The Egyptian Temple - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

All-American · 07-26-2007, 04:43 PM

The following is a slideshow prepared by Dr. William Hamblin of BYU for his Ancient Near Eastern History class.

http://history.byu.edu/fac/hamblin/2...g2/EgyptSS.pdf

I will try to give a slide by slide summary of what he taught about the particular images as best as I can recall. Left to right, top to bottom.

1: Title Slide
2: Floor plan of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. A more detailed explanation of the rooms and the procession to follow.
3: The Temple at Karnak, as it exists today. It survived because it was turned into a Christian center of worship, and then a Muslim center of worship, rather than be destroyed as a relic of the religion previously dislodged, as was the case with far too many other significant religious buildings and institutions.
4: A beginning of the discussion of the sacred way or path leading to the temple. Usually, a procession to the temple was a part of its ceremonies. Not many modern day comparisons as far as I am aware, though I know that 13th east going to the Jordan River temple is labeled "Temple Way."
5: A sketch showing the sacred way to the temples located in front of the Pyramids. (I didn't realize that those temples existed before this class. I had thought it was just the pyramid.)
6: Picture of the surviving path leading to one of the Pyramids.
7. The sacred way leading to the temple at Luxor. Note the sphinxes and other sacred animals guarding the path.
8. The sacred way leading through the temple at Karnak. The two structures flanking the path are the gates-- known as pylons. I laughed uproariously when the teacher taught that the pylons mark the entrance to the sacred zone. Nobody else got the joke.
9. A beginning of the discussion of the temenos wall which marks off the sacred zone. A mainstay in nearly every ancient temple or sacred site. If a place is sacred, a boundary usually separated it from the world around it.
10-14: Pictures of the temenos wall in various temple sites. As you can see, the walls did not survive as well as the temple proper. Often, the walls were mud-brick rather than stone (as is especially obvious in 13 and 14).
15: A beginning of the discussion of guardians.
16-18: Pictures of some of the animals who served as guardians. There were better pictures earlier along the sacred path, but the picture of the sphinx is relevant. Slide 17 shows that the guardians were not just guarding the path itself, but considered to be guardians inside the temple as well, keeping unworthy intruders from progressing. (Possibly connected with Brigham Young's angels standing as sentinels comment-- certainly, they were regarded as such in antiquity.)
19: A beginning of the discussion of boundary markers. The egyptian temples had zones of progressive exclusivity and sacredness, much as our temple does today (moving from the telestial to terrestrial to celestial).
20-22: Examples of these boundary markers. The sacred embrace pointed out in 22 will be discussed later.
23: A beginning of the discussion of the sacred waters often found outside or near the temple. Representative of the creative waters which the gods separated to form land. Usually, the temple was considered the site of this first creation; thus, the sacred waters were symbolic of the creation.
24-26: Examples of the sacred lake outside of the temple proper (though within the temenos walls).
27: The monumental gateway, or pylon (Greek for "gate"). Again with the quite funny football analogy-- pylons mark the transition into the sacred zone.
28-30: Pictures of the pylons of various sites. The grooves you see in them were places for flags to be positioned. The figures carved into the pylon were usually eminent figures whom the temple honored, though according to Dr. Hamblin, they also served as guardian figures.
29: Beginning of the discussion of the outer courtyard, which represented the world we live in.
30: The courtyard at the temple of Edfu.
31: Beginning of the discussion of the Blood Sacrifices performed in the outer courtyard. Note the setting of sacrifice as pertaining to the world we live in now.
32-36: Pictures of the altars, and a depiction of the sacrifice being performed.
37: Beginning of the discussion of the inner gateway. Again, note the increasing zones of sacredness. Often, the elevation of the rooms changed corresponding to the progressing sacredness, culminating with the Holy of Holies. The Salt Lake temple mimics this practice, though I'm not certain if they were aware of the connection with the Egyptian practice.
38-42: Depictions and pictures of the gates. On 42, note the guardians once again. Apparently, bats now serve as guardians in modern times, prepared to scare off any tourist dumb enough to use the flash on their camera. Quite the story, apparently.
43: The Hypostyle hall. An excessive number of columns was used to hold up the roof of these halls. Egyptians never discovered the arch or other means of holding up a stone roof; nevertheless, a smaller number of columns could have been used. The columns represent trees and vegetation; the primordial swamp, or the earth only recently created.
44-47: Pictures of the hypostyle halls. Note vegetation depicted at the bottoms and the capitals of the columns.
48: Beginning of the discussion of the astronomic symbolism of the temple, which was considered a microcosm of the universe. Also used as an observatory from which the stars were studied to determine the timing of festivals, rituals, etc.
49-51: pertinent pictures.
52: Plan of the Pendera temple. Most significant is item 26, showing that the temple had a stairway to the top of the building-- stairway to heaven, as it were.
53: The inner corridor at Karnak. Showing again the transition from one sacred zone to an inner, more sacred zone.
54: A beginning of the discussion of sacred clothing associated with the rituals, and of some of the rituals: purification (washings), anointings, other investitures, and the culmination of being crowned and receiving heavenly and kingly glory.
55-57: The priest's room, and depictions of some of the rituals.
58: discussion of the innermost altar and of the rituals performed there.
59-61: Pertinent pictures. Sorry, I'm getting lazy here.
62: The Holy of Holies. Accessible only to the high priest or king, and usually containing an image of the god or of a sacred artifact.
63-71: pictures of the holy of holies.
72: The presentation before the gods, usually before entering the holy of holies. Especially important here is the sacred embrace, usually a god taking the king by the hand and leading him in.
73: The sacred embrace.
74: The tree of life, a symbol of eternal life.
75-77: depictions of the tree of life and its fruit. One's name was often written upon the fruit, symbolic of him as its recipient.
78: The sacred procession, wherein the image of the God that usually rested in the holy of holies was taken out and publicly displayed. Compare to catholic rituals where the image of the virgin is taken out in a public procession.
79-80: depictions of the procession.

