It is a pleasure to dedicate this contribution to David Silverman in recognition of his ongoing generosity, interest, and encouragement. The present study concerns a structure to which he has devoted significant attention1: the so-called ‘Portal Temple’ that Ramesses II constructed in North Abydos near the gateway in the western wall of the present Osiris Temple Enclosure, in an area that has since been designated as the Votive Zone.3 The site is shown in Figure 1. The present study retains the term ‘Portal Temple’ in referring to the structure not only for the sake of convenience but also because it accurately reflects one aspect of the structure’s function within the broader context of Abydos. Although the structure was clearly a temple rather than a gateway, the situation of the Portal Temple at the terminus of the main east-west route through the Osiris Temple temenos, and along the north-south route road leading to the main proces-sional route associated with the local cult of Osiris as well as the royal mortuary complexes of Middle and South Abydos, suggests that it did function on some level as a conceptual portal into the ceremonial landscape within which performative festivals were staged.4 The present study examines a vital source of evidence relating to the structure: the corpus of excavated construction accounts that Simpson has published in his valuable study of the inscribed material recovered through archaeological excavation at the site.5 The accounts provide glimpses into the process of building the Portal Temple, and they also contain numerous references to architectural features of the structure and materials that were used in its construction. Analysis of this data has pro-duced clues about elements of the Portal Temple that are no longer preserved in situ or recover-able through archaeological fieldwork. Beyond the reconstruction of physical components of the temple complex itself, such an analysis of the inscriptional evidence associated with the temple’s construction has the potential to greatly enrich our understanding of the linkages that existed between elements of the built environment of North Abydos and of the specialized role that the Portal Temple played in the context of that ceremonial landscape.
The Construction Accounts from the 'Portal Temple' of Ramesses II in North Abydos