The ninth International Conference "The Egyptian Temple" was held in Hamburg from September 27 to October 1, 2011. It is organized by the Hamburg Institute of Archaeology, a division of the Edfu Project. The project managers are D. Kurt and V. Vaitkus, well-known experts in architecture, epigraphy and visual program of Egyptian temples of the Greco-Roman period. This conference was co-founded by the Egyptology division of the Gottingen Academy of Sciences (head-E. Grefe), which has been working on the "Edfu Project" in cooperation with the Hamburg Institute of Archaeology for the past two years.

Conferences on the study of the features of the Egyptian temple have been held since 1991 at various universities in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. Conference materials are regularly published in the international series "Egyptian Studies", which includes both monographs and collections of articles. Conferences address various issues related to the study of Nile Valley temples: features of the iconographic program of the temple, rituals, calendar holidays, etc. The main problems of this conference were studies of the content of the cult of the gods, everyday and festive practices of temple rituals. One of the main tasks of the conference in Hamburg was to determine the correlation between these temple texts and real cult activities related to the object of worship - individual temples of the Nile Valley and large religious complexes throughout the development of ancient Egyptian civilization. In the presented reports, much attention was paid to identifying the semantics of cult images in ancient Egyptian temples, developing methodological tools for identifying the main cult and the gods worshipped in temples, studying individual problems in the general context of the religious worldview of each particular era and in the iconographic program of a single complex. 24 reports of scientists from Germany, France, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Russia were heard and discussed.

A number of reports were devoted to the leading temples of the Greco-Roman period-Edfu, Philae, Dendera. The materials of recent excavations, the results of architectural and epigraphic studies (D. Kurth, Germany - "Text data and the reality of cult and ritual") were demonstrated. Generalization of the obtained materials and research allowed us to identify two main components of the temple-the visual and textual program of the world of the gods and the expanded titulature of the ruler, which contains the program of the pharaoh's rule.

Report X. Kokelman (Germany) " Cults in Filet. Text data in a comparative analysis of documentation " allowed us to re-evaluate the significance of the religious complex of the island of Philae in the light of the myth of the journey of the goddess Hathor-Tefnut to Nubia and show the place of individual shrines of Philae in the system of episodes of the myth of the wandering goddess. The problem of rituals related to the birth cycle of the goddess Isis, the cult of Osiris, as well as the Nubian gods Mandulis and Arensnupis was studied. In this report, the connection between the architectural form of the buildings of the religious complex of Philae and the specific purpose of the temple was particularly emphasized, which, in particular, was reflected in the name of the structures, and in the type of architectural structures intended for the religious procession and stopping of the barge with the statue of god. The comparative material allowed us to identify a certain sequence in the visual program of the Egyptian temple from the era of Ramesses II to the Greco-Roman time, where there is no contradiction between the cult image and the cult reality.

The inner meaning of the actions performed in the temple was revealed in the program study of R. Gundlach (Germany) "Egyptian reality in the cult", which emphasized that in

based on the main components of the temple - architecture and image - the mythologeme of the pharaoh's reign was concluded, and its main components were expressed through special formulas of temple texts and through the image-text relationship.

Interesting research was related to the reconstruction of festivals, episodes of which are depicted on the walls of Theban tombs. These are the rituals of building a tomb, exits with a barge, which are decorated with corresponding protomes with the heads of sacred animals, in which there was a statue of the god. The study of such images allowed us to completely reconstruct the performed memorial rituals and the nature of the offerings made.

Of great interest were the reports of L. Martzolff and T. Camelin, French scientists conducting excavations in the main Egyptian temple-Karnak. These materials provided an opportunity for a different assessment of the iconographic program of the sanctuaries, as well as the main holidays that played an important role in the heyday of Egyptian civilization, as well as to restore the sequence of events and reveal the inner meaning of the actions performed.

The report by L. Martzolf (France)" From the ideal to the real: treasures of the Ptolemaic temples of Edfu and Philae " analyzed the role of various pylon rooms and their functional connections with the crypt of the temple. The study of the architectural features of the construction of the pylons of temples of late times, in particular masonry in the form of a hidden staircase, and the decoration of the surface of the pylons, as well as the available epigraphic material, made it possible to establish the connection of inscriptions on the partition connecting the two towers of the pylon with the functions of separate rooms. The absence of images in the hall of the pylon and the shape of the staircase for the pylon was noted, which can be explained by the mythological significance of these components.

In addition to studying the semantics of vignette scenes, the report examined individual scenes of processions that are often found in royal structures - processions of the Nile god Hapi and processions of divine geniuses, personifications of ancient Egyptian regions that occur up to the reign of Ptolemy IX. Processions of the god of the Nile with gifts were especially noted, which became a characteristic feature of many Ptolemaic temples-Kom Ombo, Edfu, Philae, Dendera.

The new material was presented by a group of Czech archaeologists. This is the report of M. Megahed (Czech Republic)" Square rooms in front of the burial chamber in the Ancient Kingdom", which demonstrated the results of excavations in the royal temples of the most important royal burial complex of the Ancient Kingdom - Abusir. During the latest excavations of the Jdkara Isesi pyramid in south Saqqara, a unique square-shaped room of large dimensions, not recorded to date, was revealed. The found fragments of decoration related to the earliest reliefs with images of the gods of the funeral cycle allowed us to conclude that the temple room, which is directly adjacent to the entrance to the pyramid, is important as a meeting place for the king with the gods and establish its connection with the burial chamber where the sarcophagus was located. A passage was found to the temple of the queen and, accordingly, a conclusion was made about the place of the king's transition to the area where the gods surround him. A comparative analysis with the images of the gods in the Niusserra complex was carried out, and the gods Sobek, Seth, Anubis, Min, and Nekhbet were identified.

