temples 399The priests dressed and cleaned the god’s statue and
shrine each day. Most statues of the gods were clothed in
colors deemed appropriate to their particular cult or
region. Food was then offered to the god. The trays of
vegetables, meat, fruits, breads, cakes, etc., were taken
the next day to the various mortuary complexes in the
region or to the tombs of the deceased Egyptians who
had contracted with priests to conduct daily rituals on
their behalf.
When the god’s meal ended, the temple was swept,
scrubbed, and then closed. The floors of the temple were
normally sanded and washed every day by lesser-ranked
priests. At night the god was again saluted and offered
gifts and tributes, but the sanctuary, the chamber in
which the image of the god rested, was not opened a sec-
ond time. It was enough for the priests to recite the
prayers and hymns in front of his shrine.
When the god was taken out of the temple for a pro-
cession or a visit to another temple, the queen or ranking
woman of the area escorted or greeted the statue. SISTRUMS,
drums, horns, and other MUSICALINSTRUMENTSaccompa-
nied the god and were played during cultic ceremonies.
temples They were the gathering place for Egyptian
cultic rites, religious structures considered the “HORIZON”
of a divine being, the point at which the god came into
existence during the creation. Temples had links to the
past, and the rituals conducted within their courts were
formulas handed down through many generations. The
temple was also a mirror of the universe and a representa-
tion of the PRIMEVAL MOUNDwhere creation began.
Originally, temples were crude huts that were sur-
rounded by short walls or enclosures. The emblems of
the gods, the totems, were placed on a pole in front of the
gateway, and early temples also had two poles, bearing
flags and insignias. When the Egyptians learned to batter
(or gently slope) walls and to raise up enormous struc-
tures of stone, the temples became great monuments of
cultic ceremonies. Temples and tombs were the only
buildings in ancient Egypt to be made of durable materi-
als because of their importance in society. Some temples
were created as boxlike shrines, with central courts for
statues; at times they were elaborately columned, particu-
larly the massive temples of the various state gods. Still
others evolved out of shrines originally made for the
barks of the gods.
The basic plan of the Egyptian temple, decreed by
the gods themselves, did not vary much in any given
area. Most temples had a brick enclosure wall, then a
PYLON, the slightly battered or slanted gateway fitted with
grooves for the mandatory flagstaffs. The pylons of the
larger temples had doors originally made of wood, but in
the later eras these were fashioned out of bronze or gold.
Before the pylon was the forecourt or reception area.
When the temple was opened for the occasional public
ceremony, the people would enter through this court. In
the early eras such courts were simple squares; in time
they became great colonnades.The basic elements or designs that were used in the con-
struction and maintenance of all cultic temples on the Nile
in all historic periods were all regimented from the earliest
eras. Each element served a particular purpose in the cul-
tic events constructed on the site, and each demonstrated
the consistent power of the traditions of Egyptian history.
These elements were
landing stage—a small dock on the banks of the Nile that
allowed the barks of the gods to moor at the temple
site. The landing stage could also include an avenue
of sphinxes that connected the dock to the temple or,
at times, linked one temple to another.
flagstaff—called senut and normally displayed in pairs
before a temple to inform the people of the particular
deity in residence in the temple. Flagstaffs, tall and
made of cedar, were considered a vital aspect of any
temple facade.
pylons—made to front the gates or to serve as entrances to
different sections of the temple. Slightly battered, or
set at an angle, the pylons formed the symbol of thehorizon of each temple. Statues and obelisks, as well
as flagstaffs, adorned such pylons.
enclosing walls—mud-brick barriers used to protect the
sacred precincts of temples. These enclosed the actual
complex of the cultic structures, including groves,
lakes, and gardens.
forecourts—areas adjoining the pylons at the main
entrances or at the openings of each new section of
the temple. These forecourts often contained columns
and statues.
hypostyle halls—large areas that served as naves or corri-
dors linking parts of the temple. Heavily columned,
the hypostyle halls could be roofed or open to air.
Some of these halls sheltered barks of the gods. The
columns represented the forests that were plentiful on
the Nile in the early eras of settlement.
sanctuaries—small, reserved chambers that were posi-
tioned within the core of the temple. Most sanctuar-
ies had three auxiliary chapels and were reserved to
high-ranking priests. The image of the temple deity
reposed there.ELEMENTS OF THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLES