THE GENIUS LOCI AT THE GREAT TEMPLE OF ABU SIMBEL: HERMENEUTIC READING IN THE ARCHITECTURAL LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLES OF RAMSES II IN NUBIA

Abstract

Archaeologists have long wondered about the Temple of Abu Simbel: its location within the Nubian territory far from major Egyptian cities, and its unique design. Utilizing the hermeneutic process of understanding the whole from the parts and then situating the whole within a bigger whole (context), this study is a trial to arrive at a better interpretation of this monument. Drawing on the characteristic analysis of the temple’s Genius Loci as developed by Norberg-Schulz, as well as on Heidegger’s anticipatory fore-structures, the study goes on to show that both of the location and the unique structure of the temple were the outcome of political and conceptual aspects of the period, more than being a religious tradition. Reaching this conclusion, another goal had been achieved, where the validity of hermeneutic analyses as a useful tool for discovering new dimensions about historical monuments and archaeological sites had been attested.