Major temples inhabited by a divine triad could be completed by a
peristyle-surrounded mammisi, in which the goddess of the triad would give birth to the son of the triad itself.[1] The son, whose divine birth was celebrated annually, was associated with the Pharaoh (even in the
hierogamy scenes on the walls).[1]
Taweret,
Raet-Tawy and the Seven
Hathors who presided over
childbirth were particularly revered here, but it is equally common to find references to
Bes,
Khnum and
Osiris himself as
fertility deities. Mammisis thus formed an
architectural translation of the myth of divine birth and its eternal repetition. From the end of the Late Period these buildings confirm the restoration of
royal power that each
dynasty will strive to assert in the very heart of the great sanctuaries of the country, including the Roman emperors.
The famous Roman mammisi – the less ancient one associated with the Dendera Temple complex – was built by
Augustus immediately after
his conquest of Egypt (31 BC). The murals show Augustus' far successor
Trajan at the sacrificial ceremony for Hathor and are among the most beautiful in Egypt. The mammisi was dedicated to Hathor and her child
Ihy.[3] On the
abacus above the pillar capitals are representations of
Bes as the patron god of birth.
Ruins of the
Philae mammisi, built by various Ptolemaic Pharaohs, in a vintage photograph.
Ruins of the
Dendera mammisi built by
PharaohNectanebo I (379/378–361/360 BC), one of the last native pharaohs.
François Daumas: Les mammisis des temples égyptiens. Paris 1958.
Francois Daumas: Geburtshaus, in: Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Vol. II, p. 462–475.
Sandra Sandri: Har-Pa-Chered (Harpokrates): Die Genese eines ägyptischen Götterkindes. Peeters, Leuven 2006,
ISBN90-429-1761-X.
Daniela Rutica: Kleopatras vergessener Tempel. Das Geburtshaus von Kleopatra VII. in Hermonthis. Eine Rekonstruktion der Dekoration (= Göttinger Miszellen. Occasional Studies Vol. 1). Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Göttingen 2015,
ISBN978-3-9817438-0-7.