Egypt's culture Effects on the facade of theAbu Simbel Temple in 12th Research Paper

Egypt's culture Effects on the facade of theAbu Simbel Temple in 12th Century to 15th Century - Research Paper Example The main aim of erecting this temple was basically for impressing the southern neighbors in the southern part of Egypt and also maintaining and reinforcing the religion of the Egyptians. The Egyptian culture was a main influence to this temple. This can be seen from the fact that all the architectural structure that came out Abu Simbel was linked to the cultural context of the Egyptians. This paper will therefore, describe the architectural structure of this temple and how the culture of the Egyptians affected its facade between the 12th to the 15th century through a description of the sculptures and their meanings (Bulliet et al 59). The architectural structure of the temple The architecture of this temple was mainly built with the commemoration of the reigning king of Egypt during this period. It is made up of the pharaoh’s statue that is twenty meters in length containing a double and Atef crown of both the lower and the Upper Egypt. The temple is thirty five meters wide an d at the top, it contains those who worship the sun at the entrance and twenty two baboons. The statues that are colossal in nature were sculptured from the rock directly, a place where the temple existed before it being moved (Langmead et al 23). The statues have been curved to portray the power of the Ramesses II who sits on the throne and is wearing crown that is double in nature hence, the impact that he is the ruler of both the lower and the Upper Egypt. Next to the statue depicting pharaoh, there are the statues that have been made not to go higher than the pharaoh’s knees. These are the statues that were used to depict the wife of pharaoh, the mother queen and the first two sons of pharaoh and his six daughters (Langmead et al 23). At the entrance of the temple, there exists bas relief that is meant to represent two images that portray the king worshipping Ra Harakhti, falcon headed. Ra Harakhti statue is presented in a large niche. The statue of the god holds a feathe r found in the right hand and the goddess who is believed to be the in charge of justice and truth. This facade has at its top twenty two baboons in a row having their arms raised up in the air. This is a sign of these baboons worshipping the sun rising up. In addition, there is a notable feature of the stele facade which indicates the marriage of Ramesses in relationship to the king’s daughters. This is a sign of sealing of peace amongst the Hittites and the Egyptians (Langmead et al 23). At the inside of the temple, there exists a triangular layout that up to date; most of the temples in Egypt have followed. The structure of the rooms has been made to decrease in size as one enters the entrance into the sanctuary. The temple has many chambers at its sides hence, the complexity. The hypostyle hall is eighteen meters lengthwise and has a width of sixteen meters. It is supported by Osiris pillars that are eight in number and these pillars depict the Ramses relationship with th e god of underworld. This has been used to demonstrate that, the pharaoh has an everlasting nature (Lazzari et al 385). At the left hand of the wall, there exists a statue with a white crown, which is depicting the upper part of Egypt, while the statues at the opposite side have double crown which have been used to demonstrate the double crown that the Lower Egypt has. The bas reliefs found to be located on the walls have