Elephantine: temple of Satet

The temple of Satet was located in the southern part of Elephantine island, inside the cultic area. It faces the river being situated perpendicularly to the line of the shore on a different axis that the temple of Khnum. During the early New Kingdom, on the west of the temple a garden was planted in the place of the Middle Kingdom water court.^[1] The level of the surface on which the temple was erected was raised 2m in relation to the Middle Kingdom temple. To achieve this level it was built on an artificial platform constructed over the older temple area.^[2]

The tradition of the construction of the cultic building in the place occupied later by the temple of Hatshepsut devoted to goddess Satet continues from the Predynastic period onwards.^[1] The construction and decoration of the New Kingdom temple of Satet was started during the lifetime of Hatshepsut and the works were continued by Thutmose III during his sole reign.^[2] It was built rather late during the reign of Hatshepsut, decoration was not finished by the queen, although the cryptogram friezes represented there belong to the middle type of her friezes (the cobra’s body emerges directly from the arms and cryptograms are separated with ankh- and djed-signs).^[3]

The temple^[4] was situated in the area previously occupied by earlier temples but the level was raised about 2m in relation to the Middle Kingdom temple. The space was prepared by construction of the artificial platform 21.12m long and 16.60m wide.^[5] The size of the temple building is 15.93m of length, 9.56m of width and 4.35m of depth^[6] which means that the applied proportions were 3:5.^[7] Felix Arnold estimates that approximately 1000 blocks were used for the construction of the temple.^[8] The temple consisted of six rooms (A-F) of different size and a pillared ambulatory. According to Werner Kaiser, under Hatshepsut the decoration of only three rooms (A-C) and the outer walls was finished, the portico and rooms D-F were decorated by Thutmose III.^[9]

When the lower layers of the temple foundation were discovered, its location and alignment became clear. In the western and middle parts it was formed by 2–3 layers of granite blocks 1.6m deep, in the eastern part and in the northern corner 5–6 layers of sandstone characteristic for Mentuhotep II's architecture filled with Nile mud and limestone flakes.^[10] It is likely that the western and middle parts constituted originally the foundation of the Middle Kingdom temple.^[11] In the middle, over the north-west angle of the granite niche, a shaft measuring 1.0x0.9m inside and being 2.25m deep was constructed in 8–9 layers of older decorated blocks.^[12] Below the shaft a deposit was found. It consisted of small faience plates, glass and faience beads, gold pendant in shape of a winged scarab as well as the skeleton of an animal and fragments of pottery.^[13] The objects are dated to the Second Intermediate Period and early 18th dynasty, which indicates that the shaft was made during the construction of the temple by Hatshepsut.^[14]

54 blocks coming from the foundation of the temple of Satet and forming at least two different layers (top and inner) are preserved.^[15] The blocks were joined with wooden dovetails. The area prepared for the erection of a new temple was probably uneven since blocks which belonged to the south-west part of the foundation were 60-62cm high and those coming from north-east part were 48-53cm high.^[16] The top surface of blocks was smoothed and the traces of lines showing the location of walls were incised there. In some blocks a water channel, open inside the temple, was formed.^[17] According to Felix Arnold water flowing from the temple of Khnum^[18] through the channel placed along the staircase, entered the temple of Satet on its south side turning west in the sanctuary (room E) and left the building on its west side.^[19]

In the north-west corner of the sanctuary (room E) a shaft faced with regular blocks descends 4m down to the Old Kingdom layers.^[20]

The roof was flat and covered with slabs 45cm thick, 72.5cm wide and up to 325cm long.^[21] The remains of only two window slots are preserved, but F. Arnold estimates by comparison with the temple of Amada that there were two windows over every rectangular room and one window over every square room.^[22]

