Hatshepsut Temple

Hatshepsut Temple or Deir el Bahari (means ‘Northern Monastery’, indicating that the site was once used by Christian monks) is the place where queen Hatshepsut was mummified after her death. That’s why it’s called the funerary temple of hatshepsut because its related to the funerary cult of the queen. It dates back to the time of the new kingdom 18^th dynasty 1460 BC.

Hatshepsut Temple is one of the most impressive monuments of western Thebes (modern Luxor), it has a unique plan, three terraces joined by each other through tow descending ramps. It shows the harmony between human and nature, as when you look at the temple, it looks as if it’s a nature extension between the rock faces not just a temple built in front of the mountain.

Deir el Bahari was badly damaged by earthquakes but the work of the Polish-Egyptian mission has led to a great deal of successful reconstruction.

Hatshepsut built this temple for 2 main reasons:

• To announce her divine birth story which made her able to rule Egypt. She made up a story and had a deal with the priests to support her in such story. This story tells that god Amun Ra the main god back at this time visited her mother, slept with her and impregnant her with Hatshepsut and that’s how she became the son of god and no one refused her as a ruler of upper and lower Egypt as if they did, they will be refusing the son of the god and that’s how she became the first powerful well known female to rule Egypt.
• To be mummified in after her death, as this wasn’t her tomb she was just mummified in then taken to be buried in her tomb in Valley of the Kings.

Hatshepsut Temple Plan:

Hatshepsut Temple or the so called Der el Bahari is consisted of three terraces:

–The first terrace was all implanted by trees as it was designed to be a divine garden for the divine father of Hatshepsut, god Amon Ra. Non of the tress survived except 2 roots at the very beginning of the temple as they were mummified.

–The second (middle) terrace is divided into 2 half by the second ramp leading to the third terrace. The right colonnade was once showing the divine birth story of Hatshepsut and how she was able to rule Egypt but nothing can be seen now as all decorations are badly damaged. While the left colonnade shows the journey to the land of Punt (believed to be Somalia now a days) as it was the first friendly expedition between Egypt and another country to exchange goods.

There are 2 chapels in the second terrace; the one on the right side belongs to god Anubis the guardian of the tombs and god of mummification and another one on the left belongs to goddess Hather the goddess of love, playing, dance and music.

–The third terrace of Deir el Bahari temple has few side store rooms, an alter at the center and few statues of Hatshepsut in the Osiren attitude showing that she will resurrect like god Osiris did.