Egyptians are very religious people. Their whole life was built precisely on religious views. And the main shrines were considered temples and palaces. Temples, of course, are shrines of various deities. But the palace was also a holy place. The Egyptian pharaoh was the son of the sun god - Amon Ra. This means that the pharaoh himself and his home were a religious place.
The ruler himself, by the way, often attended ceremonies in Temples. It was believed that with him the rituals would be more effective. The temples of Ancient Egypt were the most visited places. Representatives of all segments of the population sought to visit them almost every day. And no matter where the temple was located or what god it served, people always gravitated there.
Temples in Ancient Egypt
The temple in ancient Egypt served different functions. It is a spiritual, economic and social center. All the land, in fact, belonged only to the clergy and the pharaoh. But with the exception of the lands of nobles. The largest temples were very rich. All artisans and scribes received clothing and food from the temple storehouses. Some representatives of the clergy collected taxes. They did this on behalf of the monarch. The main clergy had a very serious attitude. They distributed wealth and lands at their discretion.
All temples were built gradually. If a place was considered holy, then an altar was erected there, then a small wooden structure appeared. And during the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, a huge temple already stood there. The architecture of such structures was amazing. The edges were straight, and all the walls were painted with beautiful designs.
For a long time, without days off, and sometimes around the clock, workers work on the construction of the temple. Many workers spent a long time building temples. The construction was on a grand scale. The pharaohs spared no expense, and the temples did not stand aside either. Since each temple reflected the attitude of believers to a specific deity. And there were quite a few of them in Egyptian mythology. Here, for example, which became the main expression of justice.
According to legend, Maat was the daughter of the god Amun Ra. And Pharaoh was his son. And this means that Pharaoh and Maat are brother and sister. So the pharaoh spared no expense on the construction of temples for the entire society of Ancient Egypt; it was an expression of justice. Everyone believed that there should be certain rules of behavior in society. And every representative of Egyptian society had to comply with them. Each segment of the population has its own position in relation to other segments.
The role of the Temple in the country of Ancient Egypt
The temple is the main shrine for the Egyptian. Everyone visited him - from young to old. Religion was closely intertwined with ideology in Ancient Egypt. For example, during the time of Ramesses III, a population census was carried out. In Thebes, they counted about 100 thousand artisans and about half a million heads of cattle in two temples. So we can assume that temples were perhaps the richest institutions in Ancient Egypt. In addition, the temples had their own gardens, workshops and also ships. Ships were needed for movement; this was the main route - by sea. Temples also collected taxes. All settlements were subject to a special tax. And such fees brought them fabulous income.
The temples owned many acres of land. Hundreds and thousands worked on it. From morning until night they cultivated the land there and then harvested the crops. According to religious beliefs, the entire earth belonged to the sun god Ra. And the priests had to ensure that the land was properly cultivated and generated income. Each pharaoh also sought to show his loyalty to the gods. They brought gifts to the temples, very expensive ones. And so that there would be no reminder of the gifts of his predecessors, they simply destroyed them.
So the temple was a mixture of styles, there was a lot of luxury there. And it didn’t fit into one coherent picture. To be honest, watching such luxury is not very pleasant. It somehow even puts pressure on the common man. Although this was nothing new for the Egyptians to observe.
Worship in the temple of Amun-Ra, the god of Ancient Egypt
In the temple, no matter what god it was dedicated to, there was always a separate sanctuary. There was a statue of the main deity there. For example, a temple was built consisting of several compartments. The farthest room served as the main sanctuary, where the god Amun-Ra was worshiped. This is actually the main god in Ancient Egypt, he was the god of the Sun and patronized Thebes. And just as mentioned above, the pharaoh was also considered the son of Ra.
There was little light in the Sanctuary of Ra; a special altar was located in the farthest corner. The situation inside the sanctuary became oppressive. This was no accident. By the time the believer reaches the altar in such an environment, he will be psychologically broken. And once near the altar, the believer will be very pious and completely ready to meet Amon Ra. At the altar there is a statue of Amon Ra - he is also called the “king of kings”.
