New details in the inscriptions on the walls of the Esna Temple reveal more secrets of the ancient Egyptians during the Ptolemaic era

In continuation of the project of recording, documenting and restoring the scenes painted on the walls and columns of the Esna Temple in Luxor, the Egyptian-German archaeological mission, jointly conducted by the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the University of Tübingen, was able to uncover new details of the scenes that adorn the walls and columns of the temple, which contributes to uncovering more secrets of the ancient Egyptians during the Ptolemaic era.

This project began six years ago with the aim of removing the effects of time from the walls and columns of the temple and recording, documenting and restoring the scenes on them, whose original colors were restored after the completion of cleaning work from dirt, soot and dust that covered a large part of them. Among the most important of these works was restoring the colors of the entire astronomical ceiling and those on the inner columns of the temple.

During the work, the team of restorers was able to uncover details of the designs of the clothes of the king and the gods of Esna, their crowns and thrones, which appeared for the first time while cleaning some of the inscriptions on the southern inner wall as well as the southern part of the western back wall of the temple.

Mr. Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, praised the restoration work carried out on the walls, which resulted in the discovery of a number of inscriptions for the first time in one of the most important ancient Egyptian temples, stressing the ministry’s readiness to provide all means of support to complete the project, which will work to preserve Egypt’s cultural heritage and learn more secrets of ancient Egyptian history, which contributes to improving the tourism experience for tourists who love the cultural tourism product.

Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that one of the most important scenes discovered during the project work is the scene that depicts the priests of the Esna Temple carrying the sacred boat of the god Khnum, the god of Esna at that time, and taking it out in a procession outside the temple so that the people of the city can see the shrine of the god who remains hidden inside the temple throughout the year.

For his part, Dr. Hesham El-Leithy, Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Preservation and Registration Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Head of the Mission from the Egyptian side, said that all the details drawn on the walls that were discovered form an integral part of the offering scenes that cover the inner walls of the temple, as until now the hieroglyphic texts and inscriptions were not known, but the decorations of the throne chairs have their own meaning.

An example of the details in the scenes is also a scene of offerings depicting the king’s apron with papyrus at the top, symbolizing Lower Egypt, and lilies at the bottom, symbolizing Upper Egypt, indicating that the king is the ruler of both parts of the country.

Dr. Christian Leitz, Head of the Mission from the German side, expressed his happiness with the tangible progress achieved by the mission in revealing the original colors of the temple, thanking the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, for the great support it provides to the mission, noting that the mission will resume its work next month to clean the outer part of the six front columns of the temple.

It is worth noting that the restoration project of the Esna Temple began in 2018, and the Egyptian-German archaeological mission has succeeded over the past years of work in restoring the ceiling inscriptions and colors that depict the celestial towers and the goddess Nut, as well as the internal columns, which number about 18 columns out of 24 columns.