Temple of Dendur
Temple of Dendur | |
---|---|
Completion date | 10 BCE |
Medium | Aeolian sandstone |
Subject | Egyptian religion and mythology |
Dimensions | 4.9 m × 6.4 m × 13 m (16 ft × 21 ft × 43 ft) |
Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, U.S. |
Accession | 68.154 |
The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in the 19th century) is a Roman Egyptian religious structure originally located in Tuzis (later Dendur), Nubia about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of modern Aswan.[1][2] Around 23 BCE, Emperor Augustus commissioned the temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and deified brothers Pedesi and Pihor from Nubia.[3][4]
In 1963, as part of the
History
Augustus used the temple to legitimize and maintain his rule.[2] Part of his strategy was connecting his name and image with Isis, the primary deity in Dendur, and the local cult of Pedesi and Pihor.[2][7] It was more than a temple—it was also a home for the gods.[6] When the local people visited the temple and brought traditional gifts of incense, wine, cold water, clothing, food, and milk, they nurtured their ruler, Augustus, and also ensured their community's prosperity.[2][7]
In the sixth century, Coptic Christians used the temple as a church.[2]
When Egypt increased the height of the Aswan Low Dam in 1933, the temple's proximity to the Nile was problematic.[3] The temple complex began flooding for nine months each year.[3]
Relocation
Egypt started building the
In 1965, Egypt presented the temple to the United States in recognition of the United States' contribution of $16 million toward saving various other monuments threatened by the dam's construction.
The press nicknamed the competition for the temple the "Dendur Derby".
On April 20, 1967, President
The temple and its related pylon consisted of 661 blocks of sandstone weighing 640 tons (580,000 kg).[2] Six years after being dismantled, the blocks were packed in 661 crates and transported to the United States by the freighter SS Concordia Star.[5] The disassembled temple arrived in New York City on August 29, 1968.[5] It cost $9.5 million to move the temple.[6] Lila Acheson Wallace financially supported the relocation and rehousing of the Egyptian temple to the museum.[9]
New Wing at the Met
To accommodate the temple, the Met added a new wing to its flagship building.[9] Architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo of Roche-Dinkeloo in Connecticut designed the new wing for the museum.[5] Roche was a fan of Egyptian architecture and had previously incorporated pyramids into his building designs.[6] To represent the Nile and the cliffs of the original location, the architects placed a reflecting pool in front of the temple and a sloping wall behind it; the temple retained its original orientation toward the east.[6][5] They also designed a stippled glass ceiling and north wall to diffuse the light and mimic the lighting in Nubia.[6] They used a chamber and technology to recreate the climate of Egypt.[8]
On July 15, 1975, the museum's conservators and stonemasons started reconstructing the temple.[2][5] The temple exhibit opened to the public on September 27, 1978.[5] Six other galleries of Egyptian art are near the entrance of the Temple of Dendur.[9] One art critic noted, "Architect Kevin Roche has created a 'display case' as successful in what it sets out to do as the tiny temple itself."[6]
The Met named the wing containing the temple for the
Architecture
The Temple of Dendur is a modest example of a temple from the
The temple complex was on a 30 metres (98 ft) sandstone platform or terrace overlooking the Nile.