Everything around is decorated with precious stones and gold, very rich decoration. The worshipers stand in front of the statue and read a prayer, then bow and turn around and quietly leave. Any visitor to the temples of Egypt will be surprised at how expensive everything is furnished there, it cannot even be compared with the same Greek temples.
The people of Egypt are a very rich people, but also generous. This is clearly visible in the temples, in that no one spares wealth to show their respect to the gods. And the Gods of Egypt are independent beings and also very generous. They love their people and reward them in return. In general, religion permeated the entire life of every inhabitant of Ancient Egypt.
All about temples in Ancient Egypt
We talked about temples in one of ancient civilizations- Egypt. Religion is the most integral part of the life of an ordinary Egyptian. There are many different gods in religion. The most important person in the pantheon is Amon Ra - the patron of the Sun. The priests were in a good position; they served the gods. And they lived on donations from pharaohs, nobles and ordinary people. The temples were decorated with gold and precious metals and were very luxurious.
Temples of Ancient Egypt video
The religious buildings of the inhabitants of the Nile Valley are the magnificent temples of Ancient Egypt, which will be discussed briefly. They were erected both for religious purposes, as worship of deities, and for the tombs of the pharaohs, whom the Egyptians recognized as the representatives of God on earth.
The central place in Egyptian temples was the sanctuary, which was a room with sculptures depicting the gods. As architectural traditions developed, the sanctuary began to take on a different look - it began to include a number of buildings, including monumental ones. Not all categories of people were allowed into some of them; for example, ordinary residents were forbidden to do this so as not to desecrate the premises with their presence. Only special people close to the deities - priests - were allowed to conduct religious ceremonies. On the territory of the temples there were fields where everything necessary for the life of the priests was cultivated. Processed them simple people. Thanks to this, the temples were self-sufficient and independent.
On the territory of the city of Thebes, which was once the capital of Ancient Egypt, there is a temple complex called the Temple of Karnak. Its area is about eighty hectares. It ranks second in popularity among tourists after the pyramids. The complex includes the main temple dedicated to the god Amun and 25 other small buildings. This structure was discovered during excavations in the 19th century, and it is of great cultural significance, especially considering that workers erected it by hand.
There is another temple located in Thebes. Today's name of the city is Luxor, which is why the structure is called Luxor Temple. It was founded by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and his descendants decorated it and supplemented it with 74 columns and sculptures depicting pharaohs. The god Amun was also worshiped in this temple. Today, this building is very popular among tourists - every summer there is a special festival dedicated to the life of Ancient Egypt - rituals of worship of the gods are staged and daily life priests and ordinary residents of those times.
Temples were also erected in honor of God, the lord of the underworld, Osiris. One such structure is the temple at Abydos, built by Pharaoh Seti. This pharaoh is the father of the famous ruler of Egypt, Ramses II. In fact, this temple is a funeral structure for Pharaoh Seti himself. It has seven sanctuaries, and each has its own separate entrance. Despite the fact that the temple is dedicated to Osiris, it also contains a sanctuary of the main god of the Egyptians, Amun-Ra. The Abydos Temple of Osiris is of great value to researchers, as it preserves a huge number of wall images and reliefs, practically untouched by time.
At the moment, the most expensive temple for UNESCO is the rock-cut temple in Abu Simbel. This is due to the fact that the building was in danger of destruction at its previous location, and a decision was made to move it. The rock was dismantled and transported to a place where it was not in danger of flooding. It consists of two parts - the Big and Small Temples. The large one is intended for the veneration of three gods - Amon, Ptah and Ra-Horath, as well as Pharaoh Ramses II. The small temple is dedicated to his wife and the goddess Hathor, represented in her image.
Ancient Egyptian temples today are of great value to both historians and tourists. Thanks to these buildings, you can fully learn about the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, get acquainted with their traditions and customs, and truly touch history.
The remains of the Roman theater-stadium "Colosseum", built in 72 - 80 AD, that is, 1937 years ago, for us are an ancient building, destroyed by an earthquake. What then can we say about Egyptian temples 4000-5000 years old!
In our understanding, a temple is a religious place of worship for believers to visit. Even mentally it is difficult to imagine this historical period and how the concept of “temple” was transformed in it. The ancient Egyptians claimed that this was the "house of god." Different dictionaries interpret this word in approximately the same way: a building for the worship of God; special purpose building.
