To the south of Egypt, in the valley of the Nile River, between the first and sixth rapids of the river, lay ancient Nubia. When a centralized state was already forming in Egypt by the beginning of the third millennium BC, Nubia was still a conglomerate of disparate pastoral tribes. What is the reason for this divergence in the evolution of neighboring societies? In modern science, there are many explanations for this fact. Soviet historiography, along with other reasons for the dissimilarity of social structures, notes the difference in natural conditions as an important one. Thanks to the annual flooding of the Nile, fertile land in Egypt covered a large area, on which irrigated agriculture was actively developed. This required a special organization of the society1 . In Nubia, located on the arid plateaus between the Libyan and Nubian deserts, nomadic cattle breeding has come to the fore.

Egyptian pharaohs organized systematic trips to the lands of their southern neighbor. In the first four dynasties of the Pharaohs, these raids ended with the theft of cattle and the removal of people into slavery. Since the Fifth Dynasty, the Nile nobility has sharply increased the need for luxury goods. Now the natural resources of Nubia have become the target of Egyptian seizures. Written sources contain information about what was exported from Nubia to Egypt: ebony, ivory, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, incense, oils. Some of the Nubian prisoners were assigned to serve at the court of the Pharaohs. There were special detachments of "peaceful Nubians" who were part of the personal protection of the Pharaohs and carried out police functions ^.2

Nubia gradually became an Egyptian province. After the Ancient Kingdom, Egypt broke up around the XXIII century BC into a series of small states that fought among themselves. During this transition period, Nubia also developed independently for some time. But the strong pharaohs of the XII dynasty, who actively contributed to the reunification of the country, fully restored their power. They were no longer content with periodic raids or trade exchanges with Nubia. The Pharaohs consolidated their victories on its lands by building fortresses with permanent garrisons and settling these fortresses with Egyptian artisans. During the Middle Kingdom period in Egypt (c. 2050 - c. 1700 BC), Nubia was conquered up to the fourth cataract of the Nile. Nubians quickly adopted Egyptian culture and soon worshipped foreign gods. The temples that the Egyptians built near Nubian fortresses became the centers of the spread of the Egyptian religion. In the same temples there were also images of Nubian gods-the triad Khnum-Satis-Anukis. The original Egyptian god Hor acquired new epithets and hypostases in local shrines: Hor Buhen (the region of Buhen, the border zone at the second threshold), Hor Miam (the god of Miam - Aniba), Hor Baki (in the Kuban region), etc.

The process of Egyptianization of Nubia reached its highest degree in the New Kingdom era (c. 1580-c. 1070 BC), during the third stage of its conquest, when the Nubians had almost no resistance to the northern invaders. The sons of Nubian rulers were often brought up at the court of the pharaohs and, returning to their homeland, followed the traditions of their powerful neighbor. Nubia has an administrative apparatus modeled on the Egyptian one, and the officials who carried out the policy of the Pharaohs were both Egyptians and Nubians. At the head was the governor, who bore the title of "royal son of Kush". In addition to overseeing the collection of tribute and maintaining order on the lands entrusted to him, his functions included the construction of religious sites. One of the most prominent figures in the long list of "royal sons of Kush" was Setau, who ruled the country under Ramesses II (1317-1251 BC). Under Setau's leadership, numerous and magnificent temples were built. Between the first and second cataracts, six shrines were erected in what the Egyptians called Vavat.

Until the 15th century BC, the Egyptians received gold from Nubia as a tribute, and from the beginning of the 19th dynasty, the Pharaohs themselves controlled and organized the development of the mine-

¹ Katsnelson I. S. Problemy istoricheskogo razvitiya drevneyshey Nubii [Problems of historical development of ancient Nubia]. - Bulletin of Ancient History, 1948, N 2, pp. 187-188.

² Savelyeva T. N. Agrarian system of Egypt in the period of the Ancient Kingdom, Moscow, 1962, pp. 198-199.

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cove in the Nubian Desert ³ . Equipping these expeditions was not an easy task. It was necessary to support the caravans along their entire route. Some of the religious buildings were built at stops or checkpoints of caravans going to the gold-bearing mines. Modern science has not yet given a clear explanation of the reasons for choosing the location of temples. Architecturally, these buildings can be called unique without hesitation. All of them-Beit el-Wali, Derr, Gerf-Hussein, Wadi es-Sebua, Small and Large temples of Abu Simbel ⁴-differ in appearance, interior design and manner of execution, and according to the architectural and structural type they belong to rock and semi-rock structures.

