Temples and Temple Art
There are two temple traditions in ancient Egypt.
The sun temples of Dynasty 5 and Aten temples of Dynasty 18 probably
derive from the same concept that may have been introduced into
Egypt from elsewhere. The divine and royal cult complexes of the New
Kingdom, however, developed from the predynastic local shrine that
contained the cult statue; the leader of each village or community
would have erected a primitive shrine (probably constructed of a
matting of woven reeds attached to a wooded framework) in which he
enacted the rites to honor the local god. By contrast the later
temples were massive stone monuments, but they retained the same
basic plan and features of the earliest hut shrines. The most
powerful chieftain eventually became the king. His local god was
translated into the national deity, and so it was the king (or his
delegate, the high priest) who continued to perform the rituals in
the temples, offering food, drink, and clothing to the deity’s
statue.
Different Types of Temples The temples, like the tombs, were designed to last forever; they were therefore built of stone. Egyptologists of the nineteenth century categorized temples as “divine,” or “cultus” designating that the resident deity was worshiped by means of regular rituals carried out by the king or priest or “mortuary” where the king or priest performed rituals for a resident deity plus the dead, deified ruler who had built the temple, together with all the previous legitimate rulers, who were known as the “Royal Ancestors.” However, modern scholarship indicates that this division is misleading because it infers that each type of temple was limited either to the cult of a god or king. It also suggests that the recipient of the mortuary rituals was not divine and presupposes that the Egyptians themselves clearly distinguished between cultus and mortuary temples, which they did not. Both types of temples had varied and interwoven functions, and such a division and categorization now appears to be false and too simplistic. Egyptologists, therefore, now generally use the term cult complex for all cultic enclosures and structures, and for more specific purposes, they replace the terms mortuary temple with royal cult complex and divine or cultus temple with divine cult complex. The divine cult complex was essentially the place where the gods were worshiped, and where sometimes the cult of the (usually) living king was performed. Here, the god’s statue was housed and protected; as a place of great sanctity, it provided a location of spiritual potency where the king or priest could approach the god and through the rituals present offerings from which the god would derive benefit and sustenance. It was believed that, in return, the god conferred bounty upon the king, Egypt, and the people. Without such a relationship and the regular performance of the rituals, it was feared that disaster would befall the country. The royal cult complex had an additional function: Here, the funerary rites were performed and perpetual offerings were made to ensure the continued sustenance of the divine, deceased king’s spirit. Originally, in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, these temples were attached to the pyramid as part of the king’s burial complex. However, once the kings ceased to build pyramids and in the New Kingdom began to construct rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings, there was no longer sufficient space to build the temples or offering chapels adjacent to the tombs. Instead, these temples, became separate buildings usually erected on the west bank at Thebes. They continued to provide a spiritual place where the dead, deified ruler was worshiped and received perpetual funerary offerings. Some of these temples also had a cultus function: They were also dedicated to the cult of the chief local god, and thus they incorporated rituals for both this deity and the king. Both the divine and the royal cult complexes had the same basic layout and architectural features, but there were some minor differences between them. Divine cult complexes had space and provision for the rituals to be offered to the resident god, whereas royal cult complexes included additional areas for the worship of the dead, deified king and for his predecessors, the Royal Ancestors.
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Temple Architecture
and Design Mythology and ritual requirements dictated the basic form, layout, and architectural features of the temple so that there are only minor variations between temples of different dates and at various sites. There are three major mythological interpretations of the temple: It was the “Mansion of the God” where the deity resided; it was the “Island of Creation” where the god on the “First Occasion” had created all the elements of life and the universe; and it was a microcosm of the universe or a reflection of the heavens. As the House of God it fulfilled the same function as the domestic home for its owner or the tomb for the deceased: It provided shelter, protection, and, as at the tomb, a place of worship. The design of the temple thus followed the pattern of the house; enclosed within a mud brick wall, the temple was rectangular and provided accommodation for the god equivalent to a bedroom, reception area, and storerooms for possessions. However, the plan was modified to accommodate a central processional route and to provide space for the rituals, so the building was elongated in plan. Leading from one or two courts (open to the sky) at the front, a central doorway on the main axis of the building gave access to the area that was covered by a roof. Here a processional route passed through one or two hypostyle (columned) halls (the reception area) into the sanctuary (bedroom) situated centrally at the rear of the temple. Arranged around the sanctuary were several chambers where the god’s possessions were stored. That the temple was the Island of Creation was also reflected in the architecture. The enclosure wall was constructed in sections in which the bricks, arranged in alternative concave and convex sections, formed wavy lines which represented the primeval ocean from which the island had emerged. The heavy stone columns in the hypostyle halls had palmiform, lotiform, or papyriform capitals which represented the lush vegetation on the island, while the ceiling was decorated to symbolize the sky above the island, and a frieze of plants carved on the base of the walls recreated the island vegetation. Even the floor level, gradually ascending from the front of the temple to the sanctuary and then sloping down again at the rear, reproduced the shape of the island with the god’s resting place at the highest point.
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Wall Scenes
The wall scenes in every temple had specific functions: In some areas (hypostyle halls) they represent historical events such as the coronation ceremony or foundation of the temple, whereas in others they depict the different rituals that were once performed in those parts of the building. Arranged in two or three horizontal registers on each wall, the scenes always show the king (as the god’s divine son and rightful heir) performing the rites for the god. He alone, because of his uniquely divine nature, would be efficacious in presenting the offerings, although in actuality it would have been the high priest as his delegate who usually performed the rites. The scenes show the figures in poses that are in strict accordance with the principles governing religious art. The accompanying inscriptions give the title of each rite and the speeches of the king and gods in the scene as they address each other. This selection of scenes would have been taken from a complete version of the ritual, which was preserved on papyrus. .
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Temples and Temple Art
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