Episode 3: Abu Simbel Temple of Ramses II

Welcome to Episode #3 of our new series, “Picture This” from Egypt! This new episode features a unique visit to the Abu Simbel Temple of Ramses II. This temple is located in “Upper” (southern) Egypt and is only about 20 miles from the Sudan border. Even though the Temple has no biblical connection, we are going to try and picture how impressive and beautiful this temple must have been over 3000 years ago when it originally was built! The Temple of Abu Simbel is one of the most incredible temples in all of Egypt. The temple is most well known for being completely rebuilt (in 1968) on higher ground after the new Aswan Dam created the large lake that would have submerged the temple. Abu Simbel was one of 33 other temples (Philae was one of them too, another temple to be later featured in this series) that was rescued from being submerged under water. This rebuilt temple was actually raised 185 feet from where they originally discovered it in the early 1817. Over 40 countries participated in the preservation and rebuilding of this temple. The discovery of this temple in 1817 is quite interesting. Only the baboon figures on the top of the temple were originally exposed. Everything else was under sand. It was then a Nubian nomad who was given credit for discovering what was below. His name was Abu Simbel, after whom the temple is named today! The temple was built to honor one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, Ramses II. He lived for 91 years and reigned for 76 of these years. He fought many battles, including the most famous confrontation against the Hittites at Kadesh. These battles scenes are displayed on the wall reliefs inside the temple itself behind the hypostyle-like hall featuring the statues of Ramses. The facade of the temple is impressive. Four large statues of Ramses stand 65 feet high. In the middle of these four statues is Ra, the sun god. Along with Horus, he was also seen as the god of the horizon. In the most inner room (the “Sanctuary”) are four imposing seated colossal deity statues: Ra, Amun Ra, Ptah, and a deified version of Rameses II. The temple was built with such precision that on two days a year (February 22 and October 22), the sun’s rays enter the temple, cross the main hall, and illuminate the innermost statues. In the original temple, this happened a day earlier, on the 21st of these two months. Be sure to visit www.biblicalisraeltours.com to check out our ministry, all of our biblical study trips (primarily Israel tours, but with trip also to Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and Italy), and valuable resources aimed to help you understand the Bible within the context of the land(s) of the Bible. #Egypt #Abusimbel #RamsesII #UpperEgypt #Egypttours