Deir el-Bahari

Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (Arabic: الدير البحري, romanized: al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, lit. 'the Northern [lit., "Seaward"] Monastery', Coptic: ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ ⲛⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲟⲓⲃⲁⲙⲙⲱⲛ, lit. 'the monastery of Apa Phoibammon', Ancient Egyptian: djeser-djeseru) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis.

History

Deir el-Bahari, located on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes (modern Luxor) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs that has served as a major religious center for over two millennia. Its history begins with the 11th Dynasty when Pharaoh Mentuhotep II (c.2061-2010 BCE) constructed his funerary temple here to commemorate the reunification of Egypt after the First Intermediate Period. Mentuhotep's terraced complex, integrating a royal tomb into a temple platform, pioneered the cliffside temple style later emulated by New Kingdom rulers.

Centuries later, the 18th Dynasty queen Hatshepsut erected her famous temple Djeser-Djeseru, designed by her architect Senenmut, directly beside Mentuhotep's complex. To make room for her temple, the Mortuary temple of Amenhotep I, which was constructed approximately 50 years earlier, was demolished. Richly decorated reliefs in Hatshepsut's temple celebrated her divine birth, commercial expedition to Punt, and association with Amun-Ra, cementing the temple's significance in state religion and royal propaganda.

Later, Thutmose III added a smaller temple, Djeser-Akhet, just above hers. By the Third Intermediate Period, Deir el-Bahari became a burial ground for priests and a hiding place for royal mummies such as those discovered in the DB320 cache in 1881.