Station D3

Third sanctuary D 3

The last sanctuary depicts a unique procession of deities in the base (soubassement). Each of these deities bears a jar with a falcon-headed lid. On the head of the falcon is a sun disk. A closer look reveals very tiny hieroglyphs both on the jar and on the sun disk. The inscriptions on the jars – if readable –specify their content, different aromatic substances. The names on the sun disks, as well as the names before the head of each deity, identify them as day deities (chronocrats), that means every deity represents another day of the Egyptian calendar.

Altogether this procession is a monumental recipe for an ointment or a fumigation substance, the preparation of which could last several months according to other texts. The scenes in the first register are only partly preserved. On the east side the temple god Min-Ra stands on a pedestal in front of a shrine. He is worshiped by the so-called Ogdoad, the eight primeval gods. Six of these deities are still preserved, the male ones with a frog head, and the female ones with a snake head.

As seen in room C 2 the sanctuary was used as a workshop in Late Roman times when three large vats were built in the south-eastern corner.