Temples

    Mortuary (Funerary) Temple: attached to the royal burial-place. Originally part of the pyramid complex, in the New Kingdom the mortuary temple became separated from the tomb (the kings were now buried in rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings) because of lack of space and were built on the nearby plain. These temples accommodated the burial rites and the perpetual mortuary cult (including the eternal food offerings) to enable the dead king to continue his existence and rule in heaven. For non-royal people, the funerary chapel accommodated rites to ensure the deceased's continuation after death.

    Solar Temple: these sun-temples were built in the Fifth Dynasty by the kings who wished to promote the cult of Re, the sun-god. Unlike the other temples, these were open to the sky; the main element was the Benben—a squat obelisk which was Re's cult-symbol. In the late Eighteenth Dynasty, *Akhenaten revived a special type of sun-temple for the worship of the Aten (sun's disc).

    Valley Temple: this was part of the pyramid complex, adjacent to the river, where the king's body was first received on the occasion of burial. Preliminary rites (and possibly mummification) were performed here, and the body then passed along the covered causeway into the mortuary temple to receive the final rites before burial in the pyramid.

Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Rosalie and Antony E. David