping away his footsteps behind him. The food was taken away as well – they were not physically consumed, the god only partook of their essence – to be re-presented at the chapels of other deities. Each god received essentially the same service. The food was eventually consumed by the priests in the 'reversion of offerings', ''wḏb ḫt''. More purifying libations were poured and incense burned at the shrines at noon and in the evening. At other times, hymns were sung, apotropaic rituals performed to protect Amun-Re's barque as it voyaged across the sky, and wax or clay images of enemies destroyed.


Later history


In ancient Egypt


Proscription of Hatshepsut by Thutmose III

Two decades after her death, during Thutmose III's forty-second regnal year, he decided that all evidence of her reign as king of Egypt should be erased. His reasons for proscribing her reign remain unclear. This assault against her reign was, however, short-lived. Two years after it started, when Amenhotep II ascended to the throne, the proscription was abandoned and much of the erasure left half-finished. There are three hypotheses regarding Thutmose III's motivation. The oldest and most dubious is personal revenge. This hypothesis holds that Hatshepsut usurped the throne as sole ruler, relegating Thutmose III, and consequently he sought to erase her memory. This explanation is unconvincing as the proscription was delayed by two decades and targeted only against her reign as king. The second argument is that it was a repudiation of the concept of female kingship. The role of a king was closed to women, and her assumption of the role may have presented ideological problems that were resolved via erasure. This may explain the decision to leave images of her as queen intact. The third case assesses the possibility of a dynastic dispute between the Ahmosid and Thutmosid lineages. By expunging her rule from the record, Thutmose III may have ensured that his son, Amenhotep II, would ascend the throne. There is, however, no known Ahmosid pretender. Several methods of erasure were employed at her temple by Thutmose III in his campaign. The least damaging were the scratching out of feminine pronouns and suffixes, which otherwise left the text intact. These were commonly used in the Hathor shrine and in the upper terrace. More thorough removal methods included chiselling away, roughening, smoothing, patching or covering over of her image and titles. In other places her image was replaced with that of an offering table. Occasionally, her image was repurposed for a member of the Thutmosid family. This was most often Thutmose II, although infrequently instead her cartouche was replaced with that of Thutmose I or III. The final method, and the most destructive, was the obliteration of her statuary in the temple. Workmen dragged the statues from her temple to one of two designated sites, a quarry – a burrow from which fill material was obtained – and the Hatshepsut Hole. Here, sledgehammers and stone blocks were used to break up the statues which were then dumped into the chosen repositories. Hatshepsut temple35.JPG, Statues of Hatshepsut were targeted for destruction during the proscription, alt=A line of statue bases, many with partial stone statues Flickr - Gaspa - Tempio di Hatshepsut, testa della Regina.jpg, The decapitated head from a Hatshepsut statue, alt=A stone head, depicting Hatshepsut, wearing a crown Deir el-Bahari 0538.JPG, Erasure of Hatshepsut's royal titulary (left) with Thutmose III's royal titulary (right), alt=Stone wall bearing royal names, half of which have been hammered and chiselled away Qesm Al Wahat Al Khargah, New Valley Governorate, Egypt - panoramio - demonzak (15).jpg, A column re-inscribed with ''ꜥꜣ-ḫpr-n-rꜥ'', Thutmose II's throne name, alt=Tall stone column inscribed with hieroglyphs from top to bottom Mortuary-Temple-of-Hatshepsut2.jpg, A broken column with a partial serekh bearing the signs for Rꜥ and mrỉ, alt=The lower section of a column, still standing, with many hieroglyphs and the painting of an individual


Amarna Period to Third Intermediate Period

The temple continued to serve as a site of worship following Thutmose III's death. During the
Amarna Period The Amarna Period was an era of History of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the ...
, further erasure of the reliefs was inflicted by order of Akhenaten, albeit the target of this persecution were images of the gods, particularly Amun. Early in his reign, Aten, a solar deity, was elevated to the status of supreme god. The persecution of other gods did not begin immediately, instead reform proceeded gradually for several years before culminating in prohibition around his ninth regnal year. The proscription coincides with the ostracization of
Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...
. These images were restored during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Horemheb, and Ramesses II. The temple was damaged further by an earthquake in the ninth century BC, during the Third Intermediate Period. During this time, between the Twenty-First and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties, the temple was used as a burial ground for priests of the cults of Amun and Montu, as well as for members of the royal family.


