Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad

This study of the Temple of Edfu interprets the ontology and theology inherent in its texts, decorations and architecture; these sources are revealed to be expressive of a monistic ontology and a theology of immanence. It also discusses the metaphorical values of the temple as a representation of the world and its cultic functions as a symbol of the creator immanent in his work of creation.

Image of the World and Symbol of the Creator. On the Cosmological and Iconological Values of the Temple of Edfu

Lanny Bell

Dieter Arnold

Gerhard Haeny

Five distinguished scholars here summarize the state of current knowledge about ancient Egyptian temples and the rituals associated with their use. The first volume in English to survey the major types of Egyptian temples from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period, it offers a unique perspective on ritual and its cultural significance. The authors perceive temples as loci for the creative interplay of sacred space and sacred time. They regard as unacceptable the traditional division of the temples into the categories of "mortuary" and "divine", believing that their functions and symbolic representations were, at once, too varied and too intertwined. Both informative to scholars and accessible to students, the book combines descriptions of specific temples with new insights into their development and purposes.

Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad

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