Temple of Mut, Jebel Barkal
- 1 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Rock-cut architecture
History
Restoring a ruined structure abandoned by New Kingdom pharaohs, named B300-sub, Taharqa built an outer temple of cut stone masonry comprising entrance kiosk, pylon, Bes pillars, columns topped with sistrum-headed Hathor capitals and carved five wall painted chambers into the rock base to honor the goddess Mut, who believed to dwell together with the state-god Amun inside Jebel Barkal. From the outer structure only two of the Hathor columns still survive, but the rock-cut chambers are in good shape and were cleaned and restored from 2015 to 2018.
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Setting
The rock-chambers contain restored paintings with representations of Amon, Taharqa and lion-headed or human-headed forms of the Double Crown wearing Mut. The paintings are accompanied by hieroglyphic inscriptions, where Taharqa says that he found the temple built by the "ancestors" in "humble work", and that he rebuilt it as "splendid work". The figures are painted in ochre and white kaolin on a background painted in Egyptian blue. Alluding in some regard to the myth of the Eye of Ra, the goddesses represented in the Temple of Mut played important roles both in the myth of the divine origin of the king and in coronation ceremonies.