Sun Temples in Egypt- Abu Ghurab Star gate

(Sun Temples in the Fifth Dynasty) The kings of the fifth family set out to build a school camp in Egypt since the age of Naqada III – the family of Safar – at least (3200 BC – 3000 BC). The building of these solar temples is decorated with the crowning and rejuvenation of the king. Egyptologists worked on studying these solar temples, seeking as much as possible to explore the real goals behind their construction in that particular era. They came out with several results, the most important of which were :

1 – The first kings of the Fifth Dynasty built the solar temple in the area of Abu Sir for the first time, which was a prominent cause of all subsequent kings to establish their royal tombs in the same area near the first solar temple that was established in that place and continued to direct themselves to the hand of the Lord of the sun (Raa) Each of them (except for the last three kings of this family) built a solar temple in the Abu Ghurab area, which is about a kilometer away from Abuusir.

Star Gate at Abu Ghurab 

2 – The similar architectural planning of these solar temples with the architectural planning of the temples of the Royal Pyramids contained the same architectural elements known to the pyramid group of the valley and the temple of Genzi and a rising road linking them, which was a strong motive to emphasize the concept of close interrelationship between the solar religion and the Royal Faith in the same period.

3 – The perception of a large number of Egyptologists of the temples of the sun that were built on the western side of the Nile that they were similar to the Sun temple in Heliopolis and that the design of the temples of AbuSir was an imitation of the sun temple in Heliopolis , although there is no evidence to prove this theory. We can not know the actual design of the sun temple in the era of the ancient state until this moment. Moreover, it is not to be taken into consideration that the vocabulary of the ancient Egyptian religion and architecture was often inspired by its property / royalty and not always inspired by ancient Egyptian idols. Property/ royalty, especially in the Old Kingdom era, was the first inspiration and inspiration for any political initiative or Religious.

4 – Some of the scholars thought that the beginning of the construction of the sun temples in Egypt did not appear except with the age of the fifth family, which didn’t appeal to the researcher for the following reasons and considerations: A-The seeds and the first photographic representations of the solar religion have appeared in Egypt since the time of Naqada I (3900 – 3600 BC). This was on the famous Naqada plate in the Egyptian Museum where the eastern and western sun were photographed, which completed the global cycle of the day on the world and is likely to be The first establishment of the doctrine of solar creation, which will be crystallized later in the era Fifth Dynasty B – The appearance of the boats of the gods on the pottery of Naqada II (from 3600 BC to 3200 BC.) The idol sun disk above the cabin of the boat was one of those gods symbols , which confirms the existence of solar booths in Egypt since the era of Naqada II at least . C – The kings of the safar family appeared in the era of Naqada III in the characteristics of clear solar religious , especially in the parasites, the drawings and inscriptions indicated the presence of leadership and ownership emerging promoting itself by portraying the leader in the form of sun animals such as bull, lion, falcon or jackal And it kills the enemies of the sun which at the same time are the enemies of the king in the form of weak animals such as antelopes, deer, and wailing. D – The second king of the second family is called the Raa nb in the sense of Raa – the Lord. Is it logical that the king belongs to the solar god in that era without having an independent temple or compartment? E – The solar cabin of Turin, which dates back to the era of King Zoser confirmed the existence of a clear worship of the sun and the solar sun in the era of the third family and what distinguishes this cabin that the solar sunrise appeared in the form of a clear human where each idol appears in the form of the king of a pure human sitting On the throne, reflecting the notion that the ruling monarch appears to be a legitimate heir to the solar system.

5 – The first schematic diagram of the Temple of the Sun in the era of King Osrkav was very simple, it was an outer wall in the shape of the square with circular corners and it contains a building similar to the terrace, which reminds us of the doctrine of the first eternal hill, which was manifested by the sun god at the beginning of universe creation . And then the schematic diagram of the temple was changed in the era of successors and turned to the same schematic and architectural form of the hierarchical group as well as the most important symbols of the worship of the sun is the obelisk that was in the temples of the sun and placed at the top of those solar temples, which is equivalent to the top of the pyramids funeral temples. Why was the Temple built in the fifth Dynasty? And what is its relation to the hierarchical groups that was similar to it in planning? Why were these temples built on the west bank of the Nile? What are the nature and purposes of rituals within the solar temples? Are these rituals related to the temples of the Royal Pyramids? Have these solar temples been built for the worship of the sun god only? According to the stone of Palermo, which dates back to the age of the fifth family, as well as the known papyrus of Abuusir, which was a daily record of the activity of priests within the solar temples, and the remaining scenes were photographed on the walls of the temples of the sun and what was recorded in the tombs of the priests of the sun in Abuusir and Saqqara, we can deduce a number of important facts and findings:

1-The sun temples are intertwined with the royal worship, where the sun’s rituals are mixed with the purpose of showing the sun god’s favor over the universe, following the cycle of the three seasons of the year, the rituals of regenerating the kingdom and the revival of the ruling king , this ends in the union of the ruling king with the sun god Raa and the appearance of the image of God (Raa Hor Akhti) for the first time on the walls of those temples which embodies the duality of the royalty as a (Hor) with the Lord of the sun (Raa) when emerging from the eastern horizon till the Western horizon in the form of human with hawk head in expression of completion the universal solar cycle in which the king participates as an image (Raa), which is holy on earth, and whose grace and virtues are blowing over the entire universe.

