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The fifth and fourth room
The Augustan temple had thirteen rooms. Room 11 is located in front covering the entire width of
the temple, in length it is about one fourth of the length of the Augustan chapel. The fifth room is
the third room after room 11, when facing the entrance, on the right side. The room adjoining the
Wabet, room 4, was identified by de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel as the New Year’s court. This is
where the new year’s rites would be celebrated. When this occurred and how often could differ
per location, as described in the section on the decoration on the east and west exterior walls. The
new year’s court is located in front of the fifth room when facing the entrance. This room
remained undecorated (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012, 2).
The fifth room is interpreted by de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel as the wabet, or purification room.
The wabet is an architectural speciality of the Graeco-Roman period. Mobile statues of the gods
were placed in the court preceding the wabet, room 4 seen on the figure below, and offerings to
were made there. In the wabet the statues were anointed, dressed and decorated. This was done
in order to ready them for the feast of rejoining with the sun disc. The most important reason for
holding this feast was the beginning of the new year (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012, 2;
Altenmüller et al. 2007, 297).
Within the temple a number of crypts can be found. One of them spans the entire width of the
rear wall behind the sanctuary room. Another is located underneath the floor of the wabet.
According to some sources the smaller statues of the gods in ancient Egyptian temples were taken
out of the lowest crypts, brought to the wabet, dressed and carried to the roof by priests using the
western stairs. The temple of Shenhur also had a number of crypts. One spans the entire width of
the real wall behind the sanctuary room. Another is located underneath the floor of the wabet.
Most temples had stairways to access the roof of the hypostyle hall and inner halls and chambers.
The roofed areas were not only used for maintenance of the building, but were also commonly
used in rituals, such as this one. The procession would take the statues to a kiosk on the south-
west corner of the roof. This is where they could receive sunlight to charge up for the rest of the
year. They were carried down using the eastern stairs (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2012, 2;
Altenmüller et al. 2007, 297; Wilkinson 2007, 68).
Many temples had hidden crypts in the walls or beneath their floors, as does the temple of
Shenhur. These were most commonly located in the inner part of the temple. They occur from the
18th dynasty to the Graeco-Roman period. They are by some believe to have been used in secret