Temple of Abydos

Temple of Seti i Abydos

This ancient place of worship is located in Abydos, one of the oldest cities in Upper Egypt. It is located about 11 km west of the Nile at a latitude of 26° 10′ N. The original name is Abdu which means temple hill, as tradition has it that the head of Osiris was preserved there.

The temple of Abydos, a very ancient place of worship, is located in Abydos (Abydos), one of the oldest cities in Upper Egypt. This city is located west of the Nile, about 11 km from the village of El-Balyana, at a latitude of 26° 10′ N. The original name is Abdu which means hill of the temple, it was the center of the cult of Osiris, tradition has it that the head of the god of the dead was preserved there.

Abydos was considered the most sacred Egyptian city at the time of the pharaohs. A place of pilgrimage of the ancient Egyptians, it was believed that the entrance to the Afterlife was located in the desert hills west of this site.

The Temple of Abydos | Abydos (Egypt)

Precisely because of the religious and funerary beliefs linked to the place, many pharaohs were pushed to choose it as the site of their burial monuments. For this reason, in the past, the immense area of Abydos was covered with endless ancient cemeteries, lakes, and temples, including the temple of Osiris.

Today there is little left to see beyond the imposing cenotaph of Seti I, ruler of the 19th dynasty, built between 1294 and 1279 BC, definitely one of the best-preserved temples in all of Egypt.

This site has lost most of the tourist visitors following the violent episodes that occurred in the early 90s, however, especially considering the current level of security in Egypt, Abydos is a pleasant option, a day trip, starting from Luxor, even more, if you also consider the possibility of seeing the temple of Dendera on the way.

From here, a pleasant route along an asphalt road through sugar cane plantations leads to another small village, El-Araba el-Madfuna, on the edge of the archaeological site.

The temple of Abydos was built in honor of the goddess Menmaatra Sethi, whose worship the second ruler of the XIX Egyptian dynasty was faithful, who was also the first to deal with the Egyptian influence in the rest of the Middle East.

The area we are talking about is one of the most ancient and sacred places in Egypt, where the sovereigns of the first dynasty were buried. The two temples that we can admire today date back “just” to 1300 BC and are named after Sethi I and his son, Ramses II. Sethi, I was the son of Ramesses I and the Great Royal Bride Satra, he ascended the throne at around thirty-seven years of age, after having held the position of Great Priest of Seth. 

At the time of his ascent to the throne, it was from the time of the II Dynasty that the name of this deity did not appear in the royal title, despite the spread of his cult in the region of the Nile delta.