Medinet Habu - 18th Dynasty Temple Second Court

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building work done bythem. The celia, with reliefs restored after their earlier destruction, had doors (restored by Euergetes II) at both ends. In the last room on the right is an unfinished shrine in red granite. The structures on the north and south sides of the front colonnade are later additions, the one on the north side incorporating stones from earlier buildings (bearing the names of Ramesses II, Pinudjem and Achoris); note the small lattice windows and the rings on the upper parts of the columns.

The Second Court, to which we now return, dates from the Saite period, the granite gateway to the north from the early 26th Dynasty. At its east end is the Second Pylon, built by the Ethiopian ruler Shabaka and restored by Ptolemy IX Soter II, with a relief of Taharqa grasping his enemies by the hair and smiting them. The adjoining Court of Nectanebo I had four cluster columns with closed capitals, linked by screens, along each side (two columns restored) and a gateway at the east end. Some 13ft/4m east of the gateway is the large First Pylon, built in the Ptolemaic period and incorporating many stones from earlier buildings (particularly the Ramesseum). In the central doorway Ptolemy IX Soter II and Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos are depicted worshiping the gods.