Misplaced Pages

#181818

94-599: The obelisk was made around 1400 BC in Karnak, Egypt , during the reigns of Pharaohs Thutmose III and Thutmose IV . Roman Emperor Constantine I had it moved to Alexandria in the early 4th century   AD, then Constantius II in AD   357 had it shipped to Rome and erected at the Circus Maximus . The obelisk collapsed sometime after the Circus's abandonment in the 5th century and

188-557: A step pyramid under which he was buried: the Pyramid of Djoser . For the rest of the Old Kingdom, tomb and temple were joined in elaborate stone pyramid complexes. Near each pyramid complex was a town that supplied its needs, as towns would support temples throughout Egyptian history. Other changes came in the reign of Sneferu who, beginning with his first pyramid at Meidum , built pyramid complexes symmetrically along an east–west axis, with

282-408: A "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the pharaoh Hatshepsut , during the height of her twenty-year reign. In a later myth developed around the annual drunken Sekhmet festival, Ra, by then the sun god of Upper Egypt, created her from a fiery eye gained from his mother, to destroy mortals who conspired against him (Lower Egypt). In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of

376-466: A key part of the maintenance of maat , the ideal order of nature and of human society in Egyptian belief. Maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion , and it was the purpose of a temple as well. Because he was credited with divine power himself, the pharaoh , as a sacred king , was regarded as Egypt's representative to the gods and its most important upholder of maat . Thus, it

470-668: A large portion of Egypt's wealth. Anthony Spalinger suggests that, as the influence of temples expanded, religious celebrations that had once been fully public were absorbed into the temples' increasingly important festival rituals. The most important god of the time was Amun , whose main cult center, the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak in Thebes , eventually became the largest of all temples, and whose high priests may have wielded considerable political influence. Many temples were now built entirely of stone, and their general plan became fixed, with

564-558: A long epigram. Though pieces of the obelisk were found in the 14th and 15th centuries, serious excavation was only made possible under Pope Sixtus V . The three pieces of the Lateran obelisk were dug up in 1587, and after being restored by architect Domenico Fontana , the obelisk was re-erected approximately 4 metres (13 ft) shorter. When it was erected near the Lateran Palace and basilica of St. John Lateran on 9 August 1588, it became

658-707: A long tradition of sophisticated Nubian temple building. Amid this turmoil, the fortunes of various temples and clergies shifted and the independence of Amun's priesthood was broken, but the power of the priesthood in general remained. Despite the political upheaval, the Egyptian temple style continued to evolve without absorbing much foreign influence. Whereas earlier temple building mostly focused on male gods, goddesses and child deities grew increasingly prominent. Temples focused more on popular religious activities such as oracles, animal cults , and prayer. New architectural forms continued to develop, such as covered kiosks in front of gateways, more elaborate column styles, and

752-473: A number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon , during 1798–1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex in rather great detail in his work of 1785; especially in light of the fact that it is a fictional account of a pretend 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. This

846-564: A pillared hall frequently appears in Middle Kingdom temples, and sometimes these two elements are fronted by open courts, foreshadowing the standard temple layout used in later times. With greater power and wealth during the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC), Egypt devoted still more resources to its temples, which grew larger and more elaborate. Higher-ranking priestly roles became permanent rather than rotating positions, and they controlled

940-526: A principal deity, and most were dedicated to other gods as well. Not all deities had temples dedicated to them. Many demons and household gods were involved primarily in magical or private religious practice, with little or no presence in temple ceremonies. There were also other gods who had significant roles in the cosmos but, for unclear reasons, were not honored with temples of their own. Of those gods who did have temples of their own, many were venerated mainly in certain areas of Egypt, though many gods with

1034-415: A reform on land possession and taxation. The Egyptian temples, as important landowners, were made to either pay rent to the government for the land they owned or surrender that land to the state in exchange for a government stipend. However, the temples and priests continued to enjoy privileges under Roman rule, e.g., exemption from taxes and compulsory services. On the official level, the leading officials of

SECTION 10

#1732837607182

1128-463: A strong local tie were also important across the nation. Even deities whose worship spanned the country were strongly associated with the cities where their chief temples were located. In Egyptian creation myths , the first temple originated as a shelter for a god—which god it was varied according to the city—that stood on the mound of land where the process of creation began. Each temple in Egypt, therefore,

1222-544: A temple's most sacred areas. Nevertheless, a temple was an important religious site for all classes of Egyptians, who went there to pray , give offerings, and seek oracular guidance from the god dwelling within. The most important part of the temple was the sanctuary , which typically contained a cult image , a statue of its god. The rooms outside the sanctuary grew larger and more elaborate over time, so that temples evolved from small shrines in late Prehistoric Egypt (late fourth millennium BC) to large stone edifices in