The construction of such structures has been known in Egypt since the Ancient Kingdom. These were the tombs of the nomarchs of Thebes, which were small square chambers cut into the rock. In the Middle Kingdom, rock tombs were further developed in the magnificent ensemble of the Pharaoh Mentuhotep I, ⁵ and in the New Kingdom, in the funeral complex of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut ^.6 On the territory of Nubia, the Egyptians used rock prayer houses. The most interesting are the oratories of Thutmose III in El-Lesia ⁷, Horemheb in Abu-Oda ⁸, and the oratories of Ibrim ⁹ . Their interior decoration consists of a few reliefs, sometimes a couple of columns, and their existence is evidenced only by modest doorways on the rock surface. Otherwise, the temples of Ramesses II were conceived - a hymn to his power and might, glorifying the Pharaoh and thrilled his contemporaries. And in each of the monuments, a specific goal was embodied.

Beit el-Wali, the most chamber-like in scale, is considered the earliest of such buildings. This is evidenced by the absence of the full throne name of Ramesses II in the wall inscriptions. The temple consists of a ground vestibule and rock-cut rooms - a cross hall and a sanctuary. On the north wall of the vestibule, Ramesses II is depicted (according to a tradition already established in Egyptian wall reliefs and paintings) pursuing enemies in a chariot - Libyans and Syrians; on the south wall, the Pharaoh, accompanied by his son Hemuas, chases fleeing Nubians. ¹⁰ Next to this scene is Ramesses II, sitting on a throne surrounded by courtiers. In front of him are rows of Nubians bringing their traditional gifts: ornaments made of ebony and ivory, panther skins, gold, bows, myrrh, shields, ostrich feathers and eggs, etc. Live animals such as monkeys, panthers, giraffes, dogs, goats, and bulls with carved horns are also depicted as gifts ^.11 Among those close to the pharaoh is Amenemopet, son of Paser, "the royal son of Kush", who ruled Nubia under Seti I (father of Ramesses P) and in the early years of his son's reign, which suggests an early dating of Beit el-Wali.

In the second room of the temple there are many images of the Pharaoh along with the gods of Egypt. The interior of the second hall is decorated with two columns with vertical flutes. Such columns, carved entirely in the rock, were not even found in the temples of Egypt, where the columns were made up of separate blocks. Then comes the sanctuary. Here, in accordance with religious rules, an image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated, Amon - Ra, was placed.

Herf Hussein Temple is located 40 km south of Beit al-Wali. Its ground part, the open courtyard, is badly destroyed. Inside, the rock section consists of two halls and a sanctuary with side chapel chambers. The ceiling of the first hall is supported by square pillars, and statues of Ramesses II - colossi with their faces facing the central aisle-are attached to each pillar of the same height. In the side walls there are niches (four on each floor).-

³ Piotrovsky B. B. Wadi-Allaki-the way to the gold mines of Nubia, Moscow, 1983, pp. 17-19.

⁴ Naville E. The XIth Dynasty Temple of Deir el-Bahari. Tt. 1-2. Lnd. 1907-1910; Universal History of Architecture. Vol. 1. Moscow 1970, p. 70.

⁵ Universal History of Architecture, vol. 1, pp. 82-85.

⁶ Сurtо S. Il templo di Ellesija. Torino. 1970, p. 21.

⁷ Weigall A. Report on the Antiquities of Lower Nubia. Oxford. 1907, p. 139.

⁸ Caminos R. The Shrines and Rock-inscriptions of Ibrim. Lnd. 1968.

⁹ Breasted J. H. Ancient Records of Egypt. Vol. III. Chicago. 1906, pp. 198 - 204.

¹⁰ Ibid., p. 203.

¹¹ Budge A. H. W. The Egyptian Sudan. Vol. 2. Lnd. 1907, p. 633.

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rhone). They contain sculptural images of the Pharaoh surrounded by two gods. In ancient Egyptian iconography, the image of three deities was common. Among the hieroglyphs, next to the royal image , there are inscriptions where after the cartouche with the name of Ramesses II there are the words "this god" ¹². Thus, in Herf Husayn, the Pharaoh was deified during his lifetime. On the territory of the temple, a half-broken statue was found, on which the name was stamped- "the royal son of Kush Setau" ¹³ . He probably built the temple.

