The “Sun Temples Project” is an interdisciplinary endeavor that aims at deepening our knowledge of a so far unparalleled category of royal monuments in ancient Egyptian history, the so-called “sun temples” of the Fifth Dynasty (mid-Third Millennium BC).
Solar cult was a characteristic features of ancient Egyptian history ever since its beginning. Only in the Fifth Dynasty, however, this cult took over any other forms of royal patronaged cults, stimulating the creation of a new type of building, which will have dramatic consequences in the architecture and religion of the ages to come.
Despite their importance, our knowledge of Sun Temples is still blurred, especially when we consider that out of the 6 temples known from historical sources, only 2 have been unearthed so far. Out of them, only one – the sun temple of Niuserra, located in the site of Abu Ghurab, c. 20 km south of modern-day Cairo – is still preserved enough today to give us an idea of how these temples should look like.
Massimiliano Nuzzolo (2021), “Abu Ghurab”, in: M. Barta, V. Bruna (eds.), The Pyramid Fields of Ancient Egypt: A Satellite Atlas, Prague: Charles University, pp. 60-69. IBSN: 987-80-7671-053-5
Massimiliano Nuzzolo (2021), “The Palermo Stone and Its Associated Fragments: New Discoveries on the Oldest Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt”, in: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 107, 2021, pp. 57-78. ISSN: 0307-5133
Massimiliano Nuzzolo (2021), “The Appearance of Osiris: a case of royal patronage or a bottom-up process?”, in: M. Franci, S. Ikram, I. Morfini (eds.),Re-Thinking Osiris. Proceedings of the International Conference Florence, Italy, 26-27 March 2019, Rome: Arbor Sapientiae 2021, pp. 111-146. ISBN: 978-88-94820-43-0.
Massimiliano Nuzzolo et alii (2020), “Sun Temple of Niuserra in Abu Ghurab: Report of the Season 2018-2019”, in: Newsletter Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizi per l’Archeologia 11, Napoli: Università di Napoli L’Orientale, pp. 269–310. ISSN 2036-6353.
Massimiliano Nuzzolo (2020), La pierre de Palerme et les fragments associés. Nouvelles découvertes sur les plus anciennes annales royales égyptiennes, in: Bulletin de la Société française d’égyptologie 202 (Octobre 2019 – février 2020), pp. 55-78. ISSN : 0037-9379.
Massimiliano Nuzzolo (2020), The Unpublished False Door of Iti in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo (CG 57192): The First Mention of Osiris?, in: J. Kamrin, M. Barta, S. Ikram, M. Lehner, M. Megahed (eds.), Guardian of Ancient Egypt. Studies in Honor of Zahi Hawass, Prague: Charles University, pp. 1077-1103. ISBN: 978-80-7308-980-1.