Rick Baudé Wrote:
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> If I could step in here for a moment. I agree
> with both sides, so here's my two cents worth. A)
> The Pictures were political-As we all know
> religion and politics were inextricably linked.
> Every ruler traced his/her right to rule back to
> the gods. Hatshepsut was magically conceived by
> the gods. On the other hand Horemhab knew he
> couldn't get away with that and instead in his
> ascension stela he intimated that the gods were
> "hiding","Protecting", "saving" him whatever until
> the right moment until he could take the throne.
> Of course this only hid the political truth that
> he was being outmaneuvered behind the scenes. Ay
> legitimized his ascension by conducting Tut's
> funeral and had it painted in Tut's tomb,
> undoubtedly everybody who attended the funeral
> knew that this was Ay's bloodless coup de tat.
> Therefore in the Seti temple we see virtually
> every political device being used except a "Vote
> for Seti for Osiris" bumper sticker on his
> chariot.

Well said, Rick.

> The texts are spiritual-From what I can see we
> all know that everything in every mortuary temple,
> every tomb, every verse of the BOD and the PT's
> that once you were dead EVERYTHING was designed to
> get the dead from this world to the other side.
> No detail was to small, no amulet was to
> insignificant. BOD's abound, coffin texts rise and
> fall. Clearly everything in this mortuary temple
> must be for Seti's empowerment on the other side.
> There is no political message at all.

The Temple of Seti I at Qurna is a mortuary temple, but the Temple of Seti I at Abydos is not: it's a "mansion of a million years", Egyptian: /hw.t n.t hh.w m rnp.wt/, which is different from a mortuary/memorial temple, which is called a /hwt kA/. For example, Seti build a /hwt kA/ for his father, Ramses I, close to the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, but it's not the same as a "mansion of a million years." The focus of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos is not the accession of Seti I into the afterlife, but acult temple which honoured his reign as king.

The distinction between these two types of monuments is discussed in these publications:

Leblanc, C. 1997. Quelques réflexions sur le programme iconographique et la fonction des temples de "millions d'anneés." Memnonia: Bulletin édité par l'Association pour la sauvegarde du Ramesseum 8: 93-105.

Ullmann, M. 2002. König für die Ewigkeit: Die Häuser der Millionen von Jahren. Eine Untersuchung zu Köingskult und Tempeltypologie in Ägypten. Ägypten und Altes Testament 51. M. Görg. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

__________. 2002. Der Tempel Ramses' II. in Abydos als „Haus der Millionen an Jahren." In H. Beinlich, A. Egberts, R. Gundlach, D. Kurth and S. Wenig, Eds., Ägyptologische Tempeltagung, Wurzburg 23-26 September, 1999, 5: 179-200. Ägypten und Altes Testament 33/Akten der Ägyptologischen Tempeltagungen. M. Görg. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

In short, a "mansions of millions of years" monument is a cult temple dedicated to the worship of a deified king for his actions in life. Although used very frequently, there's little coherence on how actually the term is to be defined. After all, the expression "mortuary temple' has no correspondence in Egyptian terminology.

As Leblanc noted, it seems yet clearly established now, that if the funeral cult took effect at the king's physical death, it was unconnected to the cult of the "mansion of millions of years," built during the king's lifetime, which already functioned to glorify actions of the sovereign constructor and his divine parent. So, the "mansion of million years" has the primary goal to immortalize the king's conformity with the Maât (Leblanc 1997: 93).

> So what is my opinion? I think that it was a blend
> of the two. For whatever reason Seti felt an
> enormous need to establish his political
> priorities in his mortuary temple. He was clearly
> a super-politician so it isn't surprising that
> there is a political theme to the temple. However
> it was a mortuary temple and he was preparing the
> way for his entrance into the next world. So is
> it possible that he unconsciously/consciously
> blended the spriritual and the political so
> seamlessly that we don't really no what his
> intentions were? Is it possible that even he
> didn't know?

No, the Temple of Seti I at Abydos serves a different purpose, for it is unique in that it honours the multiple "state gods" of Egypt (Horus, Isis and Osiris), as well as Amun, Re-Horakhty, and Ptah. The Osiride triad is honoured for its Abydene connections, while Re-Horakhty, Amun and Ptah are national deities with specific political locales important to the royal house. Seti's cult chambers (one in the Osirian complex and in the Second Hypostyle Hall) are incidental in terms of importance of these other chapels.

As Stadelmann once noted, "In Abydos, Seti came out with the idea of constructing a mortuary temple of all the gods of Egypt at the most holy place near the tomb of Osiris. But it was at Thebes where he undertook the most ambitious building programme with the gigantic hypostyle at Karnak (later regarded as a wonder of the world, the magnificent royal tomb, and his own mortuary temple in Western Thebes" (Stadelmann 1991: 251).

Reference:

Leblanc, C. 1997. Quelques réflexions sur le programme iconographique et la fonction des temples de "millions d'anneés." Memnonia: Bulletin édité par l'Association pour la sauvegarde du Ramesseum 8: 93-105.

Stadelmann, R. 1991. The Mortuary Temple of Seti I at Gurna: Excavation and Restoration. In E. Bleiberg and R. Freed, Eds., Fragments of a Shattered Visage: The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ramesses the Great: 251-269. Monographs of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology 1. Memphis: Memphis State University.

Ullmann, M. 2002. König für die Ewigkeit: Die Häuser der Millionen von Jahren. Eine Untersuchung zu Köingskult und Tempeltypologie in Ägypten. Ägypten und Altes Testament 51. M. Görg. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

__________. 2002. Der Tempel Ramses' II. in Abydos als „Haus der Millionen an Jahren." In H. Beinlich, A. Egberts, R. Gundlach, D. Kurth and S. Wenig, Eds., Ägyptologische Tempeltagung, Wurzburg 23-26 September, 1999, 5: 179-200. Ägypten und Altes Testament 33/Akten der Ägyptologischen Tempeltagungen. M. Görg. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom