The stepped temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II, the ruler of the XI dynasty, uniting Egypt at the end of the I Transitional period, is located on the West Bank in Luxor (ancient Thebes). It was built in the era of the Egyptian pyramids and includes many of their elements. Perhaps the temple even had a pyramidal superstructure. The name of the tomb is "The places of worship of Nebhepetr shine blissfully."
Research history
In many respects, the memorial temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II (see photo in the article) was a source of historical discoveries, so it is not surprising that a variety of teams were involved in its research. It was the first temple in western Thebes where the cult of the goddess Hathor was located, and was the harbinger of a new theological concept of “Temples of Millions of Years,” which would become popular during the New Kingdom.
Temple of the Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, the year of foundation of which is 2000 BC. e., was discovered in the second half of the 19th century by Lord Dufferin. Edouard Naville and Henry Hall May became the first modern scholars to study it in 1903-1907 with the support of the Egyptian Research Foundation. From 1911 to 1931, the complex was studied by a group from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art under the direction of Herbert Winlock. However, no one was able to complete the excavation, so the temple was not fully examined before the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, led by Dieter Arnold, did not excavate in 1968-1971.
Where is the temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II?
Pharaoh chose a site on a rocky hillside in modern Deir al-Bahri, where some of his predecessors of the First Transition period built saffah tombs. Saff means “row” in Arabic, and the tombs were called so because of the rows of columns around their facades. Most Egyptologists agree that the memorial temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II combined the architectural elements of such tombs and pyramidal complexes, although only a few agreed on its original appearance.
The complex consisted of the Valley Temple, whose ruins lie beneath the fields on the edge of the Nile Valley and probably also under the ruins of the Temple of Ramses IV. The cobbled, stepped, terraced temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II (see photo in the article), partially cut into the rocks, with an underground burial chamber. Winlock believed that its construction took place in 3 stages, while Arnold talked about four phases. The complex is oriented from east to west, but deviates slightly to the north.
Temple plan
Although not much is known about the Valley Temple, the paved path to it, unlike most similar structures, was open, with statues of Osiris along the sides at irregular intervals. It ended in the main temple complex with a wide courtyard surrounded by a flagstone wall.
In the backyard on the west side stood a massive, terraced memorial temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep ii. The facade of the lower columned hall consisted of a portico built of limestone blocks. This portico, with a double row of columns, was divided in two by a ramp leading to the second terrace. The walls of the portico were originally decorated with battle scenes.
The temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II in Deir al-Bahri, as well as the later temples located here, had a wide ramp of limestone blocks and rows of parallel planted plane trees and tamarisks, providing access to the second, main level. The terrace can be divided into three sections - an external hall with a portico and a colonnade surrounding a covered arcade from the north, south and east, with a center in the middle of the gallery.
The outer part of the portico of this level, as well as the lower one, consisted of two rows of columns of limestone. It is often called the "upper columned hall." The front part of the columns was decorated with scenes depicting Mentuhotep II and various gods, with inscriptions on a low bas-relief. The back walls of the columned hall around the inner gallery were slightly tilted and decorated inside and out. It can be assumed that once they constituted the outer facade of the gallery. This, as well as other evidence, led Egyptologists to conclude that the column hall was built later.
The entrance to the eastern wing of the columned hall of the portico is located on the main axis of the complex and leads to the internal gallery. The latter, from the point of view of ancient Egyptian architecture, can be called part of the roof, enveloping the edges of the structure and supported by pillars. Most often, galleries surround an open courtyard, but in this case it covers the inner core of the structure. In this gallery in two rows from the west and three rows from the other sides stood 140 octagonal columns. The gallery was dimly lit through openings in the outer wall near the outer portico.
Temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II: History of Creation
Inside the gallery was, according to Egyptologists, a symbolic version of the original grave mound. It is believed that it was made of solid clay roughly in the form of a cube, probably surrounded by slabs of limestone. She could perform on the upper terrace through the gallery. This is still a matter of discussion.
Navil, the first to explore the temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II at Deir al-Bahri, believed that this core was a pyramid built on a rocky base. A number of scientists refute his assumption. For example, Arnold rejected Navil’s argument, mainly because there is no evidence to support this. There are no ruined inclined walls of the pyramid and its top, so he sees it as a more or less rectangular terrace with a flat roof and with a stylized representation of the original embankment. Stadelmann offers an Arnold variant with a sandy hill planted with trees. This links the ancient mound with faith in Osiris.
Pyramid or not?
The debate on these issues arose not only under the influence of the absence of any ruins of the upper terrace structure, but also in connection with conflicting documentary sources. For example, Abbott's papyrus definitely calls the building a pyramid. Arnold gives 2 fragments of inscriptions with the names of the structure, and this is not a pyramid. The American Egyptologist L. Bull understands the name as "a truncated pyramid or obelisk rising above another structure." The obelisk seems to be a solar disk, about which Bull says that “as a rule, two rays emanate from each side”. The inscription on the stele of the XII Tutu Dynasty represents the greatest temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II in Deir al-Bahri with the hieroglyphic sign of the pyramid. Near the temple, graffiti of the New Kingdom was found, which treats the tomb as a terrace with an obelisk ending in a pyramidal peak.