It is difficult to apply these concepts to Ancient Egypt, because any religious structure with tombs there is called a temple. Many such structures were simultaneously administrative centers, and fortresses that protected the population from invaders. The temples were the owners of land and livestock, accepted donations and even trophies from battles, and financially supported not only the builders and priests, but also all residents of the city.
Architecture - the eternal mystery of ancient civilization
Many tourists visiting such temple complexes, as well as the tombs and pyramids of the pharaohs, in addition to admiring the talent of the ancients, are each more interested in the structures according to their own profile. For example, a builder will feel the brick or stone blocks with his hands and ask the Egyptians about the methods of shaping or cutting them, as well as lifting them all the way to the top of the pyramid.
There have been several cases of evidence of the artificial origin of pyramid blocks and temple bricks. One Russian chemist cast a brick in a mold, which, without additional processing, after a few days withstood the weight of a loaded ZIL. He also calculated the time that that brick could “live”: almost in Egyptian style.
Still, the main version of obtaining stone blocks is from local rocky limestone. He is eternal! But raw clay bricks are not as long-lived as architectural ones.
Other humanities tourists copy ancient writing from the walls - pictograms. By the way, one of them, denoting the concept of “temple,” looks like a small drawing of a building. Still others, artists, will photograph examples of ornamentalism, because it, as a form of artistic art, originated in Ancient Egypt.
Let's look at the ancient buildings of Egypt with photos and remember the names of the temples
Among the buildings worthy of admiration are the following temples and palace-temple complexes: Karnak, Abu Simbel, Luxor, Hatshepsut, Seti 1st, Edfu, Philae, Colossi of Memnon.
Karnak Temple.
Even from its ruins one can imagine ancient grandeur. Nothing could compare to it. It is the largest ancient religious temple in the world. Since it took almost one and a half thousand years to build, this is the common achievement of hundreds of generations of Egyptian architects and ordinary workers, mostly slaves, and, of course, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. As a result, a temple complex of majestic area was erected - 5000 square meters, its roof was at the height of almost a nine-story modern residential building and was supported by 134 massive columns.
And the result was an expanded temple complex. On its territory there were three main Egyptian temples, as well as smaller indoor and several external temples.
The complex, or rather, what remains of it, can be visited in the city of Luxor, a little north of it. There you will see a diagram of the original drawings and a lake nearby.
Abu Simbel Temple.
The main religious attraction of Egypt. Under Pharaoh Ramses the Second, the construction of temples in limestone rocks was developed. This natural stone is suitable for carving out large spaces. He doesn't need supports. The best of all these buildings was the temple of Abu Simbel with four twenty-meter statues of the pharaoh (seated) on both sides of the entrance to the large temple mount. True, from one, on the left at the entrance, only part of the body remained. At the entrance to the small mountain, six standing figures are carved.
On the model of the previous “double” installed nearby, the differences are visible: there is a solid mountain, and here there are two adjacent hills of the temple complex. Previous cracks in the sandstone were removed using modern means.
The temples were originally carved in the mid-thirteenth century, but there is already a decline in the quality of tomb decoration. The large temple consecrated Ramses II and the three gods. The entrance to the temple is so oriented in space that the rays of the sun penetrate the enfilade from two halls and the sanctuary, focusing on the statues of Ramses, the gods Amun and Ra.
Statues inside the Abu Simbel Temple, illuminated by the sun twice a year
Twice a year the rays went even further into the depths and again illuminated Ramses and the two gods. The third, the god of the underworld, Ptah, always remained in the dark. Giant statues visible from the Nile waters, where ships sailed then and now. The interior of the rock complex is decorated with paintings and carvings on the theme of the life of the pharaoh.
The smaller temple is in honor of the goddess Hathor. Inside there is simplicity and modesty. And outside again there were statues of Ramses.
In the city of Luxor, which was built on the former polis of Thebes, there was a temple glorifying the famous ancient Egyptian gods - Mut and Chonsa. It turns out that modern festivals came to us from very distant antiquity. They took place in Thebes every year. At this time, the statues of the gods “traveled” across temple complex in a huge environment of nobles serving the current pharaoh.
