The principal attraction of Merenptah’s temple is not its architecture but its sculpture. The king had a number of pieces carved especially for this monument, but he also unashamedly took many pieces from the nearby temple of Amenhetep III, added his name to their inscriptions, and installed them here. The site is therefore a very important source of information for the study of Amenhetep III’s monument as well.

Before entering the temple proper, it is a good idea to walk behind the ticket office into the small museum. Here, a series of texts describe the history of the temple and archaeological work there, and exhibits of ostraca, pottery, and minor arts show the results of recent excavations. There are virtually no labels in the temple itself, so this museum provides the background to understand the temple plan.

While in the museum, note the limestone heads of Anubis jackals, carved several times larger than life. They came originally from the temple of Amenhetep III. Egyptian art, unlike that in many other ancient Near Eastern cultures, has always seemed to me nonthreatening, even friendly. But these heads of Anubis are frightening, malicious creatures, the kind of animals that could give a child nightmares. Their fearsome appearance seems completely out of place in an ancient Egyptian monument. It is largely the use of red paint on the eyes and nostrils that makes them seem so feral. Other statues are to be seen in a magazine inside the temple, behind the Sacred Lake. Merenptah’s temple has a standard plan, similar to that of the Ramesseum but only about half its size.

Only a few courses remain of the First Pylon, which originally stood over 10 meters (32 feet) tall; its outer face is decorated with scenes of the king, Amen, and a goddess, while its inner face depicts the king, Amen, and another god. Beyond the pylon, one enters a forecourt with a row of papyriform columns on the north and south sides. Statues of the king stood on the north side. In the southeast corner, a replica of the so-called Israel Stela, discovered here by Flinders Petrie, is carved with an inscription giving the only mention of “Israel” in an Egyptian text. “Israel is devastated,” it reads, “her seed is no more. Palestine has become a widow for Egypt.” The name can be seen in the second line of text from the bottom. It begins with two reed leaves and ends about eight characters later with drawings of a seated man and woman.On the south side of the forecourt, behind the columns, a window of appearance joined the forecourt and the palace behind it.

 It was here that Merenptah would have stood and watched processions of the bark of Amen during the Beautiful Festival of the Valley and other ceremonies. The palace was constructed first as a mudbrick building, then slightly enlarged and rebuilt in stone. The second pylon leads to a second court with porticos taken from Amenhetep III’s temple showing the king in Osirid pose before the pilasters. The Osirid figures alternated with three colossal crystalline limestone statues of Amenhetep III, usurped by Merenptah. There is a dyad of Amen and the king, and a triad of Osiris, the king, and Hathor/Isis. Fragments of statues of the royal couple, Amenhetep III and Queen Tiy, wearing elegant and very complex costumes, were found in the foundations of the temple. Beyond the second court stand two hypostyle halls, the first with twelve columns, the second with eight. Behind that lies the holy of holies, a chapel to Osiris (to the south), and a chapel to the solar cult (to the north).

A series of mudbrick magazines stands to the north of the temple. In the northwest corner, beside the first pylon, a group of rooms form what is called the “treasury”. Nearby, a slaughterhouse was built in which cattle were killed to be given as offerings in temple ceremonies. On the south side of the temple, south and east of the palace, one can make out a small sacred lake, priests’ quarters, and a complex of workshops. Within the Merenptah temple, the Swiss built two semi-subterranean display rooms that hold several superbly painted examples of wall decoration. Some pieces are displayed upside down, as they were originally placed when reused in the temple. East of the sacred lake, heads and other body parts of colossal sphinxes are displayed in a large storeroom. Several are similar to the sculptures in the museum at the temple entrance. One is a huge jackal head of the god Anubis that stood 6.5 meters (21 feet) long. A figure of Amenhetep III stands beneath its jaws. Fragments of a dozen other jackal figures, each 5 meters (16 feet) long, also with a royal figure beneath their snouts, are displayed here, and there are smaller sphinxes and statues as well.

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