Overview

""Places of supplication"" (""Bittplatze"") are architectural structures in peripheral areas of Egyptian temples: on enclosing walls and gates, in the courtyards and the temple forecourts, but also in the areas behind the temples, which Borchardt described in 1933 as ""counter temples"" (""Gegentempel""). These have mostly been planned and created by official bodies. From the layout of the temple areas and the structural conditions, it can be seen that probably only selected people such as priests, more precisely prophets, have access to these secondary places of supplication behind the temples. Doors and corridors allowed access to certain, restrictive places, but could also lock them. Primary prayer places directly at the gates, on the surrounding walls of the temple precincts and on the Dromoi were more accessible and were therefore probably visited more often by lay people. In the Nile Valley, the places of prayer have been recorded since the 18th dynasty under Thutmose I, while in the western oases they have only been occupied since the 25th / 26th dynasty. Overall, they were built and used until the Greco-Roman times. A diachronic comparison of the forms of supplication does not reveal any clear development. However, it is noticeable that the secondary petitions behind the temples both in the Nile Valley and in the oases became a typical element of the temple complexes during the Greco-Roman period. They seem to be an expression of changed or further developed cultic actions. This suggests that practices that have taken place at these cult sites in the course of the temple cult may have gained in importance. According to the current state of knowledge, secondary petitions were only available at temples of the gods. This seems logical, given the requests for an answer from Oracle questions or legal questions as well as requests for protection were directed mainly to the gods, less often to godlike or deified people who acted as mediators to the divine sphere. The detailed catalog served as the basis for the analysis in the main parts of the study (Chapters 4 and 5), providing information on the architecture of the temples and places of worship as well as the finds. In addition, the dating, research history and excavation status of the individual temples and their places of worship can be found. In the 43 catalog entries a total of 59 temples are discussed in detail and sorted according to their location in certain regions. Of the 31 oasis temples recorded, 24 sanctuaries could be viewed on site, documented photographically and the observations integrated into the investigation.

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