Karnack Temple

KARNACK TEMPLE

The Earthly Home of the God Amun
Iput Isut - The Sacred Place

‘Man is clay and straw,
God is the builder,
Each day he demolishes and re-builds’- Amenemope

Every Egyptian temple is a symbolic impression of the universe; it is a picture that has been created from stone to describe the first moment of creation, the pylons are the east and western deserts, the portals represent the path that the River Nile would flow though and gradually the earth rises as you reach the mound of creation, the temple inspired the belief in their Gods and Kings, fulfilling both the human aspirations and the spiritual needs of the ancient Egyptians.

Each temple was also considered the home of a god; Karnack is the Home of the god that rose to supreme importance in ancient Egypt, The God Amun. This temple is so vast that I found one visit was not enough to appreciate it, and so I made several visits. One of the most interesting and dramatic ways to experience Karnack Temple is  during an  evening when the sound and light show is presented Standing in the darkness in the midst of a crowd of chattering people I squeezed between a row of guardian sphinx that sat high above us on pedestals leading to the entrance portal of the first pylon, their ribbed horns curled around towards the face of a Ram, the head then morphed into the body of a lion, standing between giant paws the sphinx protectively enclosed a small figure of a pharaoh. The crashing sound of a gong suddenly vibrated across the evening and brought our procession   to silence, then the darkness was eradicated by a blaze of light, and the pylons glowed before us,   trumpets cut through the air announcing the arrival of a regal presence, and then a powerful male voice declared:  ‘You are now at The House of the Father.’……………. More dramatic music………. then……… ‘Here the Creator was worshipped for over 2,000 years,’ and so the story of Karnack was relayed to us by voices of long dead kings and queens in the iridescent lights and the night.  

Karnack sprawls across the landscape, its heart still stands but its body was broken into pieces leaving the ground littered with broken columns and pylons as its history expanded, enclosing thousands of years of inspiration and belief. At its heart is the Great Temple of Amun; nearby are smaller temples dedicated to his son Khonsu and his wife Mut whose name means mother. Over the centuries each Pharaoh ruled his people as The Son of the Father. He was considered as the living incarnation of Horus who was the divine son of Isis and Osiris.  Horus   protected the dynasty and the body of the king who was an absolute monarch, the ancient Egyptians believed that through the king and his communication with the gods Divine order stability and prosperity would be maintained in their land and chaos would be avoided. The king was the High Priest of all Egypt. During his reign it was the duty of each Pharaoh to add to the Temple and to honor the gods and his own ancestors. Some of Karnack’s sections fell into disrepair or were left uncompleted, over the centuries each succeeding Pharaoh carried on the work of his predecessors and In return for the honors and offerings, they believed that the  gods would bestow blessings of victories in battle, recovery from sickness and plentiful harvests. Only the Pharaoh and priests had access to this sacred home of Amun. 

In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte of France mounted an expedition to conquer Egypt, to his regret his military aspect was a failure and he was forced to withdraw from Egypt within three years, but the scholars he took with him to complete a survey and record all the aspects of Egyptian life  brought  Ancient Egypt to the attention of the world. 

Walking through the first pylon  the immense width of the pylons  humbled me and made me feel as  insignificant as an ant, graffiti has been scratched on the great blocks of stone, almost at the top on the right hand side of the first pylon I saw   inscribed into the stones the record of the French arrival at Karnack ‘TheRepublique Francaise  Geographic des Monuments’ they had given the longitude and latitude of all the temples that they had studied in Egypt during their expedition with Napoleon Bonaparte. This deep entrance leads into the large first main courtyard where three barque chapels sit snugly in the corner; they were created by Seti 1 for Amun Mut and their son Khonsu.  Across the courtyard on to my right was the temple of Ramses 111, which is a miniature version of his mortuary temple known as Medinet Habu.

A single colossal statue of Ramses the Great dominates this large courtyard, his wife daughter Meritamun the White Queen stands between his legs, the statue is at the entrance to the second pylon, that was begun during the reign of his father Seti 1, its sheer size is emphasized by a fully grown palm tree behind it, after passing through the portal between the pylons; I entered the   most amazing Hypostyle hall, the reception area of the gods, its awesome lotus columns represent the plants that came into being on the mound of creation. The lotus columns are a symbolism of Horus who was born on the waters of creation, the lotus plant represents the first sunrise on the day of creation. Each evening the lotus submerges beneath the waters, and at dawn it rises symbolically to worship the sun again, it encompasses all the forces of nature and lives in all the four elements, its roots are bound to the earth and its stem rises through water, it flourishes in the air and blooms in the sunlight.  Standing in this incredible hall you are overpowered by 134 of these gigantic columns, 122 are in the open papyrus bud style, and another 12 in the central isle are closed.  I had a dream once that I closed my eyes and I was carried on the wind across the oceans to that magical forest of Redwoods in America where the trees seem to touch the sky, it must be one of the most natural heavenly places on earth, I never came close to that forest but I found the forest of my dreams in Karnack temple, but Instead of bark texture   I saw hieroglyphs all the way up these gigantic stone forest columns.  Standing submerged in this awesome forest during the night a voice speaks out and you hear the prayers of the priests, 'Hail to thee Amon, Master of Terror and King of Calm, King of Heaven, Creator of the Stars, I worship thee Amon.'

