Esna is a metropolis positioned roughly 60 km south of the traditional capital of Luxor in Egypt.
The holy barque with the shrine of Khnoum, the primary deity of Esna, carried by a number of monks. Picture credit score: Ahmed Amin / Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Devoted to the Egyptian deity Khnum, the temple of Esna is among the final examples of historical Egyptian temple structure.
Solely the vestibule, referred to as the narthexof the unique temple complicated survived, as a result of it was used as storage facility for cotton throughout the nineteenth century CE.
The constructing measures 37 m lengthy, 20 m vast, and 15 m tall, and was embellished primarily throughout the Roman interval (1st to third century CE).
“The narthex of the temple in Esna is a sandstone construction which was erected in entrance of the particular temple constructing earlier than or throughout the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) and was most likely a lot bigger than the temple itself,” Professor Christian Leitz from the Institute of Historic Close to Jap Research on the College of Tübingen and his colleagues stated in a press release.
“Its location in the course of the town middle most likely contributed to the truth that the vestibule was preserved and was not used as a quarry for constructing supplies as different historical edifices have been throughout the industrialization of Egypt.”
“Over the previous 1,800 years, native folks lit fires within the temple vestibule,” they added.
“Because of this, the once-colorful wall and column decorations have been blackened.”
“Over the previous six years, a staff of as much as 30 Egyptian revealed the colours of the astronomical photos masking all the ceiling in addition to the colours of the 18 inside columns.”
“A brand new section of restoration started this yr. Specialists completed restoring the southern inside wall and the southern a part of the western rear wall.”
“They dropped at gentle the unique colours with dominant yellow and crimson pigments, marking a pointy distinction from colour schemes discovered elsewhere, for instance on the temple of Dendara, the place white and lightweight blue predominate.”
The king’s apron with plant ornament: the papyrus (high) is the symbol of Decrease Egypt and the lily (backside) the symbol of Higher Egypt. Picture credit score: Ahmed Amin / Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The staff’s greatest discovery this yr was the main points of the clothes on the king and the deities of Esna, their crowns and their thrones.
“Beforehand, we couldn’t see them in any respect because of the thick layer of soot over the reliefs,” Professor Leitz stated.
“All these painted particulars are an integral a part of the providing scenes which cowl the inside partitions of the temple.
“We knew in regards to the hieroglyphic texts and the reliefs; however the freshly-uncovered decorations on the throne photos have their very own which means.”
“In a scene depicting an providing of bow and arrow to the goddess Neith, our conservation staff uncovered 4 painted bows within the decrease a part of the throne, maybe a part of initially 9 bows — a reference to the ‘9 bows’ as a designation for Higher and Decrease Egypt and 7 different territories dominated by the king of Egypt.”
“One other instance is the apron of the king in one of many providing scenes.”
“It’s embellished with two crops: the papyrus (high) is the symbol of Decrease Egypt, and the lily (backside) the symbol of Higher Egypt, symbolizing that the king is the ruler of the 2 components of the nation.”
“Maybe essentially the most spectacular scene is the one with the holy barque of the native deity Khnoum which carries the shrine of the god.”
“This boat is carried by a number of monks who’re bringing it out from the innermost a part of the temple in a procession, in order that on particular events the folks of Esna might at the least see the closed shrine of the god.”
“For the remainder of the yr it was hidden within the temple to which solely the monks had entry.”