Saturday 8 October 2011

Temple Pylons

"Pylon" is a Greek term for a monumental gate or door built in front of an Egyptian temple and consisting of two towers with an entrance between them.

In Egyptian, the pylon was called "Bekhenet" and it might represent the horizon, above which the sun disk rose.

The first pylon of the New Kingdom was built at Karnak during the reign of King Tuthmosis the First.

The greatest pylon still in existence is the first unfinished pylon at Karnak, built during the reign of King Taharqa, 680 to 664 BC, of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.

It was originally about 40 meters or 131 feet high, 113 meters or 371 feet wide, and 15 meters or 49 feet thick.

The facade of the pylon contained four niches for the four flagstaffs. Earlier pylons had staircases inside one tower that led to the roof to allow people to attach flags to the flagstaffs.

Later Ptolemaic pylons, such as the Edfu temple, were built with separate towers, each with a staircase and more than one story.

Pylon plans are drawn on the rear of Luxor Temple, the east tower, and the southwestern wall of the great court of King Ramesses the Second.

Other pylon plans are incised on the walls of the tombs of Mery-Re at Tell el-Amarna, of Neferhotep at Thebes, in the court of the temple of Khonsu at Karnak, and on the pylon of the temple of Horus at Edfu .

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