Temples of Ancient Egypt

by Dieter Arnold

In Temples of Ancient Egypt , five distinguished scholars―Dieter Arnold, Lanny Bell, Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad, Gerhard Haeny, and Byron E. Shafer―here summarize the state of current knowledge about ancient Egyptian temples and the rituals associated with their use. The first volume in English to survey the major types of Egyptian temples from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period, it offers a unique perspective on ritual and its cultural significance. The authors perceive temples as loci for the creative interplay of sacred space and sacred time. They regard as unacceptable the traditional division of the temples into the categories of "mortuary" and "divine," believing that their functions and symbolic representations were, at once, too varied and too intertwined.

Genres: Egyptology, Nonfiction, Egypt, History, Religion, Archaeology

335 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good chronological overview of Pharaonic Egyptian religion in its social and political context.

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books composed of chapters by different scholars often cover their subjects rather spottily, as did Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, which Shafer also edited. This book has that flaw too, but not to the same extent. Shafer's introduction, covering the overall purpose and important rituals of Egyptian temples, helps a good bit in that respect.

The subsequent essays are undeniably important for anyone studying temples in depth, but not necessarily for people who want a general introduction. Dieter Arnold studies the early evolution of temple architecture from the beginning of Egyptian history to the Middle Kingdom. Gerhard Haeny discusses New Kingdom "mortuary temples" and questions the validity of that term. Lanny Bell discusses Luxor Temple as an example of the New Kingdom "divine" (non-mortuary) temple, focusing on a vivid description of the Opet Festival. Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad discusses how temples in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods adapted the Egyptian traditions of earlier times. Finnestad and especially Haeny tend to get bogged down in rebutting the arguments of other scholars, so Shafer's, Arnold's, and Bell's essays may be the most accessible for those looking for a starting point for understanding the Egyptian temple.

There are two other major books for understanding the Egyptian temple. One is Temple of the World by Miroslav Verner, which describes many of the major temple sites to illustrate how temples evolved over time. The other is The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, which includes both a general description of the architecture and functions of the temple (which is stronger in some areas than in others) and a near-complete catalogue of temple sites.

[Gordon Eldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of five essays by scholars which cover the types of Egyptian temples and the rituals associated with them from the Old Kindgom to the Roman period. The level to which the essays are engaging for the average reader varies for individual contributions, though they all contain some interesting ideas. Some of the writers spend a lot of time in detailed descriptions of the layout of temples, which some readers may not find so interesting, but two of the essays in particular contain quite insightful arguments relating to the role of Egyptian temples, their relation to the social and economic hierarchy and the purpose of the rituals associated with them. A picture emerges from the essays of an interdependent religious, political and social order that is nigh on impossible to describe using a modern conceptual framework. Some of the writers skillfully delineate what concepts such as ` royal ka', `maat', chaos etc. may have meant to the people who conceived them. Egyptian religion was a representation of the physical environment that gave birth to it - the power of the cycles of the inundation of the Nile and of the daily rising and setting of the life-giving sun. These cyclical renewals were mirrored in the rituals of the temples and associated festivals and the Pharaoh played a central role in ensuring that the cycles were not interrupted. It is difficult to give star rating. Some of the essays would rate five stars and others three.

[Kathrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I immensely enjoyed this nonfiction work but I think it works better as a frame of reference rather than one just to read through. I will definitely refer back to this when I read something else about a specific temple or watch a documentary, that relates to a particular part of Ancient Egypt.

[Adam Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction and overview to various temples in Egypt, looking more toward the architecture and worship life of the ancient Egyptians rather than the pyramids linked more toward burial customs.