The temple was built of sandstone blocks about 72.5cm high, the walls are made up of six courses of blocks and the pillars – of four courses of blocks.^[23] Blocks used in two lowest courses were longer than those in upper courses. The thickness of the outer walls as well as of the west wall of the room A was 90cm but walls between rooms D and E were thinner and measured 80cm. The walls were erected directly on the floor, flat on the entire surface, the pillars of room A and those in the façade were placed on bases. In the case of room A, the bases were 10.5cm high and protruded 10-12cm on each side of the pillars, pillars of the façade are not preserved but the decoration starts on the higher level than on other pillars surrounding the main building.^[24] Around some pillars that were erected directly on the floor a small cavity measuring 3cm of depth and 13-14cm of width was observed by F. Arnold. He supposes that it is the testimony of the concept of lowering the level of the entire floor which was given up quickly.^[25] The pillars of the west row were joined with the top-rounded screen walls high to approx. 180cm and 27-33cm thick.^[26] It seems interesting that pillars surrounding the temple were decorated exclusively by Thutmose III not only at Elephantine but also at Medinet Habu. Werner Kaiser affirms that the outer walls of the temple building were decorated with the names of Hatshepsut,^[27] on the other hand, the decoration of outer walls differs from that of inner walls as it is finished with the kheker-frieze instead of cryptographic frieze.^[28] It is possible that Hatshepsut did not plan to encircle the temples with pillars or columns and it was a new idea dating to very late reign of Hatshepsut or Thutmose III who changed the original plans adding the ambulatory and re-organising the performance of the cult.

Among six doors of the temple only the main door was locked with a bolt. Rooms C, D and E were closed with a rope tied through a hole drilled in the door jamb. The door between room C and D is reconstructed as opening to the left.^[29] This solution is questionable, as it would have been uncomfortable for regular users and it was not adapted in temples of the New Kingdom in general. The arrangement of doors between rooms C, D and E is also surprising, without the typical door jamb on one side. It happens very rarely in the Thutmoside architecture (e.g. sanctuary of the Anubis Shrine Lower and the Statue Room in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari) that this niche-like entrance was used but if so, it was always situated symmetrically on both sides.

It seems rather strange that the decoration of the most important rooms of the temple, i.e. sanctuary and its vestibule as well as the room on the far end of the building, situated on the main axis (rooms D-F) were not decorated by the queen. If the supposition of W. Kaiser^[30] is right and only rooms A-C and outer walls were decorated by Hatshepsut, it means that the building was not used for cultic purposes during the lifetime of the queen and could serve e.g. as a processional station since festival scenes were depicted on the outer walls. There is, however, a possibility that Hatshepsut finished the decoration of the inner rooms of the temple but Thutmose III erased the old decoration and redecorated the three most important rooms using the sunken relief so as not to make walls too thin. It could be an explanation for a case of rare use of sunken relief under the early Thutmosides and the varying thickness of the inner walls.

Any artefact from the temple of Satet that can be surely dated to the reign of Hatshepsut survived, but some cult objects inscribed with the name of Thutmose III are also known: base of the statue of Sopdu of Thutmose III,^[31] fragments of wooden naos of Thutmose III^[32] and stamped handle of Thutmose III.^[33]

The Satet temple constituted one of the stations on the way of the procession on the occasion of the New Year festival.^[34]

Among blocks stored in the Island Museum, some blocks cannot be reconstructed as a part of the temple of Satet.^[35] They are made of sandstone and come from the gate of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III separating, most probably, the areas of the temples of Khnum and Satet.^[36] On the fragment of the door jamb the epithet of Satet, nb.t ȝbw, is carved and on the fragment of the door lintel the name of Khnum is partially preserved. The gate was rather narrow with the passage measuring 80.0cm.^[37] If these two fragments come from the same construction, it means that the gate was placed in the wall unroofed on any side, since the decoration of both fragments was executed in sunken relief. W. Kaiser locates these two fragments in connection with the staircase.^[38]

Only a few objects found on Elephantine can be dated to the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III and among them only one that can be surely attributed to the queen – her seal found during the French excavation works in the area of the temple of Satet.^[39]