The ancient Egyptians celebrated festivals (entirely or partially) in temples. These were sacred places where humans could approach the gods. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the character of the temples as separate entities from the world because they are in the lands that first appeared." The number of temples built by other ancient cultures is unparalleled. They have been classified as mansions of the deities, models of Egypt and the cosmos, focal points of worship, portals to the divine, islands of order amid oceans of chaos, and spiritual engines. Despite the physical stone of these temples, "we can still perceive much of their symbolic nature, the deeper reasons for their construction" beneath the surface.