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Unbelieveable as it may seem, this place has even more great things to offer. Beyond the Great Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Ramses III, there are smaller hypostyle halls without roofs that nevertheless have much to offer the visitor. Due to the angle of the late afternoon sun, I unable to capture much of the palace with my camera. The images though remind me that I was particularly stunned by the red granite statue in the far end of the complex. There are also numerous exposed reliefs of interest to those that are hardy walkers, and in this part it's possible to climb on the roof and shoot back toward the south. Leave a Comment
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 Entrance Reliefs at Great
Temple of Ramses III by atufft,
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Many with tired feet might be unimpressed with the architecture, since it resembles much of what one sees at Karnak and Ramesseum. However, as one passed through the 2nd Pylon, vivid colors of ceiling and walls becomes an absolute fascination. Other than the vibrant colors of the tombs, one rarely sees such in the monuments of Egypt. Sun, rain, and time are harsh on any painted ruins, but these colors remain largely intact because of the excellent preservation of the roofed areas. It also seems that the Coptic Village may have protected the Temple Complex from those who might inhabit and burn smokey fires to destroy the paint. The second courtyard also has Osiride porticos and columns on both sides. The columns are filled with stunning relief work, as are the walls and ceilings, presummably many images from the Book of the Dead, as well as Ramses adventures are the content. Since I had my roll film camera, I had a less thorough image documentation than I would take now. So, check it out! But, the best is yet to come in this series of Medinet Habu. Leave a Comment
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The theme here is one designed to impress and put fear into those who enter the Temple. The South Gate and outer First Pylons are replete with huge reliefs of Ramses punishing his enemies. Then, just past the first pylon, one enters the First Court with the Osiride Portico featured on the right. Leave a Comment
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Like many of the larger complexes, the maps provided by Lonely Planet and the excellent Art and History of Egypt (which is available in a variety of languages) don't seem to agree with what one finds at the sight. In any case though as one goes beyond the crenulated walls of the Great South Gate structure, that also feature the interesting rough-cut look remiscent of Middle Eastern military architecture, the Temple of Thutmosis I appears at the right at a rather strange angle. These ruins are clearly older and out of place with the rest of the complex at this point. Leave a Comment
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One of the best preserved, and least visited of the West Bank monuments is Medinet Habu, named after the Coptic village that occupied the area in the Christian era. The military style temple complex which consists of the Great Temple and Palace of Ramses III, and the remains of a temple by Thutmosis I and a Chapel of the Divine Votaress of Amon. The military style represents a pre-Ptolemic era when the Egyptians, after having been conquered for the first time by the "sea peoples", renewed itself through empire building into the Middle East. The god-like reverance, such as is exemplified by the pyramids at Giza, was lost for the pharoah who now had to rule more by military power than religious hocus pocus. These ruins were never used for military purposes, but represent the style of art probably first seen in the walled cities of the Middle East. The entrance to this complex is particularly grand, and worth the visit by itself. One can climb up the entrance tower and capture a good overview of the complex. The ruins of the Coptic Village can be seen in the background. Leave a Comment
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The modern name for the Ramesseum was given in the 19th century when the European looters, or rather archeologists, first found it. The 2nd Pylon has a relief depicting a scene typical of Ramses' interaction with Gods Osiris and Amon and is enormous in size. Beyond the colossal statue are a number of interesting boulder sized fragments, and if one walks around the 1st pylon, interaction with local farmers is possible. I met a boy on a donkey and took his picture. I also found a guard who wanted me to pay an extra tip to view a "mummy". I was reluctant to pay anything, but he showed me anyway. I'm not sure whether is was the remains of a modern dead body, a family that had been mummified, or a fragment of a mummy that wasn't found by the archeologists or what. Leave a Comment
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While much of Ramesseum remains in ruins, a significant portion of the great hypostyle hall remains, and restoration work is in progress. Some 28 of 48 columns stand. Ramesseum features a mural of the Battle of Kadesh. In this conflict, Ramses himself fought on chariot far away from home. Kadesh is in Syria, I believe, and when Ramses arrived with a contingent of his forces, he unexpectedly ran into a much larger Hittitie army, which nearly enveloped him. Unlike Darius, who would be personally assaulted by Alexander, Ramses did not flee. Rather, he rallied his troops and demonstrated considerable personal bravery. Later, when his generals arrived with additional troops, Ramses was able to bring the conflict to a stalemate as the Hittite armies, though still much larger found themselves out flanked. The life of Ramses and this conflict is nicely recreated in Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings, which also features chapters on the sexual intrigues of court life. Mailer claimed to have done "research", and he describes nicely how Ramses may have fought the battle. Ramses who had learned the mastery of tying the reins to his hips to direct the horses pulling his wooden axle chariot, shot arrows at close range against Hittite troops that attempted to capture him. As the mural depicts, the enemy is massacred or flees in terror. This may have been propaganda because the Egyptians eventually lost this territory. In any case, Ramses ruled for some 60 years and the hypostyle hall is but one of may monuments he built to himself. Leave a Comment
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As anyone who has traveled through Egyptian ruins knows, Rameses II thought a great deal of himself, but perhaps he had to. During these dynastic periods, Egypt transitioned from God-King to Military Empire. The Egyptians learned about the empire builders of the near east, particularly of the Hittites, against whom Ramses fought to a draw at the battle of Kadesh. In any case, Ramses II was required to punish his enemies and build monuments in part as a show of strength to the Egyptian people who had previously seen their God-King dynasties vanish by military defeat. The great colossal statue of Ramses is fragmented and perhaps with special large equipment can be rebuilt one day. I was particularly impressed by the quality of work done on the hands and feet. Shown here also are the Osiris Pillars, which create a dramatic entrance to the Great Hypostyle Hall. I'm also very fond of the black granite head that came from a statue of Ramses II. Leave a Comment
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The layout of Ramesseum is confusing at first because the tourist entrance seems to come in the back. I began by hiking over to the first pylon and climbing up it to see over the entire complex. It seems from my images that considerable work remains for restoration. This fact is not lost on Lonely Planet which notes the allusion romantic period British poet Shelley made for the colossal statue in his poem Ozymandias. The statue is broken into huge fragments, possibly in much the same place that they fell, so note the comparison with people standing nearby for better perspective on how large this statue must have been. The hands and feet are visible in these overview pictures. From atop the pylon is also a great view of the fertile agricultural region of the Nile West Bank. Leave a Comment
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