Soleb is an ancient town in

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin language, Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue ...

, in present-day Sudan. The site is located north of the third cataract of the Nile, on the western side of the Nile. It was discovered and described by

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien ...

in 1844.

Necropolis

Soleb is also the location of a vast

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

with small tomb chapels decorated with

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

s. The earliest royal tombs date to the 18th dynasty, whereas some belong to the Ramesside and Meroitic periods.

Amarna Period

During the

Amarna Period The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the Aten') in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the ...

(Mid 18th Dynasty), several pharaohs attended to Soleb, such as Amenhotep III,

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth ...

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

, and Ay.

Amenhotep III

A large

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

made of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

was founded here by Amenhotep III. It is the southernmost temple currently known to have been built by this pharaoh. The temple was consecrated to the deity

Amun Re Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

and to the pharaoh depicted deified with ram-horns. The architect may have been Amenhotep, son of Hapu. At Sedeinga, a companion temple was built by Amenhotep III to

Queen Tiye Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun ...

as a manifestation of the

Eye of Ra The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The eye is an extension of Ra's power, equated with the disk of the sun ...

. The so-called Prudhoe Lions originally stood as guardian figures at this temple inscribed with the name of Amenhotep III. They depict a lioness, as symbols of

Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. Sekhmet is a solar de ...

, a major deity who protected the pharaohs.

Akhenaten

During the reign of Akhenaten, he initially is shown worshipping his father and Amen at the temple. But later, he re-dedicates the temple to Aten.

Tutankhamen

During the reign of Tutankhamen, the religious reforms of his father (Akhenaten) were reversed and re-dedicated the temple to Amen-Ra. He finished the second granite lion and inscribed his name on the Prudhoe Lions.

Ay

During the reign of Ay, he also inscribed his name on the Prudhoe Lions.

Gallery

File:Lepsius-Projekt tw 1-2-117.jpg, Plan of the site by Lepsius File:Lepsius-Projekt tw 1-2-116.jpg, View of the temple's ruins in the 19th century File:F. Frith - The Temple of Soleb, Ethiopia.jpg, View of the temple's colonnades in the 19th century