= Paper =
B. LURSON, "Histoire d’une métamorphose. Le temple de Touy de Ramsès II à Ptolémée IX", in B. LURSON (ed.), "De la mère du roi à l’épouse du dieu. Première synthèse des résultats de la fouille du temple de Touy et de la tombe de Karomama – Von der Königsmutter zur Gottesgemahlin. Erste Synthese der Ausgrabungsergebnisse des Tempels von Tuja und des Grabes von Karomama" (
Connaissance de l'Egypte Ancienne, 18), Brussels, 2017.
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With five excavation seasons completed, a first synthesis of the history of the area can be proposed. In this contribution, three phases of this history are presented: the origins of the temple, its transformation into a necropolis during the Third Intermediate Period, and its destruction.
Concerning its origins, it can be demonstrated that the so-called “temple of Seti I”, supposed to have preceded the Temple of Tuya, was never actually built. However, foundation trenches of an aborted architectural project have been found. As for this project, the author proposes to date it also to the reign of Ramses II, based on a study of the foundation deposits of the temple. This paper includes a metrological study of the monument.
The excavation of four tomb shafts during the 2014 and 2015 seasons allowed for the identification of two phases of the transformation of the temple into a necropolis. The first one, which can be dated to the 9th century B.C., is characterised by the choice of the temple for the burial of the divine adoratrice Karomama. The second one, which seems to start around the mid-8th century B.C., saw the necropolis develop itself in all sectors of the temple concurrently. The moving of the tombs of the divine adoratrices to Medinet Habu during the pontificate of Shepenwepet I could be the reason for this reassignment of the temple’s space.
In 2015, the excavation of the tomb shaft PF1103, situated in the court of the temple, showed that this area was already destroyed during the 8th century B.C. This date does not fit with the demolition of the temple in the Ptolemaic Period, the blocks of which had been reused for building some of the extensions to the Small Temple of Medinet Habu. The author proposes to see in this destruction the consequences of the earthquake that struck western Thebes during the 12th century B.C. The destruction of the temple and of the Ramesseum at this time could be one of the reasons for the choice of this area as a necropolis during the Third Intermediate Period.
Keywords : Archaeology, Ramesseum, Temple of Tuya, Priestly cemetery, Third Intermediate Period, Architecture, Ptolemaic Period
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