DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4656#0020
14
THE TEMPLE OF THE KINGS.
with the tomb, as shown by the large steles found at
the royal tombs of the first dynasty ; and such con-
tinued to be the case for the ordinary Egyptian in all
times. But the place of offering to the kings was at
the end of the Illrd dynasty in a separate court
attached to the side of the tomb (Seneferu at Medum) ;
in the IVth dynasty the court became a separate
temple (Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura) ; in the
Xllth dynasty the tomb was farther back on the
desert, and the chapel was at the desert edge (User-
tesen II, Illahun ; Usertesen III, Abydos) ; in the
XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties the chapels or temples
were ranged along the desert edge at Thebes, and not
in any uniform relation to the tombs hidden in the
desert. When at that period Sety I began to adore
the early kings as his ancestors (to give a glamour to
the new dynasty), and made some examination of
the great group of the Royal Tombs at Abydos, it
was but natural that he should found a large chapel
or temple for their collective worship, like the temples
built in honour of each of the kings of his own age.
This temple was accordingly placed on the desert
edge, in front of the Royal Tombs ; a processional
way was provided from the back of it out to the
tombs ; enormous heaps of offering jars accumulated
out on the desert where the tomb road led out; and
the temple was directed with its axis pointing to a
peak of rock close to the Royal Tombs, which was
covered thickly with offerings. The purpose of the
temple is henceforth beyond question.
The same purpose is shown in the temple itself.
The great list of kings there, on the way leading out
to the Royal Tombs, points to the use of the temple ;
and in the chambers of the barques it appears that the
barques and processions in which they figured were
in honour of the ancestors of Ramessu.
33. The unsymmetrical plan of the temple, with
a large annex on the south side, has always been a
stumbling-block, and has led to the strange modern
fable—as absurd and baseless as any mistake of
Herodotus—that the temple was built in a rock
which limited its form. When we see the projection
of the west wall of the Temenos, exactly behind the
main body of the temple, and of the same width as
that, it is plain that the south annex is an afterthought,
a variation on the original plan ; presumably therefore
the temple was to have been carried on farther back,
and, instead of that, the required halls and chambers
were added at the side.
We may even see further than this, and restore
long processional
would have led
the original design with some probability (see PL.
XXV). The south annex appears to be the original
plan of the back part of the temple simply stuck on
at the side, with a minimum of alteration. The con-
nections are as follow :—
(1.) The breadth is very nearly that of the true
temple, within little more than the walls ; and a
slight diminution of the breadth at the back of a
temple is familiar elsewhere.
(2.) The continuation of the
way through the Osiris chapel
straight into the processional chamber of the barques.
(3.) The existing doorway into the south-east
court of the annex would fall just into the corner of
the back hall of the temple.
(4.) The unexplained chamber without any open-
ing at the N.W. corner of the temple would be led
into by the corridor of kings, by the existing door
out of the N.E. corner of that corridor.
(5.) Even the gateway built on outside of the
corridor of the Kings falls exactly into the place of
the front of the chapels in the back hall of the
temple.
Thus the whole plan might be put on to the back
of the temple, with every point of the structure
falling exactly into place, the processional way
leading straight from the hall where the procession
was marshalled, and the back way out to the Royal
Tombs closely in line with it. Above all, this ex-
plains the strange dumb chambers at the N.W.
corner; they were left useless and inaccessible
because the plan was altered.
34. Turning now to the plates, there are some
points of interest in the figures of the sacred barques,
PLS. II-VI. Much more is clearly shown in the
plates of sculptures than has been hitherto published ;
the work of drawing and preparing these was entirely
done by Mr. Laurence Christie, and my own work at
Abydos did not leave me even an hour or two for
making any comparison or revision. Hence I can
only annotate these plates from the same stand-point
as anyone else who knows the temple.
The chapels of the gods have a uniform type of
sculptures, which Mariette arranged in parallel texts.
The inner half of each chapel has on one or both
sides figures of the shrine or sacred barques of the
god, placed high up on the wall. Three of these are
here copied ; and also the sacred barque of the
mummied hawk from the hypostyle hall.
