Medinet Habou - With Memnonium 1857

View from the rooftops of the temple complex of Medinet Habu towards the Ramesseum in the distance. Visible in the foreground are the second pylon of the temple and the Osiride pillars of the first court, beyond which are the remains of some storage areas. The temple complex of Medinet Habu, built over structures dating from the Middle Kingdom, dates from the New Kingdom to the Late period (c.1550-332 BC) and consists mostly of the mortuary temple of Rameses III (1184-1153 BC). The king modelled his mortuary temple to that of one of his predecessors, Rameses II (1279-1213 BC), which the photographer interestingly included in the image. The Ramesseum was in fact still also known in the nineteenth century as the Memnonium, due to the wrong association, firstly occurred in classical times, of the two nearby colossal statues of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) with Memnon, the Homeric character.