The temple has a modest but well-executed design.[1] It is 42.7 feet (13.0 m) long by 21.5 feet (6.6 m) wide by 16 feet (4.9 m) high.[7][1] Because of the steep slope of the riverbank, the rear of the temple was set into the rocky bank.[7] The tops and corners of its walls feature a rounded tori, traditional in ancient Egyptian design.[7]
The temple consists of three sections: the
In the cliffs behind the temple, there was a small chamber cut into the rock face.[1][7] It may have been where Pedesi and Pihor were buried or a representation of their tomb.[1][7]
Ornamental decorations
The temple base has carvings of
The antechamber and the sanctuary are undecorated, except for the reliefs on the antechamber door frame and the back walls of the sanctuary. The latter show Pihor and Pedesi as young gods worshiping Isis and Osiris, respectively.[1]
The temple's outer walls feature sunk relief carvings of Emperor Augustus as a pharaoh making offerings to the deities Isis, Osiris, and their son Horus.[1][4] The subject repeats in raised relief carvings in the first room of the temple, showing Augustus as he prays and makes offerings.[4] Hieroglyphs associated with the carvings refer to Augustus as Caesar, Pharaoh, and Autotrator.[1] The latter is an alteration of Autokrator, or autocrat, the Greek equivalent of imperator.[1] This misspelling seems deliberate to achieve greater symmetry in the hieroglyphs.[1]
The exterior south doorway features cobras wearing crowns from upper and lower Egypt. To the left is a white crown, a symbol of upper Egypt, and a red crown for lower Egypt.[2] On the left side, there is a depiction of Isis standing and wearing a close-fitting sheath, a headpiece horn from a cow, and a winged disk representing the sun god.[2] In one hand, she holds an ankh, a symbol of life.[2]
The scene on the inner south wall of the pronaos depicts the pharaoh and the two brothers Pihor and Pedesi with gifts of incense and water.[3] The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh or Augustus could live forever by giving incense to the gods.[3] The two brothers were both sitting and holding in one hand a staff called a scepter, a symbol of authority and the symbol of life.[3] The pronaos north wall depicts Isis.[2] The columns of the pronaos are decorated with sunk reliefs of men bringing offerings of animals and flowers to the temple.[3]
On the east side of the pylon, the relief depicts Augustus with a linen bag in his hand in front of Pedesi and Pihor.[2] The south ramp has a relief of Augustus making an offering of a cobra (the cobra of truth) to the god Harnedotes.[3] Here, Augustus is depicted in Egyptian attire—a kilt with a bull's tail and the white crown of Upper Egypt.[2]
Damage and graffiti
When it was along the Nile, visitors to the temple inscribed graffiti on the structure.[14] As early as 10 BCE, a visitor carved an oath on the north wall of the pronaos near the image of Pihor.[14] There is also graffiti on the pylon.[14] In the 19th century, European visitors left graffiti on the temple walls.[14] British naval officer and later Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry carved the prominent inscription, "A L Corry RN 1817", on the left side as one enters the temple.[14] Italian Egyptologist Girolamo Segato also left a graffiti inscription.[14]
Some damage was caused in the sixth century when the temple was used as a church.[2] Presbyter Abraham documented the consecration of the building into a Christian church by carving into the walls.[14] The Christians cut a doorway into the north wall in the pronaos, damaging the relief carving of Isis.[2] However, they restored her lost arm by changing its angle at the elbow.[2] They also installed a cross on the temple's roof and covered the reliefs with plaster.[3] When Nubia became Muslim in the 13th century, the Christian Church was deserted.[3]
Many parts of the deserted structure disappeared or were damaged when the local people took stone and bricks for repurposing.[2][3] By the modern era, the mud-brick walls that surrounded the entire temple complex had vanished.[2] Archaeologists learned there were entry gates on the north and south walls because remnants matched the surviving pylon, which was to the east of the temple.[2]
In 1933, Aswan Low Dam was increased in height.[3] As a result, the temple complex was underwater for nine months each year for the next thirty years.[3] During this time, all traces of paint that remained on the temple's carvings were washed away.[3]
When the temple was relocated, the tomb in the rockface behind it was left in place and covered by rising water.[7]
Relocations of other temples
UNESCO assisted in relocating and donating three other temples:
- Temple of Taffeh to Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands[2]
- Temple of Ellesyia to the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy[2]
- Temple of Debod to Madrid, Spain[2]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-512633-4.
- ^ JSTOR 41726575.
- ^ JSTOR 3269059– via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Temple of Dendur". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Patch, Diana Craig (April 2017). "A Monumental Gift to The Met". The Metropolitan Museum. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rockett, William H. (May 1980). "Saudi Aramco World : A Temple at the Met". Aaramco World. pp. 30–39. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Arnold, Dieter; Oppenheim, Adela (2017). "The Temple of Dendur: Architecture and Ritual". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
- ^ )
- ^ JSTOR 40304791.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Lee (9 December 2021). "Sacklers Sacked: Metropolitan Museum Strips Their Names from 7 Exhibition Spaces". Arts Journal Blogs: CultureGrrl. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
- ^ Met Museum, Map. "The Temple of Dendur - Gallery 131". Met Museum. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
- OCLC 922020361.
- ^ JSTOR3269059 – via JSTOR.
External links
- Digitized material related to the Temple of Dendur in the Digital Collections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries