Egyptian sun temple

The term has come to mostly designate the temples built by six or seven pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period.

[3] The six kings associated with having built sun temples are: Userkaf, Sahure, Neferirkare Kakai, Reneferef or Neferefre, Nyuserre, and Menkauhor.

[4] Djedkare Isesi, the eighth king of the 5th Dynasty, seems to have abruptly stopped the building of sun temples.

[4] The uncovered temple of Nyuserre near the village of Abu Gorab still holds impressive remains, in particular the central altarpiece which includes a well-preserved sacrificial altar composed of a number of alabaster parts.

[5] According to the scholar Massimiliano Nuzzolo, during the V and VI Dynasties, "The Pharaoh appears to have acquired a new socio-religious meaning as 'sun-king' and 'sun god'".

[5] This correlates well with the fact that these sun temples are the first found instances of Egyptian monarchs dedicating large structures made from stone entirely separate from funerary pyramids.