To build such structures, it was necessary to gather a lot of builders, sculptors, painters, stonemasons, people who would shovel fragments out of the rock, remove them, etc. But at the same time, in Egypt itself, grandiose works were being carried out in Karnak, Abydos and Ramesseum. We can therefore assume that there were local schools of artists and artisans in Nubia. The interior design of Herf-Husein confirms this assumption: everything was made as if by two groups of sculptors. The colossi are made in a rough, ponderous manner; the faces of the statues are wider and flatter than in Egyptian monuments, and they do not resemble each other, despite the fact that they should have had a portrait resemblance to Ramesses II. And among the wall reliefs there are finely executed, highly artistic compositions.

Further down the Nile is the vast architectural complex of Wadi es Seboua. During the XIX dynasty, the city of ¹⁴ was located here . Perhaps the large population was the reason that this monument had a rather impressive scale, characteristic of the Egyptian capital architecture. The temple is surrounded by a brick wall. A 40-meter-long alley of sphinxes leads to the Nile. From these sphinxes with the bodies of lions came the modern name of the area (Wadi es-Sebua - "valley of the lions" ¹⁵). The alley turns smoothly into a staircase leading to a wide terrace. There are statues of Ramesses II sitting 6 meters high.

Behind them, a square courtyard opens up with pillars, which are adjacent to the sculptural images of the Pharaoh. The rock part of the ensemble is about a quarter of its area. A pillared hall with 12 pillars, a cross hall from which five doorways open access to the sanctuary, and side chambers are cut into the rock thickness. By analogy with other temples of Ramesses II and the remains of hieroglyphic inscriptions, most scholars agree that the niche of the sanctuary contained sculptural images of Amun-Ra, Ramesses II and Harmachis. In their place, when at a later time Wadi es-Sebua was turned into a Christian church, a fresco with the face of St. John the Baptist was placed. Peter. But in other halls, the reliefs remained almost intact. Here you can see numerous images of the Pharaoh offering sacrificial gifts to Egyptian deities and his own divine image. On the territory of the temple, 11 stelae dedicated to the main gods of the Egyptian pantheon and the Pharaoh were discovered. Some of them are accurately dated to the year 44 of the reign of Ramesses II . The texts also indicate the person who ordered them to be carved: "The king's son of Kush" Setau. Thus, this temple was built under the supervision and with the participation of the same governor.

The most popular way to travel deep into Nubia was to travel along the Nile. Both Herf Hussein and Wadi es Seboua were clearly visible from the river side. These temples were located on the west bank and were oriented along the west-east axis, so that their halls could be illuminated by the rays of the rising sun until noon. But at Derr, the river makes a sharp bend and for several kilometers flows not from south to north, but from east to west. Here, in a bend of the Nile, under Ramesses II, another temple was built - Derr. It is entirely cut out of the rock, which drops steeply to the Nile. Therefore, there was no place left for the construction of the ground part. Why, then, was the temple built here, and not to the south? According to archaeological data, this area was densely populated on both sides of the river during the New Kingdom era, so the choice of location for the sanctuary may have been dictated by the lack of free territory. The need for its construction is explained by political considerations.

¹² Lерsius С. R. Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien. BrI. S. a. Abth. III, Bl. 178.

¹³ Weigall A. Op. cit., p. 97.

¹⁴ Gauthier M. H. Le Oouady es-Seboua. T. I. Caire. 1912, p. 3. ¹⁵ Ibid., p. 66.

¹⁶ Weigall A. Op. cit., p. 109.

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Considerations: The population around Derr was part of the Miam area, where the Miam Choir had been worshipped since the Middle Kingdom. Miam also had its own priesthood. The appearance of a temple dedicated to one of the supreme gods of Egypt weakened the influence of the local priesthood. Indeed, among the gods depicted on the walls of the temple, there is not a single relief with the Chorus of Miam ¹⁷ . Reliefs on the walls of Derr represent historical and religious scenes. The first group of images is dedicated to the military exploits of the Pharaoh, the second represents the traditional Sienas of the pharaoh's standing before the deities. One of them immediately stands out from a number of the most common in Nubia: the one in which the Pharaoh receives the symbol of longevity from Safkhetabui, the goddess of knowledge and patroness of construction ¹⁸ . Probably, its elevation in Derr (it is placed on a par with the supreme deities) is connected with the importance that Ramesses II attached to this construction. Closer to the second threshold were the Large and Small Temples of Abu Simbel, dedicated to Ramesses II's consort Nefertari. Abu Simbel is the most majestic of Nubian ensembles. The halls of the temples are entirely carved out of the rock, the design of the facades anticipates amazing interiors. In the small space between the Nile and the mountainside, a semicircular terrace surrounded by a balustrade is leveled. On the surface of the rock, the craftsmen cut a trapezoidal depression. It contains four colossi of Ramesses II with a height of 20 meters ¹⁹ . The great temple is larger than the others. The farthest wall is located in the depth of the rock at a distance of about 60 m from the facade, the height of the halls reaches 10 meters. Analysis of the ground around the temples showed that the location of the walls and statues was carefully thought out: all the supporting parts were located parallel to the layers of rock, which indicates the familiarity of the ancient Egyptians with geology. On the facade of the Small Temple dedicated to the pharaoh's consort Nefertari and the goddess Hathor, six full-length statues of the queen are carved. On either side of the entrance, between the two colossi of the Pharaoh, there is also a statue of the queen.