1316-463: A temple, but in some cases, as with mortuary temples or the temples in Nubia, the temple was a new foundation on previously empty land. The exact site of a temple was often chosen for religious reasons; it might, for example, be the mythical birthplace or burial place of a god. The temple axis might also be designed to align with locations of religious significance, such as the site of a neighboring temple or

1410-442: A temple. Other revenue came from private individuals, who offered land, slaves , or goods to temples in exchange for a supply of offerings and priestly services to sustain their spirits in the afterlife. Much of a temple's economic support came from its own resources. These included large tracts of land beyond the temple enclosure, sometimes in a completely different region than the temple itself. The most important type of property

1504-494: A valley temple on the banks of the Nile linked to a pyramid temple at the foot of the pyramid. Sneferu's immediate successors followed this pattern, but beginning in the late Old Kingdom, pyramid complexes combined different elements from the axial plan and from the rectangular plan of Djoser. To supply the pyramid complexes, kings founded new towns and farming estates on undeveloped lands across Egypt. The flow of goods from these lands to

1598-410: 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

1692-633: Is "hidden" or the "hidden god". Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty , when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt. Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ . Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored

1786-549: Is a vast open site and includes the Karnak Open Air Museum . It is believed to be the second most visited historical site in Egypt; only the Giza pyramid complex near Cairo receives more visits. It consists of four main parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors see. The three other parts,

1880-469: Is found in Paul Lucas ' travel account of 1704, ( Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas au Levant ). It is rather inaccurate, and can be quite confusing to modern eyes. 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 three huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator , and

1974-480: Is no clear division between the two. The Egyptians did not refer to mortuary temples by any distinct name. Nor were rituals for the dead and rituals for the gods mutually exclusive; the symbolism surrounding death was present in all Egyptian temples. The worship of gods was present to some degree in mortuary temples, and the Egyptologist Stephen Quirke has said that "at all periods royal cult involves

SECTION 20

#1732837607182

2068-488: Is reflected in the Egyptian term for temple lands and their administration, pr , meaning "house" or "estate". Some of the temple's supplies came from direct donations by the king. In the New Kingdom , when Egypt was an imperial power , these donations often came out of the spoils of the king's military campaigns or the tribute given by his client states. The king might also levy various taxes that went directly to support

2162-445: Is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone and that the stones were then towed up the ramps. If stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have employed either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths. There is an unfinished pillar in an out-of-the-way location that indicates how it would have been finished. Final carving

2256-510: Is the largest of the precincts of the temple complex, and is dedicated to Amun-Re , the chief deity of the Theban Triad . There are several colossal statues, including the figure of Pinedjem I which is 10.5 metres (34 ft) tall. The sandstone for this temple, including all of the columns, was transported from Gebel Silsila 100 miles (161 km) south on the Nile river. It also has one of

2350-710: The mammisi , a building celebrating the mythical birth of a god. Though the characteristics of the late temple style had developed by the last period of native rule, most of the examples date from the era of the Ptolemies , Greek kings who ruled as pharaohs for nearly 300 years. After Rome conquered the Ptolemaic kingdom in 30 BC, Roman emperors took on the role of ruler and temple patron. Many temples in Roman Egypt continued to be built in Egyptian style. Others, including some that were dedicated to Egyptian gods—such as

2444-888: The Great Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the Eighteenth Dynasty (although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II in the Nineteenth). Merneptah , also of the Nineteenth Dynasty, commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court , the start of the processional route (also known as the Avenue of Sphinxes ) to the Luxor Temple . The last major change to

2538-544: The Middle Kingdom ( c.  2000–1700 BC ) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BC), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom . The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynastic Theban Triad , with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes , and in 1979 it

2632-408: The New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC) and later. These edifices are among the largest and most enduring examples of ancient Egyptian architecture , with their elements arranged and decorated according to complex patterns of religious symbolism . Their typical layout consisted of a series of enclosed halls, open courts, and entrance pylons aligned along the path used for festival processions. Beyond

2726-569: The Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC) that followed the Early Dynastic Period, royal funerary monuments greatly expanded, while most divine temples remained comparatively small, suggesting that official religion in this period emphasized the cult of the king more than the direct worship of deities. Deities closely connected with the king, such as the sun god Ra , received more royal contributions than other deities. Ra's temple at Heliopolis

