Sarah Belzoni in temples. Her husband would leave her alone for period of weeks or months and she would be left to speak with the local women around her in whatever language they spoke. She spent this time documenting the lives of the local women, eventually publishing "Mrs. Belzoni's trifling account of the women of Egypt, Nubia, and Syria" as part of her husband's 1820 work "Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries … in Egypt and Nubia". Her work was the first of its kind on the topic. In 1816, Sarah visited the chief's women at the Abu Simbel temples near
Art of ancient Egypt famous row of four colossal statues outside the main temple at Abu Simbel each show Rameses II, a typical scheme, though here exceptionally large. Most larger sculptures survive from Egyptian temples or tombs; massive statues were built to represent gods and pharaohs and their queens, usually for open areas in or outside temples. The very early colossal Great Sphinx of Giza was never repeated, but avenues lined with very large statues including sphinxes and other animals formed part of many temple complexes. The most sacred cult image of a god in a temple, usually held in the naos, was in