The temple and its
surrounding area are today a jumble of blocks, columns and mounds of rubble,
but although few architectural features remain intact, the site has fortunately
revealed much of its complex history .
While blocks of Old,
Middle and New Kingdom structures are present, these all appear to be reused;
and the earliest building on the site seems to have been the work of Psusennes
I ( whose foundation deposits were found beneath the sanctuary of the great
Amun temple ) and other rulers of the 21st and early 22nd
dynasties .
In the 30th
dynasty Nectanebo I constructed a temple of Khonsu-Nefer-Hotep on the northern
side of Amun temple ( built on a north-south axis ) and utilized stone from
earlier structures of Sheshonq V and Psammetichus I in the construction of a
sacred lake to the east .
A little further to
the east, beyond the inner enclosure wall, are remains of a granite temple of
Osorkon II containing Old Kingdom palmiform columns reused first by Ramesses II
and again by Osorkon himself .
Here also are the
remains of a section of yet another enclosure wall and, to the southeast, the
ruins of a temple dedicated to Horus of the eastern border region of Tcharu,
built by Nectanebo II and completed by Ptolemy II .
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