The rock-cut interior (FIG. 3-23) of the temple is also of colos-
sal size. The distance from the facade to the back wall is an astound-
ing 206 feet. In the main gallery there are 32-foot-tall figures of the
king in the guise of Osiris, carved as one with the pillars, facing
each other across the narrow corridor. The pillars, carved from the
cliff like the pharaoh’s facade portraits, have no load-bearing func-
tion. In this respect, they resemble the columns in the tombs at Beni
Hasan (FIG. 3-19). The statue-column, in its male (atlantid) or fe-
male (caryatid) variants, reappears throughout the history of art.
Often, as here, the human figure is attached to a column or pier. At
other times the figure replaces the architectural member and forms
the sole source of support (FIG. 5-54).
FAMILY OF RAMSESRamses, like other pharaohs, had many
wives, and he fathered scores of sons. The pharaoh honored the
most important members of his family with immense monuments
3-22Façade of the Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, 19th
Dynasty, ca. 1290–1224 bce.Sandstone, colossi 65high.
Four rock-cut images of Ramses II dominate the facade of his mortuary
temple at Abu Simbel in Nubia. The colossal portraits are a dozen times
the height of a man, even though the pharaoh is seated.
3-23Interior of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, 19th
Dynasty, ca. 1290–1224 bce.Sandstone, pillar statues 32high.
Inside Ramses II’s mortuary temple are 32-foot-tall figures of the long-
reigning pharaoh in the guise of Osiris, carved as one with the pillars,
facing each other across the narrow corridor.
The New Kingdom 69