KARNAK

Part of Ancient Egyptian Thebes or Waset

KARNAK is the Northern part of Thebes = Luxor on the Eastern bank. Its Egyptian name was *Ipet-swt or*Ipet-isut - "Most select of places". It is 3 K or 1.75 M North of Luxor. The Arabic name comes from a nearby modern village which is now a suburb of modern Luxor. Karnak covers 100 HA or 247 acres. The complex includes the central temple of Amun-re, and the temples and shrines of MUT, KHONSU,and Pa-Khered, along with Osiris, Ptah, and Montu. Montu's temple (not open to the public) is to the north and Mut's to the south of the main Amon temple. The Amon temple which is the largest in Egypt is noted for its multiple pylons and large sacred lake - the Isheru. Most of the buildings date tto the Middle Kingdom and the outer walls wee added by rulers of the Late period.
(It is possible that there may be Old Kingdom buildings underlying the Middle Kingdom sites but the major developments and an ongoing expansion begun in the Middle Kingdom and continued through the Late period into the era of the Ptolemies who carried out various restorations and repairs.)
The basic layout of most temples is - pylon/ gates then one or a series of colonnnades and courtyards, then a hypostyle pillared hall, an antechamber / pronaos and finally the NAOS - the holy of holies - "djeser-djeseru". A processional way joins Karnak to the southern Luxor complex. One of the earliest datable structures is Senwosret's "White Chapel" also called the kiosk. During Dynasty 18 Amenhotep 1 constructed a shrine and gateway. Tuthmose added the Fifth Pylonm an obelisk and a treasury. Hatshepsut ordered the Festival Hall called Akh-menu and Amenhotep 3 buildings for the cults of Montu, Mut, and Khonsu. Dynasty 19 saw Ramesses the Great add a Hypostyle Hall of 122 columns and Ramesses the 3rd a Barque shrine near the 2nd pylon. In the LATE period Taharqa added a kiosk and various divine adoratrices sponsored chapels and the last major addition was the First Pylon of Nectanebo 1.