400 templesOther vestibules, colonnades, courts, and chambers
opened onto the front entrance, usually leading back-
ward at a slight incline. The HYPOSTYLE HALLSthat domi-
nated the major shrines such as KARNAK were not
inclined but part of the entrance structures. These
opened onto the smaller rooms, which were never
opened to the public and never used as stages for major
cultic rituals. Each new section of the temple was ele-
vated higher from the ground so that its rooms became
smaller, dimmer, and more mysterious. Such chambers
were part of an avenue of rooms that led steadily upward
to the higher, smaller, and darker sanctuaries, restricted
to the initiated. The holy of holies, the single room rep-
resenting the Primeval Mound, was at the rear, remote,
shadowy, and secure against the curiosity of the common
worshipers. Few Egyptians saw such sacred chambers.
The gods were hidden there from man throughout
Egypt’s history.
Egyptian worshipers did not feel compelled in
any era to enter the secret rooms or to gaze upon the
images of the gods. They welcomed the mysterious
manifestations of the divine being as they witnessed
them in the cultic rites and in the architecture of the
temple. The use of aquatic plant designs in the columns
and lower wall reliefs alluded to the watery abyss out of
which the universe was created. The river, the sun, and
the verdant earth were all represented in the chambers
and courts, making the temple precinct a complete
microcosm.
Some alterations in temple architecture were made
over the centuries, but the designs conformed to the orig-
inal general plan. The shrines of the Early Dynastic
Period (2920–2575 B.C.E.) had three contiguous cham-
bers leading to the sanctuary and hidden shrine of the
god. During the Old Kingdom Period (2575–2134 B.C.E.)
the number of such chambers was increased to five. By
the New Kingdom Period, the era of Karnak and other
vast complexes, the temples could hold any number of
chambers. The central shrines in the New Kingdom
Period (1550–1070 B.C.E.) were box-like, carved out of
granite blocks that weighed 50 or more tons. These tem-
ples also contained magazines, storerooms, work cham-
bers for the priests and scribes, administrative bureaus,
and a brick-lined pit for the barks of the god. The larger
temples also contained sacred lakes.
When a new temple was dedicated, ritual and cultic
celebrations were staged on the site, attended by the
king or his representative. All of the deities of the past
were depicted by priests wearing masks, or by tokens
of the divine beings in attendance. Every god of Egypt
thus took part in the consecration of the new shrine,
as the gods had manifested themselves at the begin-
ning of the world. There were also particular deities
who were involved in the creation of new temples
and were thus invoked on that solemn occasion. Rit-
uals were held every day in the existing temples of
Egypt, and the priests followed a traditional pattern of
worship and service, with the accent on cleansing and
purification.0 100 Kilometers(^0) 100 Miles
N
Akhenaten's Great Temple
(Tellel- Amar na)
TTemple of Amenhotep III
emple of Amenhotep III
(Luxor)(Luxor)
TTemple of Sobekemple of Sobek
(Kom Ombo)(KomOmbo)
Great TGreat Temple of Ramesses IIemple of Ramesses II
(Abu Simbel)(Abu Simbel)
TTemple of Atenemple of Aten
(Sesebi)(S esebi)
Great Pyramid of
GreatPyramid of
Khufu and SphinxKhufu an d Sphin x
(Giza)(Giza )
Sacred sites in Egypt, c. 2600 B.C.E.–300 C.E.
AlexandriaGreat Pyramid of
Khufu and Sphinx
(Giza)
Step Pyramid
of Djoser
(Saqqara near Memphis)
Bent Pyramid
(Dahshur)Akhenaten’s Great Temple
(Tell el-Amarna)Home of god Osiris (Abydos)Colossi of Memnon (Qurna)Temple of Hathor
(Dendereh)Great Temple of Amon (Karnak)
Temple of Amenhotep III
Thebes (Luxor)
Temple of Horus
(Edfu)Temple of Sobek
(Kom Ombo)Temple of Isis
(Philae)Temple of Aten
(Sesebi)Great Temple of Ramesses II
(Abu Simbel)
Temple of Queen Nefertari
(Abu Simbel)Ni
le
R.Mediterranean SeaRed Sea