The Potential of Digital Methods in Researching an Egyptian Temple: ML and HBIM at the Temple of Horus in Edfu

The Temple of Horus at Edfu, vast in scale and inscriptional density, has traditionally been studied as a corpus of texts isolated from its architectural and iconographic context. Addressing this divide, the article investigates whether digital methods, including machine learning (ML), can speed up the production of epigraphic facsimile drawings while linking Egyptology, historical building research, and the digital humanities, focusing on the Mesenit (room I) and the courtyard–Wabet ensemble (rooms P-Q). The Wabet was surveyed via Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry to build a Heritage Building Information Model (HBIM) within a Common Data Environment. In the Mesenit, a pilot CycleGAN model was trained on an exploratory unpaired dataset of photographic documentation and expert-produced drawings. Technical model behaviour was assessed using cycle-consistency loss and reconstruction-based image metrics, while the scholarly reliability of the generated drawings requires separate comparison with expert-produced facsimiles. Architectural analysis of courtyard P and room Q yielded dimensions and construction evidence, including wall chamfering and partition-wall sequencing relevant to the building’s construction phases. The study concludes that combining HBIM and ML-assisted image generation in a shared digital framework offers a feasible, developing interdisciplinary approach to documenting the temple, requiring further training and refinement before large-scale application.