One of the Greatest Discoveries of Egypt

When you hear of Egypt, what are the things that come into your mind?
Common ideas that come into one’s mind are the pyramids, the pharaohs, the
deserts and the Nile River. But that’s just it. Some people don’t bother going
farther than that. They don’t try to dig deeper and ask themselves “What about
the pyramids, the pharaohs, the deserts and the Nile River?” Seriously, what
about those things? How are they important or relevant to Egypt? Are they even
really important or relevant to Egypt?

The only way to answer those questions is by studying and looking farther into
Egyptian history. Egypt is one of the few countries that have made great
discoveries. Like China, the discoveries of Egypt are very important to the society
nowadays. Although Egypt has made many great discoveries, I would like to
focus on the Great Temple at Abu Simbel.

I find the Great Temple at Abu Simbel very interesting since it gave
historians many insights about pharaohs. For me, I find the pharaohs very
interesting since they were considered a warrior, god and king to the Egyptians.
Now the question was how was this possible? The Great Temple at Abu Simbel,
which was built during the time of the pharaoh Rameses II, explains how a
pharaoh can be both god and man. In this report, I will focus on the pharaoh
Rameses II and the Great Temple itself.
 THE PHARAOH RAMESES II

The pharaoh Rameses II, was considered one of the greatest pharaohs
Egypt ever had. In fact, he was called Rameses the Great, due to his
achievements. He was a son of a pharaoh, therefore, inheriting the throne after
the death of his father. He was the son of Seti I and Queen Tuya.

Rameses II was the third king of the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. He was
named after his grandfather, Rameses I. At the age of fourteen, he was
appointed as the successor of the throne by his father, giving him the title prince;
although, before he assumed full power he was already acting as a co-ruler of
Egypt, alongside with his father.

He was named the pharaoh of Egypt at the age of twenty and ruled for 67
years. Rameses II was a prolific ruler who fought to claim territory in Africa and
Western Asia. His main opponents were the Hittites and Asia Minor. It was during
his fifth year of rule, that his armies invaded Syria and attacked the Hittites,
causing the bloody war of the Battle of Q’desh (Kadesh).

Despite Egypt’s eventual retreat, Rameses II often spoke of his own

heroism which included some stories that seemed to be implausible. An example
of one of his implausible story included a tale of him being cornered alone, yet he
managed to fight of many opponents single-handedly. Rameses’s army attacked
the Hittites again several years after the Battle of Q’desh (Kadesh). But after
many years of trying to fight the Hittites, he consented to a peace treaty with
them. This treaty led to prosperity and general peace for both the Egyptians and
Hittites.

Rameses II was said to have many wives, and he had more than 100
children. Two of his wives happened to be his daughters, who were promoted to
be his wife; and one of his wives was the daughter of the King of the Hittites. It
was said that he died at an age older than ninety; therefore he outlived many of
his children, wives and family members. Despite the fact that he had several
wives, his chief wife and consort was Nefertari.
 During his reign as pharaoh, he celebrated 14 Sed Festivals. A Sed
Festival is a festival celebrated after 30 years of a pharaoh’s reign, and three
years thereafter. The Sed Festivals were meant to celebrate the continued
success of a pharaoh, and also to rejuvenate the pharaoh’s strength.

Although he is mostly known for his military might, he lived a life of

extreme wealth and in addition he showed his need for divine architecture. His
love for architecture and power allowed him to erect more structure than any
other pharaoh. His most well-known structure was the structure at Abu Simbel.
The temple at Abu Simbel was built after he declared his divinity. He finished the
projects that were set forth by his father, and erected many more monuments. It
was obvious that Rameses II wanted to leave a mark as a reminder of his
strength, wealth and greatness.

There are many colossal statues of Rameses throughout Egypt. He had

the Ramesseum built at Thebes as his funerary temple as well as other temples,
including 6 in Nubia, two of which are at Abu Simbel. Building temples was a
luxury that could be done only when Egypt was prosperous, so the large number
attests to the success of his reign. Pi-Ramesse is the name of a home he had
built for his family in the Nile delta.

The tomb of Rameses II is found in the Valley of Kings and remains

empty. Although his tomb was empty, his mummy was found. Rameses II’s
mummy is thought to be one of the best- preserved mummies ever found.
 THE GREAT TEMPLE AT ABU SIMBEL

Abu Simbel lies south of Aswan on the western bank of the Nile, 180 miles
south of the First Cataract in what was Nubia. The site was known as Meha in
ancient times and was first documented in the 18th Dynasty,
when Ay and Horemheb had rock-cut chapels hewn in the hills to the south. It
contains two temples, one is Temple of Rameses II and the other is the temple of
Nefertari.

The Temple of Rameses II, which is the bigger of the two, contains four
colossal statues that are each 69 feet tall. The entranceway to the temple is
designed in such a way that on the dates February 22 and October 22, the light
would shine into the inner sanctuary and light up three statues seated on the
bench, including one of the pharaohs. It has been hypothesized that these dates
may represent the coronation and birth of the pharaoh, Rameses II.

