page27
26
From a globalised perspective the fact that the Taffeh temple must have dominated its
surroundings makes sense. In Egypt priests had been quite powerful since the 18th dynasty (1550-
1292 BC). In this period a lot of temples were built and this came with changes in the organisation
of Egyptian religion. Priests as a class were elevated because of this. From the 5th century BC
onwards the profession of a person decided which class he belonged to. Especially in Karnak the
priests had a lot of power. Temples could be linked to workshops and schools, resulting in educated
and therefore powerful individuals to be linked to the temples (Málek and Baines 1981, 215;
Alcock and Osborn 2012, 125).
The temple culture during the Graeco-Roman period was mostly controlled by the priests, the king
had limited influence. Because temples also controlled a significant part of the social networks and
the economy of the local population, Egyptian society was for a large part controlled by the priests.
Egypt was no longer autonomous when it became part of the Roman empire however. Temples
were built by order of the emperor or by private funding and the temples came under firmer
control by the authorities. It is possible that Romans wanted to increase their authority by building
their temples in an intimidating, or at least very prominent way (Málek and Baines 1981, 215;
Alcock and Osborn 2012, 125).
Exterior of the temple
The exterior of blocks on the western and eastern wall, as well as the blocks adjacent to the back
corners of the temple, were left unrefined on the outside over the width of 1 m. One of the blocks
of the base of the left wall has been preserved. The masonry traces show that these walls would
have reached up to the roof of the temple. The lowest row of blocks of the northern wall (the back
of the temple) are also unrefined. Of these blocks not even the horizontal, rough projections,
which were used for transportation of the blocks, were removed, as they would be placed on the
outside of the temple and partly submerged under the temple floor (Schneider 1979, 92).