All-American · 07-26-2007, 05:28 PM

Aw, come on, guys. I put some effort into this. Say something.

SeattleUte · 07-26-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by All-American

Aw, come on, guys. I put some effort into this. Say something.

Sorry. My lips are sealed.

All-American · 07-26-2007, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Sorry. My lips are sealed.

Touche.

Somebody besides SU say something.

creekster · 07-26-2007, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Sorry. My lips are sealed.

Tone and technique, my friend, not content.

MikeWaters · 07-26-2007, 07:03 PM

It doesn't seem very similar to Mormon temple worship.

Tex · 07-26-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by All-American

The following is a slideshow prepared by Dr. William Hamblin of BYU for his Ancient Near Eastern History class.

http://history.byu.edu/fac/hamblin/2...g2/EgyptSS.pdf

I will try to give a slide by slide summary of what he taught about the particular images as best as I can recall. Left to right, top to bottom.

....

I'll have to check this out later. I took a class from Dr. Hamblin, and I've been to Karnak, so I'm pretty interested to see what you've got there.

All-American · 07-26-2007, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It doesn't seem very similar to Mormon temple worship.

You don't see the similarities? If you want, I can go through step by step and point some of them out.

YOhio · 07-26-2007, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by All-American

You don't see the similarities? If you want, I can go through step by step and point some of them out.

I don't see it either. Ancient Egyptian's didn't even have a bar-code scanner.

SeattleUte · 07-26-2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by All-American

You don't see the similarities? If you want, I can go through step by step and point some of them out.

Can I ask a question? Were these similarities drawn in a Near Easern History class per se, or a religion class?