2 – Palermo stone and the tombs of the priests of the sun in Saqqara and the papyrus of Abuusir reveals the same rituals in the sun temples and the Royal Pyramids’ temples, and even the same offering of the same places. The Eucharist first went from the sun temples and then goes to the Royal Pyramids’ temples, and this indicates that these rituals complete each other in two separate places which also explains the great congruence in the architectural planning of the temples of the sun with the temples of the Royal Pyramids, these similar rituals in different places lead to a great architectural match between the same places.

3 – Those previous documents revealed the acts of worship within the sun temples and the Royal Pyramids temples during the life of the ruling King not only after his death as was believed by a large number of researchers and that the priests supervising the royal worship in the temples of the pyramids are themselves priests entrusted with the performance of rites within the sun temples.

4 – The scenes and rituals of the temples of the sun in the section known as the Valley temple reveals that the king appears in the temple of the sun valley representing Horus on earth and then moving towards the upward path that qualifies him to rise up to the sky to reach the top of the temple of the Sun equivalent to the funeral temples in the hierarchical groups appear in prominent solar features And is explicitly united by the idol of the sun Ra, which qualifies him to appear in the form of the idol (Ra Hor Akhti).

5 – One of the basic elements in the Temple of the sun what is known as the Chamber of the universe which is a small sized dark room located in the south of the obelisk built of limestone and there is an entrance in the northern wall of this stone that leads directly into the base of the obelisk, It is interesting to note that a number of different manifestations of nature in the world of plants and animals have been recorded on the walls of this small dark room. The most important thing is that these scenes record the activity of nature in the seasons of drought and flood only without Any indication of germination?

6 – This choice seems intentional and it is particularly important here because both chapters are associated here with a very dark place which is the chamber of the vaulted universe, and directly leads to the symbol of light, which symbolizes the religion of the sun and is a built-in obelisk with an internal ladder that can be ascended To the top of the obelisk.

7 – It is clear that the existence of these elements next to each other was not a coincidence, but was intended for itself, as the chamber of the dark universe expresses the stage of death associated with fertilization (and the two seasons of drought and flood) and therefore appeared in the same room views enrichment of different types of Animals to each other, while the obelisk expresses the birth stage associated with the sun and rises up towards the sky (through the inner drawer of the obelisk). From here we understand why the royalty insisted on portraying the scenes and rituals of love inside the dark universe room on a large scale. The king appears in the first stage as a king who is buried and dead in the other world and then appears in the second stage where he has been rid of his shroud and has made the jogging ritual known in a large courtyard as proof of his renewed activity.The rites of love of the royalty were united and intertwined with the rites of the sun to affirm the common destiny of both.

8 – The dark universe chamber is always located south of the Sun Temple obelisk. Thus, the two stages of death (associated with fertilization), birth and rebirth are subject to the sun god of the geographical direction from south to north. Since the final stage here (birth and rebirth) is embodied in the symbol of the sun (the obelisk) it also expresses the direction of the East. The role played by the Sunbeam and the King to move from death to rebirth and birth is linked to the geographical direction from the south to the north (where the Nile flood flows in Egypt) and then to the east (where the sun rises and rises up to the sky)

9. There is a strong relationship between the texts of the royal pyramids that appeared at the end of the Fifth Dynasty era and the architectural elements of the temples of the sun. The texts of the pyramids inside the King Wanis’ pyramid reflect, according to its location, three successive phases, from west to east and then to the north. Where the texts of the burial chamber (in the west) express the world of the dead – DAT – while the texts of the front room (to the east of the burial chamber) the sunrise and birth – a sister – while the passages of the outer corridor (located to the far north of the inner parts of the pyramid) reflect heaven – bit. This geographical direction (from south to north – flood direction – and from west to east – the direction of the return of the sun to the sunrise) is consistent with the same geographic direction in the sun temples of the fifth dynasty (from the chamber of the universe in the south to the obelisk in the north which at the same time is the symbol of the sunrise ). This trend expresses the transition from death to life and is the transformation that is related to the effectiveness of fertilization.