Walking through this wondrous forest  again one afternoon, a vibrant orange and black  stripped Hoopoe bird flew down and landed at the side of me, then its headdress similar to that of an American Red Indian chief neatly closed up as the bird  settled a few feet from me, I froze so as not to frighten it,  and as I stood quietly observing it, I almost felt that it was speaking to me and telling me that the Hall was as I had imagined it, the columns were  real live trees, and the temple was alive and accepted by the bird as part of creation.  I have never thought of myself as strange, although others have doubted my sanity on occasions, but I must admit even I was really surprised when I went to collect my photographs from the shop on the Corniche, when looking through them a very excited man in the shop told me that this bird was sacred to the Moslems and was written about in the Koran, the bird was a messenger who spoke to Sulliman informing him of the land that he had flown to and the heathen religion of the Queen of Sheba. I concluded that god is everywhere and speaks to us whenever we are touched by the divine as I had been in this amazing forest of stone within the Hypostyle hall of Karnack temple.

As I wandered through the columns I arrived at a side entrance into the hall, along this wall the Sed festival of Seti 1 is celebrated, from here Seti invites the gods into the house. Thoth the God of  the Moon, Magic, writing and wisdom stands behind the king who kneels beneath the tree of Life, Thoth has a lean sturdy body but his head is that of an ibis bird whose long  beak curves like the crescent of the Moon, he is the scribe of the Gods who keeps all the records of the living and those in the underworld, with his reed pen he writes the kings name in a  fruit that he then passes to Seti who hangs it on onto the magical Tree of Life for the regeneration of his reign. Seti is wearing the Kepresh ceremonial crown and holding a hek scepter to symbolize that he is the Sheppard and guardian of his people. The Goddess Sekhmet stands the other side of the tree of life behind the king, her elegant body is overshadowed by her golden mane and  the warm  regal face of a lion;  her strength and ferociousness was that of a lion, causing fear amongst  both gods and men , in a rage  she would  punish or  annialate all  wrongdoers,  she was the kings protector  in battle who ran before his chariot  slaughtering  his enemies, she preserved him from evil,  she stands behind him in this ceremony holding the palm of years from which a collection of Ankhs dangle that would jingle in the breeze,   this is a conduit for the divine power of life and permeates the universe.

To complete his ceremony Seti kneels before Amun holding the symbols of the Sed festival in his left hand, the God Amun reaches out to bless the king touching his Atef crown with uraei on disks all surrounding the horns of Khumn.

After the death of Seti his son Ramses 11 completed the Hypostyle hall where he erected 54 columns on the south side, and a stone wall to surround the whole hypostyle hall on the east. Ramses reigned for 67 years and fathered over 100 children!!!  During the fifth year of Ramses reign, a war broke out between Egypt and Kheta in which Kaddesh was the rallying point. This battle is also detailed on the pylons of Luxor Temple and his Mortuary temple the Rammessium on the west bank.  At Karnack the camp life and the overthrow of the enemy are described in detail, The inscriptions praise the king as a brave and a  bold conqueror of nations, firm on horseback and glorious in his chariot, whom none can escape when he seizes his bow and arrows.

Walking through the third pylon we reach an earlier dynasty where there once stood several obelisks, one of the obelisks was erected by Tuthmosis 1 who was the father of Hatshepsut. Her obelisk is to be found between the fourth and fifth pylon. Her rose granite obelisks were quarried at Aswan and took seven months to complete, originally there were two, one has fallen and its pieces are spread around the temple grounds. The tip of the obelisk was originally gilded with gleaming electrum a mixture of gold and silver, and was a beacon to guide travelers to the temple.

The inscription written on the obelisk from Hatshepsut expresses her devotion to Amon Ra:

'I have created this work with a heart full of love for Amon
Initiated into his secrets of origin
Instructed through his beneficial power
I have not forgotten what he has ordained
My Majesty recognizes his Divinity
I have acted on his orders
It is he who has guided me
I have never slept because I was pre-occupied with his temple
I have never turned away from what he has commanded,
My heart moved intuitively with The Father
I have entered intimately into the plans of his heart
I have never turned my back on the Master of totality
But rather I have turned my face towards him

After the death of Hatshepsut her co- regent Tuthmosis111 had a high wall built around her Obelisks and he defaced her cartouches where ever they occurred. The carved tip of Hatshepsut’s fallen obelisk can be found near the sacred lake where the priests purified themselves several times a day as nothing unclean must come before the presence of their gods.    

