ROOM 2 - (continued) in the emple of kasr el aguz

EAST WALL, NORTH OF THE DOOR BETWEEN ROOMS 1 AND 2

This is divided in two registers.
The lower one has been partially sculpted: the figures have been hollowed but not finished. In the upper register, they are only painted.
. The king is on the right, the gods are on the left. He approaches as if having come through the entry doorway, heading towards the sanctuary,
Lower register:
This single scene has four characters: the king and three divinities.
On the right, Euergetes, wearing what looks like an atef-like crown and holds out to the god an object of some kind; the other arm he holds raised behind his head, as to imitate the god's gesture, to which he addresses his offering.

Immediately in front of the king is the ithyphallic Amon, or Min, wearing the mortar with two tall feathers, standing with his right arm raised behind him, holding a flail. Not enough remains of an inscription above his head to identify him.

Next is probably Isis, with the solar disk between the horns of cow and carrying a sceptre; her inscriptions have also been erased.

Finally, a god child, standing with his left hand to his mouth and his right arm at his side. His inscription identifies him as Harpocrates. It was the Greeks who gave this name to the young Egyptian god Horus.

Upper register:
In this single red painted scene, the king, situated on the right, this time wears the khepresh (or blue crown). He stands with his hands raised in the sign of worship.


The king faces the seated figure of Thoth, who even though his head has been erased, is identified from the text: "Thoth Teos, great god, master of the Truth, who resides in Dja-Mut". His throne stands on a raised dais and he once more holds the was-sceptre and ankh, the symbol of life. He is accompanied by two goddesses, who stand behind him.

First is Hathor, her crown being very distinctive. The text in front of her confirms her identity: identifying her as: "Hathor, regent of the west, mistress of the crowns of the South and the North, who resides in Dja-Mut"".

At the rear is Mut. Apart from the feather, which she wears on her head, part of her hair and shoulder, and the arm holding a lotus-headed staff (like the one of Hathor in front of her), she is identified by the two columns of text in front of her feather and which have survived intact, as: "Mut, daughter of Ra, regent of the west, favourite of Hor-Amon" (the conjoined form of Horus and Amon), who puts in peace the heart of the god with the mysterious name, in the sublime home, that is in Dja-Mut". Two short horizontal lines, located above the feather, provide the start of her words: "I give you the truth with ...".

The top of the register, as with all of the two main registers in this and the next room, is composed of a symbol for the sky. In this room they are still painted in red

NORTH WALL

Divided into two registers, each containing two scenes. It was already very damaged at the time of the visit by Champollion. In the scenes, the king approaches from the right, continuing in the same direction as on the east wall.

Lower register:
This was sculpted and painted. The scenes are of different lengths, the smaller being on the left.

• The first scene: The lower portion is mainly destroyed.
On the right, the king wears the atef-like crown (the triple variant) on top of a khepresh helmet. His left hand is raised, whilst with his right he presents a small vase to a goddess standing in front of him.

The goddess is Nehemauait, identified from what remains of her descriptive text. Instead of the sistrum, this time she wears a different structure on her head, three rigid stems which project upwards, the outer two being longer than the inner one and which project at an angle, like rays which would come out of her hair.

Very little remains of the texts, with the exception of the cartouches of the king and the beginning of that belonging to Nehemauait.


• The second scene originally contained four characters, the king and three divinities. A large portion of this scene is lost, including all of the texts.
Of the king, who occupied the right, only part of his left shoulder has survived. The three characters in front of him have also suffered, and their identification remains problematic, due to the loss of all of the texts.

Firstly, they are all female, and using what evidence is available:
° The first, directly in front of the king, wears crown composed of the two large feathers and with a disk between the horns. This detail would suit Hathor rather than Nehemauait.
° The next, from the feather standing on her head, would indicate her as being Ma'at. But this still leaves some uncertainty.
° The last, the lion-headed divinity, would be Tafnuit if the previous goddess was Shu, otherwise she is Sekhmet, the wife of Ptah.

