UCLA UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology Title Karnak: Development of the Temple of Amun-Ra Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1f28q08h Journal UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1) Author Sullivan, Elaine Publication Date 2010-09-25 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California KARNAK: DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF AMUN-RA الكرنك: تطور معبد آمون رع Elaine A. Sullivan EDITORS WILLEKE WENDRICH Editor-in-Chief Area Editor Geography University of California, Los Angeles JACCO DIELEMAN Editor University of California, Los Angeles ELIZABETH FROOD Editor University of Oxford JOHN BAINES Senior Editorial Consultant University of Oxford Short Citation: Sullivan 2010, Karnak: Development of the Temple of Amun-Ra. UEE. Full Citation: Sullivan, Elaine A., 2010, Karnak: Development of the Temple of Amun-Ra. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002564qn 1132 Version 1, September 2010 http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002564qn KARNAK: DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF AMUN-RA الكرنك: تطور معبد آمون رع Elaine A. Sullivan Karnak, die Baugeschichte des Amuntempels Karnak, le développement du temple d’Amon-Ra The temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Luxor) experienced over 1,500 years of construction, destruction, renovation, and expansion. Here we provide a detailed survey of the current understanding of the temple’s chronological development, based primarily on published excavation reports, as well as interpretive articles and recent discoveries at the site. على مدار أكثر من 1500 عام مر معبد آمون رع بالكرنك بمراحل من البناء، التدمير، التجديد و التوسيع. ھذه المقالة تعطي دراسة تفصيلية عن الفكر الحالي للتطور التاريخي للمعبد طبقاً لما ورد بتقارير الحفائر و أيضاً إستناداً إلى المقاﻻت التفسيرية و اﻹكتشافات ةالجديد . he ancient city of Thebes (or the Aten; north Karnak, the site of the temple Waset as it was known in of the god Montu; and main/central Karnak, T Egyptian) played an important with its temple to the god Amun-Ra. role in Egyptian history, alternately serving as a major political and religious center. The Origins of the Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak city’s tombs, including those in the Valley of The first incontrovertible evidence for the the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, are existence of a temple of Amun-Ra in the area located on the west bank of the Nile, in the of Karnak comes from the reign of Intef II in area’s limestone cliffs. The mortuary temples the First Intermediate Period. However, of many of the New Kingdom kings edge the Egyptologists initially suspected that a temple flood plain of the Nile. The houses and existed at the site as early as the Old workshops of the ancient Thebans were Kingdom. (This early temple would have been primarily located on the river’s east bank. dedicated to the individual god Amun rather Little remains of the ancient settlement, as it is than the syncretized deity “Amun-Ra,” as covered by the modern city of Luxor. A series existing texts refer to Amun-Ra only after the of important temples, composing the religious Old Kingdom.) The “chamber of ancestors” heart of Thebes, constitutes most of what in the Akhmenu “Festival Hall” contained a remains today. To the south, close to the series of reliefs (taken to the Louvre Museum banks of the Nile, lies the Temple of Luxor. in 1843) depicting Thutmose III offering to a To the north, joined to Luxor by a sphinx- select group of kings whom he honored as his lined avenue, stand the temples of Karnak. ancestors. Because the (destroyed) cartouche Karnak can be divided into four sections: of the first king in the series was followed by south Karnak, with its temple of the goddess that of Sneferu, the first king of the 4th Mut; east Karnak, the location of a temple to Karnak: Development of the Temple of Amun-Ra, Sullivan, UEE 2010 1 Dynasty, and the names of four subsequent inscription dedicated by that king. A stela Old Kingdom kings (Sethe 1961 [Urk. IV]: from the Intef cemetery on the west bank that 608 - 610), some scholars interpreted this mentions the “Temple of Amun” also modified king-list as a record of the rulers provides support for the contention that such who contributed constructions to the temple, a cult place was operating prior to the Middle thus pushing the temple’s existence back Kingdom (Gabolde 1998: 112 - 113; Ullmann substantially to the late 3rd or early 4th Dynasty 2007: 4 - 6). Gabolde’s CFEETK excavations (Lauffray 1979: 45). A statue of the Old since the late 1990s have refocused interest on Kingdom king Niuserra Isi, found in Georges the earliest periods of the Amun-Ra Temple Legrain’s excavations at