Immediately west of the Temple of Khonsu stands the small Temple of Osiris and Opet. Opet was a hippopotamus goddess of childbirth whom Egyptians considered to be Osiris’s mother. Ptolemaic Egyptian religious beliefs held that when Amen died he took the form of Osiris, entered the body of his mother, Opet-Nut, and was reborn as Khonsu. Thus, the birthplace of Khonsu stood adjacent to Khonsu’s temple. The Ptolemaic Opet temple follows an unusual plan. It stands on a 2 meter (6.5 foot) high platform with a cavetto cornice along its top edge.

This podium represents the primordialmound of creation, but also provides space for a pair of chambers cut below the temple floor that served as a crypt and chapel for Osiris.Surrounding a twocolumned hall, nine small, dark chambers have wellcut texts and scenes of Ptolemy II in adoration before Opet, Osiris, Horus, and other deities

From" The Illustrated Guide to Luxor" by kent R.Weeks ,published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a