Upper register:
This register is only drawn in red, and includes two scenes corresponding to those of the lower register. But it is difficult to extract anything.
In the right-hand scene it is possible to recognise the remnants of the royal cartouches and some incomplete hieroglyphic characters. It is also possible to identify the two raised arms of the king, adoring or presenting an offering.
In front of him there is a figure which appears to represent a goddess; but only small traces can be seen.

Of the other scene, it is impossible to distinguish anything.

WEST WALL, NORTH OF THE DOOR BETWEEN ROOMS 2 AND 3

Like the southern half of this wall, this also has two registers, each with a single scene. The lower scene was sculpted and painted, but the upper one was painted only.

Lower register:
The scene has three characters: the king, Amon-Ra and Khonsu.

On the right, Euergetes wears an almost shoulder-length wig, fastened at the forehead by a headband. On top of this he has an atef-like crown (the triple variant) resting on the rams horns. He presents, with his right hand, a sekhem-sceptre to the god. In his left hand he holds a small mace.

In front of him are several tables, each with an animal carcass. These have been superimposed, according to the ancient Egyptian rules of perspective and are thus to be considered rather as juxtaposed. Only the top two are now visible. The heads of the animals (an antelope at the top, a gazelle below) have been separated and the legs bound.


To the left are the two divinities.
First is the seated figure of Amon-Ra, a plain hairstyle, sceptre and ankh in his hands.

Behind him, now mostly destroyed, was Khonsu. All that remains is the lunar disk which decorated his head. His full figure was probably like that used on the uprights of the entry to this room

The scene represents the result of an animal hunt by the king. In the text, which has survived well in this scene, he says to Amon-Ra: "I smote for you the fated animals ... I bring you their choice pieces to place in festival on your altars, so that you may send this nourishment to your divine cycle".

Behind Khonsu, the framing column, which is well preserved, explains the very act and the consequences of the sacrifice: "The king of the South and the North, Ptolemy, made slaughter among his enemies. He is similar to Horus, when he slaughters the perverse, to protect the images of the gods".

Unlike the image of Khonsu on the entry to the room, here he is not equated to Thoth. His name and titles simply state: "Khonsu in Thebes Nefer-hotep ('beautiful and pleasing'), master of joy in Apet, the Horus in On of the South (Hermonthis)". [ Note: Apet (or Opet) is the small temple dedicated to the hippopotamus goddess, Apet (Opet, Ipet, Ipy) and is located immediately to the west of the temple of Khonsu, at Karnak 

Upper register:
The scene is very damaged at the right-hand side, leaving only the extended hands of Euergetes II. If the scene is an almost mirror image of the one on the other side of the door, then Cleopatra stood behind him, though now lost. Nothing worthy of noting has survived of their associated texts. They stand in front of three gods.


The first is the seated Thoth, wearing the atef-like crown, holding the was-sceptre and ankh. The text above him names him as: "Thoth Teos, the ibis, the great god, lord of the Truth, who takes care of the temple, who knows the two lands, and whose sublime dwelling is Dja-Mut". He tells the king: I grant that your eyes shine in front of men as does the sun".

Nehemauait stands behind him, her left hand raised to his shoulder, her right hand at her side holding an ankh. She wears the sistrum on her head. From her texts she is identified as: "Residing in Dja-Mut, lady of the joy, who presides to create festivals".

Finally, standing behind her is a god whose head has been erased. Even though his texts are very damaged, what remains provided: "He who satisfies laughter with the truth, he who is a perfect ibis". It evidently refers to the same god who stands at the end in the corresponding scene of the same wall, following a seated Thoth and Nehemauait. This is the second scene in which the ibis Thoth occurs twice; it is his ibis head which is missing.