PL. II shows the shrine of Osiris on the south
,„<W*
:4*f11
THE TEMPLE OF THE KINGS.
with the tomb, as shown by the large steles found at
the royal tombs of the first dynasty ; and such con-
tinued to be the case for the ordinary Egyptian in all
times. But the place of offering to the kings was at
the end of the Illrd dynasty in a separate court
attached to the side of the tomb (Seneferu at Medum) ;
in the IVth dynasty the court became a separate
temple (Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura) ; in the
Xllth dynasty the tomb was farther back on the
desert, and the chapel was at the desert edge (User-
tesen II, Illahun ; Usertesen III, Abydos) ; in the
XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties the chapels or temples
were ranged along the desert edge at Thebes, and not
in any uniform relation to the tombs hidden in the
desert. When at that period Sety I began to adore
the early kings as his ancestors (to give a glamour to
the new dynasty), and made some examination of
the great group of the Royal Tombs at Abydos, it
was but natural that he should found a large chapel
or temple for their collective worship, like the temples
built in honour of each of the kings of his own age.
This temple was accordingly placed on the desert
edge, in front of the Royal Tombs ; a processional
way was provided from the back of it out to the
tombs ; enormous heaps of offering jars accumulated
out on the desert where the tomb road led out; and
the temple was directed with its axis pointing to a
peak of rock close to the Royal Tombs, which was
covered thickly with offerings. The purpose of the
temple is henceforth beyond question.
The same purpose is shown in the temple itself.
The great list of kings there, on the way leading out
to the Royal Tombs, points to the use of the temple ;
and in the chambers of the barques it appears that the
barques and processions in which they figured were
in honour of the ancestors of Ramessu.
33. The unsymmetrical plan of the temple, with
a large annex on the south side, has always been a
stumbling-block, and has led to the strange modern
fable—as absurd and baseless as any mistake of
Herodotus—that the temple was built in a rock
which limited its form. When we see the projection
of the west wall of the Temenos, exactly behind the
main body of the temple, and of the same width as
that, it is plain that the south annex is an afterthought,
a variation on the original plan ; presumably therefore
the temple was to have been carried on farther back,
and, instead of that, the required halls and chambers
were added at the side.
We may even see further than this, and restore
long processional
would have led
the original design with some probability (see PL.
XXV). The south annex appears to be the original
plan of the back part of the temple simply stuck on
at the side, with a minimum of alteration. The con-
nections are as follow :—
(1.) The breadth is very nearly that of the true
temple, within little more than the walls ; and a
slight diminution of the breadth at the back of a
temple is familiar elsewhere.
(2.) The continuation of the
way through the Osiris chapel
straight into the processional chamber of the barques.
(3.) The existing doorway into the south-east
court of the annex would fall just into the corner of
the back hall of the temple.
(4.) The unexplained chamber without any open-
ing at the N.W. corner of the temple would be led
into by the corridor of kings, by the existing door
out of the N.E. corner of that corridor.
(5.) Even the gateway built on outside of the
corridor of the Kings falls exactly into the place of
the front of the chapels in the back hall of the
temple.
Thus the whole plan might be put on to the back
of the temple, with every point of the structure
falling exactly into place, the processional way
leading straight from the hall where the procession
was marshalled, and the back way out to the Royal
Tombs closely in line with it. Above all, this ex-
plains the strange dumb chambers at the N.W.
corner; they were left useless and inaccessible
because the plan was altered.
34. Turning now to the plates, there are some
points of interest in the figures of the sacred barques,
PLS. II-VI. Much more is clearly shown in the
plates of sculptures than has been hitherto published ;
the work of drawing and preparing these was entirely
done by Mr. Laurence Christie, and my own work at
Abydos did not leave me even an hour or two for
making any comparison or revision. Hence I can
only annotate these plates from the same stand-point
as anyone else who knows the temple.
The chapels of the gods have a uniform type of
sculptures, which Mariette arranged in parallel texts.
The inner half of each chapel has on one or both
sides figures of the shrine or sacred barques of the
god, placed high up on the wall. Three of these are
here copied ; and also the sacred barque of the
mummied hawk from the hypostyle hall.
PL. II shows the shrine of Osiris on the south
,„<W*
:4*f11