The Temple of Kalabsha (also Temple of Mandulis) is an ancient Egyptiantemple that was originally located at Bab al-Kalabsha (Gate of Kalabsha), approximately 50 km south of Aswan.[1]
The temple was situated on the west bank of the Nile River, in Nubia, and was originally built around 30 BC during the early Roman era. While the temple was constructed in Augustus's reign, it was never finished.[3] The temple was a tribute to Mandulis (Merul), a Lower Nubian sun god.[4] It was constructed over an earlier sanctuary of Amenhotep II.[5]
The temple is 76 m long and 22 m wide in dimension.[6] While the structure dates to the Roman period, it features many fine reliefs such as "a fine carving of Horus emerging from reeds on the inner curtain wall" of the temple.[7] From Kalabsha's "sanctuary chambers, a staircase leads up to the roof of the temple" where one can see a splendid view of the temple itself and the sacred lake.[8]
Several historical records were inscribed on the temple walls of Kalabsha such as "a long inscription carved by the Roman Governor Aurelius Besarion in AD 250, forbidding pigs in the temple" as well as an inscription of "the Nubian king Silko, carved during the 5th century and recording his victory over the Blemmyes and a picture of him dressed as a Roman soldier on horseback."[9] Silko was the Christian king of the Nubian kingdom of Nobatia.[10]
With help from Germany, the temple of Kalabsha was relocated after the Aswan High Dam was built,[when?] to protect it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. The temple was moved to a site, located just south of the Aswan High Dam. The process of moving the temple took more than two years.[4] The temple of Kalabsha was the largest free-standing temple of Egyptian Nubia (after Abu Simbel, which was rock-cut, not free-standing) to be moved and erected at a new site.[12] Although the building was never completed, it "is regarded as one of the best examples of Egyptian architecture in Nubia."[13]
In 1971, Egypt gave one of the temple's gates to the Federal Republic of Germany out of gratitude for Germany’s participation in the rescue of the Nubian temples. Since 1977 the gate has been located in the annex of Berlin's Egyptian Museum in Berlin-Charlottenburg.[14] The gate will be moved to become the monumental entrance to the fourth wing of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which is currently, as of 2023, being constructed.[15]
^Lorna Oakes, Pyramids, Temples and Tombs of Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Atlas of the Land of the Pharaohs, Hermes House:Anness Publishing Ltd, 2003. p. 208
^Joseph de Senkowsky (1819): "Précis du journal inédit d'un voyage fait dans la Nubie et le nord de l'Ethiopie, en 1819" in "Journal des voyages, découvertes et navigations modernes, Vol. 17", p. 151
^Christine Hobson, Exploring the World of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1997. p.177