2820-498: The Precinct of Mut , the Precinct of Montu , and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV , are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple . The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut , although another pharaoh built around it in order to change

2914-487: The de facto ruler of Upper Egypt , beginning the political fragmentation of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070–664 BC). As the New Kingdom crumbled, the building of mortuary temples ceased and was never revived. Some rulers of the Third Intermediate Period , such as those at Tanis , were buried within the enclosures of divine temples, thus continuing the close link between temple and tomb. In

Lateran Obelisk - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-482: The gods to reside on earth. Indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr , means "mansion (or enclosure) of a god". A divine presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and allowed humans to interact with the god through ritual . These rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore

3102-534: The 15th and 16th centuries who visited only Lower Egypt and published their travel accounts, such as Joos van Ghistele and André Thévet , put Thebes in or close to Memphis . The first European description of the Karnak temple complex was by unknown Venetian in 1589 and is housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze , although his account gives no name for the complex. Karnak ("Carnac") as

3196-485: The 5th century the Circus Maximus was abandoned and they eventually broke or were taken down. They were eventually buried by mud and detritus carried by a small stream over time. First person accounts have the original (Roman) base of the monument still in the Circus Maximus as late as 1589. It contained a narrative of Constantius' transport, raising, and dedication of "his father's" obelisk inscribed on its four sides as

3290-695: The Great recognized the Christian religion, and in 356 Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the Roman empire, into which Egypt had been annexed in 30 BC. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded among the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III 's central hall, where painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen. Thebes' exact placement

3384-478: The Johns Hopkins University team, led by Betsy Bryan (see below) the Precinct of Mut has been opened to the public. Six hundred black granite statues were found in the courtyard to her temple. It may be the oldest portion of the site. In 2006, Bryan presented her findings of a festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol. Participation in the festival included the priestesses and

3478-561: The Karnak complex and other resources. The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region, and when a new capital of the unified culture was established, the religious centers in that area gained prominence. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building there would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to

3572-526: The Nile from quarries elsewhere. Temple structures were built on foundations of stone slabs set into sand-filled trenches. In most periods, walls and other structures were built with large blocks of varying shape. The blocks were laid in courses , usually without mortar . Each stone was dressed to fit with its neighbors, producing cuboid blocks whose uneven shapes interlocked. The interiors of walls were often built with less care, using rougher, poorer-quality stones. To build structures above ground level,

3666-659: The Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the First Pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty . Ancient Greek and Roman writers wrote about a range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubia , including Karnak, Luxor temple, the Colossi of Memnon , Esna , Edfu , Kom Ombo , Philae , and others. In 323 AD, Roman emperor Constantine

3760-598: The Third Intermediate Period and the following Late Period (664–323 BC), the weakened Egyptian state fell to a series of outside powers, experiencing only occasional periods of independence. Many of these foreign rulers funded and expanded temples to strengthen their claim to the kingship of Egypt. One such group, the Kushite pharaohs of the eighth and seventh centuries BC, adopted Egyptian-style temple architecture for use in their native land of Nubia , beginning

3854-414: The baptism of Constantine the Great. [REDACTED] Media related to Lateran obelisk at Wikimedia Commons Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex , commonly known as Karnak ( / ˈ k ɑːr . n æ k / ), comprises a vast mix of temples , pylons , chapels, and other buildings near Luxor , Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in

Lateran Obelisk - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-418: The battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had tricked her by turning the Nile as red as blood (the Nile turns red every year when filled with silt during inundation) so that Sekhmet would drink it. The trick, however, was that the red liquid was not blood, but beer mixed with pomegranate juice so that it resembled blood, making her so drunk that she gave up slaughter and became an aspect of

4042-484: 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 vast. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshipped to those worshipped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV ( Akhenaten ),

4136-420: The central government and its temples helped unify the kingdom. The rulers of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC) continued building pyramids and their associated complexes. The rare remains from Middle Kingdom temples, like the one at Medinet Madi , show that temple plans grew more symmetrical during that period, and divine temples made increasing use of stone. The pattern of a sanctuary lying behind

4230-425: The close intertwining of divinity and kingship in Egyptian belief. Temples were key centers of economic activity. The largest required prodigious resources and employed tens of thousands of priests, craftsmen, and laborers. The temple's economic workings were analogous to those of a large Egyptian household, with servants dedicated to serving the temple god as they might serve the master of an estate. This similarity

