Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

History

Committee Chair

Peter Brand

Committee Member

Lorelei Corcoran

Committee Member

Joshua Roberson

Committee Member

Benjamin Graham

Abstract

This dissertation provides the first systematic overview and analysis of the ritual scenes decorating the interior walls of the forecourt of Ramesses II at Luxor Temple, completed in the third year of Ramessess reign (c. 1279-1213 B.C.E.), and their relationship to this monuments cultic function. Each ritual scene is accompanied by individual photographs, a general discussion of the scenes content, the main iconographic features pertaining to the king and divine figures, and general epigraphic observations regarding the reliefs preservation. I am also providing a thorough description, translation and commentary of the relief of the walls forming the south-west corner of the forecourt. These scenes contain unique iconographic and textual elements, a prime example of which is the Litany of Amun-Re covering most of the middle register of the eastern walls south wing. A careful analysis of the ritual episodes depicted on the forecourts interior walls indicates that it served primarily as a venue for the processional rites of the Opet festival, the Min festival and the Decade festival (the latter two celebrating the ithyphallic form of Amun-Re).The cultic themes present in the ritual scenes follow a bilateral division along the main south-north axis of the forecourt, with the western side depicting ritual episodes pertaining to the Opet festival procession, while those in the eastern half center on rituals dedicated to the ithyphallic Amun-Re Kamutef and the Min festival. The forecourt displays a series of innovative features in temple relief decoration that will recur in subsequent temples built by Ramesses II. These reconceptualized decorative elements, although based on traditional models, go hand in hand with the new royal ideology of the early 19th Dynasty kings, emphasizing their divine nature and close link to Amun-Re.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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