Editing Abu Simbel (section)

==Great Temple==
[[File:Großer Tempel (Abu Simbel) 31.jpg|thumb|Facade of the Great Temple of Ramesses II after relocation]]

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods [[Amun]], [[Ra-Horakhty]], and [[Ptah]], as well as to the deified Ramesses himself.<ref name="siliotti">Alberto Siliotti, Egypt: temples, people, gods,1994</ref> It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.

===Entrance===
[[File:Collapsed Colossus.jpg|thumb|The collapsed colossus of the Great Temple supposedly fell during an earthquake shortly after construction. On moving the temple, it was decided to leave it as the face is missing.]]

The single entrance is flanked by four colossal, {{convert|20|m|abbr=on}} statues, each representing Ramesses II seated on a throne and wearing the [[pschent|double crown]] of [[Upper and Lower Egypt]]. The statue to the immediate left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, causing the head and torso to fall away; these fallen pieces were not restored to the statue during the relocation but placed at the statue's feet in the positions originally found.
Next to Ramesses's legs are a number of other, smaller statues, none higher than the knees of the pharaoh, depicting: his chief wife, [[Nefertari|Nefertari Meritmut]]; his queen mother [[Tuya (queen)|Mut-Tuy]]; his first two sons, [[Amun-her-khepeshef]] and [[Ramesses B]]; and his first six daughters: [[Bintanath]], Baketmut, [[Nefertari#Family|Nefertari]], [[Meritamen]], [[Nebettawy]] and [[Isetnofret]].<ref name="siliotti" /><br/>

The façade behind the colossi is {{convert|33|m|abbr=on}} high and {{convert|38|m|abbr=on}} wide. It carries a frieze depicting twenty-two baboons worshipping the rising sun with upraised arms and a [[stele]] recording the marriage of Ramesses to a daughter of king [[Ḫattušili III]], which sealed the peace between Egypt and the [[Hittites]].<ref name=Skliar>Ania Skliar, ''Grosse kulturen der welt-Ägypten'', 2005</ref> <br/>

The entrance doorway itself is surmounted by bas-relief images of the king worshipping the falcon-headed [[Ra|Ra Horakhty]], whose statue stands in a large niche.<ref name="siliotti" /> Ra holds the hieroglyph ''user'' and a feather in his right hand, with [[Maat]] (the goddess of truth and justice) in his left; this is a cryptogram for Ramesses II's [[Prenomen (Ancient Egypt)|throne name]], ''User-Maat-Re''.<br/>

===Interior===
The inner part of the temple has the same triangular layout that most ancient Egyptian temples follow, with rooms decreasing in size from the entrance to the sanctuary. The temple is complex in structure and quite unusual because of its many side chambers. The [[hypostyle]] hall (sometimes also called a pronaos) is {{convert|18|m|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|16.7|m|abbr=on}} wide and is supported by eight huge Osirid pillars depicting the deified Ramesses linked to the god [[Osiris]], the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life and vegetation, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh. The colossal statues along the left-hand wall bear the white crown of [[Upper Egypt]], while those on the opposite side are wearing the double crown of Upper and [[Lower Egypt]] (pschent).<ref name="siliotti" /> The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns that Ramesses waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the [[Battle of Kadesh]], on the Orontes river in present-day [[Syria]], in which the Egyptian king fought against the [[Hittites]].<ref name=Skliar /> The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner.<ref name=Skliar /> Other scenes show Egyptian victories in [[Libya]] and Nubia.<ref name="siliotti" />

From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with beautiful scenes of offerings to the gods. There are depictions of Ramesses and Nefertari with the sacred boats of Amun and Ra-Horakhty. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule, in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: [[Ra-Horakhty]], the deified king Ramesses, and the gods [[Amun Ra]] and [[Ptah]]. [[Ra-Horakhty]], [[Amun Ra]] and [[Ptah]] were the main divinities in that period and their cult centers were at [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]], [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] and [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] respectively.<ref name="siliotti" />

===Solar alignment===
[[File:Templo de Ramsés II, Abu Simbel, Egipto, 2022-04-02, DD 26-28 HDR.jpg|thumb|Abu Simbel temple, four statues of divinities inside the inner sanctuary]]

It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of [[Ptah]], a god connected with the [[Duat|realm of the dead]], who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel on these days to witness this.<ref name="siliotti" /><ref name=Skliar />{{clarify|date=November 2015}}

These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day, respectively. There is no direct evidence to support this. It is logical to assume, however, that these dates had some relation to a significant event.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} In fact, according to calculations made on the basis of the [[heliacal rising]] of the star [[Sirius]] (Sothis) and inscriptions found by archaeologists, this date must have been October 22. This image of the king was enhanced and revitalized by the energy of the solar star, and the deified Ramesses the Great could take his place next to Amun-Ra and Ra-Horakhty.<ref name="siliotti" />

Because of the accumulated drift of the [[Tropic of Cancer]] due to [[Earth]]'s [[axial precession]] over the past 3 millennia, the event's date must have been different when the temple was built.<ref>{{cite web|title=NASA Space Math Abu Simbel Alignment problem with answers|url=https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/SED11/P1AbuSimbel.pdf }}</ref> This is compounded by the fact that the temple was relocated from its original setting, so the current alignment may not be as precise as the original one.

===Greek graffito===
{{Main|Abu Simbel Phoenician graffiti}}

A graffito inscribed in Greek on the left leg of the colossal seated statue of [[Ramesses II]], on the south side of the entrance to the temple records that:

{{blockquote|When King Psammetichus (i.e., [[Psamtik II]]) came to Elephantine, this was written by those who sailed with Psammetichus the son of Theocles, and they came beyond Kerkis as far as the river permits. Those who spoke foreign tongues (Greek and [[Carian]]s who also scratched their names on the monument) were led by [[Potasimto]], the Egyptians by Amasis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/psamtik2.htm |title=king Psammetichus II (Psamtik II) |publisher=Touregypt.net |access-date=2011-11-20}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}} Kerkis was located near the Fifth Cataract of the Nile "which stood well within the Cushite Kingdom."<ref name="Britannica, p.756">Britannica, p.756</ref>