Deir el-Bahri (Arabic دير البحري dayr al-baḥrī, literally meaning, "The Northern Monastery") is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This article concerns the buildings occupied by monastics. For the life inside monasteries and its historical roots see Monasticism. Mortuary temples (or memorial temples) were temples constructed adjacent to or in the vicinity of royal tombs in the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Luxor (in Arabic: الأقصر al-Uqṣur) is a city in Upper (southern Egypt and the capital of Luxor This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics.
The first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh dynasty. Deir el-Bahri (Arabic دير البحري dayr al-baḥrī, literally meaning "The Northern Monastery " is a complex of Mortuary temples and tombs Nebhotepre Mentuhotep II (2046 BC &ndash 1995 BC was a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, the son of Intef III of Egypt and a minor queen called Iah The Eleventh dynasty of Ancient Egypt was one group of rulers whose earlier members are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period
During the Eighteenth dynasty, Amenhotep I and Hatshepsut also built extensively at the site. "Amarna period" redirects here For information on Amarna see Amarna The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC is perhaps the best known of Amenhotep I (sometimes read as Amenophis I and meaning " Amun is satisfied" was the second Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, hætˈʃɛpsʊt meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of
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Mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II
Mentuhotep II, the Eleventh Dynasty king who reunited Egypt at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, built a very unusual funerary complex. Nebhotepre Mentuhotep II (2046 BC &ndash 1995 BC was a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, the son of Intef III of Egypt and a minor queen called Iah The Eleventh dynasty of Ancient Egypt was one group of rulers whose earlier members are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period His mortuary temple was built on several levels in the great bay at Deir el-Bahri. It was approached by a 16 m (150 ft) wide causeway leading from a valley temple, which no longer exists.
The mortuary temple itself consists of a forecourt, enclosed by walls on three sides, and a terrace on which stands a large square structure that may represent the primeval mound that arose from the waters of chaos. Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in Ancient Egypt from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity As the temple faces east, the structure is likely to be connected with the sun cult of Re and the resurrection of the king. Re, bre, moré (with many variants is an Interjection common to the languages of the Balkans, Turkish, and Venetian, with
From the eastern part of the forecourt, an opening called the Bab el-Hosan ('Gate of the Horseman') leads to an underground passage and an unfinished tomb or cenotaph containing a seated statue of the king. On the western side, tamarisk and sycamore trees were planted beside the ramp leading up to the terrace. At the back of the forecourt and terrace are colonnades decorated in relief with boat precessions, hunts, and scenes showing the king's military achievements.
Statues of the Twelfth Dynasty king Senusret III were found here too. Khakhaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or Sesostris III) was a Pharaoh of Egypt.
The inner part of the temple was actually cut into the cliff and consists of a peristyle court, a hypostyle hall and an underground passage leading into the tomb itself. The cult of the dead king centred on the small shrine cut into the rear of the Hypostyle Hall.
The mastaba-like structure on the terrace is surrounded by a pillared ambulatory along the west wall, where the statue shrines and tombs of several royal wives and daughters were found. A mastaba was a flat-roofed rectangular building with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period. These royal princesses were the priestesses of Hathor, one of the main ancient Egyptian funerary deities. In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Pronounced Hah-Thor ( Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way Although little remained of the king's own burial, six sarcophagi were retrieved from the tombs of the royal ladies. Each was formed of six slabs, held together at the corners by metal braces and carved in sunken relief. The sarcophagus of Queen Kawit, now in the Cairo Museum, is particularly fine. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to the most extensive collection of Ancient
The burial shaft and subsequent tunnel descend for 150 meters and end in a burial chamber 45 meters below the court. The chamber held a shrine, which once held the wooden coffin of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep. A great tree-lined court was reached by means of the processional causeway, leading up from the valley temple. Beneath the court, a deep shaft was cut which led to unfinished rooms believed to have been intended originally as the king’s tomb. A wrapped image of the pharaoh was discovered in this area by Howard Carter. Howard Carter may refer to Howard Carter (archaeologist, discovered Tutankhamun's tomb Howard O'Neal Carter, retired basketball player The temple complex also held six mortuary chapels and shaft tombs built for the pharaoh's wives and daughters.
