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Reading Abu Simbel: the king's name in stone, from façade to sanctuary

25 October 2026

At Abu Simbel the writing starts before you reach the door. Above the entrance of the Great Temple, the falcon-headed sun god stands between two signs that spell Ramesses II's throne name, Usermaatre, as a carved puzzle. Inside, the walls tell the battle of Kadesh, and next door a second temple carries Nefertari's name in cartouches as large as the king's.

Ramesses II had both temples cut into the sandstone cliff in Nubia, about 280 km south of Aswan, from around 1284 BC. In 1964 to 1968 they were cut into blocks and rebuilt higher up, out of reach of Lake Nasser. Five things to read, in the order you meet them.

The façade spells Usermaatre as a rebus

Four seated colossi of the king, about 20 metres high, front the Great Temple. The second from the left lost its head and chest in an earthquake soon after it was carved. Between the inner two, high over the door, stands a figure of Ra-Horakhty, the falcon-headed sun god, with the sun disc (N5) on his head.

At his right side is a staff topped by the head of a canine, the sign wsr (F12), "strong". At his left stands a small figure of the goddess Maat (C10). Read together: wsr-mꜣꜥt-rꜥ, Usermaatre, "the justice of Ra is strong", the throne name of Ramesses II. The king appears in reliefs on both sides, offering to this statue, which is his own name.

Head and neck of a canine Goddess Maat Sun

Read Usermaatre sign by sign

Greek soldiers signed the colossus's leg

Look low on the legs of the colossi south of the door. In 592 BC the Egyptian king Psamtik II sent an army into Kush, with Greek and Carian soldiers. On the way back some of them scratched their names into the stone. The longest Greek text, on the left leg of a colossus, says that soldiers with Psammetichus came beyond Kerkis, as far as the river allowed.

These are among the oldest Greek inscriptions known, written about 700 years after the temple was carved. Carian and Phoenician names stand among them, in their own alphabets.

Kadesh fills the great hall

Inside, eight pillars carved as standing figures of the king hold up the first hall. On its walls Ramesses fights the Hittites at Kadesh, in Syria, around 1274 BC. The scenes show the Egyptian camp, the king's chariot charge, Hittite chariots and spies being beaten. Long captions in columns name the units and tell the king's version: that he saved the day alone.

Look for his two cartouches above the chariot, Usermaatre Setepenre and Ramesses Meryamun, the second with the three fox skins (F31) of ms. Other scenes show him smiting Libyans and Nubians, and leading captives before the gods.

Three fox skins Cartouche

A marriage stela names a Hittite princess

A large stela in the temple records how, around his 34th year, Ramesses married a daughter of the Hittite king Hattusili III, years after the battle. The princess took the Egyptian name Maathorneferure. The text shows her arriving with her father, and her name sits in a cartouche of its own.

At the far end of the temple, in the sanctuary, sit four gods: Ptah, Amun-Ra, the deified Ramesses and Ra-Horakhty. Twice a year, around 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun shines down the length of the temple onto three of them. Ptah, a god of the underworld, stays in shadow.

Nefertari's temple carries her name as large as his

The Small Temple, to the north, honours Hathor and Nefertari, Ramesses' first Great Royal Wife. Six standing statues about 10 metres high line its façade, four of the king and two of the queen. A dedication says he made it for her, "for whose sake the sun shines".

Inside, six pillars carry the face of Hathor, and Nefertari offers to Hathor and Isis. Her name, nfrt-iry, opens with the heart and windpipe (F35), the sign nfr, "beautiful". Find it in the cartouches beside her figure.

Heart and windpipe

See Nefertari's name drawn out

The early morning light suits the façade

Arrive at opening time. The temples face east, and the low sun lights the façades and the rebus over the door. Inside, the light is dim, and photography rules change, so ask at the entrance. Point the camera at one cartouche at a time. The façade's are big enough to read from the ground.

Point the camera at a cartouche

Questions

What does the writing above the door at Abu Simbel say?

It spells Usermaatre, Ramesses II's throne name, with a statue of Ra-Horakhty between the sign wsr, a staff with a canine's head, and a figure of the goddess Maat.

When does the sun shine into Abu Simbel?

Around 22 February and 22 October each year, the rising sun reaches the statues in the sanctuary. Since the temple was moved, the dates have shifted by about a day.

Who discovered Abu Simbel?

Local people always knew it. The Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt saw the top of the façade in 1813, and Giovanni Belzoni dug his way into the Great Temple in 1817.

Glossary

cartouche: An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
Maat: Truth, justice and the right order of the world, shown as a goddess with an ostrich feather on her head. Kings claimed to uphold it.
rebus: Writing a word with the picture of something that sounds the same. Hieroglyphs used this to write sounds.
relief: A carving on a flat surface. In raised relief the background is cut away. In sunk relief the figures are cut into the stone.
stela: An upright stone slab carved with words and pictures, set up in tombs and temples or to mark a border.
temple: The house of a god, where priests served the god's statue. Temples for dead kings kept up their offerings after death.
throne name: The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.

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Where to see it

Abu Simbel site