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Façade of the Temple of Seti I, built c. 1300 BC

The Temple of Seti I is now known as the Great Temple of Abydos. In antiquity, the temple was known as "Menmaatre Happy in Abydos," and is a significant historical site in Abydos.[1] Abydos is a significant location with its connection to kingship due to being the burial site of the proto-kings from the Pre-Dynastic period, First Dynasty kings, and the location of the Cult of Osiris. [2]

Initially, construction started in the 13th century BC by the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Seti I, also known as Sethos, but was not completed by the time of his death instead, construction was renovated by his son Ramesses II.[3] Ramesses renovated the temple by changing its original design and placing inscriptions within the temple. At the Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos Ramesses states that "son arose in his father place, none of them restored the monument of him who begot him."[4]

The Temple of Seti I was designed with a standard layout from the Ramesside period featuring a "L" shaped design constructed of limestone and sandstone.[5] The temple boast many features, including the first and second courts that house hypostyle halls, chapels to Seti I and various gods, and the Osireion.[6] The South wing houses the Gallery of the Kings, which leads to a slaughter court and four secondary rooms, which continues into the Corridor of Bulls with a stairway that exits into storage rooms, and the Hall of Barques.[7]

The temple is also notable for the Abydos graffiti which is ancient Phoenician and Aramaic graffiti found on the temple walls. The Temple additionally contains graffito from the 21st dynasty till the Roman period then from Later periods ranging from Aramaic, Phoenician, Carian, Greek and Cypriot.[8]

Research

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In 1863 the, temple was cleared and reconstructed by Auguste Mariette.[9] In 1901-1902, Flinders Petrie, his wife Hilda Petrie, and Margaret A. Murray further excavated the Temple and discovered the Osireion.[10] After World War I, the temple was studied by Henri Édouard Naville and then by Henri Frankfort.[11] During the 1925-1927 season under the Egyptian Exploration Society and Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Herbert Felton recorded the sculptures within the temple through photography. Amice M. Calverley then detailed the temple walls under Aylward M. Blackman. With financial assistance from John D. Rockefeller Jr., this expedition gained the services of Myrtle F. Broome, Hugh Calverley, C. M. Beazley, Charles Little, Linda Holey, and Adriaan de Buck.[12] This work was completed in 1933 consisting of a four-volume work titled The Temple of King Sethos I At Abydos consisting of photos and drawings of the chapels of Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amen-Re, Re-Harakhti, Ptah, and Seti, The Osiris Complex, and the Second Hypostyle Hall.[13] John Baines worked the site in 1979 and again from1981-1983.

History of Temple Use

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The Temple of Seti did not serve as a mortuary temple to carry the Pharaoh cult; instead, it was created to be a part of the Osiris festival. Following the temple's passing, the temple was reused several times as Ian Rutherford's study has revealed that the temple was in use after the discovery of Greek, Cypriot, Phoenician, and Aramaic inscriptions make references to the Cult of Osiris. During the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period, graffiti was left that related the temple to the god Serapis, who served as the state god of Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period. Its final use came from the Late Roman Period, being used as an ocular incubation for the god Bes..[14] Individuals who wished to obtain something from the god would possibly leave offerings, talk to the oracle, and sometimes sleep overnight in the temple to have a mystical experience. This is why tons of Coptic, Greek, and Latin graffiti are found within and throughout the temple.[15][16]

Features

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First and Second Courts

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The first court of the temple is entered through a pylon entrance that portrays Isis, Osiris, Ramesses, and Menereptah. The first court contains inscriptions of Ramesses' battle scenes and scenes of Seti. The Second Court contains scenes of Ramesses interacting with gods. The scenes were used to commemorate Ramesses II's achievements and acceptance as ruler. [17]

The first hypostyle hall within the Temple of Seti I at Abydos
The Gallery of the Lists (Temple of Seti I in Abydos)

First and Second Hypostyle Halls

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A hypostyle hall is a large room consisting of many columns to support a roof; the temple consists of two halls separated by a wall. Ramesses II carved over the first hall's columns which is comprised of 12 columns and reliefs.[18] The second hall consisting of 36 columns.[19]

Abydos King List

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In The Gallery of Ancestors, also referred to as The Gallery of the List, one can find the Abydos King List. This list is depicted in low relief, carved under the reign of Ramesses II, and it shows Seti and Ramesses making offerings to their royal ancestors.[20] [21] These royal ancestors are the past kings of Egypt. Notably, some rulers, like the 15th Dynasty Hyksos that ruled Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period 1650-1550 BCE and the reign of the 18th Dynasty heretic Akhenaten of the New Kingdom 1550-1069, were omitted from the list, possibly due to being associated with periods of internal weakness and divisions.[22] The Gallery of Ancestors led into the storerooms and the desert behind the temple.

