Medinet Habu

The funeral temple of Ramses III

Although work on it did not stop until the time of the Romans, the Ramesseum is a large group of buildings that were first built during the 18th Dynasty. During the Eighteenth Dynasty, they began building there. As we walk through the strange gate built by Ramses III, we arrive at the most impressive part of the complex: the temple of his afterlife. This building is called the pavilion, and it is clear that the Syrian castle influenced it. In front of the pavilion are two small watchtowers and high stone walls.

Each pavilion’s upper floor contains a room with paintings of the pharaoh and his wives. This temple was built using the same blueprints of Ramesses. Still, it is easy to distinguish it from the name itself because it was decorated and finished during the military campaigns led by Ramses III. Therefore, this temple gives us a clear and well-preserved picture of Ramses III’s rise through the ranks.

Worship of Amun:

This was the ancient place where people worshiped Amon as the god of creation and fertility, and it was believed to be where the first mound of creation formed. This place has been there for thousands of years. This spot, across the Nile from the Luxor Temple, has been the site of many annual events for as long as anyone can remember. Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III built the Temple of Amun during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ramses III, the last great military pharaoh of the New Kingdom, built a temple here to honor his memory. It included an old version of the Temple of Amun.

Decorations:

Pictures and inscriptions at Medinet Habu, the largest tomb temple of the New Kingdom, celebrate the military victories of the pharaoh and explain how the temple was used in religious ceremonies. The pharaoh’s palace is located south of the first courtyard and can be accessed through the “viewing window.” In the temple’s inner courtyard are the tombs of many of the heavenly wives of Amun, who were also chief priestesses and religious leaders.

The first tower and its view:

When we entered through the main door, there was a large courtyard that we had to pass through. On the right, you can see the ruins of a temple built by Queen Hatshepsut. You can see an old chapel from the 25th Dynasty on the left. On both sides of the first tower, pictures and inscriptions honor the military victories of Ramses III. This tower can be found in the Valley of the Kings.

On both towers, there are grooves for the flags, and the pharaoh is shown holding an opponent by the hair and beating them with a wand as they dangle below it. On the north tower is a statue of the Egyptian sun god Ra Harakat. In front of him is a pharaoh with a blood-red crown on his head. He wears a white crown and is positioned atop the south tower, where he is seen by Amon-Ra beating the prisoners.

Both deities lead different groups of prisoners one by one to the front. Handcuffed prisoners stand atop the round forts that represent the lands they capture. These forts have the names of the cities they control written on them.

Kneeling before Amon, the pharaoh hangs from a palm branch and asks for the hieroglyph for “Jubilee of the Reign.” Thoth then writes the name of the pharaoh on the tree’s leaves. At the bottom of the towers, these episodes are shown. Amun is demonstrated here as On the right side of the first courtyard; there was an arcade with cupped capitals. On the right side of that arcade were pictures of Osirides that early Christians had cruelly cut up.

On the inside of the first tower is a fascinating painting of the fighting the mercenaries were a part of in Libya. They are easy to spot because of the round helmets with horns that they wear on their heads. Pharaoh judges his opponent and kills him while riding in his chariot.

Scenes from the big party for Amun are painted on the side walls of the chamber. These include the pharaoh’s sad return with his prisoners and the military’s comfortable victory. On the other side of the courtyard, Ramesses brings three rows of prisoners before Amon and Mut.

They put feathered headdresses in their hair and wear aprons with tassels on the edges. We also find a long list of inscriptions that tell how Ramesses beat the “Great League of Sea People” in battle. The place where these writings are is there.

The second courtyard and its views

The second tower leads to the second courtyard, which was turned into a church. The “pagan” murals were painted over with lime to protect the reliefs, which are still in pretty good shape. There are great places to watch the procession on both the north and south sides of the courtyard.

People on the right represent the God Ming Festival, and people on the left represent the Ptah-Solaris Festival. Also, starting on the inside wall of the second tower, you can see several impressive battle reliefs. In the first scenes, Ramses III leads an attack with his chariots against the Libyans.

His men run away when he pulls out his bow and fires arrows in different directions. The bottom row is made up of hired help. In the second scene, he is shown returning from battle with two fan porters in front of him and three rows of Libyans chained to him. Last but not least, Example 3 shows that.

Great Hall of Columns:

The Great Hypostyle Hall of the temple used to have a ceiling held up by 24 columns. There were four rows of six columns on each side and a double row of much heavier columns in the middle of the hall. In the wall reliefs, Ramesses can be seen talking with several gods.

Many rooms can be reached from either side of the hall. The rooms on the left held valuable things like musical instruments, expensive dishes, and valuable metals and stones, like gold. The path to the sanctuary of the bark goes through two smaller hypostatic halls, each of which is held up by eight columns.

Exterior wall decorations:

The outside walls of the temple are decorated with historic reliefs that show Ramses III’s military campaigns. At the very back of the temple, you might see scenes that show the fight between the pharaoh and the Nubians. In the north is a wall with ten paintings depicting naval victories over the “Sea People” and land wars with the Libyans.

The festival calendar is on the south wall, and it starts with a list of sacrifices that had to be made when Ramses III became king and goes on until the end of Ramses IV’s reign.