2.11 The Temple of the Greatest New Kingdom Pharaoh: Ramses II

The Man Who Ruled Egypt for Six Decades

Front of the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, ca. 1290-1224 BCE. Sandstone.

Analysis of this front of temple

-cutting into the existing cliff faces along the Nile
-meant exclusively to serve as a place of worship and statement of power; Ramses remains were interred at the Valley of the KIngs.

-four 65 foot-tall statues of Ramses enthroned on its façade in guise of Osiris, the god of the Underworld wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. It was built to commemmorate his victory against the Hittites.

-Below the four statues of the pharaoh are smaller sculptures of his family: his wife, Nefertari; the queen mother; and his children.

Inside temple of Ramses II
-there is a rock-cut interior with gallery featuring more colossal standing sculptures of Ramses: 32’ tall facing each other. They have no load bearing function like in the earlier cliff tombs. Walls were filled with reliefs of Ramses' military campaigns and victories

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