Chapels

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The temple contains six chapels, completed by Seti I's death, in a row dedicated to the gods Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amen-Rem Re-Harakti, and Ptah. Additionally, there is one more chapel belonging to Seti, which is meant to represent Seti as a god. The first three chapels, dedicated to that of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, are intended to represent the principal gods of Egypt's religion and the triad of Abydos. The following three gods are the principal gods of the country, representing their cities, with Amen-Re representing Thebes, Re-Harakti representing Heliopolis, and Ptah representing Memphis.[23]

Osireion

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The Osireion located behind the Temple of Seti I, as can be se the Osireion is filling with water from the rising Nile.

The Osireion is the symbolic tomb of Osiris, created of red granite and sandstone that housed a sarcophagus and a chest for canopic jars. This sarcophagus was possibly surrounded with floodwater in order to grown barley that would have ritually been used for symbolic resurrection of Osiris allowing the Osireion to serve as a center for the cult of Osiris.

Unfortunately, parts of the Osireion now have water due to the Aswan dam raising water.[24] [21] The Osireion, meaning "Menmaatre beneficial to Osiris" or sometimes called the Osiris Complex, is located behind the temple chapels in the shape of a rectangle being 57m by 13m, consisting of eight rooms linked via access to the Osiris chapel, leading to a staircase that descended into a symbolic tomb of the God Osiris.[1] Inside this tomb, Osiris's Cenotaph was located. The Cenotaph was crafted in an 18th Dynasty tomb design mimicking those of the Valley of the Kings.[8] While the entrance to the Osierion was through the Osiris Chapel, there was an additional entrance that went beyond the temple's enclosure walls. These entrances were adorned with religious texts such as the Book of the Dead and the Book of Caves, which the tunnel filled with scenes of the afterlife completed by Seti's grandson Merenptah.[25]

Economy

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Temple Economy

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Within Ancient Egypt, major temples were considered the reserve banks of their times that would hold excessive amounts of grains, with granaries possibly delivering goods of bread and beer to temples. Temples consisted of priesthoods and required funding to ensure proper production and operations. One type of textual evidence from the Middle Kingdom that attests to the payment of temple staff is that P. Berlin 10005 = P. Cairo JE 71580. During the New Kingdom, temples played a crucial role in the agricultural production and organization of the state, functioning as powerful economic institutions that oversaw agriculture.[26]

The Temple of Seti was granted special permission to mine within the Eastern Desert, specifically Wadi Mia.[27] The Kanais Decree of Seti I is associated with another one of Seti's temples at Kanais, which protected the gold mines that supplied the gold for the temple at Abydos.[28] Additionally, The Nauri Decree of Seti I, carved into the Cliff of Nauri, protects the temple's assets.  This decree declares that the temple's property, the gold mines, boats, goods, and workers, belonged to the temple and was then protected.[28][29] Ensuring that its resources were unable to be seized by magistrates and fortresses and that the workers were unable to be conscripted for labor or have their animals taken, with a punishment of beatings for those that disobeyed the decree.[29]

The temple also facilitated its trade through its ships, with the temple staff serving as traders who exchanged goods for items such as sesame oil.[30] Furthermore, the temple would have supplied the necessary resources for laborers to tend livestock and supply commodes of cloth and papyri. Although the temple supported workshops and gangs to turn agricultural goods into commodities, its ships ensured economic activities as they were protected.

Temple and its occult

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Dorothy Louise Eady, also known as Omm Sety (16 January 1904 – 21 April 1981), was the keeper of the Temple of Seti I. Eady had fallen down a flight of stairs at the age of three. Following this fall, she had awakened and believed that she was the reincarnation of a priestess who committed suicide when she was discovered to be the former lover of Seti. In 1956, Eady moved to a small village in Abydos and practiced the Ancient Egyptian religion. Following her retirement, she began to give tours through the Temple of Seti.[31]

Helicopter hieroglyphs

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The retouched and eroded hieroglyphs in the Temple of Seti I which are purported to represent modern vehicles – a helicopter, a submarine, and a zeppelin or plane.