THE LONG INSCRIPTION AND THE UPPER FRIEZE

The long Inscription:
Above the upper registers is a horizontal inscription, in two parts, painted in large hieroglyphs, running almost all around of the room. The exception is the east side, where the stones which carry the frieze decoration encroach directly onto the scenes of the upper register. The east side therefore does not carry this horizontal inscription.
The two inscriptions begin centrally above the door in the middle of the west wall. Reading the hieroglyphs from right to left, one continues onto the south wall; whilst reading from left to right, the other continues onto the north wall.
These inscriptions are analogous to those of the next room, the sanctuary, which are better preserved.
The titulature of the Ptolemy is very omnipresent:


The Frieze:

• Above the horizontal line of inscriptions (or, in the case of the east wall, the upper register), and immediately below the ceiling, is a large painted decorative frieze, which encompasses the whole room. On the east wall, the blocks carrying the frieze actually project forwards from the normal wall surface. The motifs of this banner frieze are:
 - the two cartouches of Euergetes II, each resting on the sign for gold and flanked by two uraei (backs to the cartouches), the tails of which each pass through a shen ring.
 - an image of Thoth squatting on a pedestal, holding the ankh-sign of life on his knees, facing left on the south side of the room and right on the other.
 - two back to back uraei, with their backs against a djed pillar resting on the sign for gold;
 ... and so forth, for the whole length of the banner.
At the bottom of the frieze is a narrow band in red .

THE CEILING

The design, the only one on the ceiling, includes six vultures with the expanded wings, each holding a long feather standard each claw. The images of the vultures are arranged symmetrically down a central line between the two doorways. Their wings expanding on each side to the width of two ceiling blocks; which together are the same width as the passage of both doorways. The top of each is towards the entry to the sanctuary. Above each vulture is a horizontal line of inscription, the beginnings of which alternate with the names of the serpent goddesses, Nekhebet (symbolising Upper Egypt) (at the top, west) and Wadjet (symbolising Lower Egypt) ; collectively they are known as Nebit. Because of the damage to the central area, it is not possible to if the vultures face in the direction indicated by the goddess of the text, although the beginning of all of the texts is at the northern end. In the next room they all appear to face north. Each text ends in a cartouche of the king, these alternate between the two which he used, the one containing the name Ptolemy coming second.

THE DOORWAY BETWEEN ROOMS 2 AND 3

The doorway joining room 2 to the sanctuary is an impressive structure, of the same size as the previous ones. 1.42m wide at the room 2 end and 1.60m at that of the wider room 3. the thickness are 0.25 and 0.40m respectively. the heights are 2.75m (room 2 end) and 2.85m (room 3).

The cavetto cornice
Like the three previous doorways, this one is also surmounted by an Egyptian cornice, which this time has retained the colour of its decoration. Also like the others, the wide expanse has a winged sun-disc painted in red with a raised sun-disc at its centre. Now that the colour is visible the design can be seen to have a background of broad upright red stripes, rounded at the top. The sun-disc does not have any colour and it is possible that it may have originally been covered in gold, hence it no longer being present. The upper frieze of the west wall decoration runs above this cornice.
There is no covetto cornice on the room 3 side of the doorway.

The uprights
The outer faces, those facing into room 2, project only minimally beyond the normal surface of the west wall. The inner faces, those facing into room 3, do however project beyond the normal surface of the east wall of that room.
Although probably decorated like those of the previous doorway, it is much more difficult to identify the contents of any of the surfaces. This is due to the collapse of the uprights and lintel at the time of Mallet's visits. The uprights now contain a large expanse, on both sides, of repair material, including replacement blocks. Most of the colour has gone, though there are still some traces of inscribed texts.

The lintel face (looking into room 2)
This has retained very little of its original designs. Fortunately, Champollion made some notes of what was visible during his visit. It appears that the lintel face was divided into four scenes, in the same way as that of the previous doorway. From left to right they apparently contained:
• Euergetes and Cleopatra adoring Thoth and Nehemauait;
• Euergetes adoring Amon-Ra and Khonsu;
• Euergetes adoring Amon-Ra and Mut;
• Euergetes and Cleopatra adoring Thoth and Nehemauait;

Under the lintel
The two different levels were decorated with the same two images used under the lintel of the previous doorway. The major difference is that this time the images were sculpted and painted in red. However, most of the red paint has gone, making it slightly more difficult to see the imagery.
The two designs are still those of a winged sun-disc on the area closest to room of entry, and a vulture on the area closest to the sanctuary. The vulture still holds the feather standards in its claws and their is still a line of text above its head.