Precinct of Amun-Re
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The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main enclosed areas that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the only one that is open to the general public. The temple complex is dedicated to the principal god of the Theban Triad, Amun, in the form of Amun-Re.
The site occupies roughly 250 000 m², containing so many structures and monuments. Some parts of the complex are closed or semi-closed, partially large parts of the North/South Axis (VIII, IX, and X Pylon), as they are under active excavation or restoration. The whole southeast corner is semi-closed. The northwest corner is a museum that requires an additional ticket to visit.
Most of the southwest is an open-air-assembling area with millions of stone fragments, from small to huge, laid out in long rows, awaiting reassembly into their respective monuments. The area is not closed, as the temples of Khons and Opet both lay in this corner and are open to the public, though both are rarely visited considering the immense number of tourists coming to Karnak. Also in this area can be found the housing of the Akhenaten Temple Project, a sealed up long building, which contains all the remains found of the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, (Akhenaten).
[edit] History
[edit] East/West axis
The main temple is laid out on an East/West axis, entered via a quay (now dry and several hundred metres from the Nile).
[edit] Cult Terrace
The modern entrance is placed over the end of the ancient cult terrace (or tribune), causing most visitors to miss this significant feature. Inscribed into the terrace (and now many eroded away) are the inundation levels for several kings of the Third Intermediate Period, collectively known as the Nile Level Texts. The cult terrace is often mistakenly thought to be a dock or quay, but other examples, such as the one at the Hathor temple at Deir al-Madinah do not have access to water. It was intended for the presentation of cult images.
[edit] Corridor of Sphinxes
Originally the quay led via a corridor of Sphinxes to the entrance to the second pylon, but these were moved aside when the First Pylon was constructed.
[edit] First Pylon
Construction of the current pylon began in 30th dynasty, but was never totally completed. It is 113 m wide and 15 m thick. There are large amounts of mud bricks piled up against the inside of the pylon, and these give a clue as to how it was constructed.
[edit] Forecourt
The construction of the original first pylon and Forecourt in the 22nd dynasty enclosed several older structures, and meant that the original avenue of sphinxes had to be moved.
[edit] Boat Shrines
These were built in the time of Seti II, and are dedicated to Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
[edit] Kiosk of Taharqa
In order to construct this kiosk, the ram-sphinx corridor was removed and the statues moved to the edges of the open court. Only one column remains in place, and has been inscribed by Taharqa, Psamtik II and Ptolemy IV Philopator.
[edit] Temple of Ramesses III
On the south side of the forecourt, there is a small temple built by Ramesses III. Enscriptions inside the temple show the king slaughtering captives, whilst Amun-Re looks on.
[edit] Bubastis Portal
This portal allows exit from the first court, to the area to the south of the Temple of Ramesses III. It records the conquests and military campaigns in Syria-Palestine of Shoshenq I, of the Twenty-second Dynasty.
[edit] Second Pylon
This pylon[1] was built by Horemheb near the end of his reign and only partly decorated by him. Ramesses I usurped Horemheb's reliefs and insciptions on the pylon and added his own to them. These were later usurped By Ramesses II. The east (rear) face of the pylon became the west wall of the newly built Great Hypostyle Hall under Seti I who added some honorary images of the late Ramesses I to compensate for having to erase his father's images there when he built the hall.
Horemheb filled the interior of the pylon towers with thousands of recycled blocks from dismantled monuments of his preceessors, especially Talatat blocks from the monuments of Akhenaten along with a temple of Tutankhamen and Ay.
The Second Pylon's roof collapsed in late antiquity and this was later restored in Ptolemaic times.
[edit] Great Hypostyle Hall
This was begun by Seti I, and completed by Ramesses II. The north side of the hall is decorated in raised relief, and was Seti I's work. He began to decorate the southern side of the hall shortly before he died but this section was largely completed by his son, Ramesses II. Ramesses decoration was at first in raised relief, but he quickly changed to sunk relief and then converted his raised relief decoration in the southern part of the hall, along with the few reliefs of Seti there, to sunk relief. He left Seti I's reliefs in the north wing as raised relief. Ramesses also changed Seti's names to his own along the main east-west axis of the Hall and along the northern part of the north-south processional route while respecting most of his father's reliefs elsewhere in the hall.
The outer walls depict scenes of battle, Seti I on the north and Ramesses II on the south. These scenes may not show actual combat, but could have a ritual purpose as well. Adjoining the southern wall of Ramesses II is another wall that contains the text of the peace treaty he signed with the Hittites in the year 21 of Ramesses' reign.
[edit] Third Pylon
Through the walls of the Hypostyle Hall is the mostly ruined Transverse Hall, alongside a reconstructed Third Pylon of Amenhotep III.[2] Though much ruined, in antiquity it was quite splendid and parts of it were even plated in gold by pharaoh Amenhotep III. A vestibule was added late in the pharaoh's reign and then partly decorated with incompleted triumph scenes by Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten before the new pharaoh abandoned the project due to his religious revolution which rejected the cult of the god Amun-Re.
In building the Third Pylon, Amenhotep dismantled a number of older monuments,[3] including a small gateway he himself built earlier in the reign. He deposited hundreds of blocks from these monuments inside the pylon towers as fill. These were recovered by Egyptologists in the early 20th Century and led to the reconstruction of several lost monuments including the White Chapel of Senwseret I and the red chapel of Queen Hatshepsut which are now in the open air museum at Karnak.
