Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

The temple at Esna North was the main temple of the local deity Khnum-Ra, Lord of the Field (Khenemu-Ra neb sekhet). Its ancient name was Per-Khenemu-en-sekhet. Only little information about this temple is available, because the building, first seen and described by Claude Sicard in 1718, was demolished shortly after a visit by Jean François Champollion in 1829. The temple consisted of a hypostyle hall and adjacent undecorated chambers. It can be regarded as a smaller copy of the Temple of Esna. Like its model, the hypostyle hall was decorated with an astronomical ceiling, and the outer walls of the hypostyle hall showed the king smiting enemies. The temple of Esna North was erected and decorated in Ptolemaic and Roman times.