Karnak

I hardly know where to begin when describing Karnak Temple. Without a doubt, it was the largest religious site in the entire ancient world as well as the most important in ancient Egypt. And yet superlatives seem inadequate to describe Karnak’s grandeur, its scale, and its sheer magnificence. 

 

Although I’ll share some of my photos, keep in mind that they don’t do justice to the site. Karnak is often described it as an open-air museum and you really have to see it in person, standing beside the rows of massive towering columns to get a sense of the power Karnak embodies/projects. 

 

First, a few facts about Karnak. It’s a huge (265-acre) complex of temples, chapels, pylons (those gates), and other buildings built over the centuries by more than 30 different pharaohs. It also includes a sacred lake. Karnak was the main Egyptian religious center during the 18^th dynasty (New Kingdom) and it remained an active religious site for over 1000 years. Since Karnak temple owned 40 percent of the fertile land in Egypt and had its own military force of 15,000 soldiers, the priests of the temple enjoyed a huge amount of political power as well.

 

The complex is located just north of the city of Luxor on the east bank of the Nile. It’s connected to Luxor temple by a ceremonial avenue lined with ram-headed sphinxes.

 

During the New Kingdom, Luxor was the capital of Egypt and it had a population of one million. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities website, the ancient Egyptians referred to Karnak temple as Ipet-Sut, which translates to “most select of places.”

 

There’s archaeological evidence that Karnak was a religious site as early as the reunification of Egypt, during the reign of pharaoh Intef II (c. 2112-2063 BCE). It remained an active religious site for over two millennia, becoming the main Egyptian religious center at the beginning of the New Kingdom, around 1550 BCE. Additions continued to be made during the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE) and Roman period (30 BCE – 306 CE). 

 

Reliefs cover the surfaces throughout the complex, attesting to the Egyptians’ mastery of stonework. Many relief carvings show Ramses II in his chariot, fighting the Hittites at the battle of Kadesh.  

 

Most of the structures in the complex are dedicated to the three gods known as the Theban Triad: the god Amun-Ra, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu.

 

The largest and most important temple within the complex is the Great Temple dedicated to the god Amun-Ra. Construction of the temple most likely began around 1971 BCE, during the Middle Kingdom. However, it was enlarged again and again over the centuries as new kings made additions to the structure. The floor of the temple was entirely covered with granite and a golden statue of the god was kept in the inner sanctuary. 

 

The most notable addition is the Great Hypostyle Hall (you have probably seen photos of it), which contains 132 enormous columns, some reaching a height of 21 meters (nearly 70 feet). It was probably begun during the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BCE) but most of the construction and all of the decoration took place in the following century, during the reigns of the pharaohs Seti I and his son, Ramses II. Also, there originally was a stone roof and windows. I was amazed that so much color remained on some of the columns. 

There are also two magnificent obelisks at the site. (The photo below was taken by Rae, a member of my group.) The shorter one was erected by Thutmose I, who reigned from c. 1506 to 1493 BCE. It stands around 71 feet tall and weighs about 143 tons.

The taller obelisk was erected by his daughter, Hatshepsut, who reigned c. 1473-1458 BCE. (By the way, when I was taking notes at Karnak and said “Hatshepsut’s obelisk” to my Notes app, it typed out “hot chef suits are burlesque.”) Carved out of a single block of pink granite from Aswan, it stands almost 30 meters (99 feet) high and weighs over 300 tons. Hussein called our attention to a slight change in color near the top of the obelisk and explained the reason for this. Her successor, Thutmose III, attempted to erase all references to Hatshepsut from Karnak. Historians say he likely took this action because the idea of a female pharaoh was unacceptable in the extremely conservative world of ancient Egypt. 

 

This is the cartouche of the nomen (birth name) of Thutmose III. His birth name can be translated as “Thoth is born.” The ibis represents the god Thoth. The sedge (an aquatic plant) and water ripple, pronounced “mes,” mean “born of” or “birth.” The sedge is often associated with royal authority. The scarab beetle in the cartouche indicates that a pharaoh has come into being.

Throughout the complex, Thutmose III or his son had her name and her image chiseled out. In some cases, he replaced her name with that of her father, Thutmose I, or her husband, Thutmose II. Since he couldn’t dismantle her obelisk, he decided to cover it up by building stone walls around it. The walls hid her name and image but they didn’t reach to the very top. Exposure to the sun over a period of 1000 years caused the change in color. The walls were never officially removed. Some parts of the walls collapsed at various times and other sections were dismantled so that the stone could be reused in new construction projects.  

 

I was fascinated to learn how successful these efforts at erasing Hatshepsut from Egyptian history actually were. She was largely forgotten until 19^th and 20^th century archaeologists were able to decipher her name in hieroglyphs. 

 

Hussein directed us to an area where archaeologists are working to reassemble a fallen obelisk that dates back to the time of Thutmose I. 

He also pointed out what he called an ancient Egyptian version of a spreadsheet carved into one of the walls. It kept track of quantities of different offerings (bread, beer, meat, and incense) brought to the temple.

 

The Romans used the complex as a military camp. In several places, you can see lines on stone walls where soldiers sharpened their swords.  

 

I wish we could have stayed longer. It would take several days to explore all of Karnak’s wonders and I’d certainly welcome a chance to return. But we had a flight to catch. OAT had chartered a PAS (Petroleum Air Services) plane to fly us from Luxor back to Cairo. The distance to the Luxor airport wasn’t great but the road was unbelievably clogged with cars, trucks, donkey carts, motorcycles, random people. It normally isn’t this bad, Hussein told us as we looked out the windows of the bus at people who had simply parked their cars in the middle of the road. But it happened to be a day in the Muslim calendar when many people travel to Mecca. Entire extended families were coming to their airport to see their loved ones off. 

Somehow we managed not to miss our flight, and I even had time to buy another Egyptian chocolate bar while we were waiting for our departure. By mid-afternoon we were back in Cairo, ready for another two days of discoveries before our time in Egypt came to an end.