Two temples Ramesses II cut into a Nubian cliff, moved to higher ground in the 1960s.
Where
The west bank of Lake Nasser, in Nubia, about 230 km southwest of Aswan
When
Built in the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BC); moved 1964–1968
Built by
Ramesses II, for the gods, for himself as a god, and for Queen Nefertari
Famous for
Four colossi about 20 m high; the sun reaching the sanctuary; the rescue
Who built what
Ramesses II had two temples cut into the sandstone cliffs on the Nile in Nubia, a land Egypt ruled at the time, where they would greet anyone coming up the river. The Great Temple is fronted by four seated colossi of the king, about 20 m high, and runs some 60 m into the rock to a sanctuary with statues of Ptah, Amun-Ra, the king himself and Ra-Horakhty. Twice a year, around 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun shines all the way in and lights the statues (all but Ptah, a god of the underworld).
The Small Temple, for Hathor and Queen Nefertari, has six standing statues on its front, four of the king and two of the queen, all the same height. Inside the Great Temple, the battle of Kadesh fills one wall of the main hall.
What survives
One colossus lost its head and chest in an earthquake soon after the temple was finished. Sand slowly covered the temples, and they were brought to Europe's notice by J. L. Burckhardt in 1813; Giovanni Belzoni dug his way in in 1817. On the leg of a colossus are Greek graffiti by soldiers of the pharaoh Psamtek II, who passed by in 591 BC.
When the Aswan High Dam was built, the rising lake would have drowned both temples. In an international campaign led by UNESCO, they were cut into more than a thousand blocks, some over 20 tons, and rebuilt between 1964 and 1968 inside an artificial hill about 65 m higher and 200 m back from the river.
The long reign of Ramesses II, with the battle of Kadesh shown on the temple walls.
3 short, well-known texts from Abu Simbel, each with its transliteration (the Egyptian sounds in Latin letters) and a translation. Tap Sign by sign to see what each sign is and how it is read. Royal names are drawn in their cartouches.
Ramesses: the name Champollion read
Transliteration
rꜥ-ms-sw
Translation
“Ramesses ("Ra is the one who bore him")”
Where: On the colossi and throughout both temples.
In September 1822 Champollion looked at copies of cartouches from Abu Simbel. He knew the sun disk was rꜥ in Coptic and guessed the folded cloth was s; the sign in between had to be ms, "give birth": Ra-mes-s, Ramesses. It showed that hieroglyphs wrote native Egyptian names with sound signs too, not only Greek ones.
Sign by sign
Reading: The standard reading (Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar (3rd ed., 1957), Excursus A on the royal titulary); the Wikipedia article "Decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts".
Usermaatre Setepenre
Transliteration
wsr-mꜣꜥt-rꜥ stp-n-rꜥ
Translation
“Usermaatre Setepenre ("Strong is the Maat of Ra, chosen of Ra")”
Where: Carved on the upper arms and chests of the colossi, and on the facade.
The figure of Ra-Horakhty in a niche above the entrance holds a staff (wsr) and a figure of Maat, so the god himself spells out the king's throne name: a pun in stone.
Sign by sign
Reading: The standard reading (Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar (3rd ed., 1957), Excursus A on the royal titulary); the Wikipedia article "Abu Simbel".
Nefertari, beloved of Mut
Her cartouche uses signs the site's font does not yet have (the vulture of Mut), so it is given in transliteration only.
Transliteration
nfrt-jrj mrt-n-mwt
Translation
“Nefertari, beloved of Mut”
Where: In the queen's cartouches on the facade and walls of the Small Temple.
Nefertari (often translated "beautiful companion") was Ramesses II's first great royal wife. The dedication of the Small Temple calls her the one "for whose sake the sun shines". Her painted tomb (QV66) is in the Valley of the Queens.
Reading: The standard reading; the Wikipedia articles "Nefertari" and "Abu Simbel".
UNESCO: International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia
Dates follow Shaw, ed., The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000); before 664 BC they are approximate. Readings are the standard ones in the sources named under each inscription; translations are Teddy Rook Book's own. The hieroglyphs are drawn in the site's font, TRB Hieroglyphs, so their shapes are simplified; where an inscription's arrangement or signs can't be shown faithfully, the card says so.