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The reason he gives for interpreting the Taffeh temple as the most important building of the
complex is the fact that the Taffeh temple was built on a platform, raising it higher than the
southern temple and possible other surrounding buildings that were once stood here (Schneider
1979, 92-93).
Fig. 16 Picture taken by traveller of Taffeh and southern temple at original location (Schneider 1979, 88)
In figure 16 a picture can be seen that was taken in 1850 by a traveller when both buildings were
still standing. As can be seen on this picture the Taffeh temple does indeed seem to dominate the
southern temple as it stands on a raised platform. On the other hand, the sketch of the southern
temple, which can be seen in Figure 15, shows that this temple was bigger and more complicated
than the Taffeh temple, as it had two rooms and probably more columns within the first room. the
southern temple has one outer and one inner room. This inner room could have been the
sanctuary, which makes the room in front of it either a pronaos or a hypostyle hall, possibly a
combination of the two. It was a smaller temple, so it is possible it therefore does not look exactly
like the traditional new kingdom temples did. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell how much the
temple and the surrounding constructions resembled the traditional new kingdom temple design
as not everything is preserved.
To find out the function of the Taffeh temple, the door-shaped structure located in the back of the
temple is also important to look at. This structure could have functioned as a niche. It could
however also have functioned as a fake door. Both would function as a way for common people,
who were not allowed into the temple, to be able to pray to their god or goddess.