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
The focal point of the Deir el-Bahri complex is the Djeser-Djeseru meaning "the Holy of Holies", the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut It is a colonnaded structure, which was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward and architect of Hatshepsut (and believed by some to be her lover), to serve for her posthumous worship and to honor the glory of Amun. Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is situated beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, hætˈʃɛpsʊt meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Senemut (sometimes spelled Senmut, Senenmut or Senmout) was an 18th dynasty ancient Egyptian architect and government Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, hætˈʃɛpsʊt meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Ἄμμων
Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of colonnaded terraces, reached by long ramps that once were graced with gardens. It is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it, and is largely considered to be one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt" [1]. It is 97 feet (30 m) tall.
The unusual form of Hatshepsut's temple is explained by the choice of location, in the valley basin of Deir el-Bahri, surrounded by steep cliffs. It was here, in about 2050 BC, that Mentuhotep II, the founder of the Middle Kingdom, laid out his sloping, terrace-shaped mortuary temple. The pillared galleries at either side of the central ramp of the Djeser Djeseru correspond to the pillar positions on two successive levels of the Temple of Mentuhotep.
Today the terraces of Deir el-Bahri only convey a faint impression of the original intentions of Senenmut. Most the statue ornaments are missing - the statues of Osiris in front of the pillars of the upper colonnade, the sphinx avenues in front of the court, and the standing, sitting, and kneeling figures of Hatshepsut; these were destroyed in a posthumous condemnation of this pharaoh. Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir A Sphinx is a Zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head The architecture of the temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in the early twentieth century A. D.
Architecture
While Hatshepsut used Menuhotep’s temple as a model, the two structures are significantly different. Hatshepsut employed a lengthy colonnaded terrace that deviated from the centralized massing of Menuhotep’s model – an anomaly that may be caused by the decentralized location of her burial chamber[2].
There are three layered terraces reaching 97 feet (30 m) in height. Each ‘story’ is articulated by a double colonnade of square piers, with the exception of the northwest corner of the central terrace, which employs Proto-Doric columns to house the chapel.
These terraces are connected by long ramps which were once surrounded by gardens. The layering of Hatshepsut’s temple corresponds with the classical Theban form, employing Pylon, courts, hypostyle hall, sun court, chapel, and sanctuary. A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its In Architecture, a hypostyle Hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. A chapel is a holy place or area of Worship for Christians, which may be attached to an institution such as a large church, a College, a Sanctuary has multiple meanings A sanctuary is the consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar
The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut’s temple recites the tale of the divine birth of the pharaoh. The text and pictorial cycle also tell of an expedition to the Land of Punt, an exotic country on the Red Sea coast. See also Puntland The Land of Punt, also called "Pwenet" by the Ancient Egyptians at times synonymous with Ta netjer, the 'land of
On either side of the entrance to the sanctuary (shown above) are painted pillars with images of Hathor as the capitals. In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Pronounced Hah-Thor ( Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way Just under the roof is an image of Wadjet, displayed as a bilateral solar symbol, flanked by two other long serpents. In Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, which means the Green One ( Egyptian egy w3ḏyt; also spelt Wadjit or Wedjet
The temple includes an image, shown to the right, of Hatshepsut depicted as man giving offerings to Horus, and to their left, an unidentified exotic animal wound around a tall staff that could represent a seal or sea lion. For other uses of the word staff see Staff. A staff is a large thick Stick or stick-shaped object used to help with Walking The eared seals or otariids are Marine mammals in the family Otariidae - one of three groupings of Pinnipeds. For other uses of the term "sea lion" see Sea lion (disambiguation.
While the statues and ornamentation have since been stolen or destroyed, the temple once was home to two statues of Osiris, a long avenue lined by sphinxes, as well as many sculptures of pharaoh Hatshepsut in different attitudes – standing, sitting, or kneeling. Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir A Sphinx is a Zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head
Historical Influence
Hatshepsut’s temple is considered the closest Egyptians came to the Classical Architecture [3]. The term Classical architecture has a specific Archaeological meaning relating to the architecture of Classical Greece It marks a turning point in the architecture of Ancient Egypt, which forsook the megalithic geometry of the Old Kingdom for a temple which allowed for active worship, requiring the presence of participants to create its majesty. The linear axiality of Hatshepsut’s temple is mirrored in the later New Kingdom temples.