10 – Most probably the agreement in the subject and function between the chamber of the universe and the obelisk in the order and content from one side and between the texts of the pyramids in the order and content on the other side draws attention to an important fact: that the temples of the sun from the fifth dynasty belong to a certain period of time between the beginning of the fifth dynasty and the sixth kings of the same dynasty, where the *****clues stop building any other temples of the sun after that, and it seems here, as if stopping building temples of the sun was the beginning of the recording of the texts of the pyramids, which began recording with the last king of the fifth dynasty Wanis, Which also conveys the same function and content performed by temples of the sun (With King Jade Ra Essy remaining a missing link between the two phases). This means that the texts of the pyramids were a natural alternative to the construction of the temples of the sun and perform the same functions, and perhaps this can provide an answer to the confusing question about why the temples of the sun were unusually built on the west side of the Nile where the traditional location of the cemetery.

11 – The temples of the sun were not necessarily devoted to the sanctification of a particular king in the sun, but temples that embody (the general principle of the concept of immortal immortal royalty) and royalty here is distinctly linked to to the eternal sun as they share their destiny not only with Raa in the other world but they also share their fate with the sun god in the two worlds: the world of life and the other world. From here we understand the following truth: The worship of the deceased king was not the first purpose in the temples of the sun or at least not the only purpose and also worship sun god in his deceased image during sunset wasn’t the same purpose of those temples as though by some scholar.The purpose of these temples was to emphasize the revival and renewal of the royalty as a general and immutable principle in its solar form. Therefore,rites were held in every solar temple during the life of the king and after his death, besides each temple was not limited to worshiping only one king, this explains to us the architectural changes that were made by the later kings on the same temple as well as the existence of priests who hold the rites of more than one king in a solar temple.

12 – The tendency of kings towards the solar religion strongly during the fifth dynasty led to the increase of solar rites, which led to the need for independent religious architectural facilities in the solar temples to be able to accommodate the rituals that arose during the fifth dynasty, which led to the separation of those solar rites From the temples of the Royal Pyramids, which became dedicated to the rituals of royalty with an Osirian character, which is evidenced by the presence of funeral scenes in the temples of the Royal Pyramids at a time when the country has increased the importance of solar religion, which is expressed the following result: The temples of the royal pyramids show the union of the King Osir while the sun temples are the temples where the king acquired the solar destiny and the rituals of the Osirian rituals weren’t mixed with the sun rituals at the end of the era of the fifth dynasty during the era of king Unas , when the policy of construction of the sun temples stopped, the sun rituals returned, as happened before in the royal temples.This era was the same era that witnessed the recording of the texts of the royal pyramids at the end of the Fifth Dynasty era, where the monarchy witnessed a compromise formula and a religious and political reconciliation between the sun doctrine and the Umayyad doctrine, which resulted in the emergence of monarchy in two bodies and two destinies: Sun destiny and Oziri destiny.

Alexandria Library- Alexandrina Bibliotheca

Alexandrina Bibliotheca is one of the most famous bookstores in the region and the world, and has been famous throughout history with names including the Great Library, the Royal Library of Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great, which was included in the planning of the city of Alexandria when he built the city , but others thought the first one to build the library was Ptolemy I, and some said that the credit of the establishment back to Ptolemy II since he completed the construction of the building after Ptolemy I era who gave the order to build it according to historical narrations. This library is one of the oldest governmental libraries in the whole world, the value of the library has increased since it contained books which contains knowledge from various parts of the globe.

This library served as a link between Eastern and Western cultures, and all those who studied and sponsored it was required to leave a copy of their works. This has enriched the library with many important writings. The library had more than seven hundred books. At the same time, This has helped the developers to develop them significantly, which has reflected on the library itself. Many librarians served the library, including Valery in 284 BC and Kalimachos Al-Barqawi, Al-Roudisi, Eratostasis Al-Barqawi, Byzantine and many others. Where they received their tasks for a considerable period of time. The idea of reviving the library was first raised in the late eighties when UNESCO invited to contribute to the revival of the library. The UNESCO proposed an international competition to design the library. the first prize was awarded to Sonoita company located in Oslo Norway. The design of the new library includes four levels under The ground and six upper floors of the highest point of the ring surface, a skydome was established near the library along with a science museum.