Karnak in the early at Karnak. A series of small sandstone-block 1900s, seemed to denote a tie between the platforms, no larger than 10 × 10 m, were Old Kingdom and a temple to Amun. examined. These platforms, located along the However, the statue was not necessarily west side of the later “Middle Kingdom dedicated to the god Amun, and whether it court,” lay below the levels of the thresholds originally stood within a temple to this deity is of the Middle Kingdom temple of Senusret I impossible to know (Ullmann 2007: 3 - 4). (discussed below). Gabolde dated one phase Indeed, Luc Gabolde of the Centre Franco- of the reused sandstone in the series of Égyptien d’Étude des Temples de Karnak platforms to the early Dynasty 11 kings based (CFEETK) has recently identified a statue on a number of factors, including the inscribed for Pepy I, “beloved of Amun-Ra, similarity of the stone to other constructions Lord of Thebes,” as a Late Period votive of that period at Thebes. Other reused blocks, offering probably found at Karnak (Gabolde a few with fragments of relief scenes, could be 2008). If the practice of depositing statues of dated to the later 11th and early 12th Dynasties. kings from former times was common, the The platform therefore appeared to be the presence of Old Kingdom statuary in the location of the original temple and portico of Karnak “cachette” would not verify the Intef II, dismantled soon after his reign, and existence of an Old Kingdom temple. replaced or rebuilt by the later 11th Dynasty Gabolde, in his study of the Middle Kingdom kings and subsequently Amenemhat I at the court, noted that Old Kingdom ceramics were same location (Gabolde 1999; Ullmann 2007: completely lacking in that area, as well as in 6 - 7). other areas of the temple investigated down to Senusret I greatly elaborated the temple. the presumed level of the Old Kingdom Gabolde has recreated its form using blocks (1999: 47). Unless new evidence is discovered, excavated at Karnak in the early 1900s and these findings suggest that a temple to Amun, after. At the site of the platforms, Gabolde or to Amun-Ra, did not exist at Karnak visualized a limestone temple, punctuated by before the First Intermediate Period. four doorways with red granite thresholds. He theorized that the new temple was much Precinct of Amun-Ra at Karnak in the First larger than the earlier cult buildings on this Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom location, with the core structure covering With the ascendancy of the Intef family, the approximately 38 × 38 m (fig. 1), fronted by first hard evidence for the presence of a an impressive portico of square pillars with temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak appears. It was statues of the king in the pose of the god during this period of royal ambition and Osiris (a number of these pillars are currently display that Intef II is thought to have erected in the Cairo Museum). The building may have a small mud-brick temple, probably with a had a rectangular, open peristyle court, leading stone-columned portico, on the east bank for to a series of inner chambers via a central axis. the god Amun-Ra. Evidence for this The “holy of holies” (innermost sanctuary) construction comes from a sandstone column would have lain off-axis and could only have found reused at Karnak that includes an been reached by making a ninety-degree turn to the left from the central line of rooms Karnak: Development of the Temple of Amun-Ra, Sullivan, UEE 2010 2 Senusret I added a number of small shrines to Karnak, probably lining important processional routes of the time. These included a black granite naos, a limestone bark shrine with side windows, and the famous peripteral chapel, known as the “White Chapel,” reconstructed in Karnak’s Open Air Museum (Pillet 1923; Traunecker 1982; Ullmann 2007: 10 - 12). The limestone White Chapel, decorated with scenes of the king interacting with Amun-Ra and other gods, seems to have been a bark shine, constructed to play a part in the king’s Sed Festival Figure 1. 3D visualization of Middle Kingdom celebrations (Lacau and Chevrier 1956). temple with mud-brick enclosure walls and pillared portico. Remains of mud-brick walls of the 11th or 12th Dynasty suggest that at least two (Gabolde 1998: 18 - 21). A calcite altar, reused enclosures encircled the Middle Kingdom and moved in the Ptolemaic Period, stood temple of Senusret I: a thick outer wall and a inside the room and held a shrine for the thinner interior wall with attached magazines statue of Amun-Ra (Gabolde 1995; Ullmann (Charloux 2007: pl. IV). The precinct can be 2007: 9). The later Akhmenu Festival Hall of imagined to have extended west at least to the Thutmose III echoed the layout of this position of the present fourth pylon.