In connection with the findings in Abusir, it is interesting to study the royal clothing and rituals of transferring clothes for the temple cult (F. A. Khomeini). Coppens, H. Vymazalova, Czech Republic - "Ritual attire in the royal temples of Abusir"). Based on the analysis of the finds revealed during the excavations, the similarity of real objects and images related to clothing with the data of the Abusir papyrus texts found several decades ago was established. A comparative analysis made it possible to reconstruct the ritual of the statue's clothing and its episodes related to anointing, incense, and decorative cosmetics.

Data from the Abusir papyrus were used in the report of A. von Lieven (Germany) "Images of statues of gods as decoration of crypts and sanctuaries", which considered the location of statues in accordance with the long-standing tradition of their placement in the temple. In this regard, offerings to the gods and the place of their images in the sanctuaries were investigated. A comparative analysis of the location and significance of the statues of the gods placed in shrines and naos was carried out, which allowed us to identify the characteristic features of this category of monuments, as well as compare the lists of mandatory temple equipment preserved from the era of the Ancient Kingdom.

Report by A. Preece (Germany) " How was the daily cult practice established?" It was devoted to the analysis of gestures and determination of their semantics on Egyptian reliefs (in particular, prayer with prostration on the stomach, raising of hands), poses of depicted figures at the time of offerings to God, which find analogies in the modern cult practice of various religious groups.

confessions. A comparative analysis of texts and images has shown that these actions go back to the oldest layers of ancient Egyptian culture. The study found numerous parallels between ancient Egyptian images and modern cult practices.

In the report of E. Grefe (Germany)" Remarks on vignettes of temple scenes as a brief summary of ritual actions", vignettes to temple scenes were studied, the meaning of which was defined as theses to the depicted temple action. The source of the research is temples from the New Kingdom to the Greco-Roman period, in particular the temple of Dendera, where the material can be traced back to the New Kingdom era. In this regard, a number of the most frequently used symbols designed to invoke God were highlighted.

B. Lurson (Germany)presented a report on a similar topic "On the main role of image dynamics when there is no connection between the cult image and the cult reality", which analyzed the symbolism of various offerings depicted on reliefs of temples and transmitting real cult actions. Similar problems were analyzed in the report of A. Schulter (Germany) " Ancient Egyptian reality or an Egyptological wish? Reconstruction of feasts based on images of Theban tombs". Images related to the construction of the tomb, processions with a barge were considered separately in a comparative analysis of the location and reconstructed reality of the movement of the festive procession.

Report by K. Konrad (Germany) " My name will remain on the earth... I'm Ihi. Notes on an exceptional figure of a kneeling king " is devoted to the analysis of the figure of Ikha with Sistrus and Menat, which is found on Egyptian monuments, starting from the Ancient Kingdom and up to the Greco-Roman period. The author believes that this image is very close to the circle of the goddess Hathor. As a musician, Ihi serves as a mediator between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The image of Ikhi was also considered on those monuments of the era of Ramesses II, which were associated with the study of the cult of the deified image of Ramesses II, which also used the oldest form of the priest-musician of Ikhi, found in the epochs of the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms. The analysis made it possible to identify elements of the text and image that characterize this cult. As it was shown in the report, when creating his deified image, Ramesses II used all possible means to visualize his divine earthly essence, including this ancient image.

The report of E. E. Kormysheva (Russia) "The image of Horus in the temples of Nubia" analyzed the specific features of the image of the god Horus in the temples of Nubia from the time of the first appearance of this image in Nubia (the era of the Ancient Kingdom of the 3rd millennium BC). Philae (Greco-Roman period to the first centuries AD). The report identified common iconographic and textual models of the cult of the ancient Egyptian god Horus in Nubia, its evolution, and the processes of Egyptian-Nubian religious syncretism reflected in its image of the Nubian Horus. As a result of the study of sources, local hypostases of the Egyptian Choir in Nubia were identified and the factors that caused the appearance of these hypostases - ideological, ethnic, and systemic-religious. The analysis allowed us to conclude that the iconographic features of transmitting the image of the Choir during the period of Egyptian rule generally obeyed the general laws of the ancient Egyptian canon, but had a number of features. In particular, one exceptional image of the Choir sitting on the throne and crowning Pharaoh Thutmose III, unknown in Egyptian sources, was highlighted, and the symbolic role of this image as part of the ideology of the enthronement of the ruler was shown. The features of syncretic processes that were reflected in the images of the Choir as a result of the long evolution of its cult and the interaction of cultures of the Nile region are traced.

The work of the conference was of great scientific and practical importance, which consisted in developing a specific methodology for studying both the individual components of the iconographic and architectural layout of the ancient Egyptian temple, and the overall composition. The problems and methods of establishing a concrete connection between the architectural form and the semantics of the decoration of the temple premises, determining the criteria for studying the temple inventory and individual decorative elements of buildings and religious premises of the temple were studied. The results of the conference will be published in 2013.

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