Temple of Hibis-New Valley

The Hibis Temple (Egyptian: Hebet means plow), Persian - c. 500s BCE, is the largest and most well-preserved temple in the Kharga oasis. The temple is the best preserved temple from the Persian period in Egypt. Its reliefs are very well preserved thanks to the fact that the temple has been buried in sand for many centuries. Here is a wealth of religious iconography and a variety of theological texts in a very unusual style, perhaps influenced by the local art style that has not been studied to any great extent so far. A large and unique wall relief depicts a winged figure from One large and unique wall-relief depicts a winged figure of Set the god of the desert oases in Egyptian mythology with a falcon's head. He is painted in blue, a color usually reserved for the deities of the air, and fights the serpent Apep, who according to a myth was defeated by Set. Many deities are represented in the sanctuary and Min, another desert god, was also revered here.

The Hibi Temple is in our time the only remaining witness to the extent and nature of construction activities that took place during the Late period, before the beginning of the Ptolemaic era. Construction in Hibis may have begun during the 26th dynasty, but the temple itself was built mainly during the subsequent 27th dynasty and was decorated mainly by Darius and supplemented during the 30th dynasty king Nectanebo II
Temple location and history

The Hibi Temple is located just over two kilometers north of the modern city of Kharga. The city, which is strongly associated with the temple, known as the city of Plow, was in ancient times the oasis garrison-protected capital, known as Qasr el-Ghuieta. It was located in the valley between the mountains of Gebels al-Teir and Nadura. Little is known about the ancient city, but early excavations revealed a couple of houses with vaulted roofs and frescoes.

The temple was mainly dedicated to Amon who was also known as "Lord of Hibi". On one side of the temple there is an adaptation of the thematic theology and on the other side there are a number of rooms dedicated to Osiris. The decorative program has remarkable peculiarities whose equivalent has not been found anywhere else. The decorated naos has nine registers on the walls, which contain about 700 images of both gods and what may be divine statues. At the top of these images, the king stands and performs a ritual. Grouped according to sepat (the then administrative division unit in Egypt), they present a summary of the active cults of their time, organized by religion. Each sepate also has the shape of Osiris
The temple was built in honor of the Theban triad consisting of Amon, Mut and Khonso and dates to 522 BC.

The temple followed the traditional Egyptian plan for this type of building, but underwent a number of modifications. The hypostyle in the Temple of Hibi was also decorated in an unusual style. The walls were laid out like a huge papyrus scroll decorated with vignettes and with a series of hymns to Amon. Several passages of these hymns are known from older texts, such as the "magical" Papyrus Harris and the hymn to the ten bas of Amon from the Edifice of Taharqo at Karnak, which is one of the first examples of a religious hymn depicted on a mural - something which later became common in Ptolemaic temples. During the 27th (Persian) dynasty, a clay temple dedicated to Osiris was built in the southern part of the Khargaoas. Excavations of this temple (at Ayn Manawir, near Dush) yielded a large number of bronze statues of the god as well as a large number of demotic ostracon
Set was depicted standing on the bow of the god Ra's night boat and spikes Apep depicted in the form of a snake, turtle and other dangerous aquatic animals. In some of the depictions of the Late Period, such as in the temples of the Persian period in Hibis, Set is depicted in his role with a falcon's head, in the form of Horus. In Amduat, Set is described as having a key role in the defeat of Apep