Dr/Salwa Kamel

The 7 chapels

The second room hypostyle permits to reach the 7 chapels. One sees here the entry of the Amun chapel situated in the axis of the temple, framed as the others by decorated walls that have been shown and described in the part on the 2nd hypostyle. From left to right one finds the following chapels : Sety 1, Ptah, Re-Horakhty, Amun , Osiris, Isis and Horus.

The Sety chapel distinguishes itself of the

other by its iconography: the celebrations of the royal cult are represented there.

The other chapels are decorate on the base of divine daily ritual.

The priest being in a temple the Pharaoh's substitute, only officiate in title, the Pharaoh is shown in most scenes.

The daily divine Ritual was performed in all temples in Egypt. To the time of Sety, it incorporated former solar rituals and Osirieion rituals at a time. The sun disappears in the evening and is born again the morning: by worry of consistency, every god was assimilated then to Re. Then the cult was influenced by the funeral rituals bound to Osiris. So each god was joined then also to Osiris: perfume, makeup, colorful clothes are similar to those of the Osirian mummies.

The liturgy of Karnak contains 66 episodes so-called "chapters" described in the papyrus of Berlin dating from the 22th dynasty. In 1902, A. Moret made a detailed discussion of it. The first chapters (I in VI) concern rituals bound to the purification before entering in the chapel: to light fire (lighting, purification of the sanctuary); to take the censer and to purify themselves; to put silt to burn; to make to burn the resin and to advance toward the holy place. These first rituals are not represented inside the chapels of Abydos.

Only the last would correspond to the first episode describes in the chapels. On the walls of the chapels of Abydos, one recovers 29 episodes of this liturgy, a digest in comparison with respect to the papyrus of Berlin.

So the presentation of the Ma'at (XLII chapter of the papyrus) is not represented inside, but on the external north wall.

In the chapels of Isis, Horus, Re and Ptah, the scenes and the inscriptions are practically identical. The chapel of Amun essentially shows some differences due to the more important area occupied by the barques. Also an episode of purification of the priest after the exit of the chapel is represented there. The chapel of Osiris possesses 9 additional episodes. This chapel was probably a way towards the Osiris complex.

Amun-Re

Wall in right

Left wall in back Left wall

Wall in the right in back

Bottom scenes : to the right, the Pharaoh opens the niche where is Amun. Then, he presents incense to him . In these different pictures, Amun is called Amun-Re making him a solar god. The color of his skin is blue and he wears his characteristic hairdressing constituted of two feathers. On the right, he wears the Ptah dress.

On two scenes, Amun is represented with the shape of ithyphallic Min to mean that he is a new entity under the name of Amun-Min. In the 3rd scene, Amun is free of his movements and is not represented on a base plate. One can notice that he is never represented seated. Top scenes : one can see the three representations of Amun.

Bottom scenes: One can notice the alternation between Amun on a base plate and Amun free of his movements. The pharaoh coats him with ointment.

Top scenes : in a very colorful scene, the pharaoh censes the god's boat.

To the prow, the ram of Amun. Behind the boat of Amun, the boats of Mut below and of Khonsou in top, wife and son of Amun, forming with him the Theban triad.

This panel is one of the most famous of this temple.

Top scene: Pharaoh throws the incense and presents offerings in front of the boat of Amun. With the right hand, he throws incense pieces. To the middle, the boat consecrated to the Amun god under which the Pharaoh is represented again. On the right, the boats consecrated to Mut, goddess wife of Amun and their son Khonsu.

Bottom scene : As on the other panels, one can see three different representations of Amun with the Pharaoh's classic offerings.

Bottom scenes : From the left, the Pharaoh presents cloths to all representations of Amun. It is the end of the ritual, the king must dress the god's statue. On the right, the Pharaoh presents a necklace to Amun-min that has behind him a set of salads.

Top scenes : while reading the pictures from the left, they appear as a serial of offerings and gestures before the end of the ritual service. In the last scene, the Pharaoh is inclined in front of Amun.