Sankhkare Temple of Mentuhotep III

The temple itself dates from the 12th dynasty under Mentuhotep III named after his throne name Sankhkare. It was dedicated to Horus and according to the Hungarian team that carried out some conservation work here back in the late nineties was aligned to the star Sirius. Flinders Petrie had excavated here in 1909 and had discovered earlier foundations of an Archaic temple also aligned to Sirius but differing by 2 degrees to that of the new temple. There is also a rectangular temple foundation close to the main temple which was possibly attributed to the Sed festival of Mentuhotep III.

The temples’ alignments do raise certain questions, I do not believe that they were aligned just to the Sirius star constellations, but also in alignment with the rising of the sun and setting of the sun in the West. Given the temples location on the highest point in Luxor, a simple mirror placed in the main holy of holies would have generated a reflection that could have been seen by the population of the then Thebes, thus creating a divine place of worship and given its obvious remote location would also have been a place of pilgrimage.