The Ramessuem on the West Bank at Luxor (Ancient Thebes)

For example, think of the Roman Coliseum (in Rome). It is almost 2,000 years old, and most of us would think of it as very ancient. Yet, when the Romans first came to Egypt, they were awestruck by Egyptian temples, some of which at that time was already more ancient to the Romans than the Roman Coliseum is to us. So we must consider the effect that these temples had on the ancient Egyptians. Imagine the old tradition and holiness felt by a young priest when he first enters St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. How must a young Egyptian priest felt as he strolled the courts of the much more temple of Heliopolis, which was much more ancient to him than St. Peter’s would be to a young priest of today?

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines a temple as “1. a building for the worship of God or gods, and 2. A large building for some special purpose”. For the second definition, they provide the example, “a temple of art”. Neither of these definitions fit the ancient Egyptian temple very well. Yet, almost every religious structure in Egypt outside of the various tombs is almost always referred to as temples.

Certainly, some of these “temple” structures do embrace both of Webster’s definitions. In fact, it is difficult to imagine most any large, ancient building not falling under the second definition, including palaces and governmental buildings. However, our modern readers are more likely to think in terms of the first definition, that a temple is a place of worship. However, this definition is too limited to fit even the structures that many modern Egyptologists better define as a “god’s mansion”. Even these temples sometimes had many other functions, acting as fortresses, administrative centres and even concrete expressions of propaganda or royal retreats. However, it is difficult to define some other religious structures called temples as houses of worship or “god’s mansions”. They may have other political or altogether different purposes.

It was the ancient Egyptian temple that received endowments. It was the mortuary temple and the cult of the dead king that funded the entire pyramid complex of the early kings, for example. Temples owned land, livestock and received donations, sometimes including the spoils of war, to support often large populations of priests, workers, and sometimes even an entire support town.