Subsidiary chambers, storerooms and crypts
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| Subsidiary chambers, storerooms and crypts |
Subsidiary chambers, storerooms, and crypts
Arranged around the central area of the temple's shrine were chambers designated for the placement of statues of visiting deities. Sometimes, these chambers included connected suites of rooms for the visitors' use. Additionally, there were storerooms for cultic equipment such as clothing for the god's image, incense, etc. Vesting chambers served as areas where priests would prepare themselves for special ceremonies. Other rooms were dedicated to the daily course of temple rituals.
Many temples also featured hidden crypts integrated into their walls and beneath their floors, particularly in the inner part of the temple. Examples of such crypts date from the 18th dynasty to the Graeco-Roman Period. While these crypts are sometimes fancifully associated with the activation of secret rites, the small size or difficult access of many of them suggests they were primarily used for giving oracles by hidden priests, serving as secret storerooms for valuable items, or holding some symbolic purpose.
I. Temple of Hathor
II. Temple of the Lower Egyptian Deities
III. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
IV. Temple of the Nome of Dendera
V. Temple of Isis
VI. Shrine of Sokar
VII. Temple of Harsomtus
VIII. Sanctuary of the Throne of Ra
IX. Temple of Ra
X. Temple of Ihy
XI. Shrine of the Menat Necklace
XII. Treasury
XIII. Storeroom
XIV. Court of the First Festival
XV. Chapel of the Pure Place or Chapel of the New Year (Kiosk)
XVI. Side Room
XVII. Corridor
XVIII. Workshop
XIX. Storeroom (Magazine)
XX. Presenting Hall
XXI. Treasury
XXII. Well Exit
XXIII. Offering Chamber
Stairs and roof areas
The roof areas of many temples were integral parts of the overall temple structure, both in architectural design and ritual significance.
In addition to the stairways integrated within pylon towers, most temples featured stairways providing access to the roofs of hypostyle halls and inner chambers. These roof areas served practical purposes for building maintenance and were also central to various temple rituals.
At Dendera, for example, during the New Year's festival, the statue of Hathor was ceremonially carried up one of the temple's staircases, adorned with figures of the king and gods participating in the procession, to reach a special chapel on the roof. Here, the goddess awaited the year's first sunrise.
Many temple processes involved transporting the deity's image, often from subterranean crypts, up through the temple to the roof. This symbolic act expanded the temple's effective space both vertically and horizontally, symbolizing the deity's presence in the underworld, heavens, and on earth.
Reference: "The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt" by Richard H. Wilkinson.
