Architecture-Temples
© Lucy Charlotte Acland Johnson
One set of monuments sum up the entire civilization of Ancient Egypt to most people: the Pyramids. However, building styles actually changed considerably over the years during which Egypt was an Ancient power.
Akhenaten-the pharaoh who attempted to convert Egypt to monotheism-built a large temple complex to the sun god, Aten, in his new capital "Akhetaten", today known as Tell el-Almarna.
One obvious feature of the temple complex is that, like many other Egyptian buildings dedicated to the sun, it was roofless.
The temple consisted of two main parts, 350m apart, which faced east; behind these was a complex made up of two courtyards-only the Pharaoh and priests could come here.
There were large numbers of sacrificial altars in the temple, for animal sacrifice: behind the front hall alone, which featured statues of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, 224 altars were located.
This temple, along with most others built by Akhenaten, was demolished after his reign, when he was branded a heretic and erased from all official monuments and records.
During the Ramesside period royal policy was to re-establish all cult sites, which had been neglected. It also became customary for pharaohs to build rock-cut temples in the desert regions wither side of the Nile valley, and in Nubia. The most famous of these temples is that built by Ramses the Great as Abu Simbel, which represents the artistic peak of this kind of architecture:
The complex consists of two temples, one large and one small. The large temple was dedicated to the three great imperial gods:
Amun-A war god, and local deity of Thebes. Known as the "hidden god", and one of the deities of creation.
Re-Horakhty-A combination of deities Re (the sun god) and Horakhty (or Horus).
Ptah-Local deity of Memphis, Ptah's worshippers claimed that he was in fact the oldest god, and created all other gods by thought.
The temple was also dedicated to the soul ("Ka") of the pharaoh.
The smaller temple was built in honour of Great Royal Wife Nefertari.
The fronts of both temples are dominated by colossal figures of the divine king and his family; so imposing are these statues that they inspired Shelley to write the famous poem Ozymandias, at the turn of the eighteenth century:
"I met a traveller from an antique land Who said two vast and trunkless legs of stone
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