Each royal pyramid was provided with two temples in which funerary rites were performed. Gone, it is important to note, are the funerary enclosures of previous dynasties and architectural facilities for the performance of the sed-festival. The two temples both lie on the east side of the pyramid. Indeed, the linear east-west arrangement of these pyramid-temple complexes relates to the course of the sun and to the new prominence of the sun god, Re. The furthest east, on the edge of the zone of cultivation, is known as the Valley Temple. A causeway, or raised
Stone-paved road, perhaps an enclosed passage, Unked the Valley Temple with the Mortuary Temple located at the east base of each pyramid. Final rites took place in this temple, as did periodic ceremonies thereafter, designed to maintain the king’s well-being in the afterlife.
The best preserved are the temples of Khafre, accompanied by a unique monument, the Great Sphinx. The Valley Temple of Khafre measures ca. 45m2, although the north wall projects out at a diagonal. It was built of large limestone blocks faced with massive ashlar blocks of red granite from Aswan. Its monolithic pillars were also of granite. Its walls, still standing 13m high, are battered, that is with a slightly sloping exterior face, a feature of this period. Inside the walls were undecorated, but elsewhere, such as in the mortuary temple at the base of Khufu’s pyramid, some slight evidence suggests that low reliefs originally decorated the limestone facing.
The king’s titles were carved in a band around each doorway, the only inscriptions in the building. The entrances led
To high-ceilinged vestibules and then into a long antecham-Figure 5.14 Khafre, seated statue, , . , i n i
Ber. A deep pit in its floor contained a virtually complete from the Valley Temple of Khafre, nr .r r
Giza. Egyptian Museum, Cairo statue of Khafre (Figure 5.14), found shattered but now reassembled in the Cairo Museum, and portions of others. These statues formed a set of twenty-three, of diorite, schist, and alabaster, which stood in the main room of the temple, the T-shaped columned hall that lies to the west of the antechamber. Each statue perhaps symbolized one or, in three cases, two of the twenty-six parts of the king’s body.
The statue of Khafre resembles that of Djoser (Figure 5.10), but there are significant differences. Khafre, a benign expression on his face, sits stiffly on a high-backed throne, but with both arms placed on his thighs, the right fist clenched, the left hand open, palm down. Like Djoser
Figure 5.15 Menkaure and Khamerernebty, statue from the Valley Temple of Menkaure, Giza
He wears the royal Memes headdress, now decorated with a uraeus or erect cobra, and the royal beard, but instead of the sed-festival cloak he wears a royal kilt with a precise pattern of folds.
This statue, by displaying additional emblems of the king’s power, shows more clearly than the statue of Djoser how the king, the land, and the gods were intertwined. Two lions, symbols of strength, support his seat. On each side of the throne, enframed by the lion’s body, is the motif that represents the union of the two regions of ancient Egypt: the hieroglyphic sign for “union,” the knotting of the two plants that symbolize Lower and Upper Egypt, the papyrus and the lily. Lastly and most dramatically, a falcon sits on the top of the throne, perched behind the king’s head. This representation of Horus, the sky god, spreads his wings to either side of the king’s head in a protective embrace — in addition, a symbol that the king is the earthly manifestation of Horus.
A different vision of royalty is given by a statue found in the Valley Temple of Menkaure (Figure 5.15). Menkaure stands with his wife Khamerernebty in the striding pose characteristic of Egyptian art. Both are about the same size, somewhat under life-size (the height of the statue: 1.38m). The king clenches his fists, while the queen has her arm around her husband. This family portrait shows an idealized youthful, healthy couple, a vision that subsequent Egyptians would often emulate in their funerary art. The statue, made of slate schist, was unfinished when placed in the temple, with only the heads and upper bodies completely polished. Traces of paint indicate that the entire statue was originally painted.
The exact purpose of the Valley Temple is not clear. There are several ceremonies connected with the preparation of a royal body for burial, known from texts, that possibly were carried out here. The body was “purified by washing,” a ceremony which assured regeneration. Second, the body was embalmed, either actually or symbolically (if the actual embalmment was done elsewhere). And third, the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony was performed, to give life to statues and other images of the king, so they could serve as homes for the king’s spirit, his ka.
World History
