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Sources:1. Borla, Mathilde : Les Statuettes Funéraires du Musée Égyptien de Turin In: Dossiers d'Archeologie
2003
2. KMT, vol. 14, pt. 1
3. Meskell, Lynn: Intimate archaeologies : the case of Kha and Merit. IN: World Archaeology, Vol. 29,
No. 3, Intimate relationships (Feb. 1998), p. 363-379.
4. Shaw, Ian, Nicholson, Paul: British Museum dictionary of ancient Egypt
London: British Museum Press, 1995.
5. Reeves, Nicholas: Ancient Egypt : the great discoveries : a year-by-year chronicle
London : Thames & Hudson, 2000.
6. Vassilika, Eleni: The tomb of Kha : the architect
Torino : Fondazione Museo delle Antichita Egizie, 2010.
7. Russo, Barbara: Kha (TT 8) and his colleagues : the gifts in his funerary equipment and related
artefacts from Western Thebes
London : Golden House Publications, 2012.
8 https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1107/1107.5831.pdf
9. Raffaella Bianucci, Michael E. Habicht, Stephen Buckley, Joann Fletcher, Roger Seiler, Lena M.
Öhrström, Eleni Vassilika, Thomas Böni, Frank J. Rühl. "Shedding New Light on the 18th Dynasty
Mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and His Spouse Merit", in PLOS-One, July 22, 2015
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131916
Images of Deir el-Medina:
past & present
Ptolemaic temple of Hathor
The most prominent temple in Deir el-Medina is the Ptolemaic Temple. It was dedicated to the goddesses Hathor and Maat.
The building itself is small, but it is one of the best-preserved examples of a temple from this period still standing today. It is surrounded by a high mud-brick wall. Its complex includes the sites of several New Kingdom temples and small chapels built by the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina on the northern side of their settlement.
The view of the northern side of the settlement as seen and photographed by Warwick Barnard during a balloon flight over the settlement in January 2007. Inside the mud-brick wall is the small building of the Ptolemaic temple.
Photography © Warwick Barnard 2007
The mud-brick enclosure wall and the entrance gate. The gate was built and decorated by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (80-58, 55-51 BC) and features scenes of the king offering sacrifices to various deities.
The temple itself was built and decorated in the 3rd century BC. Work was started during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (222-205 BC) and then was continued for the next 60 years under Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164, 163-145 BC) and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (170-164, 145-116 BC).
The small temple building lies
within a mud-brick enclosure wall
within which there are also
numerous New Kingdom chapels
erected by the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina. To read more about
these chapels, follow the link here.
Dozens of Greek, Demotic and
Coptic Christian graffiti cover the
walls of the temple.
Hathoric and floral columns and extensive decoration
are characteristic of this temple. This is the view
looking through the columns above the curtain wall.
The curtain wall is covered with reliefs depicting the king making offerings to various gods. Below is the eastern face of the curtain wall - Ptolemy VI Philometor facing Amun-Ra and Hathor.
View towards Mammisi (the birth house)
of Ptolemy IX Soter II (116-80 BC) and Cleopatra III. Both are shown here in the wall relief, facing Amun, Mut and Khonsu(who are not visible in the photo).
The temple itself is entered through a vestibule with two papyrus columns. The pronaos, beyond the vestibule, is defined by a pair of columns, pillars and curtain walls.
The view on the left looks from the vestibule through the pronaos into the central chapel.
Plan of the temple
drawn by Lenka Peacock:
The figures on the columns show Amenhotep, son of Hapu, and Imhotep, both architects who were deified after their deaths. The photo was taken in the vestibule, looking through the pronaos towards the North Chapel.
A painting by David Roberts
(1796-1864) sketching himself in the vestibule of the Temple in 1838.
Compare the inside of the temple
as photographed in February 2007...
This offering scene below comes from the lower part of the portico of the Pronaos. It dates from Ptolemy VI Philometor. The goddess is a female fecundity figure - the counterpart of all the images of Hapy that can be found around the lower part of the walls. The sign on her head stands for 'marshes', meaning that she represents one of the farms or estates that supported the temple. The calf in the marsh could represent Hathor, Neith or Mehet-Weret.
...with the interior of the temple as recorded by the Commission des arts et des sciences in Description de l'Egypte by the artists, who arrived in Egypt with Napoleon's army in July of 1798. They called the site "du temple de l'ouest" in their publication.
This is a detail of a hieroglyphic inscription from the southern side of the doorway to the Pronaos. This beautiful double glyph is a sign A80 with a phonetic value Htr. It is used as a determinative.
