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Medinet Habu, Temple of Ramesses III (Denon 1799)    .


Medinet Habu, Temple of Ramesses III (Vivant Denon 1802, pl.45).


Medinet Habu, located across the Nile from Thebes, was the site of the mortuary temple site of Ramesses III (called the Memnonium). This drawing by Vivant Denon (1747-1825), from the French Expedition of 1799-1801, provides the earliest detailed record of the site. The image shows the pylon or gateway leading into the temple at left. Relief sculptures representing Ramesses III are on the outer facades of the pylons.

Denon's caption reads: "Palais et temples de Thèbes à Médynet-a bou. 1. Le Memnonium. Ruins of an ancient Egyptian temple showing Egyptian painted or sculpted figures on the walls, including a globe with outstretched wings in the portico. A group of people sit nearby."

Denon's collection of drawings were converted to etchings by the Paris printmaker  Jean-Baptiste Réville (1767- 1825). Their publication in the 1802 work, entitled Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte, marked the first elements of the French Expedition to appear in print.
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