Egyptian Temples of the Greek Period and Chronology

Solomon's Temple What is similar in the architecture of the temples mentioned? The similarity of the temples is mainly confined to the pylon/portal entrance in its general shape and some textual inscriptions. Other architectural features of course would change depending on the architects plans and local conditions. The Temple of Philae (5th century BC) has similarities with Medinet Habu in carved scenes of harem life and sacrificing of prisoners. Due to the construction of the Aswan Dam and the opening of Lake Nasser, the Philae Temple was moved from its original site to the Nile River island of Agilka by 1964. The first of our images show it in its original location.[Phillipe Derchain, `Bibliotheka Orientalis', Jan-March 1961, p. 48; See also `Book Review' of H. Junker, `Der Grosse Pylon des Tempels der Isis in Philä'. On Lake Nasser see KMT, Vol. 14, Fall 2003, p. 66ff] The Egyptologist Adolf Erman wrote: "And if we did not read the inscriptions, we could never guess that the temples of Esneh, or Edfu, of Denderah, and of Philae belong to the time of Lagides (from Lagus, father of Ptolemy I), the Ceasars, and the Antonines." [A. Erman, `The Historians' History of the World', M.S.Williams, ed. I (1907), p. 195; Antonines is the collective name of 7 Roman emperors of the 2nd century, from Nerva to Commodus.] The mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu is one of the best preserved of the Egyptian temples. If this king reigned in the 12th century BC it is hard to understand why his temple should have survived the destructions over the centuries better than any other temple, i.e. the destructions wrought by the Assyrians and Persians in particular. In the revised scenario Medinet Habu was built after these campaigns of destructions in Egypt. (We are unsure on what evidence the year for the latest examples of hieroglyphic writing is based. The above is only a small portion of what can be seen.)

Lake Nasser created by the Assuan/Aswan Dam covers about 200 miles of the length of the Nile from Assuan, where the 2nd cataract used to be, to the south of it. The Dam itself is almost 12,000 feet long, ca. 3220 feet thick at the base and and ca. 360 feet tall.

The Temple of Philae\|/

The Temple of Edfu in 1865 by Zangaki This temple was completed by Ptolemy VIII (Soter II) and bears a text reading "...hacking to pieces the Meshwesh, slaughtering the Shasu, massacring the Tjeker" Names of people we know from Medinet Habu supposedly 1000 years before. [J. Yovotte, "Un souvenir des campagnes de Ramses III au Temple d'Edfou" in "Trois notes pour servir à l'histoire d'Edfou", in Kêmi, XII (1952); For images see KMT, Spring 2000, p. 72ff]\|/ The Temple of Denderah in 1865\|/ Kom Ombo An inscription on the walls of Kom Ombo also make references to the Meshwesh, the Shasu, the Tjeker - one of the Peoples of the Sea known from the War of the Sea Peoples from Medinet Habu, supposedly 1000 years before. Then why should some of the Peoples of the Sea be called by name and referred to as enemies on a temple from Ptolemaic times? \|/ [J. Yoyotte, "Un souvenir des campagnes de Ramses III au Temple d'Edfou." in `Trois notes pour servir à l'histore d'Edfou' in Kêmi, Vol. XII, (1952).]

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