buildings, courts, parade grounds, and housing, it is considered to have served not just as a temple and dwelling of the Pharaoh but a town. The central area of the complex consisted in the Pharaoh's apartments that were made up of a number of rooms and courts, all of which were oriented around a columned banquet hall. Accompanying the apartments, that presumably housed the royal cohort and foreign guests, was a large throne room connected to smaller chambers, for storage, waiting, and smaller audiences. The greater elements of this area of the complex are what have been come to be called the West Villas (just west of the King's Palace), the North Palace and Village, and Temple. The temple's external dimensions are approximately 183.5 by 110.5 m, and consists of two parts: the large forecourt and the temple proper. The large front court is 131.5 by 105.5 m, oriented on the east–west axis, and occupies the east part of the temple complex. The western part of the court is on a higher level and is divided from the rest of the court by a low retaining wall. The lower court is almost square, whereas the upper terrace was rectangular in shape. The upper section of the court was paved with mud bricks and has a 4 m wide entrance to it from the lower part of the fore-court, connecting the base to the upper landing was a ramp enclosed by walls. This ramp and entrance were both at the center of the temple, with the same orientation as the front court entrance and the temple proper. The temple proper might be seen as divided in to three distinct parts: central, north, and south. The central part is indicated by a small rectangular anteroom (6.5 by 3.5 m), many of the door jambs including those of the antechamber include inscriptions, such as 'given life like Ra forever'. A 12.5 by 14.5 m hall follows the anteroom from which is entered via a 3.5 m wide door in the center of the front wall of the hall. There is evidence the ceiling of this chamber was decorated with yellow stars on blue background, whereas the walls today show only the appearance of a white stucco over mud plaster. Notwithstanding, we might speculate given the numerous decorative plaster fragments found within the room's deposit that these too were ornately decorated with various images