Dêr el Medina

The temple of Dêr el Medina is one of the most beautiful examples of Ptolemaic architecture. It was begun by Ptolemy IV (Philopater) and finished by Ptolemy IX (Euergetes II) half a century later, but the site must have been sacred for at least a thousand years before the Ptolemaic Kings began their building. The dedication is to Amenhotep, son of Hapu, the Hellenised form of the name being Amenothes, son of Paapis. A dedication of a temple to a non-royal human being is rare, for temples belonged only to the gods or to their representative on earth, the Pharaoh. The ordinary man was not considered divine, and Herodotus says that the priests were very positive on this point, “In 11,340 years no god had assumed the form of a man, neither had any such thing happened either before or afterwards in the time of the remaining kings of Egypt.” Herodotus was misinformed by the priests who were evidently ignorant of the fact that their ancestors had recognised two deified men, and probably more. Of these two the earlier was Imhotep, who was Vezier, Chief Architect, Chief Magician, and Chief Physician at the court of Zoser ; the other was Amenhotep, son of Hapu, who was Vezier, Chief Magician, Chief Physician, and Master-Builder of Amenhotep III. Both men appear to have been the most important persons of their time in the kingdom; and it was probably their reputation as magicians which caused them to be venerated as gods. The cult of Amenhotep, son of Hapu, which began at his death, reached its height under the Ptolemies. The Nubian temple of Dendur was also erected to the honour of two deified men, but these owed their position to their identification with Osiris, whereas at Dêr el Medina Amenhotep was worshipped as himself; so also was Imhotep, who attained divinity before Amenhotep, and had two shrines dedicated to his cult, one at Memphis and one at Philae. These two deified men, so much alike in their earthly careers, were closely connected in the minds of the Egyptians, and in the temple of Dêr el Medina the figure of Imhotep appears as the equal of Amenhotep.