The "helicopter" image results from the carved stone being re-used over time. The initial carving was made during the reign of Seti I and translates to "He who repulses the nine [enemies of Egypt]." This carving was later filled in with plaster and re-carved during the reign of Ramesses II with the title "He who protects Egypt and overthrows the foreign countries." Over time, the plaster has eroded, leaving both inscriptions partially visible and creating a palimpsest-like effect of overlapping hieroglyphs.[32][33] These hieroglyphs have been the subject of pyramidologists.

References

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  1. ^ a b O’Connor, David. “The Temple of Seti I.” In Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris, 95. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
  2. ^ Westerfeld, Jennifer. “Monastic Graffiti in Context: The Temple of Seti I at Abydos.” Writing and Communication in Early Egyptian Monasticism, 2017. 188
  3. ^ David, A. Rosalie (1981). A guide to religious ritual at Abydos. Egyptology series. Warminster, Wilts., England: Aris & Phillips. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-85668-060-1.
  4. ^ O’Connor, David. “The Temple of Seti I.” In Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris, 46. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
  5. ^ O’Connor, David. “The Temple of Seti I.” In Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris, 47. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
  6. ^ Calverley, Amice M., Myrtle F. Broome. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos: The Chapels of Osiris, Isis and Horus. Edited by Alan H. Gardiner. Vol. 1. London: Egypt Exploration Society (Archaeological Survey); Chicago: Oriental Institute University of Chicago,1933. xii
  7. ^ Brand, Peter J., and Wolfgang Schenkel. The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical, and Art Historical Analysis. Leiden: Brill, 2000. 161
  8. ^ a b Bard, Kathryn A., and Steven Blake Shubert, eds. 1999. "Abydos, Osiris Temple of Seti I" Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. London: Routledge. 114
  9. ^ Caulfeild, Algernon T. (1902). The temple of the kings at Abydos (Sety 1). London. doi:10.11588/diglit.4656.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Westerfeld, Jennifer. “Monastic Graffiti in Context: The Temple of Seti I at Abydos.” Writing and Communication in Early Egyptian Monasticism, 2017. 187
  11. ^ Verner, Miroslav (June 3, 2013). "Abydos: The Sacred Land". Temple of the World: Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. American University in Cairo Press. p. 369. doi:10.5743/cairo/9789774165634.001.0001. ISBN 978-1-61797-543-1.
  12. ^ Calverley, Amice M., Myrtle F. Broome. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos: The Chapels of Osiris, Isis and Horus. Edited by Alan H. Gardiner. Vol. 1. London: Egypt Exploration Society (Archaeological Survey); Chicago: Oriental Institute University of Chicago,1933. vii
  13. ^ Calverley, Amice M., Myrtle F. Broome. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos: by Alan H. Gardiner. Vol. 1-4. London: Egypt Exploration Society (Archaeological Survey); Chicago: Oriental Institute University of Chicago,1933.
  14. ^ Ian Rutherford, "Pilgrimage in Greco-Roman Egypt: New Perspectives on Graffiti from the Memnonion at Abydos," in Ancient Perspectives on Egypt, 1st ed., quoted in Jennifer Westerfeld, "Monastic Graffiti in Context: The Temple of Seti I at Abydos," in Writing and Communication in Early Egyptian Monasticism (Leiden: Brill, 2017)
  15. ^ Westerfeld, Jennifer. "Monastic Graffiti in Context: The Temple of Seti I at Abydos." In Writing and Communication in Early Egyptian Monasticism, 196. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
  16. ^ DAVID FRANKFURTER. Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance. Princeton University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv10vm2p9.
  17. ^ David, A. Rosalie. Temple Ritual at Abydos. Revised paperback edition. London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 2018. 11, 17
  18. ^ Baines, John, and Jaromír Málek. Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. 2nd ed. Cultural Atlas Series. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. 117
  19. ^ David, A. Rosalie. Temple Ritual at Abydos. Revised paperback edition. London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 2018. 11, 18
  20. ^ Kemp, Barry. “The Intellectual Foundations of the Early State.” In Ancient Egypt:, 3rd ed., 1: 60. Routledge, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166485-3.
  21. ^ a b Baines, J. (1984). Abydos, Temple of Sethos I: Preliminary Report. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 70(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1177/030751338407000103
  22. ^ Verner, Miroslav, and Anna Bryson-Gustová, Temple of the World: Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2013; online edn, Cairo Scholarship Online, 18 Sept. 2014), https://doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774165634.001.0001, accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
  23. ^ Eberhard Otto. Ancient Egyptian Art: The Cults of Osiris and Amon. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1967, pp. 45–60.
  24. ^ Verner, Miroslav, and Anna Bryson-Gustová, Temple of the World: Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2013; online edn, Cairo Scholarship Online, 18 Sept. 2014), 364-372 https://doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774165634.001.0001, accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
  25. ^ O’Connor, David. “The Temple of Seti I.” In Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris, 50. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
  26. ^ García, Juan Carlos Moreno. “Temples and Agricultural Labour in Egypt, from the Late New Kingdom to the Saite Period.” In Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García. Oxbow Books, 2016.
  27. ^ Kemp, Barry. “New Kingdom Egypt: The Mature State.” In Ancient Egypt, 3rd ed., 1:247–93. Routledge, 2018. 254 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166485-7.
  28. ^ a b Muhs, Brian 2016. The ancient Egyptian economy 3000-30 BCE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 135
  29. ^ a b Edgerton, William F. “The Nauri Decree of Seti I: A Translation and Analysis of the Legal Portion.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 6, no. 4 (1947): 219–30.
  30. ^ Kemp, Barry. “New Kingdom Egypt: The Mature State.” In Ancient Egypt, 3rd ed., 1:247–93. Routledge, 2018. 256 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166485-7.
  31. ^ The Search for Omm Sety, Jonathan Cott in collaboration with Dr. Hanny El Zeini, Doubleday & Company, 1987, ISBN 0-385-23746-4
  32. ^ "The Abydos temple "helicopter"". Archived from the original on July 28, 2005.
  33. ^ "Helicopter Hieroglyphs Explained". raincool.blogspot.nl. May 23, 2010.

