File:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Egypt-9A-013 - Wadi el-Sebua.jpg

English: Approaching the temple of Wadi el-Sebua. Lake Nasser, Egypt

About 140 kilometers (85 miles) south of the High Aswan Dam in ancient Nubia on the west bank of the Nile two temples were built during the New Kingdom's 18th and 19th Dynasties. When, in the 1960's, the High Dam was being constructed, one of these temples that was built by Rameses II, and is now usually referred to as the Temple of Wadi el-Sebua had to be moved. It was originally known as the "House-of-Amun", it was salvaged in 1964 and moved to a new, elevated site several kilometers to the northwest, while the earlier temple of Amenhotep III was left to be buried beneath the waters of Lake Nasser.

The temple built on the orders of Rameses II, utilizing at least some Libyan captives sometime around his 44th year as king, was dedicated to Amun-Re and Re-Horakhty. The temple sphinx-lined approach in two forecourts leading to the initial stairway provided the name of this area, which is known as the Valley of the Lions (Arabic Wadi el Sabua). The entire complex that proceeds the rock hewn chambers was enclosed within a huge brick wall over a meter thick on a rectangular plan measuring 35 by 80 meters, with buttresses on the north and south external sides. While this pylon remains, now there is but one colossal statue of Rameses II left on the southern side.