Abu Simbel temples Abu Simbel temples The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples at Abu Simbel (), a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan. They are situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km southwest of Aswan (about 300 km by road). The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments", which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II. They serve
Great and Small Temples of Abu Simbel from soldiers on campaigns that span from the Greco-Roman period to the British suppression of uprisings in Sudan present an interesting picture of the people who passed that way. Next to Ramesses II’s legs are eleven other, much smaller figures of family members, including his wife, Nefertari; his mother, Queen Tuya; and some of his children. Since scale in Egyptian art was meant to show relative importance, it is clear that Ramesses II is the main focus of the temple. In Egyptian temples, gods were typically depicted as exiting from their shrines. Above the entrance to the Great Temple at