The western wall of the Pronaos is covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions. Its deep reliefs depict the king, Ptolemy VI Philometor, making offerings to
Hathor-Isis and Maat. Detail of the window - there are two Hathors and a lotus placed between them.
The west wall in the pronaos. On the left is the square Hathor column and in the foreground the stairs leading from the left side of the vestibule to the roof of the temple.
Pronaos - View of the reliefs on the west wall. The upper register from the right: Nun, Nut, Heh, Hauhet, Kek, Kauket and Hathor, all holding symbols of life, receive the worship of Ptolemy VI Philometor.
The decorated ceiling in the pronaos preserves ancient colours. Mineral based pigments were used to decorate the reliefs.
Pronaos - View of the reliefs on the north wall. The upper register: Osiris, Isis-Hathor, Horus, Nephthys-Maat.
The lower register: Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Montu, Tjenenyet. In both registers the gods are worshipped by Ptolemy VI Philometor.
The southern chapel
The doorway on the left leads into a long and narrow chapel. It is dedicated to Amun-Sokar-Osiris. The well-carved wall reliefs depict scenes from the judgement of the dead. Similar scenes are usually found on tomb walls or on papyrus scrolls. The carved figures, although Ptolemaic, are well proportioned and well modelled.
Part of a scene on the southern wall of the chapel.
The goddess Maat leads a figure of the deceased king (Ptolemy VI Philometor) towards the Hall of Judgment. Above the king, forty-two judges sit, ready to pronounce their verdict on his fate. Horus and Anubis weigh the deceased's heart. The heart is balanced on a scale against the feather of Maat.
The ibis-headed Thoth stands to the right and records the result.
A lion-hippopotamus-crocodile figure called Ammit sits nearby, ready to devour the heart of the unjust. The four sons of Horus stand above a lotus flower. The face of Osiris (not visible in the picture), seated on the throne.
The image below shows an animal-headed
genii, which can be seen in the upper left register of the of the doorway of the southern chapel.
A four-headed ram depicted on the lintel above the door (inside the chapel).
Detail of an offering table with blue lotus flowers in front of the throne of Osiris on the west wall of the southern chapel as decorated by Ptolemy IV Philopator.
The lintel over the central chapel door with seven heads of Hathor.
The central chapel
The central chapel was dedicated to Hathor by Ptolemy IV Philopator. The wall reliefs show Hathor receiving offerings from him, his sister Arsinoe, and Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (145 BC), who continued the decoration of the chapel.
Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat.
Ptolemy IV Philopator and the queen Arsinoe III are making offerings to Min Amun-Re.
Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun, Amunet, Montu-Re, Maat and Raet.
South wall. King Ptolemy IV Philopator offering to Hathor of Dendera and Horus.
Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat.
Ptolemy VI Philometor makes offerings to Amun-Ra, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat.
The reliefs were restored by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III.
The north chapel
The doorway on the right leads to the North Chapel dedicated to Amun-Ra-Osiris. The reliefs show the king in front of various deities including Hathor, Isis, Nepthys, Horus, Anubis, Mut, Amun and others.
Northern (right) wall of the chapel
Nut Osiris
Anubis Nepthys
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Horus Isis
Southern (left) wall of the chapel
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Hathor Amun-Ra
Amun-Ra Iat
Maat Isis
Detail of the papyrus and lily frieze.
Details of reliefs and inscriptions on the temple walls.
Wast (Weset) - the ancient
name for Thebes, modern Luxor.
The outer (rear) wall of the temple. Octavianus (who became Augustus in
27 BC and the first Emperor of Rome) offering to the goddesses Raet and Tjenenyet.
The remains of earlier structures on the north side of the temple within the enclosure wall.
The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock
Photography © Lenka and Andy Peacock
Sources:
1. Wilkinson, R. H. : The complete temples of Ancient Egypt.
London : Thames & Hudson, 2000.
2. Bomann, Ann H.: The private chapel in ancient Egypt : a study of the chapels in the workmen's village at el Amarna with special reference to Deir el-Medina and other sites.
London : Kegan Paul International, 1991.
3. Strudwick, Nigel and Helen: Thebes in Egypt : a guide to the tombs and temples of ancient Luxor
London : British Museum Press, 1999.
4. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999.
5. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko
Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994.
6. Ventura, Raphael: Living in a city of the dead : a selection of topographical and administrative terms in the documents of the Theban necropolis
Freiburg (Schweiz) : Universitatsverlag, 1986.
7. Černý, Jaroslav: Le culte d’Amenophis 1er chez les ouvriers de la nécropole thébaine,
BIFAO 27 (1927).
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