Thebes - Temple of Ramesses III

Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III

Within the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (c.1187-1156 B.C.E.), known today as Medinet Habu, there are many wall carvings executed mostly in sunk relief (faster to complete than raised relief). This one pictures Ramesses III standing before Amun and Khonsu. Ramesses III (on the left) wears the Blue Crown, the royal shendyet kilt, and sandals. Amun, whose name means "the hidden one," sits on a throne on a short plinth, wears his traditional double-plumed crown, and holds in his left hand the jubilee staff, by which he offers the king a rule of many years. Behind Amun (on the right) is his son Khonsu, god of the moon. He has a mummiform body, wears a sidelock of hair (symbolic of childhood), a full-moon-within-crescent-moon crown, and holds a staff replete with symbols: crook and flail, ankh (hieroglyph for life), and djed pillar (hieroglyph for stability).