Tuesday 10 November 2015

The temple of Medinet Habu - Luxor Egypt

The Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu.
This is very close to the "Valley of the Kings".
This dates from the New Kingdom.

 First Pylon of the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III
 It's a huge place. Very famous for its decorated wall reliefs -- about 7,000 m2 (75,347 sq ft) of them..

The reliefs depict the defeat of the Sea Peoples during the reign of Ramesses III.


The battle between the Egyptians and the Sea People occurred around  1175BC.
Ramesses III seems to have repulsed an invasion of the Nile delta.
Other sources suggest a date of 1177BC
This period is very important, as it was a time of great upheaval and marked a turning point in civilization
and the end of the Bronze Age.
 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Eric Cline, PhD)

The end of the Bronze age marked the start of a new dark age which lasted till the Renaissance of Greece.






 Ramses harvesting corn

 Lion headed goddess - Sekhmet ??
Sekhmet is the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing  .... a strange combination !
She is often depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter who's breath formed the desert. 



Amun & Maat
Amun - the Father of life who later combined with Ra to become Amun-Ra the all important State God.
Maat is here representing truth, justice, balance and morality. She is the daughter of the Egyptian sun deity Ra and wife of the moon god Thoth.




Horus
God of the sky & Kingship - often depicted as a falcon Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris.

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