The rock-hewn monumental temples of Abu Simbel, dismantled and relocated block by block in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, were commissioned by which Egyptian pharaoh?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Ramesses II
- Step 1: Abu Simbel features two monumental temples carved into a sandstone cliff in southern Egypt near the Sudan border around 1264 BCE.
- Step 2: The Great Temple is guarded by four 20-meter colossal seated statues of Ramesses II; UNESCO led an international rescue campaign between 1964 and 1968.
Answer
Ramesses II
Why not the others: 'Akhenaten' Akhenaten instituted the worship of Aten and built the capital city of Amarna; 'Tutankhamun' Tutankhamun is famous for his intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, not the temples of Abu Simbel; 'Thutmose III' Thutmose III was an expansionist 18th-Dynasty warrior pharaoh who campaigned extensively in the Levant.
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