Unearthing Egypt's Greatest Temple

Smithsonian magazine ^ | October 2007 | Andew Lawler

[BGHater]

Archaeologists assumed that the great temple had been stripped of all statues—excepting the two "Colossi of Memnon"—that hadn't been destroyed. In reality, beautifully worked statues of Sekhmet survived for 3,400 years.

Earthquakes, looting and Nile floods obscured much of ruler Amenhotep III's temple until archaeologists embarked on a massive excavation there in 1999. (About one-eighth of the site is visible here; the standing slab—reconstructed in the 1950s—marks the entrance to the colonnaded sun court). Statues of the goddess Sekhmet (left)—730 of them in all—stood guard over the complex.

Archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian (in 2004, with a statue of Queen Tye just above the rising water line) "swore to take action" against the temple's damage.

Archaeologists working at the site hope not only to rescue and study the temple but also to reconstruct as much of it as possible. They are planning to piece together and re-erect 25 large statues of Amenhotep III that stood in the sun court between columns almost 50 feet high.

Today much of the temple complex, which was almost as large as Vatican City, is covered with sugar cane fields, and Sourouzian's team has only begun to excavate an exposed strip through its center. (The 50-foot-tall Colossi of Memnon, below left, face the Nile.) The temple (an artist's conception, above; the dotted line indicates the present excavation) had at least three main gates, a central sun court (the right-most side of the excavation below) and, according to one expert, "probably the highest-quality art Egypt ever made."

Now, underground artifacts face a new danger: irrigation water is eating away at treasures buried near the Nile.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—”Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart....Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

-—Percy Bysshe Shelley

[Proverbs 3-5]

Curious. Do Muslims destroy the artifacts and statues from the ancient Egyptians since the Egyptians worshiped various gods (as they were pre-false god Allah)... like they did with the status (Hindu ?) they destroyed (in India or Afghanistan I've forgotten)?

Or do they preserve the artifacts, relics and statues as part of their heritage (and make money from it)?

[Squidpup]

Terrific stuff!

located at 25.722063, 32.607194.

Enjoy the flight

[BGHater]

In Egypt they try to save the relics. Tourism is one of the major forms of income for them.

[Oratam]

She is Sekhmet—"the one who is powerful"—the embodiment of the fiery eye of the sun god Ra."

. . . and Hillary's patroness.

[Rodm]

A really powerful “god” stuck in the mud for 3000 years LOL!

All Hail, Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords

[Proverbs 3-5]

In Egypt they try to save the relics. Tourism is one of the major forms of income for them.

That's what I thought. How open minded of them!

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Thanks. Good article...

[RSmithOpt]

No WAY when tourists dollars line their pockets for Jihad!!!

[RightWhale]

"probably the highest-quality art Egypt ever made."

The individual craftsmen were not artists but produced the pieces according to specification and finished them only to the degree common workmen could be expected to perform. Individualism, which might be basic to art, was not allowed.

[MediaMole]

I would worry for the artifacts if the Muslim Brotherhood ever comes to power.

[BGHater]

Courtesy the Taliban.

[maine-iac7]

Amenhotep 111 "His principal wife, Tye, was from a noble Egyptian family"

This is going to be interesting = Amenhotep 111 - the time of Moses, Prince of Egypt.

Yes, Princess Tye -

"Amenhotep's accession and marriage to Tiye was widely proclaimed by the distribution of commemorative "scarabs" (examples of which have been found at the far extremities of the empire).(6) The names of Tiye and her parents are plainly stated, "the Great King's Wife Tiye: the name of her father is Yuya, and the name of her mother is Tuya."(7)

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/judeoroots/joseph.htm

One of many studies on Amenhotep 111 -

Tuya had traditional Egyptian features, however her husband Yuya, as his exceptionally well preserved mummy shows, was clearly of mostly Asiatic/Semitic heritage. Asiatics were renowned for their handling of horses, and were highly valued in the Egyptian military during the 18th Dynasty at which time the Egyptians first utilized the chariot in warfare. Yey, a forefather of Yuya, had also held the title of "Commander of the Chariotry."(8) Yuya, also written as simply Yu,(9) has been associated with the Biblical Patriarch Joseph by Osman.(10) The name Joseph (written as Yuseph in Arabic)(11) is a ...

In other words, many scholars assert that Queen Tye/Tiye was the daughter of the Egytian Princess Tuya who married the Pharoah's right hand man, the man who was second in power only to the Pharoah - "Yuya", aka, Joseph - of the Coat of Many Colors.

Further, it is claimed, Amenhotep 111 and Tyr/Tiye were the parents of Amenhotep 1V - who took the name Akhenaten when he became Pharoah.

As Pharoah Akhenaten, instituted the worship of the ONE GOD, Aten...and crushed the rule of the Priesthood of the many gods...a priesthood which pretty much ruled the land.

This created such conflict that Akhenaten and his queen fled south and built a new capitol of Egypt...etc etc - and just who was Akhenaton and why was there such an effort to eradicate all evidence of his existence? Who was his famous wife? Who were this couple??? And who was their famous son?

Lots of fun study = and evidence certain factions have continued to keep buried, even today. Inconvenient truths?

Is this Moses?

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks Blam. This long-buried statue is one of 730 -- one for every day and night of the year -- that guarded a vast collection of gates, colonnades, courts and halls built by the great Egyptian king Amenhotep III, who reigned over Egypt for 38 years in the 14th century B.C., at the height of peace and prosperity. The steady economic, military, and moral decline of Egypt during the 18th Dynasty still puzzles Egyptologists. /sarc To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[Lee'sGhost]

“The steady economic, military, and moral decline of Egypt during the 18th Dynasty still puzzles Egyptologists. /sarc “

Please explain this.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Curious. Do Muslims destroy the artifacts and statues from the ancient Egyptians since the Egyptians worshiped various gods (as they were pre-false god Allah)... like they did with the status (Hindu ?) they destroyed (in India or Afghanistan I've forgotten)?

Or do they preserve the artifacts, relics and statues as part of their heritage (and make money from it)?

The Egyptians apparently are smart enough and have enough pride in their own history to preserve their pre-Islamic artifacts. As another thread posted above yours demonstrates, Iran's mullahs have no such pride in their past. The Taliban demolished two ancient statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan not long before 9/11. Northern India (including what is now Pakistan and parts of Afganistan) was denuded of Hindu and Buddhist temples and idols by waves of Muslim invaders from 1100 to 1600.

[SunkenCiv]

Enigmatic Discovery (Granite Nubian Head)
Al-Ahram | 2-17-2006
Posted on 02/17/2006 1:22:17 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1580606/posts

[American_Centurion]

And who was their famous son?

IIRC their son was Tut-Ankh-Amun, made famous by Steve Martin who showed the world through music video what ancient Egypt under the rule of "King Tut" was like. Har!

[SunkenCiv]

Amenhotep III got rich, then reigned a long time, relied on ineffective diplomacy to avoid defending the country, and wasted a fortune on stuff like this. His successor was another self-aggrandizing nutjob who decided he’d build a new city and never leave its confines, while simultaneously sending his henchmen out to vandalize temples the length and breadth, including those built by his father.