Ptolemaic era

During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, a stone chapel was built on the middle terrace for
Asklepios Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of ...
, a god of the Greek pantheon. Later under Ptolemy VIII Euergetes, the sanctuary of Amun was significantly altered. The cult statue chamber was converted into a chapel for Amenhotep, son of Hapu, the Eighteenth Dynasty architect of
Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
,
Imhotep , other_names = Asclepius (name in Greek) Imouthes (also name in Greek) , burial_place = Saqqara (probable) , occupation = chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser and High Priest of Ra , years_active = , known_for ...
, the Third Dynasty vizier of Djoser, and Hygieia, the Greek goddess of hygiene. In the barque hall, the two centre niches were filled and the skylight blocked. The sanctuary entrance was outfitted with a portico carried by six columns.


Beyond ancient Egypt

After the Ptolemaic kingdom, the temple was used as a site of local worship. Between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, a Coptic monastery of Saint Phoibammon was constructed on the temple grounds. Figures of Christ and other saints were painted over the original relief work with the temple. A pilgrim left the latest dated graffito in c. 1223.


Archaeological excavations

The earliest modern visitor to the temple was Richard Pococke, an English traveller, in 1737. He was followed by François Jollois and
Renée Edouard Devilliers Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French/Latin feminine given name. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra –e making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French form of th ...
, two members of Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition, in 1798. The earliest archaeological findings were made around 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni and
Henry William Beechey Henry William Beechey (1788/89 – 4 August 1862) was an English painter and explorer. His father was the painter William Beechey, Sir William Beechey, Royal Academy, RA and his stepmother was Anne Beechey, Anne Jessop.John Wilson, 'Beechey, Si ...
, who scavenged the site for artefacts to present to Henry Salt, the British consul. Another visitor to the site, in 1823–1825,
Henry Westcar Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
is credited with the earliest printed reference to the name Deir el-Bahari. In the following decades
John Gardner Wilkinson Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (5 October 1797 – 29 October 1875) was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology". Childhood and education Wilkinson ...
,
Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in th ...
and
Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien'' ...
each visited the site. The earliest significant excavations took place in the 1850s and 60s under
Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...
. Under his supervision the remains of the monastery
Saint Phoibammon In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
were destroyed and the shrines to Hathor and Anubis as well as the south colonnade of the middle terrace were revealed. During the Egypt Exploration Fund's (EEF) expedition, under Édouard Naville and his assistant
Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
, from 1893–1906, the entire temple was excavated. The seven volumes of Naville's work form a fundamental source for the temple. In 1911–1936, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) funded excavation works under the direction of
Herbert E. Winlock Herbert Eustis Winlock (February 1, 1884 – January 27, 1950)Note: ''Who Was Who'' notes death on January 27, Spring 1998 ''KMT magazine'' article states January 25. was an American Egyptologist and archaeologist, employed by the Metropolitan Mu ...
. In 1925–1952, a team led by
Émile Baraize Émile Baraize (28 August 1874 – 15 April 1952) was a French Egyptologist. Life In 1912 he succeeded Alessandro Barsanti as director of the director of works within the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Throughout his life, he worked to restore ...
for the
Egyptian Antiquities Service The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...
reconstructed significant portions of the temple. Since 1961, the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archeology (PCMA) of Warsaw University in Cairo has been engaged in restoration and consolidation efforts at the site. The Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Expedition was established by Kazimierz Michałowski, after he was approached by the
Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...
(SCA). The project was originally constrained to reconstructing the third terrace, but, since 1967, the mission has encapsulated the entire temple. The project is presently directed by Patryk Chudzik. The site is being gradually opened to tourism. Since 2000, the festival courtyard, upper terrace, and the coronation portico have been open to visitors. In 2015, the solar cult court and, in 2017, the sanctuary of Amun were also opened to visitation.


See also

* List of ancient Egyptian sites * Luxor massacre


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

{{sisterlinks, d=Q660692, c=category:Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, wikt=no, q=no, n=no, s=no, v=no, voy=Luxor, b=no, m=no, mw=no, species=no
Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari
* All Polis
Deir el-Bahari Projects

Hatshepsut: from Queen to Pharaoh
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (see index) 15th-century BC establishments in Egypt Buildings and structures completed in the 15th century BC Buildings and structures in Luxor Governorate Hatshepsut Luxor Egyptian temples Theban Necropolis Land of Punt