The temple of Qasr el-Sagha

The temple of Qasr el-Sagha (‘Fortress of Gold’) stands in the desert north of Lake Qarun. The lake today is much smaller than it was in pharaonic times. It receives all its water from the Bahr Yusuf, a collateral branch of the Nile, which enters the Fayum around Lahun. Various pharaohs carried out water-management schemes throughout the ages to reduce the lake and create new fertile agricultural land. While the temple today is around 8km from the lake, in ancient times it would have stood only a few hundred metres from its shore. The temple is unfinished and bears no inscriptions, so it is difficult to date its construction accurately. However, as discussed below, academic consensus