CAIRO, EGYPT—According to an Ahram Online report, a team of researchers from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the University of Würzburg are restoring the Temple of Edfu in Upper Egypt. Construction of the monumental temple, which is dedicated to the falcon god, Horus, was begun by Ptolemy III, who reigned from 246 to 221 B.C. The researchers have cleaned the layers of dirt, bird droppings, soot, and salt from the inscriptions and pictorial reliefs that cover the temple’s surfaces, and they are now analyzing traces of the remaining colors that had been applied to the walls, roof, and inner chambers in order to restore them. Within the temple’s barque sanctuary, the cleaning has revealed painted scenes; inscriptions written in Demotic script by the temple’s priests; and traces of gilding on reliefs depicting deities and royal symbols. “The gilding of the figures presumably not only served to symbolically immortalize and deify them but also contributed to the mystical aura of the room,” said Victoria Altmann-Wendling of the University of Würzburg. “It must have been very impressive, especially when the sunlight was shining in,” she added. The newly uncovered inscriptions also suggest that gilded copper sheets had been applied to upper walls of the shrine. For more on the temple, go to "When It Rains It Pours."
Restoration of Egypt’s Temple of Edfu Reveals Painted Inscriptions
News September 19, 2024
SHARE:
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2024
Egyptian Crocodile Hunt
Courtesy the University of Manchester
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2024
A Pharaoh's Coffin
Nick Brundle/AdobeStock
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Sticking Their Necks Out
(Photo Vyacheslav Argenberg via Flickr)
-
Features September/October 2024
Hunting for the Lost Temple of Artemis
After a century of searching, a chance discovery led archaeologists to one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient Greek world
Courtesy Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece -
Letter from Nigeria July/August 2024
A West African Kingdom's Roots
Excavations in Benin City reveal a renowned realm’s deep history
(Mike Pitts) -
Artifacts July/August 2024
Etruscan Oil Lamp
(Courtesy Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona; © DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, NY) -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
A Taíno Idol's Origin Story
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography Turin