Through the Eras

Architecture and Designthese temples were residences for forms of Amun thatwould eventually merge with each of the deceased kings.The two most important locations for these temples wereDeir el Bahri and Medinet Habu. Deir el Bahri was thesite of the Eleventh-dynasty temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotepand of Hatshepsut. Medinet Habu was the siteof Ramesses III’s mortuary temple built in the TwentiethDynasty, but was also recognized as the location ofa mound where the gods had created the earth. The Festivalof the Valley connected Karnak and Deir el Bahri.The Festival of Amunemopet connected Luxor andMedinet Habu with a procession between them.DEIR EL BAHRI AND THE FEAST OF THE VALLEY.Nebhepetre Mentuhotep built the first mortuary templein Deir el Bahri in the Eleventh Dynasty, but inthe Eighteenth Dynasty the more important temple wasthe mortuary temple constructed by Hatshepsut. Thisunique building, based on Nebhepetre Mentuhotep’sneighboring structure, consisted of three terraces connectedby two ramps. On the two lower levels are colonnadesopposite walls illustrating important events fromHatshepsut’s reign. These relief sculptures include thehauling of obelisks from Aswan for the Karnak temple,Hatshepsut’s divine birth, and the expedition to Punt(probably in Ethiopia) to bring back incense for Amun.This terrace also holds shrines for Hathor, the goddessof the necropolis, and for Anubis, the god of mummification.The third and highest terrace supported atemple for Amun and for Hatshepsut. This temple wasthe focus of Amun’s annual trip from Karnak to Deirel Bahri to celebrate the Festival of the Valley. Duringthe Festival of the Valley, Amun, his wife Mut, andtheir son Khonsu visited the deceased kings of Egyptand his incarnation living in Deir el Bahri called AmunHoly of Holies. The images of the gods were ferriedacross the river in a special barque and then carriedfrom the west bank of the river to the temple. After thereign of Hatshepsut, the statues spent the night in thetemple of the reigning king. The procession returnedto Karnak the next day. On this occasion many Egyptianfamilies also visited their family tomb, often havinga meal there.MEDINET HABU AND THE FESTIVAL OFAMUNEMOPET. Ramesses III built the large temple atMedinet Habu that stands on the site today for himselfas Amun-United-with-Eternity. Earlier in the time ofThutmose III, there was a temple of the “True Moundof the West” on this site. The mound refers to the placewhere the god first created the world. By linking themound to the west, the intention is to affirm that thisfirst creation would continue in the west, the land of thedead. The god Amunemopet, meaning “Amun who isin the Opet” (i.e. the Luxor temple), traveled weeklyfrom the Luxor temple to Medinet Habu to visit themound temple. This is the final link between the templesof the east and west bank. The statue of the godtraveled by barque across the river, then either by a canalor on a road to the Medinet Habu temple. This feastalso called for distributions of food and drink to the population.THE PROCESSIONAL PERIMETER OF THE ESTATEOF AMUN. The processional routes from Karnak toLuxor, from Karnak to Deir el Bahri with detours to thetemples associated with various kings’ cults, and fromLuxor to Medinet Habu form a rectangle on the mapthat delineates the Estate of Amun. The festivals andtheir processions tie together the major monuments ofThebes and allow for a unitary overview of the sacredplaces. The individual buildings, however, also functionedas independent units. They each owned and administeredland that ultimately provided the upkeep foreach building. There seems to be no administrative oreconomic connection between the different religiousunits of the Estate of Amun. This fact points to a certaindecentralization in the New Kingdom in administrationwhich is not apparent in other periods ofEgyptian history.SOURCESB. J. J. Haring, Divine Households: Administrative and EconomicAspects of the New Kingdom Royal Memorial Templesin Western Thebes (Leiden, Netherlands: NederlandsInstituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1997).Barry Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (London;New York: Routledge, 1989).EGYPTIAN CONSTRUCTIONTECHNOLOGYQUARRYING AND TRANSPORTING STONE. The ancientEgyptians are widely recognized as great engineers,but are also thought to be extremely conservative. Thereis a real contradiction in these two views. Part of theEgyptians’ greatness included the ability to improvisesolutions to technical problems. Innovations allowedthe Egyptians to develop new quarrying tools and toincrease the weight of stones they hauled over time.Large numbers of people had to be involved in quarryingand transporting stone, which was a dangerous endeavor.The description of a quarrying expedition inthe inscription of Amenemhet from the reign of Men-52 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)