he Temples at Abu Simbel
If you ever travel to Egypt, be sure to visit the two temples at Abu Simbel, a town on the banks of the Nile River south of Aswan. The history of their construction spans both ancient and modem times.
Then
Built around 1250 B.C.E., the Great Temple of Ramses II and the smaller Temple of Hathor next to it were carved out of a mountainside. This was no easy job. Four 67-foot-high statues of Ramses flank the entrance to the Great Temple. Inside, three inner chambers extend two hundred feet into the rock. The ancient Egyptians excavated these rooms and their massive columns using, of course, only hand tools. They also used detailed calculations to carefully align the temple. As a result, at dawn on two days of the year, sunlight reaches into the third chamber. This room was a sacred sanctuary, containing the statues of four gods. The sun's rays light up the statues and symbolically awake them to life.
Now
In the 1960s, Egypt built the High Dam to control the annual Nile floods. The lake that formed behind the dam would have covered the temples at Abu Simbel. Archeologists from Egypt and many other countries were alarmed, so they raised funds to move the mountainside. And that is what was done. Workers using handsaws cut the two temples into more than a thousand blocks. Each block weighed from 10 to 40 tons. The blocks were carried to safe ground 195 feet higher. Engineers then rebuilt the two temples inside a man-made concrete mountain. They were careful to place the Great Temple in the exact orientation of the original so that the gods of the sacred sanctuary are still awakened twice a year. This reconstruction was nearly as huge a feat as that of digging the temples from the rock in the first place.
Select the correct answer.
According to the author, why should a tourist go to Abu Simbel?
A.
The temples are a feat of ancient engineering.
B.
The temples are a feat of modern engineering.
C.
The temples are a feat of both ancient and modern engineering.
Answers
Answer 1
C.
The temples are a feat of both ancient and modern engineering.