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shoe. The axis of the temple runs approximately northward, and is continued by a great avenue of rams to the southern pylons of the central enclosure. This last is of vast dimensions, forming approximately a square of 1500 ft., and it contains the greatest of all known temples, the Karnak temple of See also:

Ammon (see See also:

ARCHITECTURE (Lat. architectura, from the Gr. ap)(LTEKrwv, a master-builder)

ARCHITECTURE, See also:

SECT

sect. " See also:

EGYPTIAN

Egyptian," with plan). Inside and outside each of these enclosures there were a number of subsidiary temples and shrines, mostly erected by individual See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings to See also:

SPECIAL

special deities.

The triad of Thebes was formed by Ammon, his wife Mat and their son Khons. The large temple of Khons is in the enclosure of the Ammon temple, and the temple of Mat, as already stated, is connected with the latter by the avenue of rams. The Mont temple, on the other See also:

hand, is isolated from the others and turned away from them; it is smaller than that of Khons. Mont, however, may perhaps be considered a special god of Thebes; he certainly was a great god from very See also:

ancient times in the, immediate neighbourhood, his seats being about 4 in. N.E. at Medamot, the ancient Madu, and about 10 m. S.W. on the See also:

west bank at Hermonthis. It is probable that a temple of Ammon existed at Karnak under the Old See also:

KINGDOM

Kingdom, if not in the prehistoric See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age; but it was unimportant, and no trace of it has been discovered. Slight remains of a considerable temple of the See also:

MIDDLE

Middle Kingdom survive behind the See also:

SHRINE (Lat. scrinium, a case or chest for books, hence a casket; from scribere, to write, Fr. ecrin, Ital. scrigno)

shrine of the great temple, and See also:

numbers of See also:

FINE

fine statues of the twelfth and later dynasties have been found; two of these were placed against the later seventh pylon, while a large number were buried in a great See also:

PIT (O. E. pytt, cognate with Du. put, Ger. Pfutze, &c., all ultimately adaptations of Lat. puteus, well, formed from root pu-, to cleanse, whence gurus, clean, pure)

pit, in the See also:

AREA

area behind that pylon, which has yielded an enormous number of valuable and interesting monuments reaching to the age of the Ptolemies. The axis of the See also:

early temple See also:

lay from E. to W., and was followed by the See also:

main line of the later growth; but at the beginning of the eighteenth See also:

DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty, Amenophis I. built a temple See also:

south of the west front of the cld one, and at right angles to it, and thus started a new axis which was later See also:

DEVELOPED

developed in the See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of pylons VII.–X., and the avenue to the temple of Mat. The VIIIth pylon in particular was built by Hatshepsut, probably as an approach to this temple of Amenophis, but eventually Tethmosis III. cleared the latter away entirely. Thebes was then the royal See also:

RESIDENCE (Latin residere, to remain behind, to dwell, reside)

residence, and Ammon of Karnak was the great god of the See also:

state. Tethmosis I. built a See also:

court See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the temple of the Middle Kingdom, entered through a pylon (No.

V.), and later added the pylon No. IV. with obelisks in front of it. Hatshepsut placed two splendid obelisks between the Pylons IV. and V., and built a shrine in the court of Tethmosis I., in front of the old temple. Tethmosis III., greatest of the Pharaohs, remodelled the buildings about the obelisks of his unloved See also:

SISTER

sister with the deliberate intention of hiding them from view, and largely reconstructed the surroundings of the court. At a later date, after his See also:

WARS

wars were over, he altered Hatshepsut's See also:

SANCTUARY (from the late Lat. sanctuarium, a sacred place)

sanctuary, See also:

ENGRAVING

engraving on the walls about it a See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record of his See also:

CAMPAIGNS

campaigns; to this See also:

time also is to be attributed the erection of a great festival See also:

hall at the back of the temple. The small innermost pylon (No. VI.) is likewise the See also:

WORK

work of Tethmosis III. Amenophis III., though so great a builder at Thebes, seems to have contented himself with erecting a great pylon (No. III.) at the west end. The closely crowded See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of broad pylons here suggests a want of space for westward expansion, and this is perhaps explained by a trace of a See also:

quay found by Legrain in 1905 near the southern line of pylons; a See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of the Nile or a large See also:

canal may have limited the growth. As has been stated, Tethmosis III. continued on the southern axis; he destroyed the temple of Amenophis I. and erected a larger pylon (No. VII.) to the See also:

north of Hatshepsut's No.

VIII. To these Haremheb added two great pylons and the See also:

long avenue of See also:

ram-figures, changing the axis slightly so as to See also:

lead See also:

DIRECT

direct to the temple of Mat built by Amenophis III. All of these southern pylons are well spaced. In the See also:

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle between these pylons and the main temple was the great rectangular sacred lake. By this time the temple of Karnak had attained to little more than half of its ultimate length from east to west. With the XIXth Dynasty there is a notable See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change perhaps due to the filling of the hypothetical canal. No more was added on the southern line of See also:

BUILDING

building, but westward Rameses I. erected pylon No. II. at an ample distance from that of Amenophis III., and Seti I. and Rameses II. utilized the space between for their immense Hall of Columns, one of the most celebrated achievements of Egyptian architecture. The materials of which the pylon is composed See also:

bear See also:

witness to a temple having stood near by of the heretic and unacknowledged kings of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Haremheb's pylon No. IX. was like-See also:

wise constructed out of the ruins of a temple dedicated by Amenophis IV. (Akhenaten) to the See also:

sun-god Harmakhis.