The most important feature of the Alexandrina Bibliotheca is the architectural style in which the library was built. It was executed by the Norwegian engineer Sutia. The office of Dr Mamdouh Hamza was responsible for the foundations and the soil along with the genius departed Egyptian engineer Ahmed Meto. The library is located 40 meters from the beach. The library is built on an area of 85405 thousand square meters, 22 meters high and the building consists of 11 floors, including four floors under the ground and a ground floor and six floors above the ground at an angle of 16 degrees and the space of the reading rooms is twenty thousand square meters as well as the diameter of the circle To its office is 160 meters and stands on 90 columns and the circular building of the library represents the disk of the sun that goes out of water horizon inspired by ancient Egypt, although some say that the round disk refers to the computer tablet with its knowledge. The construction is an unprecedented engineering achievement. The construction works included advanced techniques, in addition to the circular wall made of raw Egyptian granite in which all the languages of the world were inscribed with 6300 letters and a sentence and a symbol by a team of Norwegian sculptors headed by Euronne Sanis, carved in the form of a subversive sculpture, and produced on four thousand pieces of granite extracted in Aswan. The outer surface of the library is designed to allow the natural sunlight to enter the building inside to reduce the cost of industrial lighting as much as possible. The library was officially opened in October 2002. The final cost of the project was about $ 117 million. The main library includes the Youth Library, the Library of the Blind, Planetarium, Science Museum, lines museum,

The Library Museum, the Archaeological Museum, the International Institute, the Alexandria International institute Center and its associated services, as well as multi-purpose spaces and exhibitions. The Library accommodates 8 million folders and includes dramas from 1500 to 4,000, in addition to between 10,000 and 50 a visual and audiovisual means and a number of manuscripts, In addition to the number of ten thousand and fifty thousand visual and audio means and a number of manuscripts, and about ten thousand to fifty thousand books of rare books, and about fifty thousand maps of the universe. The library includes main historical books and contains very rare collections, including a huge and rare collection of the book ”Description of Egypt”, which is in good condition and dates back to 19 BC. In addition to a copy of the manuscripts and documents of the Suez Canal, and a part of the history of the Arab scholars in Andalusia in Arabic, English and French, as well as a selection of books in other European languages such as German, Italian, Spanish and other rare languages such as Creipoli,Haitain and Zulu languages. The current collection includes sources of donors from all over the world on various topics France has presented a gift of up to half a million books in French on several different topics which were the largest cultural deal in the history of libraries. Alexandria Bibliotheca became the second Francophone in the world. After this donation, the library has become the main library of the Frech book for in the middle east and the African continent. The Taha Hussein Library represents a new concept that opens new horizons for the blind and enables them to get into different resources and the internet archive and a library for children and youth. The library has more than 7,000 maps covering all parts of the world with a special focus on Alexandria, Egypt, the Arab countries and the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The library includes different types of maps such as city abstraction, world maps, topographic maps, geological maps, contour maps, road and transport maps, thematic maps, marine and aerial navigation maps, and aerial and space imagery. The Library also contains more than 500 atlas, a number of earth balls** and a hall of rare books, including the collection of rare books owned by the Library of Alexandria, which was printed before 1920, in addition to a number of books donated and copies of rare books and limited editions. The manuscripts hall has a collection of rare manuscripts owned by Alexandria Bibliotheca, these were manuscripts of different languages, including Arabic, Turkish and Persian.

The most important collection of the library is a replica of the collected map published by the Iraqi Academy of Sciences in 1951 for maps of the book “The Picture of the Earth” by Sherif Idrissi. It was painted by Idrissi to the king of Cecilia Roger II in the year 1145. As well as a replica of a manuscript topographical map of the Arabian Gulf and Mesopotamia dating back to the seventeenth century and a museum of monuments within the library. The collection of the museum includes different ages of the Egyptian civilization from the Pharaonic to the Islamic era, passing through the Greek civilization that came to Egypt with the conquest of Alexander the Great.

The collection has almost 1079 pieces. The manuscripts museum is one of the academic centres affiliated with the Alexandria Bibliotheca. The content of the section has been enriched with rare collections of manuscripts and documents (about thirty thousand manuscripts and fifty thousand documents, the planetarium scientific section consists of Planetarium and The history of science, which is located inside the pyramid at the bottom of the planetarium.

The museum was designed as a gratitude to the scientists whose work has contributed to the dissemination of scientific knowledge, the centre also contains an exploration hall next to the Planetarium where visitors can interact with various scientific subjects, particularly physics and astronomy. The content of the section was enriched with rare collections of manuscripts and documents (about thirty thousand manuscripts, fifty thousand documents and nine permanent exhibitions: Alexandria through the ages (Mohammed Awad Group) , Shady Abdelsalam world , the wonders of the Arabic writing,the History of Printing, The Book of the Artist, the Astronomical and Scientific Instruments of the Arabs in the Middle Ages, Mohieddin Hussein: An Innovative Journey; The Works of the Artist Abdel Salam Eid, The Care Group of the Tiger and Abdul Ghani Abu El Enein .The Alexandria Bibliotheca’s conference centre is one of the most modern buildings for the exhibition halls. The library has added seven new libraries to suit all types of people and provide information with all possible ways and means available.

The library is a link between the East and the West, a place where the various human cultures were mixed. The library was exposed to a limited fire back in March 2003.

tO see that join on of our tour to Alexandria from Cairo