Location: 8 km Northeast from Luxor, Luxor Governorate Map
Medamud Archaeological Site is an ancient Egyptian settlement situated 8 km Northeast from Luxor in Luxor Governorate in Egypt. Medamud was excavated in 1925 and several religious buildings were indentified including that of the temple dedicated to the god of war Monthu.
The site was excavated by archaeologist Fernand
Bisson de la Roque since 1925 and revealed numerous buildings,
including an adobe temple dedicated to the ancient god of war, with
a bull's head, Montu dating back to the time of Sesostris III . This
temple replaced an old sanctuary composed of an open enclosure and
pylons that housed cult chapels. It is thought that this primitive
sanctuary dates back to the Ancient Empire .
The building of
Dynasty XII is one of the rare examples of religious constructions
that last from the Middle Kingdom , together with the temple of
Sesostris III in Abidos , the temple of Medinet Madi and Qasr
el-Sagha in El Fayum , dating from it time or are slightly later
than that of Medamud, and of course the funeral temple of Mentuhotep
II , of the 11th dynasty , in Deir el-Bahari .
The temple
will continue to be decorated under the XIII dynasty , in the second
intermediate period of Egypt , and in particular, by Sebekhotep III
that will usurp several bas - reliefs of its predecessors, such as
that of its famous ancestor Sesostris III, which can be seen in the
air museum free of Karnak , where the king is represented welcomed
by the god Montu, as well as in the Louvre , which preserves the
jambs and the lintel of the door of one of the chapels of the
temple, where Sebekhotep III will re-enter his name; the temple will
be modified later by the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty including
Thutmose III, who rebuilt the sanctuary in stone and adorned it with
statues of his effigy.
In its current state, the temple,
dates back to the Ptolemaic period and continued to expand and
decorate under the Roman emperors. You can see cartridges of
numerous emperors, in particular, those of Tiberius . There was a
pier that was accessed by a canal connected to the Montu temple from
Karnak, preceded by a sphinx dromos , now in ruins. You can still
find ancient testimonies of pilgrims, in the form of graffiti,
written in demotic , dedications and engraved "foot prints".
Later, in the fourth and fifth centuries, a three-nave Coptic church
will be erected.