Abu Simbel Temple
The most magnificent of the monuments Ramses II built, Abu Simbel is both the perfect example of the ambition of this pharaoh's reign and also a model illustration for modern engineering. The entire temple was transplanted from its original location and lifted piece by piece to its current site by an international UNESCO team working against the clock to preserve it from being flooded by the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s.
The colossal stone statues that grace the facade are Pharaoh Ramses II's attempt to achieve immortality. It has worked. Today, visitors here still crane their necks in disbelief at the behemoth temples just as the pharaoh's subjects would have done when the temples were first raised.
Abu Simbel is 280 kilometers south of Aswan. Most people visit on a day trip from Aswan, although it is possible to stay the night in Abu Simbel village.
Temple of Ramses II
Although today, the entire Forecourt in front of the temple is open, originally it would have been enclosed on the north and south by brick walls, while the east side of the court would have been open, looking on to the Nile. From the Forecourt, a flight of steps leads you up to the Terrace in front of the temple. If you look to the right and left, just before the ramp, you'll see two recesses, which probably contained basins for ritual ablutions. In the recesses are stelae depicting Ramses II making offerings.
Along the front of the Terrace is a decorative frieze portraying representatives of many different people making obeisance to the pharaoh. In front of the balustrade, which has a dedicatory inscription running along its entire length, are figures of falcons alternating with small statues of Ramses II. The figures at the south end of the balustrade were probably destroyed by the collapse of the upper part of the second of the colossi figures.
Colossi of Ramses II: The Guards of the Inner Temple
Four colossal figures hewn from solid rock guard the massive 33-meter-high facade of the temple. Seated on thrones, these 20-meter-high Colossi of finely carved features and stylized harmony represent a deified Ramses II. The two on the left depict the pharaoh as Heka-tawi and Re-en-hekaw. The two to the right of the doorway show Ramses II as Meri-Amun and Meri-Atum. The pharaoh's mild countenance and characteristic nose are best preserved in the first of the Colossi (at the far left). The second figure lost its head and shoulders in ancient times, perhaps as a result of a rock fall or an earthquake (or a combination of both), and these now lie on the ground in front of it.
The Ramses figures wear the double crown of Egypt and are represented with the formal spade-like beard. On his breast and upper arms and between his legs, you can see royal cartouches. To the right and left of each statue and between their legs are figures on a smaller scale but still larger-than-life size, representing members of the royal family.
Flanking the first colossus is the Princesses Nebt-tawi (left) and Bent-anat (right), with an unnamed Princess between the legs, and flanking the second colossus is the pharaoh's mother, Tue (left), and his wife Queen Nefertari (right), with Prince Amen-herkhopshef between the legs.
On the inner sides of the thrones of the two central Colossi, flanking the entrance to the temple, are figures of the two Nile gods wreathing the floral emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt, the papyrus and the lotus, around the hieroglyphic sign meaning "unite," while below are rows of Kushite and Syrian prisoners.
On the two southern Colossi, you can see Greek, Carian, and Phoenician inscriptions carved by mercenaries who had passed this way on various military expeditions.
Hypostyle Hall: The Inner Temple
The Ramses figures wear the double crown of Egypt and are represented with the formal spade-like beard. On his breast and upper arms and between his legs, you can see royal cartouches. To the right and left of each statue and between their legs are figures on a smaller scale but still larger-than-life size, representing members of the royal family.
Flanking the first colossus is the Princesses Nebt-tawi (left) and Bent-anat (right), with an unnamed Princess between the legs, and flanking the second colossus is the pharaoh's mother, Tue (left), and his wife Queen Nefertari (right), with Prince Amen-herkhopshef between the legs.
On the inner sides of the thrones of the two central Colossi, flanking the entrance to the temple, are figures of the two Nile gods wreathing the floral emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt, the papyrus and the lotus, around the hieroglyphic sign meaning "unite," while below are rows of Kushite and Syrian prisoners.
On the two southern Colossi, you can see Greek, Carian, and Phoenician inscriptions carved by mercenaries who had passed this way on various military expeditions.