Rameses III. built a fine temple, still well preserved, to Ammon at right angles to the axis westward of pylon No. II.; Sheshonk I. (Dynasty XXII.) commenced a great colonnaded court in front of the pylon, enclosing See also:

PART

part of this temple and a smaller triple shrine built by Seti II. In the centre of the court Tirhaka (Tirhaka, Dynasty See also:

XXV.) set up huge columns 64 ft. high, rivalling those of the central See also:

AISLE (from Lat. ala, a wing)

aisle in the Hall of Columns, for some building now destroyed. A vast unfinished pylon at the west end (No. I.), 370 ft. wide and 1422 ft. high, is of later date than the court, and is usually attributed to the Ptolemaic age. It will be observed that the successive pylons diminish in See also:

SIZE

size from the outside inwards. Portions of the solid crude-brick scaffolding are still seen banked against this pylon. About 100 metres west of it is a See also:

stone quay, on the See also:

PLATFORM (Fr. plateforme, i.e. ground plan)

platform of which stood a pair of obelisks of Seti II.; numerous graffiti recording the height of the Nile from the XXIst to the XXVIth Dynasties are engraved on the quay. Besides the kings named above, numbers of others contributed in greater or less measure to the building or decoration of the See also:

COLOSSAL

colossal temple. See also:

Alexander the Great restored a chamber in the festival hall of Tethmosis III., and Ptolemy See also:

SOTER

Soter built the central shrine of See also:

GRANITE (adapted from the Ital. granite, grained; Lat. granum, grain)

granite in the name of See also:

Philip Arrhidaeus. The walls throughout, as usually in Egyptian temples, are covered with scenes and See also:

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

inscriptions, many of these, such as those which record the See also:

ANNALS (Annales, from annus, a year)

annals of Tethmosis III., the See also:

CAMPAIGN

campaign of Seti I. in See also:

SYRIA

Syria, the exploit of Rameses II. at the See also:

BATTLE

battle of Kadesh and his treaty with the See also:

HITTITES

Hittites, and the See also:

DEDICATION (Lat. dedicatio, from dedicare, to proclaim, to announce)

dedication of Sheshonk's victories to Ammon, are of great See also:

HISTORICAL

historical importance.

Several large stelae with interesting inscriptions have been found in the ruins, and statues of many ages of workmanship. In See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1903 M. Legrain, who has been engaged for several years in clearing the temple area systematically, first tapped an immense See also:

DEPOSIT (Lat. depositurn, from deponere, to lay down, to put in the care of)

deposit of colossal statues, stelae and other votive See also:

OBJECTS

objects large and small in the space between pylon No. VII. and the great See also:

HYPOSTYLE

hypostyle hall. After three seasons' work, much of it in deep See also:

WATER

water, 750 large monuments have, been extracted, while the small figures, &c. in See also:

BRONZE

bronze and other materials amount to nearly 20,000. The value of the find, both from the See also:

ARTISTIC

artistic and historical stand-points, is immense. The purpose of the deposit is still in doubt; many of the objects are of the finest materials and finest workmanship, and in perfect preservation: even See also:

PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious metals are not absent. Multitudes of objects in See also:

wood, See also:

ivory, &c., have decayed beyond recovery. That all were See also:

WASTE (O. Fr. wast, guast, gast, gaste; Lat. vastus, vast, desolate)

waste pieces seems incredible. They are found lying in the utmost confusion; in date they range from the XIIth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic See also:

period. The inundation annually reaches the See also:

FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor of the temple, and the See also:

SALTPETRE (from the Lat. sal, salt, Petra, a rock)

saltpetre produced from the organic See also:

MATTER

matter about the ruins, annually melting and crystallizing, has disintegrated the soft See also:

SANDSTONE

sandstone in the See also:

LOWER

lower courses of the walls and the lower drums and bases of the columns. There is moreover no solid See also:

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation in any part of the temple.

Slight falls of See also:

MASONRY

masonry have taken See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place from time to time, and the See also:

ACCUMULATION (from Lat. accumulare, to heap up)

accumulation of rubbish was the only thing that prevented a great disaster. See also:

REPAIRS (from Lat. reparare, to make ready again)

Repairs, often on a large scale, have therefore gone on See also:

side by side with the clearance, especially since the fall of many columns in the great hall in 1899. All the columns which See also:

fell in that See also:

YEAR

year were re-erected by 1908. The temple of Khons, in the S.W. corner of the great enclosure, is approached by an avenue of rams, and entered through a finepylon erected by Euergetes I. It was built by Rameses III. and his successors of the XXth Dynasty, with HrihOr of Dynasty XXI. Excavations in the opposite S.E. corner have revealed See also:

flint weapons and other sepulchral remains of the earliest periods, proving that the See also:

HISTORY

history of Thebes goes back to a remote antiquity. See See also:

BAEDEKER, KARL (1801–1859)

Baedeker's Handbook for Egypt; also Description de l'Egypte., See also:

ATLAS

Atlas, Antiquites(tome iii.) ; A. See also:

MARIETTE, AUGUSTE FERDINAND FRANCOIS (1821-1881)

Mariette, Karnak, Etude topographique et archeologique; L. Borchardt, Zur Baugeschichte See also:

des Ammontempels von Karnak; G. Legrain in Recueil des travaux relatifs a Parch. Egypt., vol. See also:

XXVII

xxvii. &c.; and reports in Annales du service des antiquites de l'Egypte.

(F. LL.

End of Article: KARNAK

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