Numerous tourists from all over the world come to Lusor to walk along the luxurious only Egyptian river and to explore the antiquities on both banks of the amazing river, tamed by a power plant.
This is the pantheon of “The noble ladies who are in front” - this is the meaning of the name of the female pharaoh. Having seized power from Pharaoh Thutmose, she ruled Egypt imperiously. She considered herself the wife of the king and the wife of the god Amun. In some ways, she is compared with another foreign female pharaoh (Macedonian, she was brought by Alexander the Great) Cleopatra the 7th.
Before Hatshepsut and before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, four more women ruled here. History shows that female kings took the helm of the state at the most critical moments of its existence.
Based on materials from the exhibition “Sacred Art of Ancient Egypt”. CC "New Acropolis", 2003
The Egyptian temple is a sacred space that represents an ideal picture of the world, where a strictly defined order and cosmos reign. It was separated from the surrounding “non-sacred” space to protect and preserve the sacred place and was manifested both in the structure of the temple itself and in the stages of its construction.
The construction of the temple begins with a sanctuary, symbolizing the primordial hill that rises from the waters of primordial matter. These primordial waters often marked the foundation of a temple.
The ceiling of the sanctuary and other enclosed parts of the temple is a symbol of the sky, represented by stars, zodiac reliefs and images of sacred birds.
The columns of the temple represent life, development and transformation, reflected in the images of flowers with open and closed bud-capitals.
The walls of the temple, separating the inner space from the outer world, are topped with a cornice in the form of bent stems of reeds and papyrus. This is another aspect of protection, reminiscent of the thickets where the goddess Isis sheltered the infant Horus from danger.
The pylons and gates of the temple, according to researcher R. Wilkinson, depict two mountains on the horizon, between which the sun rises, represented by a relief with wings.
Jan Assmann refers to New Kingdom texts that claim that the temple is “an image of the celestial horizon,” the place where the earth meets the sky.
The ancient Egyptian temple is a model of a path, where each part reflected a certain stage of a person’s preparation for a meeting with the Divine. This was actively promoted by the means of fine art and architecture, which were not only an expression of aesthetic ideas, but also had a deep philosophical and mystical meaning.
In Thebes, as throughout Egypt, these seven principles were also represented in the main characteristics of the temples. And since the temples were both shelters for the gods and also for people who wanted to become gods again, the plans for these structures were similar. The outer parts of the temples served other purposes: they were a place where believers gathered to take part in rituals; the degree of their participation depended on the holiday being celebrated.
We cannot use the example of any one temple to explain the symbolism of its parts, because the numerous reconstructions and repairs that these grandiose structures have undergone over the millennia can create confusion. Therefore, as an example, let us take the Theban type of temple in its simplified version, which corresponds to the essence and character of the original project.
Being an image of the Universe and man, the Egyptian temple had seven main parts:
The road leading to the temple is an alley, along which sometimes there were sphinxes, sometimes sun sheep, or just blocks of stone. They personified the physical principle, showing with their constancy and concentration what the path leading to the temple should be. |
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 | One or more pylons. They represented doors that simultaneously connect and separate the human world and the world of the divine; these are the approaches to the Sacred. |
 | An open courtyard surrounded by numerous columns on which scenes from life were carved and painted, with all its experiences, victories and defeats. |
 | The hypostyle hall is usually small and secluded. Here the play of light and shadow reflected the duality of human consciousness and the transition from external to internal. The hall ended with a wall with a small door. Behind her began the World of Mysteries. |
 | The Rook Hall, where the ritual boat was kept. She transported to another dimension, and therefore there was no longer the splendor of manifested life in the hall. Often the boat was covered with a translucent blanket, and incense and fragrant resins were smoked around it, creating the feeling of changing waters. |
 | Sanctuary, initiatory crypt. There was a statue of a deity here. This is a sacred place where the highest priests of the temple performed secret rites and took vows of service to God. |
 | Holes in the ceiling, usually funnel-shaped and arranged in a special order, allowed the sun's rays to different time day to illuminate images of different gods or certain areas of the floor, illuminating hidden signs on the floor. |
This basic scheme was supplemented by various chapels and small temples. There were also underground labyrinths and other small temples located on the terraces of the main temple. The picture was complemented by sacred lakes, gardens and obelisks, the tops of which were covered with electrum (a now unknown alloy of silver and gold).
