History of The Egyptian temples architecture

The ancient Egyptians excelled in the construction of temples of various divine and funerary types, which was reflected in their mastery of the architecture used in the construction process, as well as "outstanding" designs with unique styles, bright colors, and exquisite inscriptions.

The ancient Egyptians were keen to record all aspects of life that they practiced in the world on the walls of temples and tombs. These included daily activities such as eating, drinking, housing, fishing, animals, amusement parks, and recreational games.

The temples are considered a distinct historical record that has not been left stray and can only be proved without it, so there is a consensus among Egyptologists that the ancient Egyptians were the first builders of knowledge, in addition to building towering edifices such as temples that have been a witness for thousands of years of their scientific, cognitive and civilizational superiority.

The research, prepared by archaeological expert Mahmoud Mohamed El Mandrawy, Chief Inspector of Minya, in the second part, published by "Al-Masry Al-Youm," deals with the features of temples in the era of the New Kingdom and their style, which is almost the same in shape and design.

The search leads us to the inside of the temples with their halls, pomp, and components in a journey that combines the existing legend on which the religious belief is based, along with the solid and precise geometric foundations on which these giant buildings were built, which combined grandeur, taste, and luxury.

In his research," Al-mandrawi " compared the Egyptian temple in the New Kingdom era with the Greek temple, where they are combined by increasing religiosity accompanied by ambition.

Temples in ancient Egypt were divided into two types: temples for ancient Egyptian idols and funerary temples for the Kings. In the second part of the research, antiquities expert Mahmoud Mohamed El Mandrawy focused on the temples of the modern state, which he considered the peak of architectural and artistic development in Egyptian civilization. "Al-mandrawi" pointed out that the parts that make up the temples, which almost coincide in one style in each building, which number four components are represented by: 

■ Spacious courtyard

The courtyard was characterized by being surrounded on three sides by roofed porches (ions), and the porches and their roofs are decorated with beautiful-looking and harmonious color drawings of images of the gods, some hymns, and also images of the king with the gods.

■ Hall of columns

The room of the columns was a very great room or hall surrounded by columns on all sides, similar to forests, as they took the forms of papyrus belts, where the pious gathered to hold rituals, and then came a lobby with great columns, to which light came from small windows above the walls.

■ The most holy of Holies

 The temple was surrounded by several rooms reached by passing through the Hall of columns, which is characterized by complete darkness, with a box placed in the deity and engraved and painted with views of the deity, who used to go out on very special occasions to the lobby of the columns such as the coronation of the king or on holidays or in visiting the gods with each other, as Amon used to do and Rams, not her males. The Chamber of the Holy of Holies was where all the tools of the idol for worship and the subsequent incense and precious clothes that were dedicated to the deity were kept. No one is allowed to enter the room of the Holy of Holies except the high priest who serves God himself, or only the king without his family, who was waiting at the door of the room.

■ Between the Egyptian and the Greek temple

There was a similarity between the Egyptian temple in the New Kingdom and the Greek temple in the period of the fifth and sixth centuries BC, especially the extreme importance that both parties attached to the erection of columns, and they were the title of a particular era, which was represented in the love of growing religiosity accompanied by ambition, along with luxury and grandeur in architecture and accuracy in inscriptions with their abundance.

Greek temples are distinguished by the fact that they were in the form of palaces, erected on a High Knoll, seen by passers-by from afar and attracted to them, leaving in oneself a great trace of the splendor of the construction, its grandeur and the beauty of the designs, especially what is added to them by the set of columns.

However, it does not leave in the soul the religious secrecy, awe and greatness of the gods, quite the opposite of the Egyptian temple, which was built to inspire in the soul the religious Majesty and the hidden mystery inspired by divine power.

■ Additions in the modern state

There were many changes and additions to the temples in the New Kingdom, among which were:

Maternity homes:

This name was known by those niches only in the Greek era, and it seems that the Greek influence on the Egyptian temples is one of the additions that occurred to the temples during the New Kingdom, and did not exist before.

