The Temples of Abu Simbel: Ramesses’ Masterpiece in Stone
Carved into the sandstone cliffs of the southern Nile, more than 280 kilometers south of Aswan and well within the boundaries of ancient Nubia, the two temples of Abu Simbel are among the most dramatic monuments in all of Ancient Egyptian Civilization. Commissioned by Ramesses II in the 13th century BCE (c. 1264 BCE, in his fifth year, by the conventional chronology), they were intended as a permanent statement of the king’s power at the southern frontier of his empire. Forgotten for centuries, buried in sand, rediscovered in 1813, and finally saved from the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s, Abu Simbel has become an icon of both ancient art and modern heritage preservation. The rescue campaign is treated in detail in The 1960s Relocation of Abu Simbel.
Setting and Purpose
Abu Simbel lies on the west bank of the Nile in Lower Nubia, the long stretch of river between the First Cataract at Aswan and the Second Cataract near Wadi Halfa. In the New Kingdom, this region was the gateway to the African trade routes that brought gold, ivory, ebony, and exotic animal skins to Egypt. The pharaohs built a chain of fortresses and temples along the river, of which the principal monuments were the rock-cut temples of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel and the great rock-cut temple of Ramesses II at Gerf Hussein. Abu Simbel was the largest of the Nubian temples and was clearly intended as a statement of Egyptian (and royal) supremacy over the region.
The Great Temple of Ramesses II
The larger of the two temples at Abu Simbel is properly called the Temple of Ramesses II Beloved of Amun, though in modern usage it is simply called “the Great Temple.” It is a rock-cut monument, meaning that unlike the freestanding temples of Karnak and Luxor, it was carved directly into the living rock of the cliff face. The temple is aligned so that twice a year, and only twice, the rays of the rising sun penetrate its 60-meter-deep interior and illuminate the seated statues in the sanctuary. The dates of this phenomenon are now believed to be around 22 February and 22 October, possibly tied to the king’s coronation and birthday. The original ancient alignment is debated; the modern alignment is a function of the temple’s 1960s relocation.
The Façade
The façade of the Great Temple is dominated by four colossal seated statues of Ramesses II, each about 20 m (65 ft 6 in) high. Each statue depicts the king enthroned, wearing the nemes headdress and the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. To the sides of the legs, smaller figures represent the royal family: the queen mother Tuya, the great royal wife Nefertari, and several of the king’s sons and daughters. The figures originally bore vivid paint, traces of which can still be seen on parts of the cliff face. Beneath the colossi, a row of bound captives represents the king’s defeated enemies: Nubians, Libyans, Syrians, and Hittites, each labeled with the name of his people.
The Interior
The temple’s interior is laid out in the same sequence as a freestanding Egyptian temple, but on a compressed scale. The first room is a broad hypostyle hall, supported by eight Osiride pillars (square columns carved in the form of the standing king) and decorated with battle scenes. Beyond this lies a second, smaller pillared hall, followed by the central vestibule and finally the sanctuary. The walls of the hypostyle hall bear the largest and most complete depiction in Egypt of the Battle of Kadesh, the famous engagement against the Hittite king Muwatalli II, fought in modern Syria around 1274 BCE. The reliefs show Egyptian forces crossing a river, charging the Hittite camp, and the king in single combat with his enemies. A second important scene depicts the great procession of Asiatic and African captives, as well as the king at the Siege of Dapur.
The sanctuary contains four seated figures carved from the living rock: Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and the deified Ramesses II. According to ancient accounts, twice a year the rays of the sun illuminated the statues of Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ramesses, while Ptah, the god of darkness, remained in shadow. The phenomenon was, and is, an extraordinary piece of religious theater.
The Small Temple of Nefertari
About 100 meters northeast of the Great Temple stands a second, smaller rock-cut temple dedicated jointly to Hathor and to Ramesses II’s chief queen, Nefertari Meritmut. The façade is dominated by six standing colossi, two of which depict Ramesses II and four of which depict the queen, the only time in Egyptian monumental art that a pharaoh is shown on the same scale as his consort. The interior, a series of small halls and a sanctuary, contains painted scenes of the king and queen offering to the gods. Most moving are the statues of Hathor in the form of a cow, protecting the king, and the rare depictions of Nefertari being crowned by the goddesses.
The small temple is significant for several reasons. It is one of the few Egyptian temples in which a private individual, even a queen, appears on an equal scale with the king. The temple was built early in Ramesses’ reign, and the king is shown young and slender; in the Great Temple, the same king appears as a more mature figure with a wider, more elaborate double crown.
The Sun Festival
Twice each year, on roughly 22 February and 22 October, the sun’s rays reach into the temple’s sanctuary and illuminate three of the four seated statues. The phenomenon was celebrated as the “Sun Festival,” and a tradition in the local community has grown up that the event marks the king’s “birthday” and “coronation” (the dates are debated; some scholars suggest that the ancient dates may have been slightly different, but the modern observance is well established). Visitors to the festival witness the sun’s rays travel slowly across the sanctuary, illuminating the statues one by one.
Rediscovery
The temples were known to locals but had been buried in sand for centuries when they were rediscovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1813. The Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni excavated the entrance of the Great Temple in 1817, sending the first detailed description and drawings to Europe. Subsequent explorers mapped and copied the reliefs, but the temples remained in remote Nubia, hard to reach, and were difficult to visit. Their modern fame is in part a function of the dramatic rescue campaign of the 1960s, when the rising waters of Lake Nasser threatened to drown the temples. The story of that campaign is told in The 1960s Relocation of Abu Simbel.
The Legacy of Abu Simbel
For all its remoteness, Abu Simbel has become a touchstone of ancient Egyptian architecture. The colossal façade, the elaborate interior, and the dramatic solar alignment combine to make it one of the most memorable monuments in the world. The temples’ preservation, achieved at enormous effort and cost in the 1960s relocation (1964–1968, by Vattenbyggnadsbyrån/VBB and Impregilo, raising the temple onto an artificial hill about 60 m high with a base about 210 m in diameter), is a landmark in the modern history of cultural heritage.
If you go, time your visit to the Sun Festival. Watching the light creep across the sanctuary statues is one of those experiences that justifies the long bus ride from Aswan.