Comments on the reconstruction

Comments on the reconstructions of the Koptos temple
(Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period)

1. The Koptos temple of the Second Intermediate Period - reliefs of king Nubkheperre Intef as part of the main sanctuary.

Many reliefs found at Koptos belong to buildings from the reign of Senusret I, who therefore must have added to the temple, and perhaps even rebuilt the whole temple. In our first reconstruction it is assumed that the main temple of Senusret I had been ruined by the time of the Second Intermediate Period, and was rebuilt under king Nubkheperre Intef. The reliefs of the king would accordingly have been part of the decoration of the principal sanctuary.
The main temple is reconstructed as temple with three chapels (Medinet Maadi, Ezbet Rushi)
The temple is surrounded by a heavy wall. A decorated gate of Senusret I, now in Lyon must have been once about 10 m high. It is proposed that it is the gateway of the outer enclosure wall, which must have been therefore also about 10 m high. The gateway may have still been standing in the Second Intermediate Period.

2. The Koptos temple of the Second Intermediate Period - reliefs of Intef Nubkheperre as part of separate chapels set up in the courtyard

For this reconstruction, in contrast to the preceding, it is assumed that the main building of Senusret I was still standing in the Second Intermediate Period. It is reconstructed as a temple with three sanctuaries and with a huge enclosure wall.
The reliefs of king Intef Nubkheperre would then have come from two small chapels set up in the courtyard of the main temple (compare Elephantine in the Eleventh Dynasty).

Eder 2002 proposed a reconstruction of the blocks, with just one chapel decorated on the outside with the sunken reliefs and on the inside with the raised reliefs.