ABSTRACT
The elaborate temple of “The Lions” was probably erected on an earlier site, as pottery of the Middle Kingdom has been found in its near neighbourhood. If, however, there was a Middle Kingdom temple here it has vanished long since; but it is quite possible that the present sanctuary was begun in the XVIIIth dynasty, for Amenhotep III made a rock-cut shrine near by. The existing temple was dedicated to the gods Amon and Ra-Harakhti, which also suggests the XVIIIth dynasty as the period when the temple was begun, though the decoration is of the XlXth dynasty.