The temple was not seen by Europeans until J.J. Burckhardt discovered it
in 1813. However, the temple was first explored in 1817 by the Egyptologist
Giovanni Battista Belzoni. The Temple of Rameses II was built during the
pharaoh’s fifth year of reign but it was only completed during his thirty-fifth year of
reign. The four colossal statues are representations of Rameses II himself.
According to Burckhardt, the first statue on the left “was the most expressive,
youthful countenance, approaching nearer to the Grecian model of beauty than
that of any Egyptian figure I have seen.” An ancient earthquake appeared to
have damaged the statues, causing one to be demolished from the waist up.

Between the legs and on each side of the statues are mini statues of the
family members of Rameses II, including his special wife Nefertari, some of his
children, and his mother. While beneath these giant sculptures are carved figures
of bound captives.

The temple built by Ramses, however, was dedicated to the sun gods
Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte. The forecourt or terrace which fronted the temple
contained two tanks for the ablutions of the priests. On the northern side of this
terrace stood a small sun-chapel, and on the south, stood a chapel of the god
Thoth. Above the entrance, a figure of the falcon-headed sun-god Ra is shown
being worshipped by flanking images of Rameses. At the top of the temple
terrace is a row of baboon statues in adoring attitudes, which has been said to
welcome the rising sun.

The first hall within the temple contains eight large statues of the king as
Osiris, four on each side, which also serve as pillars to support the roof. The
walls are decorated in relief with scenes showing the king in battle, including the
great battle of Kadesh on the north, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the
south wall, and also presenting prisoners to the gods. On the north entrance wall
in this Hypostyle hall a scene shows Rameses in the presence of Amun, to whom
the king appealed during his battle at Kadesh against the Hittites.

Behind the first hall is a second smaller hall with ritual offering scenes. In
one scene, both Rameses and Nefertari are depicted before the sacred barque
of Amun, and in another, before the sacred barque of Ra-Horakhaty. Three doors
lead from there into a vestibule, and then one reaches the sanctuary.

The sanctuary contains a small altar and in its rear niche are four statues.
These cult images represent Rameses II himself, and the three state gods of
the New Kingdom, Ra-Horakhty of Heliopolis, Ptah of Memphis and Amun-
Ra of Thebes. Before the statues rests a block upon where the sacred barque
itself rest.

The other temple at Abu Simbel which lies north to the Temple of Ramese
II is the Temple of Nefertari has been built for queen Nefertari. Its front includes
two statues of the queen and four statues of the pharaoh, each standing at 33
feet tall, and miniature statues of the royal family. Each is set in buttresses
carved with hieroglyphics. An inscription over the entrance reads "Ramesses II,
he has made a temple, excavated in the mountain, of eternal workmanship, for
the chief queen Nefertari, beloved of Mu, in Nubia, forever and ever, Nefertari for
whose sake the very sun does shine."
 Inside, Nefertari’s temple has a single pillared hall, with carved Hathor
heads atop the pillars. On the sides facing the center of the hypostyle; Rameses
is shown smiting his enemies and offering before various gods, while Nefertari is
shown, graceful and slender, with hands raised. Three doors lead to a vestibule
with ancillary rooms at either end.

The sanctuary is complete, though two spaces were left on its side walls
for doors to rooms, which were never cut. The inner chamber contains a number
of images inter-relating the royal couple and the gods. On the rear wall, Hathor is
depicted in high relief as a cow emerging from the western mountain, with the
king standing beneath her chin. Nefertari is shown repeatedly participating in the
divine rituals on an equal footing with the king. On the left wall, Nefertari is seen
worshipping before Mut and Hathor, and on the right, Rameses worships before
images of his deified self and his wife.

However, Abu Simbel today is no longer in the same location as it was in

ancient times. “Following the decision to build a new High Dam at Aswan in the
early 1960s, the temples were dismantled and relocated in 1968 on the desert
plateau 64 meters (about 200 feet) above and 180 meters (600 feet) west of their
original site,” writes Robert Morkot in an article in the "Oxford Encyclopedia of
Ancient Egypt" (2001, Oxford University Press). The area where they were
originally located is now flooded.

Hawass notes that moving the temples was a massive job, one that
involved cutting it into pieces between 3 to 20 tons in weight and re-assembling
them precisely as they were. It took almost five years, involved about 3,000
workers and cost (in the 1960s) about $42 million. He notes in his book that it
was a great success, one reporter present at its completion wrote that
“everything looks just as it did before; it is enough to make one doubt that the
temples were moved at all.”
 PHOTOS

Exterior of the Temple of Rameses II

Interior of the Temple of Rameses II

Temple of Nefertari
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.kingtutone.com/pharaohs/ramses2/synopsis/

http://www.nndb.com/people/174/000162685/

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/egypt/ig/Ancient-Egypt/Ramses-II.htm

http://www.kingtutone.com/pharaohs/ramses2/

http://www.ancient.eu.com/Abu_Simbel/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/ramesses_01.shtml

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/abusimbel.htm

http://www.ancient.eu.com/Abu_Simbel/

http://www.livescience.com/37360-abu-simbel.html

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/abusimbel/ramses/ramses.html

http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/abusimbel.html
 “IN COMPLIANCE
TO THE
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
IN
HISTORY”

SUBMITTED BY:
STEPHANIE ALYSSA T. ACOSTA

SUBMITTED TO:
Ms. JANICE AYCO