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The temple of Shenhur was most likely for a religious reason, not political like the Taffeh temple
and the temple of Dendur. It is located near important trade routes leading to the red sea.
It was
also situated between two major cult sites, Koptos and Thebes. The god Min was believed to
protect the eastern trade routes, at which this temple was located. The temple was dedicated to
Min and was most likely built by the local population (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012; de Meyer
and Minas-Nerpel 2013, 158-159; Shaw 2014, 140).
Function
Taffeh
The Taffeh temple itself was most likely used by the local population of this area that was not
allowed into the main temple. This likely included the Roman soldiers as well. This is supported by
the false door in the back, which if indeed being a false door as seen in the temple of Shenhur,
would have functioned as a way for locals to interact with the temple’s god. A niche however could
have had a similar function.
The main temple, the southern temple, would have likely been in the hands of local priests as the
Romans liked to use local power structures to keep the province under control. They would
however probably have been regulated by the Roman empire.
The reason the Taffeh temple was built on a high platform could have been a way to impress or
intimidate the priests of the southern temple. According to ancient Egyptian traditions the
southern temple, which had its own sanctuary and was facing in the right direction, would have
been more important, but the Taffeh temple, built on a high platform with stairs leading towards
the entrance, would have seemed more important to the Romans. Building the structures in this
way would have allowed the Romans to impress and intimidate the priestly community as well as
the locals of the Taffeh valley, while at the same time providing them with a place to carry out their
own religion and allowing the priests keep some of their power and privileges. This would
encourage loyalty (Schneider 1979, 12; Van Beek et al. 2014, 115).