SACRED ARCHITECTURE AS A CULTURAL MANIFESTATION OF THE COSMIC ONTOLOGICAL VISION: THE NILE AND THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE

Back to Page Authors: Rasha Said Abd El-Lateef

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Keywords: cosmos, archetype, opit festival, Khnum, Isis

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Abstract: The ancient Egyptian temple; it is where the architectural construction and iconography interacted to produce a sacred space for the rituals and practices to take place and create a sacred experience as a whole. The temple is in the center of the traditional cosmos manifestation of ancient Egyptians; the source of power providing the sense of stability in the ancient sacred landscape, that landscape was identified in the traditional Egyptian understanding of cosmic order with the essence of existence “Maat”. The cosmic order maintained an unchanged rhyme which revealed power and sacredness and the Nile was an essential part of this complex spiritual system related to the eternal cosmic cycle which represented how Egyptians saw time and history, and this was symbolized in multiple layered ancient myths , and over the time the Nile nonlogical value remained in spite of changes in the perceptions of religion. This paper is approaching the most broader meaning of the metaphysical position of temples in their landscape and the traditional understanding of cosmic order, choosing prominent temples in the Thbaid from the temples of the first cataract to Hermopolis Magna, and the Nile cults were reflected in the construction and development of these temples reaching Late antiquity.

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