Monday, August 15, 2016

Temple Of Ramses III .. The Karnak Temple Complex .. Part ( 16 )

We are return to the small temple of Ramses III, which interrupts the row of Bubastite columns on the south side of the court . Being of 20th dynasty date, this temple was obviously here before the court came into being, and it is plain that Ramses III considered the great temple to be completed by the pylon ( No. II ) of Ramses I which, in his day, formed the west front of the temple ; otherwise he would never have placed his temple where it was bound to be absorbed in any subsequent extensions .


In spite of the smallness of this temple, which only measures 170 feet in length, it is, like the temple of Khonsu, a characteristic example of a typical and simple Egyptian temple of the Later Empire, built throughout on a single impulse, and uncomplicated by later additions .

The pylon, which has been considerably ruined in its upper portions, is adorned by reliefs of Ramses III slaughtering captives, whom he grasps by the hair in a manner with which we shall become familiar at Karnak, in the presence of Amûn, who delivers to him three rows of captive cities, each represented by a human figure rising out of a cartouche with the name of the city .

Ramses III bears the Double Crown on the left-hand tower, and the Red Crown on the right . He wears the Double Crown above the nemes headdress, according to the ungraceful custom of the later imperial period .

In front of the pylon stand two somewhat clumsy and ill-proportioned statues of the king, in sandstone . The statues have once been coloured .

We now enter the Peristyle Forecourt . The roofed gallery which runs round the court has its architraves supported on each side by eight square pillars, each bearing on its front an Osirid figure of the king . These figures have been much mutilated, and only three now retain their heads, which are badly damaged .

The reliefs on the back wall of the pylon show Ramses receiving from Amûn the symbol for jubilees, indicating that a long reign was promised the king . The east wall of the court has a procession in which the king leads the priests who carry the sacred barques of Amûn, Mût, and Khonsu ; while on the western wall the procession is one in which the statue of Mîn, the desert-god indentified with Amûn-Rê, is carried to its shrine .

We pass up a gently inclined plane into the Vestibule, or Pronaos . Its roof is supported in front by four Osirid figures against pillars, and behind this row is another of four papyrus-bud columns . The pillars in front are united by screen-walls, with reliefs . Between the columns of the vestibule and its back wall are the lower parts of two black granite statues of Sekhmet . The reliefs on the wall are badly damaged .

The doorway by which we pass into the next hall has on its jambs figures of the king, which were once inlaid with bronze or gold . Passing through this entrance we find ourselves in the Hypostyle Hall, which has eight columns with bud capitals, and reliefs of the usual type, with the king offering in the presence of various gods .

From the hypostyle, we reach the chapels of the Theban triad, decorated with scenes of the king offering before the sacred barques of Amûn, Mût, and Khonsu ( middle, east, and west respectively ) . A staircase leads from a room beside the chapel of Mût .








Part ( 17 ) .. The Southern Buildings Of The Great Temple Of Amûn .. Coming SoOoOon .....

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