The Temple of Shanhûr 2: The Exterior of the Augustan Temple, the Hypostyle Hall, and the Lateral Chapel (nos. 99-240)

Abstract

This volume represents the second installment dedicated to the publication of the temple of Shanhûr. The first volume addressed the decorated interior of the temple, comprising ninety-eight ritual scenes and texts. The present work turns to the exterior walls, including the contra-temple along the northern outer wall, as well as the surviving portions of the lateral chapel and hypostyle hall, altogether amounting to 141 ritual scenes and texts. The decorative program of the exterior walls reveals a distinct theological development during the reign of Claudius, in contrast to the earliest phase of the temple under Augustus. The Great Goddess (Isis) is here manifested through various mother-goddess forms, whose familial relationships are articulated within the theological frameworks of Thebes and Coptos. Yet the temple’s theological vision is not merely a synthesis of Theban and Coptite traditions; rather, it represents a distinctly Coptite theology, reshaping Theban concepts within a framework devised by the Coptite priesthood