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ABU SIMBEL

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 81 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ABU SIMBEL , orIPSAMBUL, the name of a See also:group of temples of See also:Rameses II. (c. 1250 B.c.) in See also:Nubia, on the See also:left See also:bank of the See also:Nile, 56 m. by See also:river S. of Korosko. They are hewn in the cliffs at the See also:riverside, at a point where the See also:sandstone hills on the See also:west reach the Nile and See also:form the See also:southern boundary of a wider portion of the generally barren valley. The temples are three in number. The See also:principal See also:temple, probably the greatest and most imposing of all See also:rock-hewn monuments, was discovered by See also:Burckhardt in 1812 and opened by See also:Belzoni in 1817. (The front has been cleared several times, most recently in 1892, but the See also:sand is always pressing forward from the See also:north end.) The hillside was recessed to form the See also:facade, backed against which four immense seated colossi of the See also:king, in pairs on either See also:side of the entrance, rise from a See also:platform or forecourt reached from the river by a See also:flight of steps. The colossi are no less than 65 ft. in height, of nobly placid See also:design, and are accompanied by smaller figures of Rameses' See also:queen and their sons and daughters; behind and over them is the See also:cornice, with the See also:dedication below in a See also:line of huge hieroglyphs; and a See also:long See also:row of apes, See also:standing in See also:adoration of the rising See also:sun above. The temple is dedicated primarily to the See also:solar gods Amenre of See also:Thebes and Raharakht of See also:Heliopolis, the true sun See also:god; it is oriented to the See also:east so that the rays of the sun in the See also:early See also:morning penetrate the whole length of two See also:great halls to the innermost See also:sanctuary and fall upon the central figures of Amenre and Rameses, which are there enthroned with Ptah of See also:Memphis and Raharakht on either side. The interior of the temple is decorated with coloured See also:sculpture of See also:fine workmanship and in See also:good preservation; the scenes are more than usually interesting; some are of religious import (a'mongst them Rameses as king making offerings to himself as god), others illustrate See also:war in See also:Syria, See also:Libya and See also:Ethiopia: another See also:series depicts the events of the famous See also:battle with the See also:Hittites and their See also:allies at Kadesh, in which Rameses saved the See also:Egyptian See also:camp and See also:army by his See also:personal valour. See also:Historical stelae of the same reign are engraved inside and outside the temple; the most interesting is that recording the See also:marriage with a Hittite princess in the 34th See also:year. Not the least important feature of the temple be-longs to a later See also:age, when some See also:Greek, Carian and Phoenician soldiers of one of the See also:kings named See also:Psammetichus (apparently Psammetichus II., 594–589 B.C.) inscribed their names upon the two southern colossi, doubtless the only ones then clear of sand.

These graffiti are of the highest value for the early See also:

history of the See also:alphabet, and as proving the presence of Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian armies of the See also:period. The upper See also:part of the second See also:colossus (from the See also:south) has fallen; the third was re-paired by Sethos II. not many years after the completion of the temple. This great temple was wholly rock-cut, and is now threatened by See also:gradual ruin by sliding on the planes of stratification. A small temple, immediately to the south of the first, is believed to have had a built antechamber: it is the earliest known example of a " See also:birth See also:chapel," such as was usually attached to Ptolemaic temples for the See also:accommodation of the divine See also:mother-See also:consort and her son. The third and northernmost temple, separated from the others by a See also:ravine, is on a large See also:scale; the colossi of the facade are six in number and 33 ft. high, representing Rameses and his queen Nefrere, who dedicated the temple to the goddess See also:Hathor. The whole group forms a singular See also:monument of Rameses' unbounded See also:pride and self-glorification. See See also:EGYPT; J. H. Breasted, See also:Ancient Records, -Egypt, vol. iii. pp. 124 et seq., esp. 212; "The Temples of See also:Lower Nubia," in the See also:American See also:Journal of Semitic See also:Languages and Literatures, See also:October 1906. (F.

LL.

End of Article: ABU SIMBEL

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ABU TAMMAM [Habib ibn Aus] (807–846)

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