"The Ancient Egyptian description of these mortuary temples as "Castles of Eternity" refers to their religious function. They were temples in which the dead king would become one with the King of the gods, with Amun-Re. Here he overcame his mortality and attained a new divinity in colossal statues.
The plan of the temples follows the pattern of an axial sequence of pylons, courts, columned hall, hall with sacrificial altars, audience hall and inner sanctuary.
The fusion of king and god ensured that the cult would continue, and to help in its perpetuation a whole range of buildings was built around the temple - storehouses, stables, offices, and accomodation for the temple priests.
Only very little remains of almost all the Houses of Eternity of Dynasty XVIII. Of the largest of these, the almost 700-m long complex at the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 BC), all that is left are two colossal statues that once flanked the entrance: the Colossi of Memnon. Just a century and a half after its construction the temple was being used as a quarry, probably because of an earthquake, and material from it was used to build structures and statues for the nearby mortuary temple of King Merenptah (1224 - 1214 BC)." - Wildung, D. 1997. Egypt: From Prehistory to Romans. Koln: Taschen. p. 129.
Keywords: Egypt, Qina, temples. Submitted by Allen Coleman.