Tuthmosis 111 honored in every way the name of Amun and the memory of his relations apart from Hatshepsut, whose name he systematically destroyed from the temples. He founded The Hall of Ancestors and erected the Hall of Pillars, and the chambers and corridors belonging to it on the east side of Karnack temple, The sixth pylon details the Battle of Megiddo, which was one of the most important and earliest campaigns of Tuthmosis' reign. The prince of Kaddesh had united chiefs from the surrounding areas and together they were refusing to pay tributes to Egypt as they had not been enforced during the reign of Hatshepsut. The relief’s on the sixth pylon record's the spectacular tale of a grueling march of two months through the desert by Tuthmosis and his army to confront the prince of Kaddesh and his united enemies

Tuthmosis arrived at Yemen which was the most northerly point of Egyptian supremacy; his spies had reported that the enemy had gathered at Megiddo. Tuthmosis and his generals met to discuss their final advance; they told the king that there were three possible routes to reach Megiddo. The most dangerous route was through the Armana Pass which would be a constant source of fear every step they took as it was very narrow and they would have no defense from ambush or rock falls. Tuthmosis decided to go through this pass regardless of the advice of his generals; he was so determined in the belief that he would catch his enemies unaware that he rode at the front to guide his army. The march took twelve precarious hours until finally they emerged to the horror of the enemy who were totally unprepared for them as they had posted their armies on the other routes that they expected the Egyptian army to arrive at. The encampment is shown on the walls of Karnack. On the day of the battle Tuthmosis charged into battle on his gleaming chariot of electrum trampling his enemies underfoot. The enemy ranks fell into disorder with their men retreating and clambering up rope ladders to escape the ferocity of the Egyptian army. Unfortunately it is recorded that the foot soldiers were too keen to plunder from the fallen enemy soldiers, which resulted in the safe evacuation inside the city of the remaining force. Tuthmosis was furious; he now had to lay siege to the city of Meggadio which took him a further seven months. Eventually the Prince of Kaddesh and his chiefs sent out 84 of their children with gifts and surrendered. Tuthmosis returned to Thebes jubilant with all the spoils of his first campaign, the sixth pylon records than he had over 2,000 slaves including the children of the chiefs. 2,041 mares, 6 stallion’s and 161 foals, cattle, sheep, goats, metal stoneware and armour. Tuthmosis led a further 17 campaigns during his reign, the columns in his festival Hall are representations of the poles used for his campaign tent.

 To the rear of the Festival hall is an unusually decorated small room known as the Botanical garden, the walls are decorated with plants and animals that he brought back from his campaigns with Meggadio and Syria.

During the 24th year of his reign Tuthmosis built the whole northern wing of the temple and the outer walls that were designed to represent the waters of chaos.

The victories of Tuthmosis campaigns brought countries and cities of Western Asia into his power, Libya Nubia and Ethiopia brought prisoners of different races to the temple that were forced to labor under the Kings Chief Architect at the temple making bricks and building a new storehouse. The sculptures that have survived from the reign of Tuthmosis 111 are those of his grandfather Amenophis 1, his father Tuthmosis 1, and brother Tuthmosis 11 these stand before one of the southern temple wings.

An inscription of Tuthmosis 111 states:
'I have seen the transformation of the Divine principle of the two regions of light on the secret roads of heaven. The divine light speaks through me; I was bathed in its radiance and fully nourished by divine wisdom.

The journey through Karnack Temple with the Sound and Light show ends at the sacred lake. Every morning at sunrise in ancient Egypt the priests would release a goose onto this lake; they did this because of the creation myth. It was believed that four  sets of Gods had come from the  cosmos, the milky way in the heavens, They were the rulers of infinity, the rulers of darkness,  of primordial waters, and the secretive Amun and his partner Amaunet  who  ruled hidden things. Together they caused a blinding light and eruption on earth, and a primeval mound was created from the waters of Nun, on the primeval mound of earth,  a cosmic goose  then laid an egg, from which The God Amun hatched who then created everything else in the world.

I can still remember my first visit to the sacred home of Amun, and the grandeur that the sound and light show re-created, the memories have been emblazoned in my heart and colored by the deep blue night of the sky as the temple lit up beneath the moon and stars, with it's power and majesty still reflected in the sacred lake.