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Interpretation of Taffeh temple and additional complexes
Context and function
First of all it is difficult to determine what the room of the Taffeh temple should be defined as, as
the temple only had one room. Schneider described the temple to have elements of both a
hypostyle hall and a pronaos, the room proceeding the actual sanctuary (otherwise known as the
naos). Therefore I will start with a description of these two types (Wilkinson 2007, 27; Clarysse
2010, 275; Schneider 1979, 92-92).
Both the hypostyle hall and the pronaos can be rooms surrounded on four sides by walls filled with
columns. A hypostyle hall is positioned directly beyond the temple’s open court. It was usually
rectangular shaped with the longer side facing the open court. It was filled with columns, usually at
least four, except along the temple’s main axis towards the inner shrine, as this was used as a
processional way. The hypostyle hall had a symbolic meaning: the roof symbolised the sky and was
supported by the earth on columns. The columns could represent cosmic pillars, but could also be
representations of the marshland vegetation that sprang up around the primeval mound of
creation. This primeval mound was symbolised by the inner shrine. The temple columns usually
represented the appearance of papyrus reed stalks. The capitals could be sculptured as resembling
either closed floral buds or large bell-shaped papyrus flowers in full bloom (Wilkinson 2007, 65-66;
www.memphis.edu, accessed on 15-3-2019).
The pronaos does not have a very clear standard description. It is defined as ‘the room preceding
the naos’, in which the naos is the most inner room, the sanctuary, of the temple. It is possible to
find columns similar to those of the hypostyle hall in this room, as can be seen in the pronaos of
the temple of Edfu (Schneider 1979, 93; www.memphis.edu, accessed on 15-3-2019).
The Taffeh temple however has no clear naos. If we define the pronaos as the room preceding the
sanctuary it is probably better to define the Taffeh temple as a hypostyle hall, as it does not
precede a sanctuary. The temple probably did not function as a traditional hypostyle hall either
however, considering the usual function of this hall. The temple’s main axis would be positioned
towards the inner shrine and would be used for processions. There was however no inner shrine.
Also the symbolic meaning of the hypostyle hall is missing, as there are neither decorations in the
temple representing the sky, nor is there a primeval mound around which the marshland
vegetation could have sprung up. Therefore it is clear that the original meaning of the hypostyle
hall was not present in this room. The architectural design could however have been based on