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- Abydos. Chapter III - The Temple of Ramesses II
[<< Previous report on expedition "Egypt-2013: Abydos, The Temple of Remesses II] [<< Chapter II of the report on expedition "Egypt - 2018: The Temple of Seti I " ] Ramesses II was a great and unresting builder. His Temple in Abydos, located in about 300 meters from the Temple of his father Seti I, is one of the first monumental structures, built by his behest.
The construction of the Temple began at that time when Ramesses the Great still was a co-regent with his father - Seti I. These materials are mentioned in the ancient inscription, carved on the outer south wall of the Temple, which reads: "He made it as his monument for his father... making for him a beautiful and august temple fashioned excellently for eternity of beautiful white stone of Ayan, two great pylons of excellent workmanship, doorways of granite, doorleaves made of copper wrought with inlaid figures of real electrum, a sanctuary of pure alabaster roofed with granite." (Omm Sety and Henny el-Zeini. ABYDOS: Holy City of Ancient Egypt). The Temple has a standard rectangular shape consisting of a Pylon, a Court with a colonnade, a Portico, two Hypostyle Halls and 13 small Chapels.
When Ramses has celebrated his first anniversary of Heb-sed, he added another external Pylon and a Court, to the east of the original facade as well as an outer limestone pavilion. The walls of this additional Court, including the Pylon towers, were constructed of mudbricks, and only the central doorway and a small pavilion were made of limestone.
The environs of the Temple.
Internal territory of the Temple.
There is a granite statue of a groupe of five people, located inside the Alabaster Chapel. The statue represents Seti I, Ramses II, Osiris, Isis and Horus, sitting on a long bench. Osiris occupies a central place, to his right sits his son Horus, the upper part of the figure which is completely destroyed, but his name is carved on the back of the seat. To the right of Horus - is Ramses II, but all that remained of his statue - is just a small hint on the continuation of the sculptural composition. To the left of Osiris sits Isis, whose figure is well-preserved, except for a small damage of her nose. To the left of Isis is the figure of Seti I, also quite well preserved.
Now the statue is standing not in its original place. Probably, it was standing against the western wall of the Sanctuary, which remained unfinished. This group of statues of a human size, was discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1869, during his excavations in Abydos. He found this statue broken into a number of fragments scattered all over the Temple area. Many of its parts are still missing. The statue was restored by the Department of Antiquities as far as it was possible and placed in its current location, where we can see it today. "During the excavation of the Temple of Ramses II, only one monument was discovered. It was a group of statues made of gray granite, very much damaged, depicting the King-Founder, sitting between the two deities. It was included in our general catalog." Auguste Mariette. ABYDOS. 1880. p. 25 (188) On the southern half of the surviving wall of the Temple Court one can see a preserved part of a long inscription, which reads: "I say unto the Lord of the Gods Osiris Khenty-Amentiu, the plans which were commanded by the Inheritor of the Two Lands for the Gods and Goddesses by the excellent Heir under Heaven... (Here comes a long break in the text)...together with the Company of Gods who are with thee, who rest upon their seats in my august Temple which was newly built for their statues, fashioned by Ptah according to the writings of Thot for themselves and revised from the Great Book which is in the House of the Archives." (Omm Sety and Henny el-Zeini. ABYDOS: Holy City of Ancient Egypt ).
In 1992 an American researcher, historian, archaeologist and physicist James Westerman, who directed a large-scale study of the southern part of Abydos, together with David Gruman (GPR technician) and Steven Snape (Egyptologist from Liverpool University) carried out GPR studies of the area to the west of the Ramses II Temple. The results were as follows:
"The GPR was also used to detect a large complex of buried buildings directly to the west of the Rameses II Temple in Abydos. It was surmised that there could be another Osireion behind the Rameses II Temple. " * * *
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