The libraries located in temples and adjacent buildings deserve special mention. Not only were historical facts recorded there, but everything was carefully recorded. natural phenomena. The walls and ceilings of temples contain a huge amount of astronomical, magical, theological and other information.
EGYPTIAN TEMPLE
How can we understand the architecture of an Egyptian temple built several thousand years ago? How to understand all its parts, all its details? Of course, if we carefully look at each stone, we look for explanations for everything we saw and observed, then in the end we will understand a lot, a lot will become clear to us. However, there is another way that will allow you to achieve much more tangible results. This path is connected with the knowledge of the man of that era, his judgments, his ideas about nature and the world. Therefore, if, fortunately for us, from this ancient times only a line has reached us, speaking about the views of the creator of these incomprehensible, sometimes even some mysterious structures, then we will receive in our hands a guiding thread - the key to understanding the essence of the works that interest us - their composition, constituent parts, certain techniques and individual details, which together determine the architectural design.
Fate, in this case, favored us. An inscription has reached us that was put by priests into the mouth of the god Amun, the main deity of Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom era (XVI-XI centuries BC). In it, he addresses Pharaoh like this: “I have given you strength and victory over all countries; I have spread your glory everywhere, the fear of you to the four pillars of the sky... and I have brought your enemies under your sandals... the earth in length and breadth, to the west and to the east is subject to you.” If, according to the Egyptians, the pharaoh was endowed with such immeasurable power, greatness and glory, then what kind of god Amon himself must have been! It was this unearthly power and greatness of the deity that found its expression in the world-famous grandiose temples of Ancient Egypt - in Karnak, Luxor and Edfu. Here everything was put at the service of glorifying the deity and his earthly governor - the pharaoh.
1. Temple of Khonsu at Karnak. XII century BC e. Plan
From history we know that the temple is, according to the ideas of that time, the earthly dwelling of God. Therefore, in terms of the scope of the architectural composition, the grandeur of the grandiose architectural masses, and the strength of the finely calculated impression created, the temple is incomparable with royal palace of that era, although in some of its parts it still depended on him. And this dependence, this connection is not accidental. After all, the temple was built at the expense of the pharaoh and, as the greatest act of his time, glorified the pharaoh - the customer and inspirer of the construction.
In order to get into the temple, in order to be worthy of seeing its shrine, in order to feel all the greatness of the deity, the Egyptian had to prepare to go through a series of stages - “stages of purification.” For this purpose, a certain sequence of parts of the Egyptian temple was developed, perceived in the process of movement - in time. This system still amazes us with its thoughtfulness and attention to every detail (Fig. 1).
A long two-kilometer alley of identical in shape and size sphinxes - rams (rams), mounted on high pedestals, leads to the temple, erected on the edge of the desert. The measured rhythm of the arrangement of these sculptures and their identical appearance set the participants in the slowly moving procession in a certain mood. Each of the sphinxes is endowed with a detail that creates an idea of the role and significance of a person walking past these unique sculptures - the head of each sphinx rests on a small human figurine. The difference in scale is so great that at first one may not even notice this figure, but its repeated repetition finally forces the eye not only to stop at it, but also to compare it with the monumental form of the animal. And since a person is accustomed to comparing himself, sometimes even intuitively, with various objects of the visible world to determine their size, the sphinxes immediately seem to grow in scale in his consciousness, while the person himself involuntarily begins to seem immeasurably small, even insignificant in front of him. the face of these frozen mysterious guardians of the temple. This technique of comparing scales, repeated many times in the architecture of the Egyptian temple, made it possible to achieve unusually spectacular results, enslaving the consciousness of the ancient Egyptian.
Finally, we are in front of the temple, or rather in front of its entrance, since the temple building itself is invisible behind two wide and high pylon walls that hide it from our view. In ancient times, on the sides of the temple there were gardens surrounded by high fences. They could only be used by priests, which made it impossible to see the temple from lateral points of view.
