Background information on the reliefs from the
sun temple of
king Niuserre from Abu
Ghurab
Several thousand relief fragments were found in the excavation
of the sun temple. The reliefs belong mainly to five different groups.
- A series of reliefs showing the sed festival was placed on the walls of
the corridor which led from the entrance of the temple along its enclosure
wall to the platform with the obelisk.
Most of these reliefs are now lost.
- A second series of reliefs showing the sed festival was carved on the walls
of the passage that went up to the platform with the obelisk. Most of these
reliefs are now lost, but small fragments survived (the
fragments in the Petrie Museum belong in most cases to these reliefs).
- Many reliefs survived from a small chapel (identified by the excavators
as a sed festival chapel) next to the platform of the obelisk. 25 - 30 per
cent of these reliefs might have survived. These reliefs are today a principal
source for understanding the sed festival.
- Next to the sed festival chapel was what has become known in Egyptology
as the chamber of the seasons, showing scenes from nature (one
fragment in the Petrie Museum).
- In the valley temple reliefs from two huge inscriptions were found. The
inscriptions might have once adorned a gate (two
fragments are in the Petrie Museum)
compare the plan
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