By means of the work of a joint archaeological mission, a brand new part of the Edfu Temple in Higher Egypt revealed never-before-seen unique hieroglyphic inscriptions and coloured carved scenes written by clergymen in demotic script.
This joint mission, carried out by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and Germany’s College of Würzburg, targeted on the restoration of the temple’s ceiling, which was devoted to the temple of the falcon-headed god Horus.
The restoration challenge, funded by the German Gerda Henkel Basis, has been underway since 2021 and goals to protect and improve the traditional temple’s historic worth.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathy, praised the efforts to take away the layers of buildup grime that had lined these websites for many years and highlighted the processes concerned in reviving these colours to their unique state.
Traces of golden hues used to gild raised inscriptions had been discovered, together with depictions of royal jewellery, emblems, and depictions of deities.
“The gilding of the figures presumably not solely served to symbolically immortalize and deify them but additionally contributed to the paranormal aura of the room. It should have been very spectacular, particularly when the daylight was shining in,” Victoria Altmann-Wendling, the challenge supervisor and analysis fellow within the Horus Beḥedety Mission at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, stated.
The inscriptions within the temple point out that a few of its constructions had been as soon as lined with thick steel sheets product of gilded copper, in accordance to the Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector on the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Ayman Ashmawy. He additionally emphasised that the Egyptian-German workforce efficiently uncovered traces of this gilding in a number of areas within the higher components of the partitions of the temple’s sacred boat shrine.
Preserving Egyptian Tradition
Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-Basic of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, highlighted that the restoration of the Temple of Edfu is a vital effort to safeguard Egypt’s cultural and historic heritage. He regards Egypt’s heritage as a legacy for all of humanity.
The challenge focuses on cleansing the temple’s partitions, republishing its inscriptions and scenes, and making a digital archive. The brand new editions will supply extra exact translations and research, enhancing older variations printed over the previous century.
The restoration may even tackle the temple’s sanctuaries and inside partitions, stabilize fading colours, take away soot, and conduct in-depth research of the texts and imagery within the Holy of Holies and surrounding rooms.
The Temple of Horus at Edfu, the second-largest temple of historic Egypt by dimension, is likely one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt. It was constructed in the course of the reign of King Ptolemy III Euergetes and was accomplished below King Ptolemy XII.
Whereas it includes a wealth of inscriptions and illustrations that present vital details about the traditional Egyptian language, mythology, non secular beliefs, and worship practices, the brand new discovery presents recent insights into Ptolemaic-era Egyptian non secular practices.