In the era of the Nineteenth Dynasty, niches appeared that were erected with another different idea, and these niches, which were called in the Greek era birth houses, had a statue of the idol standing in front of them, who made a God to give birth to the ancient Egyptian naked body with a short body stacked, and they were erected on a high Hall reached by a ladder leading to the inside of the mihrab by a gate loaded on two columns, and leads to the inner chambers walkway or road in the middle of the columns bearing the roof, through which a person can see what is outside the mihrab.

Drainage on surfaces

There was a problem in the Egyptian temples, which is the accumulation of rainwater on the roofs in the event of rain, which made the engineers of the modern state think of a way out of this crisis, so they began to make drainage for these roofs, and strengthen the successive connections between the roof panels to prevent the leakage of rainwater and torrents into the temple, and then this water was diverted through pipes to the outside of the temple walls.

Hence, it became customary during the New Kingdom era-if not before - to cut a square channel or canal half in one of the slabs and the second half in another slab and then block this channel with a stopper, or a rectangular piece of stone to prevent water leakage between the roof slabs instead of laying mortar between the vertical joints of the roof slabs or covering them with a thick layer of it. This technique was used in both the Temple of King Seti I in Qurna and the Ramesseum Temple of King Ramses II and the Temple of King Ramses III in Karnak.

Extra rooms

The number of rooms in the temple has increased very significantly, reaching dozens of rooms, due to the prosperity that God has blessed Egypt due to the conquests and the expansion of the Egyptian state, so donations and offerings were offered more and more than in previous eras, which necessitated an increase in the number of rooms to be able to store all the gifts provided to the Temple, whether they were grain, food, gold, precious stones and other gifts worth the price.

The number of priests, servants and slaves increased due to the conquests, who were gifted by the king to the temple and the staff serving the Temple, who were staying in the temple almost completely, which necessitated increasing the rooms to accommodate these large numbers, and for this reason, too, the abundance of resources and donations provided to the temple, made the temple priests appear in a here the Pharaonic Egypt began to lose its star and set and weaken over the days and the Pharaonic State ended with all its civilization to Forever, this is besides the sacrificial chambers.

 Towers

The Kings of the modern state were interested in building the towers that surround the temple and tightening the guard there because of the attacks of the desert nomads on the temples and looting the wealth of the temples, and those towers were distinguished by their height and the strength of their walls. The outer edifice and the entrance to the temple were two large round-shaped towers surrounding the temple door, in which banners were hung in case of holidays and special occasions such as the coronation of the king or his victorious return from the invasion, and in front of the two towers are two great statues of the King characterized by their large size and towering height, which is close to the height of the towers.

 Animal annex

 The prosperity experienced by the era of the new kingdom from offering sacrifices was an easy thing available to everyone rich and poor, as cattle came from The Spoils of wars, a large part of it was deducted for the temple, which made the temple a huge amount of livestock, for example, the number of sheep cattle in the temple of the city of Ono reached more than 250 thousand head of sheep and 70 thousand head of cows, along with thousands of pigs, goats, donkeys, horses and camels that came through the spoils of war in western Asia, which necessitated from the temple, due to the smell of animals and their offal, but it was affiliated with the temple, served by slaves and servants of the temple and supervised by veterinarians and staff, it was lost Each thousand heads had an employee who supervised them, their preparation and fattening.

 patios

 The number of waiting areas in the temple increased due to the large number of people who frequented the temple daily, and on holidays, which was estimated to be thousands of people on holidays, which necessitated an increase in courtyards and waiting halls than the temple was in the era of the ancient and Middle States. 

corridors 

Due to the large number of rooms, courtyards, halls and column halls in the temple and the increase of accessories, which consequently led to an increase in the corridors connecting those rooms and courtyards, and those corridors were engraved and decorated with beautiful drawings and pictures colored in exquisite colors for the gods and the king, and their floors were paved with limestone or grantie stone.  

Stairs and roof rooms 

In the era of the New Kingdom, the roof rooms and the eastern and Western staircases were introduced to the temple and were used in religious ceremonies, where the portable statues of the gods are placed in the courtyard and many offerings are made to them, then they are equipped in the "Wabet", they are painted with fat, dressed and decorated to prepare them for the feast of the union with the sun disk, and this celebration occurs on several occasions, but especially on the feast of the beginning of the New Year