Mortuary Temple of Thutmose III
Thutmose III built a temple complex here, dedicated to Amun. Discovered in 1961, it is believed to have been used during the Beautiful festival of the valley. Beautiful festival of the valley was an Ancient Egyptian festival celebrated annually in Thebes, during the Middle Kingdom period and later Not much is known about the complex, as it was abandoned after sustaining severe damage during a land-slide in the latter twentieth Dynasty. The Eighteenth Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title New Kingdom. After that time it was used a source of building materials and in Christian times became the site of a Coptic cemetery.
Royal and non-royal tombs
An Eleventh dynasty shaft tomb located at the southern end of the complex contained a cache of forty royal mummies, moved there from the Valley of the Kings. The Eleventh dynasty of Ancient Egypt was one group of rulers whose earlier members are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period The Valley of the Kings ( Arabic: وادي الملوك Wadi Biban el-Muluk; "Gates of the King" is a Valley in Egypt where for The bodies had been placed there by Twenty-first Dynasty priests, most likely to prevent further desecration and looting. The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second Twenty-Third Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title Third Intermediate
In the cache were found the mummies of Ahmose I, along with the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasty leaders Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX. See Amasis II for the 26th Dynasty pharaoh whose name sometimes appears as Ahmose II Amenhotep I (sometimes read as Amenophis I and meaning " Amun is satisfied" was the second Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt Thutmose I (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis I) was the third Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. Thutmose II (sometimes read as Thutmosis, or Tuthmosis II and meaning Thoth is Born) was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Thutmose III (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis III and meaning Thoth is Born) was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Menpehtyre Ramesses I (traditional English Ramesses or Ramses) was the founding Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt 's 19th dynasty. Menmaatre Seti I (also called Sethos I after the Greeks) was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt ( Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt) the son of Ramesses Ramesses IX (also written Ramses) (originally named 'Amon-her-khepshef Khaemwaset' ( 1129 &ndash 1111 BC) was the eighth king of the Twentieth In a separate room were found Twenty-first dynasty High Priests and Pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II, and Siamun. Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the south Pinedjem II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 990 BC to 969 BC and was the de facto ruler of the south Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-setepenamun Siamun was the sixth Pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first dynasty. Later on, a cache of 153 reburied mummies of the priests themselves also were found in a tomb at the site.
Private tombs dating from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic period may be found here. Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra There are two most notable private tombs at Deir el-Bahri. The first is that of Meketre (TT280), which contains many painted wooden funerary models from the Middle Kingdom and the first recorded human-headed canopic jar. The Ancient Egyptian noble Meketre was chancellor and chief steward during the reign of Mentuhotep II and Mentuhotep III, during the Middle Kingdom Tomb TT280, located in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, part of the Theban Necropolis, is the burial place of the Ancient Egyptian noble Meketre who
The second, the 'secret' tomb of Senenmut—the architect and steward who oversaw the construction of the temple for Hatshepsut—was begun in the complex also. Senemut (sometimes spelled Senmut, Senenmut or Senmout) was an 18th dynasty ancient Egyptian architect and government Senenmut's tomb was vandalized in antiquity, but some of the relief artwork still is intact. It was meant to be a very large tomb and its corridors are over one hundred yards long, however, it was never finished and Senenmut was not interred there. He has another tomb, not far from Deir el-Bahri, where his body may have been placed, but it, too, was vandalized and robbed.
See also
External links
- Egypt Index at Bluffton University
- The Cache at Deir el-Bahri – Archaeology at About. Nebhotepre Mentuhotep II (2046 BC &ndash 1995 BC was a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, the son of Intef III of Egypt and a minor queen called Iah The Valley of the Kings ( Arabic: وادي الملوك Wadi Biban el-Muluk; "Gates of the King" is a Valley in Egypt where for Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( Thutmose III (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis III and meaning Thoth is Born) was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, hætˈʃɛpsʊt meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is situated beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings com
- The Temple Djeser djeseru
- Deir el-Bahri by Marie Parsons
References
- ^ Trachtenberg, Marvin; Isabelle Hyman (2003). Architecture, from Prehistory to Postmodernity. Italy: Prentice-Hall Inc. , 71. ISBN 978-0810906075.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Ibid.
- Mertz, Barbara (1964). "Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs". New York: Coward-McCann. ISBN 0-87226-223-5
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