07-26-2007, 04:43 PM	#1
All-American Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,420	The Egyptian Temple The following is a slideshow prepared by Dr. William Hamblin of BYU for his Ancient Near Eastern History class. http://history.byu.edu/fac/hamblin/2...g2/EgyptSS.pdf I will try to give a slide by slide summary of what he taught about the particular images as best as I can recall. Left to right, top to bottom. 1: Title Slide 2: Floor plan of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. A more detailed explanation of the rooms and the procession to follow. 3: The Temple at Karnak, as it exists today. It survived because it was turned into a Christian center of worship, and then a Muslim center of worship, rather than be destroyed as a relic of the religion previously dislodged, as was the case with far too many other significant religious buildings and institutions. 4: A beginning of the discussion of the sacred way or path leading to the temple. Usually, a procession to the temple was a part of its ceremonies. Not many modern day comparisons as far as I am aware, though I know that 13th east going to the Jordan River temple is labeled "Temple Way." 5: A sketch showing the sacred way to the temples located in front of the Pyramids. (I didn't realize that those temples existed before this class. I had thought it was just the pyramid.) 6: Picture of the surviving path leading to one of the Pyramids. 7. The sacred way leading to the temple at Luxor. Note the sphinxes and other sacred animals guarding the path. 8. The sacred way leading through the temple at Karnak. The two structures flanking the path are the gates-- known as pylons. I laughed uproariously when the teacher taught that the pylons mark the entrance to the sacred zone. Nobody else got the joke. 9. A beginning of the discussion of the temenos wall which marks off the sacred zone. A mainstay in nearly every ancient temple or sacred site. If a place is sacred, a boundary usually separated it from the world around it. 10-14: Pictures of the temenos wall in various temple sites. As you can see, the walls did not survive as well as the temple proper. Often, the walls were mud-brick rather than stone (as is especially obvious in 13 and 14). 15: A beginning of the discussion of guardians. 16-18: Pictures of some of the animals who served as guardians. There were better pictures earlier along the sacred path, but the picture of the sphinx is relevant. Slide 17 shows that the guardians were not just guarding the path itself, but considered to be guardians inside the temple as well, keeping unworthy intruders from progressing. (Possibly connected with Brigham Young's angels standing as sentinels comment-- certainly, they were regarded as such in antiquity.) 19: A beginning of the discussion of boundary markers. The egyptian temples had zones of progressive exclusivity and sacredness, much as our temple does today (moving from the telestial to terrestrial to celestial). 20-22: Examples of these boundary markers. The sacred embrace pointed out in 22 will be discussed later. 23: A beginning of the discussion of the sacred waters often found outside or near the temple. Representative of the creative waters which the gods separated to form land. Usually, the temple was considered the site of this first creation; thus, the sacred waters were symbolic of the creation. 24-26: Examples of the sacred lake outside of the temple proper (though within the temenos walls). 27: The monumental gateway, or pylon (Greek for "gate"). Again with the quite funny football analogy-- pylons mark the transition into the sacred zone. 28-30: Pictures of the pylons of various sites. The grooves you see in them were places for flags to be positioned. The figures carved into the pylon were usually eminent figures whom the temple honored, though according to Dr. Hamblin, they also served as guardian figures. 29: Beginning of the discussion of the outer courtyard, which represented the world we live in. 30: The courtyard at the temple of Edfu. 31: Beginning of the discussion of the Blood Sacrifices performed in the outer courtyard. Note the setting of sacrifice as pertaining to the world we live in now. 32-36: Pictures of the altars, and a depiction of the sacrifice being performed. 37: Beginning of the discussion of the inner gateway. Again, note the increasing zones of sacredness. Often, the elevation of the rooms changed corresponding to the progressing sacredness, culminating with the Holy of Holies. The Salt Lake temple mimics this practice, though I'm not certain if they were aware of the connection with the Egyptian practice. 38-42: Depictions and pictures of the gates. On 42, note the guardians once again. Apparently, bats now serve as guardians in modern times, prepared to scare off any tourist dumb enough to use the flash on their camera. Quite the story, apparently. 43: The Hypostyle hall. An excessive number of columns was used to hold up the roof of these halls. Egyptians never discovered the arch or other means of holding up a stone roof; nevertheless, a smaller number of columns could have been used. The columns represent trees and vegetation; the primordial swamp, or the earth only recently created. 44-47: Pictures of the hypostyle halls. Note vegetation depicted at the bottoms and the capitals of the columns. 48: Beginning of the discussion of the astronomic symbolism of the temple, which was considered a microcosm of the universe. Also used as an observatory from which the stars were studied to determine the timing of festivals, rituals, etc. 49-51: pertinent pictures. 52: Plan of the Pendera temple. Most significant is item 26, showing that the temple had a stairway to the top of the building-- stairway to heaven, as it were. 53: The inner corridor at Karnak. Showing again the transition from one sacred zone to an inner, more sacred zone. 54: A beginning of the discussion of sacred clothing associated with the rituals, and of some of the rituals: purification (washings), anointings, other investitures, and the culmination of being crowned and receiving heavenly and kingly glory. 55-57: The priest's room, and depictions of some of the rituals. 58: discussion of the innermost altar and of the rituals performed there. 59-61: Pertinent pictures. Sorry, I'm getting lazy here. 62: The Holy of Holies. Accessible only to the high priest or king, and usually containing an image of the god or of a sacred artifact. 63-71: pictures of the holy of holies. 72: The presentation before the gods, usually before entering the holy of holies. Especially important here is the sacred embrace, usually a god taking the king by the hand and leading him in. 73: The sacred embrace. 74: The tree of life, a symbol of eternal life. 75-77: depictions of the tree of life and its fruit. One's name was often written upon the fruit, symbolic of him as its recipient. 78: The sacred procession, wherein the image of the God that usually rested in the holy of holies was taken out and publicly displayed. Compare to catholic rituals where the image of the virgin is taken out in a public procession. 79-80: depictions of the procession. __________________ εν αρχη ην ο λογος

07-26-2007, 05:28 PM	#2
All-American Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,420	Aw, come on, guys. I put some effort into this. Say something. __________________ εν αρχη ην ο λογος

07-26-2007, 07:03 PM	#6
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	It doesn't seem very similar to Mormon temple worship.