To
the north of Rameses' temple he built a smaller temple in honour of his wife,
Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor.
Abu Simbel lies on the western bank of the Nile, 180 miles south of the First Cataract and south of Aswan and was known as Meha in ancient times.
The Temple of Rameses, "beloved of Amun," was begun some time after the fifth year of his reign and completed in about the 35th year. The facade of the main temple has the famous four seated colossal statues of Ramesses II sculpted directly from the rock face, sloping to represent the walls of a pylon. Each statue is 67 feet high, is seated on a throne wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The temple is dedicated to the gods Re Harakhty, Amun Re, Ptah and the deified Rameses II.
To
the north of Rameses' temple he built a smaller temple in honour of his wife,
Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor.
The second statue was broken from an earthquake and the head and torso still lie at its feet.
Between the legs of each statue are smaller statues of members of the royal family and around these are carved figures of bound captives.
Above the entrance is a niche with the figure of the falcon headed god Ra Harakhte and at the top, the decoration is of baboons with their arms raised in worship of the rising sun.
The first hall contains eight large statues of the king as Osiris, four on each side serving as pillars to support the roof
The reliefs on the walls show the king in his great battles of Kadesh on the north, and Syria, Libya and Nubia on the south wall, and also of Rameses presenting prisoners to the gods.
On one wall, Rameses is shown in his chariot accompanied by his pet lion during the battle of Kaddesh. He is carved with two right arms each holding a bow and shooting two arrows at once, which is presumed to depict his superior skill and speed during the battle.
Behind the first hall, a second smaller hall shows ritual offering scenes. In one scene Rameses and Nefertari are shown before the sacred barques of Amun, and of Ra-Horakhaty. Three doors lead from here into a small room and then to the sanctuary.
The sanctuary contains a small altar and at the rear are four statues representing Rameses II, and three gods, Re-Horakhty,Ptah and Amun-Re. These statues although 195 feet inside the temple are arranged so that on the spring and autumn equinoxes all four statues are illuminated one by one.
The smaller temple dedicated to Nefertari also cut into the rock face consists of six huge standing figures 33 feet high. Four of Rameses and two of Nefertari, also cut back to resemble sloping walls of a pylon.
On the inside is a single pillared hall, with carved Hathor heads at the top of the pillars. On one side of the hypostyle hall the decoration shows Rameses smiting his enemies and making offerings to the gods and on the other side Nefertari is shown, graceful and slender, with hands raised.
In the sanctuary the inner chamber contains a number of images showing the royal couple with the gods and on the rear wall, Hathor is shown in relief as a cow with Rameses standing beneath her. Nefertari is shown participating in rituals with Rameses as an equal on the left wall and worshipping Mut and Hathor on the right wall.
During the building of the High Dam at Aswan in the 1960's a massive engineering project moved the two temples of Abu Simbel to prevent it being flooded by the waters of Lake Nasser. The Temples were dismantled by carefully cutting them into 1000 blocks, some weighing as much as 15 tons and the whole structure was raised by 192 feet and reassembled in a false concrete mountain. Cuts were made where they would be least conspicuous and when reassembled the joins were cemented together so that the joins could not be seen.