Despite this, most Egyptologists are inclined to think that the top superstructure was not in the shape of a pyramid. For example, in Abbott's papyrus, other tombs that are clearly not pyramids were also called pyramids. Therefore, Egyptologists believe that the memorial temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II did not look like a funeral pyramid. Most likely, the tradition of monumental tombs was so closely related to the pyramid at that time that its character was used to denote all such structures. However, this discussion is far from over. Perhaps new archaeological discoveries will be able to clarify this issue.
Burial Consort
On the western side of the second-level terrace, a row of six shaft tombs carved into the rock was discovered. They were clearly integrated into the temple when the expansion of the structure to the west began. Their underground sections were built of limestone blocks, with false doors and iconic statues. Apparently, female members of the royal family were buried in tombs. Interestingly, they all died young, the eldest of them was 22 years old, and the youngest was only 5 years old. Egyptologists suggest that they could die at about the same time due to an accident or epidemic. Only four of them bore the title of royal consort. Arnold believes that the rest could be the priestesses of the goddess Hathor, although Callender claims that they were the “diplomatic” spouses of Mentuhotep II, necessary to stabilize and unite the country after the chaotic period of the First Transition.
Among the consort, there are two women, especially different. One of them, the Nubian, whose significance is confirmed by the decorated wooden coffin, was called Ashaet. The other, Cavit, had a wide limestone sarcophagus with beautiful reliefs, which is currently in the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo.
Hypostyle
The memorial temple of the pharaoh Mentuhotep II was expanded to the west some time after its construction. This extension included an open courtyard with columns, the first large hypostyle in Egypt, a chapel for various gods, and a temple carved into the rock, referred to as Speos. During the construction of the yard was used sandstone. From the south, east and north, octagonal columns surrounded the courtyard. In addition, there were 82 columns in the hypostyle. The floor of the hall was made of limestone, and the walls were made of sandstone.
Speos
In Speos, at the far western end of the complex is a long vaulted hall with a niche for a statue at the very end. Here, the flooring is made of sandstone and the walls are made of limestone. There was a low ramp that led to a limestone altar at the back (the westernmost part), set in front of a niche and an enlarged statue of the pharaoh. This altar, according to Mark Lehner, was the center of the entire temple complex. The room originally had a false door. Among the other cult objects found in Speos is a seated statue of the god Amun. A small chapel located at the eastern corner of the extension of the western courtyard served as a place of worship for several major gods, including Amon, Mont, Osiris and Hathor, whose statues were discovered and deposited in the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.
Burial chamber
On the axis of the colonnade of the courtyard in this western extension is a vaulted descending corridor, originally trimmed with limestone, which suddenly breaks off, and its remainder consists of coarse rock. It leads down to a room called the burial chamber of the pharaoh. Navil examined the corridor and the burial chamber in 1906, and Arnold in 1971. In the niches along the walls of the corridor were about six hundred wooden figures, which were parts of models of workshops, bakeries and boats. The burial chamber is located about 12 meters down from the entrance. It is made of granite with a saddle ceiling. The chamber is divided into two parts, one of which is an alabaster chapel, crowned with a single giant granite slab, the entrance to which was made in the form of a double wooden door, which occupied a large area. Navil concluded that this room was for the symbolic burial of “ka” of the king, or soul, because there was a sarcophagus. However, most Egyptologists currently disagree with his findings. They believe that the sarcophagus was in the alabaster room.
Random discovery
One reason for this is that in 1899 the famous discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb, Howard Carter, or rather his horse, literally stumbled upon a new riddle in the Mentuhotep II complex. While riding around the yard in front of the complex, his horse stumbled. He dismounted to see if she was wounded, and discovered the entrance to the underground part of the temple complex. Because of the way this discovery was made, like so many others, Carter's group called the construction of Bab al-Hassan, which means "the gate of the horse."
The entrance began in the form of an open trench, but soon passed into a vaulted corridor. At a depth of about 17 m, Carter found a door sealed with a four-meter wall of unfired brick. Beyond this single barrier, the corridor continued west and finally turned north. In this place a mine was found in the floor. Although it was only two meters deep, the remains of a wooden chest with the name of the ruler were found on it. The second mine led into a real burial chamber.
Kenofant
Here, Carter's team discovered the remains of an empty, unwritten wooden coffin, pottery, and the bones of sacrificial animals. But the most important discovery was the now famous painted sandstone statue of Mentuhotep II, wrapped in fine linen, with the crown of Lower Egypt on its head. This item is also now in the Museum of Antiquities. Perhaps because of this statue, Arnold believes that the underground site is symbolic, that is, a cenotaph, and is associated with the festivals of Seda Mentuhotep II. Apparently, others now believe that the burial chamber at the top of the temple was a real tomb of the pharaoh.