IMAGES OF POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT: FOCUS (Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel) TITLE or DESIGNATION: Temple of Ramses II CULTURE or ART HISTORICAL PERIOD: New Kingdom Egyptian DATE: c. 1290- 1224 B.C.E. LOCATION: Abu Simbel, Egypt ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacadem y.org/test-prep/ap-art- history/ancient- mediterranean- AP/ancient-egypt- AP/v/ancient-thebes- unescotbs TITLE or DESIGNATION: Temple of Amun-Re CULTURE or ART HISTORICAL PERIOD: New Kingdom Egyptian DATE: c. 1550-1250 B.C.E. LOCATION: Karnak, Egypt IMAGES OF POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT: SELECTED TEXT (Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel) TEMPLE OF RAMSES II at ABU SIMBEL and the TEMPLE OF AMUN-RE at KARNAK Online Links: Abu Simbel temples - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ramesses 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) Temple of Ramses II (Abu Simbel), c. 1290-1224 BCE In the course of his long and prosperous reign, Ramesses 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 Ramesses 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. Ramesses 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, Ramesses 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. 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 Ramesses 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. The entrance itself is crowned by a bas- relief 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. 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.” 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. 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. 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. The king of the Hittite Empire was Hattusilis III; the Egyptian king was Rameses 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. Lion Gate (Boghazkoy, Turkey), c.1400 BCE, limestone 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 Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah. 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. Mummied remains of Ramesses II He is also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses's throne name. Temple of Amun-Re, Karnak, Egypt, begun 15th century BCE 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. 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. Once past the first pylon, the visitor stood in one of the temple courtyards. This open- air 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. Filing Karnak’s gigantic hypostyle hall were massive columns, which supported a roof of stone slabs carried on lintels.