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Karnak

The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. It is located near Luxor. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor. Few places in Egypt makes a more overwhelming and lasting impression, then this apparent chaos of walls, obelisks, columns, statues, stelaes and decorated blocks.

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 one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is the Precinct of Amun-Re, and this it is also the main part of the complex and by far the largest part. 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 Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled), 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 Amon-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 work began in the 16th century BC. 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. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times.

References to the complex is found in Herodotus?, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and presumably Hecataeus of Abdera and Manetho, but we only retain fragments of their works, though none of these authors relates more than rudimentary information about the complex. Strabo states that Thebes at the time of his visited is nothing more than a collection of smaller villages, though it?s once grandness could still be imagine.

Thebes? exact placement was unknown in mediaeval 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 3rd 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, put Thebes in or close to Memphis, like Joos van Ghistele or Andre Thevet.

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 unique, in that it is the first known European mention, since the ancient Greek and Roman writers, of a whole range of monument in Upper Egypt and Nubian, 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, rather inaccurate and can be quite confusing when viewed with modern eyes, is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704. Paul 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 tree 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), Ganger (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.

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.

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.