Bibliography

[edit]

Baines, J. "Abydos, Temple of Sethos I: Preliminary Report." *The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology* 70, no. 1 (1984): 13. https://doi.org/10.1177/030751338407000103.

Baines, John, and Jaromír Málek. Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. 2nd ed. Cultural Atlas Series. New York: Checkmark Books

Bard, Kathryn A., and Steven Blake Shubert, eds. "Abydos, Osiris Temple of Seti I." *Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt*. London: Routledge, 1999.

Brand, Peter J., and Wolfgang Schenkel. *The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical, and Art Historical Analysis*. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Calverley, Amice M., and Myrtle F. Broome. *The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos: The Chapels of Osiris, Isis and Horus*. Edited by Alan H. Gardiner. Vol. 1. London: Egypt Exploration Society (Archaeological Survey); Chicago: Oriental Institute University of Chicago, 1933.

Caulfeild, Algernon St. George. The Temple of the Kings at Abydos (Sety I). Egyptian Research Account 8. London: Quaritch, 1902. http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/caulfeild1902.

Cott, Jonathan, in collaboration with Dr. Hanny El Zeini. *The Search for Omm Sety*. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1987.

David, A. Rosalie. *A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos*. Egyptology series. Warminster, Wilts., England: Aris & Phillips, 1981.

David Frankfurter. *Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance*. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv10vm2p9.

Edgerton, William F. "The Nauri Decree of Seti I: A Translation and Analysis of the Legal Portion." *Journal of Near Eastern Studies* 6, no. 4 (1947): 219–30.

Eberhard Otto. *Ancient Egyptian Art: The Cults of Osiris and Amon*. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1967.

García, Juan Carlos Moreno. "Temples and Agricultural Labour in Egypt, from the Late New Kingdom to the Saite Period." In *Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East*, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2016.

Kemp, Barry. “The Intellectual Foundations of the Early State.” In *Ancient Egypt*, 3rd ed., 1:60. London: Routledge, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166485-3.

Kemp, Barry. “New Kingdom Egypt: The Mature State.” In *Ancient Egypt*, 3rd ed., 1:247–93. London: Routledge, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166485-7.

Muhs, Brian. *The Ancient Egyptian Economy 3000-30 BCE*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

O’Connor, David. “The Temple of Seti I.” In *Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris*, 46–50, 95. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.

Verner, Miroslav, and Anna Bryson-Gustová. *Temple of the World: Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt*. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774165634.001.0001.

Westerfeld, Jennifer. “Monastic Graffiti in Context: The Temple of Seti I at Abydos.” In *Writing and Communication in Early Egyptian Monasticism*, 187–88, 196. Leiden: Brill, 2017.

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