Amenhotep III’s Temple

The Remnants of the Mortuary Amenhotep III’s Temple

about Amenhotep III’s Temple, Between 1600 and 1100 B.C., the Theban Necropolis was where Pharaohs, their queens, priests, and royal scribes were buried. The tomb of Amenhotep III is in the limestone hills of the Theban Necropolis, which is a large cemetery on the Nile River across from the city of Luxor today. Amenhotep III died in 1349 B.C., when he was 50 years old, about 40 years after he was born. During his rule, some of ancient Egypt’s most beautiful temples were built, and the economy and government were stable. For the pharaoh’s everlasting glory, he built a large, ornate tomb. Amenhotep III built buildings that were very big.

The funeral temple next to his tomb was the most beautiful one in all of Egypt. Archaeological digs have found the remains of a huge three-pylon gate system. And a number of other buildings that used to be part of the complex. Steles, which were stone slabs about the size of tombstones and had records of what Amenhotep III had built, were all over the temple. The whole complex of temples was very big. If you put together five American football fields, they would be 1,968 feet (600 meters) long and 328 feet (100 meters) wide (100 meters).

Amenhotep III’s Temple was destroyed :

Because of this, the tomb temple of Amenhotep III was very close to the Nile, which was dangerous. The complex has been flooded many times over the years, causing damage to the buildings and artifacts. A big earthquake in 27 B.C. and the theft of stone and sculptures to use in other buildings. Both made the temple even less stable (a practice prevalent in ancient Egypt). In 1998, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) put Memnon’s tomb temple on its World Monuments Watch list, but only the Colossi of Memnon were left.

There are two huge statues here. Each one is about as tall as a six-story building and weighs about 720 tons (650,000 kg). Two huge statues once stood at the entrance to the temple to protect it. Ancient Greeks first called the statues “Memnon,” but they really show Amenhotep III, the king of Egypt, looking across the Nile. Around the colossi, there were thousands of pieces of columns and statues, as well as rubble and stones from the huge building.

Find Out What’s Under the Colossi :

After the property was stabilized in an emergency, the WMF helped with a long-term plan for conservation. There was a lot of worry about the salty groundwater. When the Aswan High Dam was built in 1970, irrigation water was from nearby farms. That used saltwater to water their crops damaged old pieces of porous limestone and sandstone. In 2004, as part of the WMF’s help, a drainage system was built to cut down on the amount of saltwater that got to the temple site.

Researchers from all over the world have started digging up the buildings’ foundations. In that area, they found many valuable things that had been buried for more than 4,000 years by dirt and river debris. While digging, researchers found the missing arm and pleated skirt of a figure wearing a kilt. As well as parts of the chair the figure was sitting on. A huge statue of Queen Tiy, Amenhotep III’s wife, was also found.

What Will happen to the Temple Building?

The pharaoh’s funerary temple continues to provide amazing antiquities. Archaeologists and restorers have recently found the body of Amenhotep III, which weighs 7 tons, and hundreds of statues of the Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet. The huge columns and huge roofs that once held up a huge hall have not yet been studied. There are still hundreds of statues that need to be fixed up and moved. As excavations and preservation efforts move forward, WMF keeps helping to restore Amenhotep III’s beautiful tomb temple.