Both pylons, tapering upward, isolate the outer space from what awaits us behind them. In front of the pylons there are four huge statues of the pharaoh - the builder of the temple, as if guarding the entrance and at the same time glorifying him. On the planes of the pylon walls one can see a multi-meter figure of a pharaoh in a racing chariot, striking small figures of enemies. Once again, this large-scale juxtaposition of figures visually enlarges the pylons, making them truly grandiose. Another, purely architectural, technique also served the same purpose, making one feel even more strongly the colossality of architectural forms. Between the pylons there is a portal to the entrance to the temple. It is easy to see that he big size coordinated with the size of the sculptures and images on the pylons. However, once upon a time another, wooden, much smaller one was inserted into this portal, through which people passed. This wooden “human” portal in comparison with the large stone portal and pylons, like no other detail, spoke of the insignificance of the person entering in comparison with the images of the pharaoh and the very architecture of the sacred dwelling of the deity.
We pass the portal and enter a wide courtyard surrounded by a high stone wall. Along the walls there are colonnades (see cover), which provided protection for pilgrims from the scorching rays of the sun. But even here the impression of colossal architectural forms does not leave us. On the reverse side of the pylons there are the same grandiose figures, sharply outlined by a contour line cut into the stone - a groove. Looking at these images, we see that their design often does not take into account the masonry of the walls. Moreover, the masonry sometimes seems to be subordinated to the pattern, since blocks of stone of different sizes do not form even rows, but appear as a compact single mass of the so-called cyclopean masonry, on top of which the lines of the pattern of figures run. Here it is worth remembering and imagining the night processions beloved in Ancient Egypt. The uneven, dancing light of the torches not only made the divine images look clearer, but also mysteriously changed their outlines thanks to running stripes of light and shadow. The figures seemed to come to life, move, change.
2. Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Amun at Karnak. Con. XIV - beginning XIII centuries BC e.
The architect of Ancient Egypt showed this ability to use light and shadow in order to outline the massiveness of the walls in such detail as the crowning part of the pylon. The curvilinear outline of the fillet, as if chosen from the massif of masonry, and the overhanging half-shaft of the final slab “sculpt” the architectural form, make it possible to recognize the thickness of the pylons, and separate the smooth, dazzling surface of their walls, ready to merge with the sultry sky. This technique of “sculpting” architectural forms with shadows is carried over into the details. Visually heavy proportions are no less consistently applied, usually expressed in whole numbers (remember the Egyptian triangle with an aspect ratio of 3:4:5), so corresponding to the inviolability of the inert stone masses of Egyptian architecture.
Behind the courtyard there is a hypostyle hall - the “hall of appearances” of the deity, completely filled with mighty columns supporting a ceiling made of massive stone blocks (ill. 2). The columns end with capitals, sometimes gathered into buds, sometimes blossoming into the sacred flower of the Nile - the lotus. The columns were likened to a stone forest erected at the behest of the pharaoh, and the ceiling, painted blue with golden stars and images of soaring birds, symbolized the sky. Here, in this mysterious place, immersed in twilight, only a select few could be. Light entered here either through the door or through windows located under the ceiling, where the taller columns of the passage gave way to low ones. Further, behind the hypostyle hall, there was a sanctuary, completely devoid of light, where only priests could enter.
It is easy to notice that the architectural composition of the Egyptian temple, its entire complex, grandiose in scope, is designed for sequential perception over a certain period of time. First, a long avenue of sphinxes prepares a person to enter the temple. This is followed by a visually tight passage between giant pylons, behind which the space of the temple courtyard opens up. It, in turn, gives way to the hypostyle hall - the “hall of apparitions”, with its forest of columns, overwhelming the person who enters with its massiveness. Twilight sets the mood for the perception of something extraordinary. And finally, this extraordinary thing - the image of the deity - appeared, carried by the priests, perhaps at the moment when the last ray of the setting sun, illuminating the mysterious sanctuary, penetrated through the doors deliberately located opposite each other.
What a sequence, what a logic of compositional construction, closely connected with the perception of the world and nature in that era far from us!
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