The reliefs on the pylon were later restored by Tutankhamen who also inserted images of himself. These were, in turn, later erased by Horemheb. The erased images of Tutankhamen were long thought to be of Akhenaten himself, supposedly evidence of a coregency between Akhenaten and Amenhotep III which most scholars now reject.[4]
[edit] Thutmose III & Hatshepsut's obelisks
In a narrow court, there are several obelisks, one which dates from Thutmose I, and is 21.2 m high and weighs nearly 150 tons. Just beyond this is the remaining obelisk of Hatshepsut, nearly 30 m in height. Later kings blocked out the view of this from ground level, and constructed walls around it. The companion to this lies broken, by the sacred lake.
[edit] Fourth Pylon
[edit] Fifth and Sixth Pylon
The Sixth Pylon was built by Thutmose III, and leads into a Hall of Records in which the king recorded his tributes. The pylon also includes some images of the god Amun which were restored by Tutankhamen after they were vandalized by Akhenaten. These images were later recarved by Horemheb who also usurped Tutankhamun's restoration inscriptions.
Peter J. Brand “Secondary Restorations in the Post-Amarna Period.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 36 (1999): 113-34.
[edit] Sanctuary of Philip Arrhidaeus
The sanctuary was built in the time of Philip Arrhidaeus, on the site of the earlier sanctuary built by Thutmose III. This sanctuary contains blocks from the earlier sanctuary and older inscriptions can still be seen.
[edit] Middle Kingdom court
Only the base of three doors mark the entrances to the internal structures of this court.[5]
[edit] Festival Hall of Thutmose III
This stands to the east of the main temple complex. Between the sanctuary and the festival hall is an open space, and this is thought to be where the original Middle Kingdom shrines and temples were located, before their later dismantling.
The Festival Hall (or Akh-menu – "the most glorious of monuments") itself has its axis at right-angles to the main east-west axis of the temple. It was originally built to celebrate the jubilee (Hed-Sed) of Thutmose III, and later became used as part of the annual Opet Festival. In this temple, the Karnak king list, shows Thutmose III with some of the earlier kings that built parts of the temple complex.
[edit] North/South Axis
This axis, with its massive pylons, heads off to the Precinct of Mut. Most of this area is off limits to tourists, as it is under active reconstruction and excavation.
- First Court (Cachette Court)
Over 750 statues and 17,000 other artifacts were discovered in the early Nineteenth century buried under this open court. These had been buried there, probably in the Ptolemaic period, during one of the clearances of the complex for rebuilding or construction. Excavations took place during a period of high waters, and were abandoned before the cache of artifacts were exhausted.[6]
[edit] Seventh Pylon
On the southern side, there is a carving of Thutmose III smiting Asiatic enemies, under which is a list of names of towns and peoples conquered in his campaigns in Syria-Palestine.
- Second Court
Off to the eastern side of the court is an alabaster shrine, constructed for the jubilee of Thutmose III..
[edit] Eighth Pylon
Constructed by Hatshepsut, the seventh pylon marks the end of the area that is normally accessible to the public.
- Third Court
[edit] Ninth Pylon
This pylon was constructed (or at least completed) by Horemheb. It is hollow and allows access to its top via internal staircases.
- Fourth Court
[edit] Tenth Pylon
Again, it was Horemheb built this last pylon, using the Talatat from the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV as core building material. There are four registers of scenes around the gateway, in the name of Horemheb.
[edit] Other Structures
Located within the outer precincts of the complex are a number of other structures, some of which are accessible to the public.
[edit] Sacred Lake
[edit] Temple of Ptah
This small temple lies to the north of the main Amun temple, just within the boundary wall. The building was erected by Thutmose III, on the site of an earlier Middle Kingdom temple. The building was later enlarged by the Ptolemies.
[edit] Temple of Ramesses II
Also known as the Temple of the Hearing Ear this temple is located to the east of the main complex, on the east-west alignment. It was built during the reign of Ramesses II.
[edit] Temple of Khons
This temple is an example of an almost complete New Kingdom temple, and was originally constructed by Ramesses III, on the site of an earlier temple (the construction seems to be mentioned in the Harris Papyrus).
[edit] Temple of Opet
[edit] Chapel of Osiris / Heqadjet
[edit] Open Air Museum
Several of the pylons reused earlier structures in their core. In the Open Air Museum, located in the Northwest corner of the complex, there are reconstructions of some of these earlier structures, notable amongst them the Chapelle Rouge of Hatshepsut, and the White Chapel of Senusret I.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Hypostyle Hall Project website
- ^ The Third Pylon
- ^ William J. Murnane, 'The Bark of Amun on the Third Pylon at Karnak.' Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 16 (1979) 11-27
- ^ Peter J. Brand, 'Secondary Restorations in the Post-Amarna Period.' Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 36 (1999): 113-34
- ^ Excavations in the Central Area of the Amun Temple at Karnak. CFEETK).
- ^ The Cache in the Temple of Amun
- Excavations in the Central Area of the Amun Temple at Karnak and in the Opet temple (CFEETK)
- Centre Franco-Egyptien d'Etude des Temples de Karnak
- Excavations in the temple of Amun, fifth and sixth Pylon (CFEETK, in french)
[edit] Further reading
- Weigall, A.E.P. A Guide To The Antiquities of Upper Egypt, Methuen, London, 1910
- Strudwick, N & H Thebes in Egypt, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1999
