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Karnak-Temple |
last update:
27.05.2009
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North-Chambers of Hatshepsut
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following plan shows for a better orientation the actual arrangement of the
rooms. |
| The floor-plan above shows, for a better orientation, the
actual arrangement of the chambers of Hatshepsut around the barque sanctuary of Philippos Arrhidaios
(yellow).
The northern chambers are numbered according Burgos and Larché (2006).
Accessible to the public is room 7 (see below). Porter& Moss II , Theben
Temples, list the following room nos: XI = Antechamber; XII = Chamber 7; and
XIII = Chamber 6. |
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The northern chambers are severely destroyed. From the western chambers 1 - 5
most of the walls have only survived to a height of about 1 m, the decoration of
these walls is nearly completely lost. |
| View of the northern chambers of Hatshepsut, on the left the
remains of the chambers 1 - 5, on the right the two chambers 6 and 7. |
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Enough stones of the floors have survived to reconstruct the decoration in
chambers 1 - 4 as well as in the antechamber
(see Burgos and Larché, 2006). Obviously, there are no findings concerning the
floor-decoration in chambers 5 - 7. |
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Eye catching is the decoration of all threshold to chambers 1 - 4 with the
pattern shown above. The block shown is still in situ forming the threshold of
the entrance leading into chamber 3. |
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The floors of chambers 1 - 4 as well as the floor of the antechamber had been
decorated with a pattern that consisted of a wAs-sign on the left, a
Dd in the middle, and an anx-sign on the right all mounted
together above a nb-Zeichen - which read together as: "All
happiness, all stability, all life": The block shown above has lost its
nb-signs. This pattern repeated oneself and covered the floors completely.
According to Burgos and Larché
(2006) the pattern inside the chambers had been aligned with the nb-signs
facing east whereas in the antechamber the signs were facing west. |
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The two eastern chambers 6 and 7 (Porter&Moss Room XII and XIII) give the impression, as if they have had "survived" into modern
times as they can be seen today. Today the two chambers are separated by a
wall which however is not the original one because it previously had been the right exterior of the right chamber.
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When Mariette started the first attempt in the 19. century "to clear
up" the area, he discovered that directly behind the wall of the
"Hall of Annals" of Thutmosis III an original wall of
Hatshepsut, covered with a colored relief - Thutmosis III had simply
erected a new wall of sandstone in front of it and inscribed his annals on
the new wall. The relief of Hatshepsut already showed clear attempts to extinguish
her memory - by rough chisel the raised relief, e.g. the figure of
Hatshepsut, was eliminated. In addition, it shows first attempts to
re-assign the inscriptions, recognizable by finer and flatter chisel impacts,
with which one tried to smooth the area of
her cartouches again.
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According to Dorman (1988) the "Hall of Annals" of Thutmosis III can
not have been built and decorated before his regnal year 42 - therefore, one could
deduce a late start of the persecution of Hatshepsut from the fact that the wall
has not yet completely redecorated.
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| When the French Egyptologists detected the implications of the wall, they
decided to split the blocks. The side of the blocks with the
relief which had been covered so far by the wall of the "Hall of
Annals" were used in place of the missing block of the left chambers
to re-erected the partition. Using the other half of the original blocks
the rear side was set up again at the old place, just as the wall of the
"Hall of Annals" of Thutmosis III.
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| The photo above shows the rear side of the chambers of
Hatshepsut (on the right chamber 7) and the barque shrine of Philippos Arrhidaios
(left). Between the barque shrine and chamber 7 from left to right: the passage
to the northern chambers, the wall of the "Hall of Annals" of Thutmosis III, the
gap which resulted from splitting the wall of Hatshepsut, and the remaining
blocks of the southern wall of chamber 7 (photo: E. Noppes). |
Above the lower one of 2 registers of the original wall of Hatshepsut which had been covered by the wall of the
"Hall of Annals" of Thutmosis III
on the left - hardly discernable - Hatshepsut (2) offers in front of Amun (1), behind
her there is as small figure, her Ka (3);
right of this scene Hatshepsut (5) - with a
Hst-vase
in each hand - is shown running towards the ithyphallic Amun (4) to offer "Water" (the same scene is
shown on a block of the
Red Chapel - see next picture);
in both scenes her figure was hacked away and her cartouches were partly destroyed;
further right (6) the remains of a side wall are discernable
far right (7) Hatshepsut is purified by Thot (right) and Horus (left)
who pour Ankh-signs over the queen
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At the very right edge the photo above shows the remainders of a side wall
(perhaps of a transverse wall or a spur).
This wall was probably taken down by Thutmosis III during the erection of his new bark shrine. Earlier,
this remainders had been interpreted as remainders of a transverse wall.
However, with a transverse wall in place there would not have been enough space
for the Red Chapel in the center the chambers. Therefore, the remainders had
been the reason for the fact that
for some time the original position of the Red Chapel was located in front of
the "Chambers of Hatshepsut". |
| Today these remainders are interpreted as a part of a spur and
the Red Chapel is now reconstructed in the center of the "Chambers of
Hatshepsut" (see below detail taken from Burgos, Larché, 2008, plan page 254). |
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Chamber 6 (Porter&Moss Room XIII) is not accessible to the public, scattered
blocks perhaps from the walls or the ceiling are lying on its floor. On the
northern inner wall a scene has been preserved that most likely shows Hatshepsut
and her ka libating to the Great Ennead (according to: Porter&Moss II., Theban Temples). |
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On the right jamb of the doorway the titles of Thutmosis II. have been preserved
(according to: Porter&Moss, loc. cit.).
The Luxor-Museum exhibits this door-jamb showing the titles of Hatshepsut. It
would fit very well into the entrance of chamber 6.
According to the description at the Luxor-Museum the block originates from
a myrrh-magazine of Hatshepsut at
Karnak-temple.
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