The very old
Karnak Temple Complex — usually called simply
Karnak — comprises a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings, notably the
Great Temple of Amen and a massive structure begun by
Pharoah Amenhotep III (
ca. 1391-1351 BC). It is located near
Luxor, some 500 km south of
Cairo, in
Egypt. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian
Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the
Theban Triad with the god
Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of
Thebes. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby (and partly surrounded) modern village of
el-Karnak, some 2.5 km north of Luxor.
Overview
The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the
Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts), of which only the largest, the
Precinct of Amun-Re, is open to the general public. The term Karnak is often understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the
Precinct of Montu, the
Precinct of Mut and the dismantled
Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of human and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and
Luxor Temple.
The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the
Middle Kingdom and continued through to
Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming.
One of most famous aspects of Karnak, is the
Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, a hall area of with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. 122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The architraves on top of these columns weigh an estimated 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using
levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and would also require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory is that there were large ramps made of sand mud brick or stone and the stones were towed up the ramps. If they used stone for the ramps they would have been able to build the ramps with much less material. The top of the ramps would presumably have either wooden tracks or cobblestones to tow the megaliths on. There is an unfinished pillar in an out of the way location that indicated how they finished it. The finish carving was done after the drums were put in place. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were done at other locations - some of them are
listed here.
In 2009
UCLA launched a web site dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.
History
The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of
Thebes. The city does not appear to have been of any significance before the
Eleventh Dynasty, and any temple building here would have been relatively small and unimportant, with any shrines being dedicated to the early god of Thebes,
Montu. The earliest artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-side from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local god of Thebes. He was identified with the Ram and the Goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amen is "hidden" or the "hidden god".
Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the
Eighteenth dynasty.
Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing
in situ. Construction of the
Hypostyle Hall may have also began during the eighteenth dynasty, though most building was undertaken under
Seti I and
Ramesses II. Almost every Pharaoh added something to the temple.
Merenptah commemorated his victories over the
Sea Peoples on the walls of the
Cachette Court, the start of the processional route to the
Luxor Temple.
The last major change to Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the first pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the whole Precinct, both constructed by
Nectanebo I.
In 323 AD,
Constantine the Great recognised the
Christian religion, and in 356 ordered the closing of
pagan temples throughout the empire. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded amongst the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the
Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, were painted decorations of saints and
Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.
European rediscovery
Thebes’ exact placement was unknown in medieval Europe, though both
Herodotus and
Strabo give the exact location of Thebes and how long up the
Nile one must travel to reach it. Maps of Egypt, based on the 2nd century
Claudius Ptolemaeus' mammoth work
Geographia, have been circling in Europe since the late 14th century, all of them showing Thebes’ (Diospolis) location. Despite this, several European authors of the 15th and 16th century who visited only
Lower Egypt and published their travel accounts, like
Joos van Ghistele or
André Thévet, put Thebes in or close to
Memphis.
Photograph of the temple complex taken in 1914
The Karnak temple complex is first described by an unknown Venetian in 1589, though his account relates no name for the complex. This account, housed in the
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, is the first known European mention since ancient Greek and Roman writers of a whole range of monuments in
Upper Egypt and
Nubia, including Karnak, Luxor temple,
Colossi of Memnon,
Esna,
Edfu,
Kom Ombo,
Philae and others.
Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two
capuchin missionary brothers Protais and Charles François d'Orléans travelled though the area. Protais’ writing about their travel was published by
Melchisédech Thévenot (
Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s-1696 editions) and
Johann Michael Vansleb (
The Present State of Egypt, 1678).
The first drawing of Karnak is found in
Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704, (
Voyage du Sieur paul Lucas au Levant). It is rather inaccurate, and can be quite confusing to modern eyes. Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699-1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the three huge Ptolemaic gateways of
Ptolemy III Euergetes /
Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113m long, 43m high and 15m thick, first Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.
Karnak was visited and described in succession by
Claude Sicard and his travel companion
Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720-21),
Granger (1731),
Frederick Louis Norden (1737-38),
Richard Pococke (1738),
James Bruce (1769),
Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777),
William George Browne (1792-93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including
Vivant Denon, during 1798-1799.
Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex rather detailed in his work of 1785; especially in light that it is a fictional account of a pretended journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit
Lower Egypt in 1777-78, and published a work about that too.
Main parts
Precinct of Amun-Re
This is the largest of the precincts of the temple complex, and is dedicated to
Amun-Re, the chief god of the
Theban Triad. There are several colossal statues including the figure of
Pinedjem I which is 10.5 meters tall. The sandstone for this temple, including all the columns, was transported from Gebel Silsila 100 miles south on the Nile river. It also has one of the largest obelisks weighing 328 tonnes and standing 29 meters tall.
Precinct of Montu
Dedicated to the son of Amun-Re and
Mut,
Montu, the war-god of the Theban Triad. It is located to the north of the Amun-Re complex, and is much smaller in size. It is not open to the public.
Precinct of Mut
Located to the south of the Amen-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the
mother goddess, of the Theban Triad,
Mut. It has several smaller temples associated with it, and has its own sacred lake. It has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. It is not open to the public. 600 black granite statues were found in the courtyard.
Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled)
The temple that
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) constructed on site was located to the east of the main complex, outside the walls of the Amun-Re precinct. It was destroyed after the death of its builder, and its full extent and lay-out is currently unknown.
In popular culture
- The Egyptian-themed superhero Ozymandias from the graphic novel Watchmen has a fortress in Antarctica called Karnak.
- Final Fantasy V features a kingdom called Karnak, where the Fire Crystal is housed.
- In the movie The Mummy Returns, Karnak is one of the places Rick O'Connell and the others must go to, in order to ultimately reach the Scorpion King.
- The British symphonic metal band Bal-Sagoth have a song called 'Unfettering the Hoary Sentinels of Karnak'.
- The first person shooter Powerslave is set in Karnak.
- Karnak is the name of the space shaped in which Beelzebub travels the universe in G.I. Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson
- The first part of the modernist long poem, Trilogy, by H.D. is dedicated, "For Karnak 1923"
Gallery
See also