Two halls of the Great Temple are decorated with columns and reliefs. Especially noteworthy is the first hall, where the colossi of the Pharaoh in the image of the god Osiris stood leaning against the pillars. Reliefs on the walls tell about the military exploits of Ramesses. On the north wall of this hall is a scene of the famous battle of Ramesses with the Hittites on the Orontes River at Kadesh, which repeats the plot of the reliefs of Karnak. It was important for Ramesses II to assert his authority and celebrate his power both in Nubia and in Egypt. The pharaohs wanted the Nubians to also believe in the divine origin of the earthly ruler. Therefore, in the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, as in other Ramesses buildings, the Pharaoh is depicted as a deity. On the western wall of the sanctuary are four seated sculptures: the god Amun, Ramesses II-god, Ra-Gorakhti and Ptah. On March 21 and September 23, the rays of the rising sun penetrated deep into the temple, reached the sanctuary and illuminated these figures. Only Ptah remained constantly in the shadows. This is due to the tendency of the then Egyptian cosmogonic system to identify Ptah with the other world, where the rays of the sun never penetrate.

Monuments amaze the imagination with their architectural design, artistic design, and original designs. We can also recall here the unusual nature of their fate in the XX century. The temples of Nubia have long remained in obscurity. This is partly due to the fact that local authorities forbade Europeans to enter the depths of Nubia. In addition, traveling on difficult and waterless sands was dangerous. Travelers who visited the territory of Nubia in the second half of the 19th century saw these temples only partially: their rock chambers were covered with sand and rubble. It wasn't until 100 years later, when the Aswan Dam project began and it became clear that the rising waters of the Nile would flood the river valley for 500 kilometers. In addition to these temples, ancient fortresses, early Christian churches, burial sites and other monuments of Nubian material culture fell into the flood zone. They could have disappeared forever without telling the past of the peoples who inhabited the territory to the south.

¹⁷ Вlасkman A. M. The Temple of Derr. T. I. Caire. 1913, p. 103.

¹⁸ Korostovtsev M. A. Religion of Ancient Egypt, Moscow, 1976, p. 143.

¹⁹ Gоуоn G. La technique de construction du Grand temple d?Abou-Simbel. - Chronique d?Egypte, 1967, t. 42, N 84, p. 270.

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For example, UNESCO leaders appealed to scientists around the world to take part in the rescue of monuments that were threatened with flooding. Many people responded to this initiative.

An archaeological expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences led by Academician B. B. Piotrovsky examined the area of the Wadi Allaki gold mines. Rock inscriptions were copied, and the contents of graves were taken out. As for the temples, it was decided to move particularly valuable buildings to areas out of reach of water. The temples were completely cleared and thoroughly examined. Beit al-Wali was moved south to the Kalabsha area; Wadi es-Sebua was moved 5 km from its original location; Gerf Hussein was only partially saved due to technical reasons. From now on, you can get a complete picture of it only from the previous photos, drawings and descriptions. A truly grandiose task was set for the rescuers of Abu Simbel. It was decided to move these temples to a higher place, after sawing them into blocks. The transfer was carried out for five years. In addition to specialists, 3 thousand workers were employed in the work to save churches, and the latest construction equipment was used. In 1967, the temples were finally assembled in a new place, 60 m above the original river level. But they are still oriented: the sun's rays, as in ancient times, illuminate their internal space.

As a result of the campaign to save the monuments of Nubia, many new facts became the property of science. This led to an intensive study of its history and links with Egypt, which shed light on many aspects of the history of Egypt itself. But about half of the archaeological finds have not yet been published. Perhaps it will turn out that our current information about the monuments of the era of Ramesses II is only a single page of the grandiose epic of their creation.

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