Temple of Montu
North of the great enclosure of Amen-Re the precinct of the god Montu is situated. This quadrangle is dedicated to the triad Montu, Rattawi and Harpra. All that now remains of the temple of Montu, who was the old falcon headed god of the Theban area, is the foundation. The temple itself was built by Amenhotep III with several other kings such as Taharqa modifying and enlarging the plan. The temple has a north-south orientation with the sanctuary at the south end. It has a small temple of Maat, which shares the back wall of the Montu temple, oriented in the opposite direction, and consisting of a court fronted by a small pillared hall. For its own part, the temple of Montu had its own quay and propylon gate built by Ptolemy III and IV. Moving north from this propylon, there was a processional entryway of human-headed sphinxes that lead to the quay. Close against the temples eastern side is a small temple dedicated to Harpra, the son of Montu. This temple is preceded by a hypostyle hall with Hathorian columns built by Hakor (Akhoris, 393-380 BCE).
The forecourt of the Montu temple consisted of twenty columns surrounding two obelisks erected by Amenhotep III. To the west of this is a temple dedicated to Amen and a sacred pool. The remains of several small chapels on the south side of the complex complete the design. Taken together, these structures, enclosed by their own temenos wall, form an independent complex from that of Amen and it is likely that these structures were built upon the site of an older sanctuary. This earlier sanctuary could well have been to the god Montu-Re, who was worshiped in Upper Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. Originally the local god of Hermonthis, just south of Thebes, Montu-Re rose to national prominence with the coming of the Eleventh Dynasty from Hermonthis. The royal connection with Re led to the bestowing of the solar implications of Re upon Montu and the depicting him as a falcon with the solar disk upon his head. His original sacred animal was the bull and indeed, blocks dating from the time of Amenhotep I and II that have been reused in the existing temple, make mention of Montu with the determinative hieroglyphic sign of a bull.
On the south façade of the propylon the cartouches of Ptolemy III and IV are carved. This propylon is similar to the one seen at the Khonsu temple with the exception of only four registers here in place of the latter’s five. The center of the lintel shows the triad to whom the temple is dedicated. These are Montu, Rattawi (Re.t tawi, or the female counterpart to Re of the Two Lands), and Harpra, (Horus the Sun). The north façade shows the king is front of various gods. Starting from the top down, we see the king spearing a serpent and a turtle (two creatures who have associations with the god Seth), Ptolemy III and queen Berenice offering water and salt to Montu, next offering Maat to Khonsu and sistra to Mut, and finally, on the bottom, the king offers land to Amen-Re.
The southern enclosure wall of the Montu precinct contains seven doors that lead to a narrow passage way between it and the temple of Amen. This reflects the seven doorways already mentioned in connection with the Osiris Heka-Djet chapel (cf. the section on this above). While there is no obvious indication that the number seven is significant in this case, the number none the less was considered potent in Egyptian symbolism. It is a difficult number to define in terms of specific meaning, but was probably associated with the concepts of effectiveness and perfection. It was the sum of three and four and may have been thought to hold the power of these two numbers; plurality, completeness and totality and is frequently associated with deities. Seven is a number of potency in Egyptian magic such as the seven sacred oils used in mummification, and is also seen in mythological connections as with the seven scorpions who escort the goddess Isis to provide her with magical protection. Many, if not most numbers which carry symbolic associations in Egyptian culture and art are usually sums or multiples of two, three, four, and seven. It was thought that the multiples would intensify the potency and esoteric qualities of the basic number and there are many examples of this in Egyptian writings and magic. This is not to say that new meanings could not be ascribed to the larger numbers, however.
Montu at Tod, his temple south of Luxor