cashwright
Ancient Egyptomaniac
I was impressed by this article that I took from Ancient Egypt Antiquities that tackles Ancient Egyptian Temple Elements. This is part I of the article while the rest will be posted in following threads. Articles were written by Mark Andrews.
Ancient Egyptian temples, particularly in their fully developed state, became complex structures with many different architectural elements. The essential parts of the temple proper can be viewed as increasingly sacred zones. Usually consisting of an approach and entrance together with the outer areas of the temple enclosure, which was open to the general Egyptian population, its outer courts within the pylons that were accessible to temple priests and occasionally, some of the general population, its inner halls where only purified priests were allowed, and the inner sanctuary, restricted to the king and priests of a very high rank.
Other religious elements could exist, such as sacred lakes, and of course, there could be many subsidiary secular structures as well, functioning as administrative offices, storage areas, gardens, schools, libraries as well as other uses.
Many people who visit ancient Egyptian temples will simply think of the massive pylon gateways as the temple entrance. Yet this is not really the case, and in fact the pylons were usually located well within the structure. The actual elements of the temples entrance usually included the landing quays, kiosks, gates and processional ways that preceded the temple's outer enclosure walls, which finally led to the pylon gateways themselves.
Landing Quays
It cannot be denied that the people of Egypt were given a true gift of the gods. The Nile River, with its northern flow, but predominately southward winds, made navigation throughout most of the empire proper easy. The Egyptians took complete advantage of this river system and used it for almost all of their transportation. Hence, from the very earliest times, most temples were located either near this sacred river, or a canal that communicated with the Nile. Thus, a landing quay often represented the initial encounter with a temple. Many of these docks were very large. Not only would they have to accommodate boats carrying the king and his entourage, but sometimes huge building components such as obelisks or monolithic statues.
Landing quays were often built on canals cut back from the Nile both to allow for a more stable waterway free from the river current, as well as to locate the quay closer to the temple proper. The advantages of such a canal was very useful when loading and unloading boats, particularly when considering objects of great weight. However, even with canals, the landing quays themselves had to be designed to handle the variable level of the Nile as much as possible, though even the largest of these would usually be covered with water at the height of the annual flood.
I recommend reading the rest of the article here Ancient Egyptian Temple Elements, Part I
Taken from Egypt Travel, Tours, Vacations, Ancient Egypt from Tour Egypt
Ancient Egyptian temples, particularly in their fully developed state, became complex structures with many different architectural elements. The essential parts of the temple proper can be viewed as increasingly sacred zones. Usually consisting of an approach and entrance together with the outer areas of the temple enclosure, which was open to the general Egyptian population, its outer courts within the pylons that were accessible to temple priests and occasionally, some of the general population, its inner halls where only purified priests were allowed, and the inner sanctuary, restricted to the king and priests of a very high rank.
Other religious elements could exist, such as sacred lakes, and of course, there could be many subsidiary secular structures as well, functioning as administrative offices, storage areas, gardens, schools, libraries as well as other uses.
Many people who visit ancient Egyptian temples will simply think of the massive pylon gateways as the temple entrance. Yet this is not really the case, and in fact the pylons were usually located well within the structure. The actual elements of the temples entrance usually included the landing quays, kiosks, gates and processional ways that preceded the temple's outer enclosure walls, which finally led to the pylon gateways themselves.
Landing Quays
It cannot be denied that the people of Egypt were given a true gift of the gods. The Nile River, with its northern flow, but predominately southward winds, made navigation throughout most of the empire proper easy. The Egyptians took complete advantage of this river system and used it for almost all of their transportation. Hence, from the very earliest times, most temples were located either near this sacred river, or a canal that communicated with the Nile. Thus, a landing quay often represented the initial encounter with a temple. Many of these docks were very large. Not only would they have to accommodate boats carrying the king and his entourage, but sometimes huge building components such as obelisks or monolithic statues.
Landing quays were often built on canals cut back from the Nile both to allow for a more stable waterway free from the river current, as well as to locate the quay closer to the temple proper. The advantages of such a canal was very useful when loading and unloading boats, particularly when considering objects of great weight. However, even with canals, the landing quays themselves had to be designed to handle the variable level of the Nile as much as possible, though even the largest of these would usually be covered with water at the height of the annual flood.
Causeways and the Path to the Temple Proper
I recommend reading the rest of the article here Ancient Egyptian Temple Elements, Part I
Taken from Egypt Travel, Tours, Vacations, Ancient Egypt from Tour Egypt