Temple Plan: New Kingdom

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Temple Plan: New Kingdom

Temples . Although the primary Egyptian architectural form was the temple, no two Egyptian temples are exactly alike. The long history of building temples in Egypt stretches from the earliest days of Dynasty 0 (circa 3100-3000 b.c.e.) until Roman rule in Egypt nearly four thousand years later. Yet, most temples had common elements.

Function of Temples . Temples were important in the social, economic, and political structure of ancient Egypt. Yet, the primary religious purpose of temples was to delineate a sacred space where humans could contact the powers of the “other” world. These powers included the gods and humans who had become gods by dying and moving to the unseen world. Humans could most easily access these divine powers through statues. The main purpose of the temple, then, was to provide a home

for a statue of the god, a deceased king, or even a deceased nobleman, which required a home that resembled those of living noblemen and kings. These homes are called temples.

Temenos . Temples were located inside surrounding walls called temenos, which was the first barrier between the sacred and the profane. It was built of brick arranged in courses that resembled the hieroglyphic sign for water. The wall stood both for and against the watery chaos that the Egyptians believed existed at the beginning of creation. Inside the wall, creation was perfected in the form of the temple.

Names of Parts . Inside the temenos the main temple building usually included five parts: the pylon, courtyard, hypostyle hall, pronaos, and naos. Only one entrance allowed access to the building. Thus, the visitor’s route was controlled by the architecture, passing from light to darkness and toward increasingly sacred space as he or she came closer to the statue of the god.

Pylon . The entrance consisted of two tall towers called pylons, which were decorated on the exterior with images of the king destroying the enemies of Egypt. This decoration continued the overall decorative theme first stated in the temenos. The temple was a place where order triumphed over chaos, just as Egypt itself was a place where order reigned. The pylons each had two niches for flagpoles. The god had his or her own banner that would have flown from these flagpoles.

Courtyard . After the visitor entered between the pylons he or she would arrive in a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnade. The central court was open to the bright Egyptian sun, while the colonnade would provide shelter during processions made by the god’s statue. Often there were stations or chapels in the courtyard where parts of ceremonies were performed. This area was most likely open to some members of the public. It probably was the place where the distribution of rations was sometimes made. Nobles also placed statues of themselves here, which would allow the nobles to continue to participate in ceremonies after their deaths.

Hypostyle Hall . Directly opposite the pylons was the entrance to the third element in the temple, the hypostyle hall. Entering this structure, the visitor was now in a dark and shadowy room filled with columns, which were decorated to resemble papyrus and lotus plants. The bases of the columns stood on a floor that represented the waters of the marsh. The walls of this room also were decorated with marsh scenes. Above these scenes were representations of ritual offerings to the god of the temple. Decoration of the room made reference to the creation of the world when the water was transformed to a marsh. The sacrifices that kings made helped the gods maintain order against the forces of the water. This room was the beginning of the areas accessible only to the priesthood. Statues of gods and kings were also located in the hypostyle hall where they participated in the ritual.

Sacred Space . The pronaos and naos were the most sacred and darkest parts of the temple. The pronaos served as an antechamber to the naos. Here, priests gathered

to perform rituals that would take place in the naos, where the statue of the god was located. The statue was ritually awakened, washed, dressed, and fed before being taken out for processions. The decorative scheme in these rooms concerned the rituals that took place here.