Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Despite the prominence of ancient temples in the landscape of Egypt, books about them are surprisingly rare. This new and essential publication from a prominent Czech scholar answers the need for a study that goes beyond temple architecture to examine the spiritual, economic, and political aspects of these institutions and the dominant roles they played.
Miroslav Verner presents a deeper and more complex study of major ancient Egyptian religious centers, their principal temples, their rise and decline, their religious doctrines, cults, rituals, feasts, and mysteries. Also discussed are the various categories of priests, the organization of the priesthood, and its daily services and customs. Each chapter offers the reader essential and up-to-date information about temple complexes and the history of their archaeological exploration, in the context of the spiritual dimension and cultural legacy of ancient Egypt.
The Temple of the World
Abode of the Gods
Doing Things
The Domain of the Gods
First Excursus: Ordinary Days and Feast Days
The Calendar
Festivals
Heliopolis: The City of the Sun
The Puzzle of the Lost Temples
Sun Temples
The Primordial Mound and the Ennead (Nine Gods)
The Sun God
The White Wall
Ptah: Idea, Word, World
The Monument of Memphite Theology
The Bull Hapi
The Serapeum
Cults of Animals
Khamwaset
Hermopolis: The City of the Eight
The Hermopolitan Ogdoad
Thoth and His Way
Hermes Trismegistus
Antinoüs—Tragedy and Glory
The Kingdom of Amun
Hundred-gated Thebes
The King of the Gods
‘The Most Esteemed of Places’
The Temple Precinct of Amun
The Temple of Khonsu
The Temple of Ipet
The Temple of Ptah
The Temple Precinct of Mut
The Temple Precinct of Montu
Amun’s Southern Harim
Abu Simbel
The Desert Oracle of Amun
Second Excursus: The Great Festivals of the King of the Gods
The Festival of the Decade
The Beautiful Feast of the Valley
The Mysteries of the Opet Festival
Amarna: City of the Heretic
Archeologists in Amarna
The Horizon of Aten
Dazzling Aten
The Beauty Has Come
Tanis: The Thebes of the North
The Treasures of Tanis
Abydos: The Sacred Land
The Temple and Tomb of Osiris
Royal Mortuary Memorials
The Mysterious Osireion
The Ruler of the Kingdom of the Dead
Third Excursus: Osirian
Of Osiris and Isis
Khoiak: The Month of the Mysteries of Osiris
The Decree on Abaton
Philae: The Pearl of Egypt
The Temple of the Beautiful Lady of a Thousand Names
The Abaton
The Rescue of Philae
Edfu: The Throne of Horus
The Birth Temple
The Festivals of the Falcon God
The Contendings of Horus and Seth
Dendera and the Golden Goddess
The Heliopolis of Hathor
The Dwelling of the Golden Goddess
Temples of Divine Birth
The Golden One
Hathor’s Festivals
Fourth Excursus: The Lady of the Turquoise
The Mountain Temple of Hathor
Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions
Alexander’s City by Egypt
The Metropolis of Learning
The Cultural Legacy of Alexandria
Final Excursus: A Brief Outline of the Overall Architectural History of the Ancient Egyptian Temple
The Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom
The First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom
The Second Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom
The Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period, and the Ptolemaic-Roman Period