Temples were very important in ancient Egypt and people believed that these were places where gods and goddesses lived. Every god or goddess had a different temple where he or she was worshipped by the priests of the temple and the pharaoh. Temples here were not a place of communal worship and it was just the king and the priests who conducted rituals and that too after rigorous purification. The public was allowed here only during the festivals when the god came out of the temple.
Types of temples
There were two types of temples built during ancient Egyptian period. The first one was a cult temple that was dedicated to a particular god or goddess an example is the Temple of Horus at Edfu and the Temple of Isis at Aswan. The second type of temples were the mortuary temples which were dedicated to the pharaoh after their death and where these were worshipped as a god, an example is the Temples of Ramesses II at Thebes.
How ware the temples mode?
The larger temples in Egypt were made out of stone to ensure they last longer. The floors of the temples rose through courts and halls of columns which were shaped in the form of papyrus, palms, and lotus that were planted on the island. The ceilings of the temples were decorated with stars and the sanctuary represented the primeval mound by being at the highest point. The east to the west orientation of the temples which could be seen in most temples meant that the sun rose between the towers of the monuments lying at the gateway and the sunset over the shrine. The inside of the temples was decorated with the pharaoh performing the cult rituals of the deity and also scenes of the Pharaoh fighting in battles, while on the outside the pharaoh was shown repelling the forces of chaos.
Some famous temples of ancient Egypt
The earliest temples of ancient Egypt were constructed around 4th millennium BC and depicted the shape of reed huts. The last of the Egyptian temples were built at Philae which was stopped using after the 6th century AD, so the temples of ancient Egypt covered a large variety of different structures that evolved over a long period of time. When visiting Egypt its mandatory to pay a visit to such places to complete the tour.
The temples of Egypt which seem to be the most famous of all have been mentioned below, these are ten in number here
- Medinet Habu
- Temple of Kom Ombo
- Colossi of Memnon
- Philae Temples
- Temple of Edfu
- Temple of Seti I
- Temple of Hatshepsut
- Luxor Temple
- Abu Simbel
- Karnak Temple
Temples in ancient Egypt were placed on a very high value and these played an important role in the economy of the country as well, the temples were endowed with large agricultural lands where a large number of people were employed. The temple was believed to be the physical location where the Egyptian could connect with the gods.