4324-426: The country or even beyond Egypt's borders. Thus, as Richard H. Wilkinson says, the temple estate "often represented no less than a slice of Egypt itself". As a major economic center and the employer of a large part of the local population, the temple enclosure was a key part of the town in which it stood. Conversely, when a temple was founded on empty land, a new town was built to support it. All this economic power

4418-426: The course of these additions, they frequently dismantled old temple buildings to use as fill for the interiors of new structures. On rare occasions, this may have been because the old structures or their builders had become anathema , as with Akhenaten's temples, but in most cases, the reason seems to have been convenience. Such expansion and dismantling could considerably distort the original temple plan, as happened at

4512-470: The discipline of Egyptology and drawing increasing numbers of visitors to the civilization's remains. Dozens of temples survive today, and some have become world-famous tourist attractions that contribute significantly to the modern Egyptian economy . Egyptologists continue to study the surviving temples and the remains of destroyed ones as invaluable sources of information about ancient Egyptian society. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for

4606-507: The early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu . Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the ram and the goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amun

4700-399: The focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings. 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 of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to

4794-508: The following centuries, Christian emperors issued decrees that were increasingly hostile to pagan cults and temples. Some Christians attacked and destroyed temples, as in the plundering of the Serapeum and other temples in Alexandria in AD 391 or 392. Through some combination of Christian coercion and loss of funds, temples ceased to function at various times. The last temple cults died out in

SECTION 50

#1732837607182

4888-457: The forces of chaos. These rituals were seen as necessary for the gods to continue to uphold maat , the divine order of the universe. Housing and caring for the gods were the obligations of pharaohs, who therefore dedicated prodigious resources to temple construction and maintenance. Pharaohs delegated most of their ritual duties to a host of priests, but most of the populace was excluded from direct participation in ceremonies and forbidden to enter

4982-598: The fourth through sixth centuries AD, although locals may have venerated some sites long after the regular ceremonies there had ceased. Temples were built throughout Upper and Lower Egypt , as well as at Egyptian-controlled oases in the Libyan Desert as far west as Siwa , and at outposts in the Sinai Peninsula such as Timna . In periods when Egypt dominated Nubia, Egyptian rulers also built temples there, as far south as Jebel Barkal . Most Egyptian towns had

5076-453: The gentle Hathor . The complex interweaving of deities occurred over the thousands of years of the culture. This portion of the site is dedicated to the son of Mut and Amun-Re, Montu , a war-god. It is located to the north of the Amun-Re complex and is much smaller in size. It is not open to the public. The temple that Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) constructed on the site was located east of

5170-403: The god Aten over all others and eventually abolished the official worship of most other gods. Traditional temples were neglected while new Aten temples, differing sharply in design and construction, were erected. But Akhenaten's revolution was reversed soon after his death, with the traditional cults reinstated and the new temples dismantled. Subsequent pharaohs dedicated still more resources to

5264-566: The gods and set them apart from buildings for the use of mortals, which were built of mudbrick. Early temples were built of brick and other perishable materials, and most of the outlying buildings in temple enclosures remained brick-built throughout Egyptian history. The main stones used in temple construction were limestone and sandstone , which are common in Egypt; stones that are harder and more difficult to carve, such as granite , were used in smaller amounts for individual elements like obelisks . The stone might be quarried nearby or shipped on

5358-429: The gods, but equally... all cult of the gods involves the king". Even so, certain temples were clearly used to commemorate deceased kings and to give offerings to their spirits. Their purpose is not fully understood; they may have been meant to unite the king with the gods, elevating him to a divine status greater than that of ordinary kingship. In any case, the difficulty of separating divine and mortuary temples reflects

5452-493: The impermanence of these early buildings, later Egyptian art continually reused and adapted elements from them, evoking the ancient shrines to suggest the eternal nature of the gods and their dwelling places. In the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC), the first pharaohs built funerary complexes in the religious center of Abydos following a single general pattern, with a rectangular mudbrick enclosure. In

5546-416: The king as part of his religious duties; indeed, in Egyptian belief, all temple construction was symbolically his work. In reality, it was the work of hundreds of his subjects, conscripted in the corvée system. The construction process for a new temple, or a major addition to an existing one, could last years or decades. The use of stone in Egyptian temples emphasized their purpose as eternal houses for

5640-400: The king managed the nation's resources and its people. As the direct overseers of their own economic sphere, the administrations of large temples wielded considerable influence and may have posed a challenge to the authority of a weak pharaoh, although it is unclear how independent they were. Once Egypt became a Roman province , one of the first measures of the Roman rulers was to implement

5734-597: The largest obelisks, weighing 328 tons and standing 29 metres (95 ft) tall. Located to the south of the newer Amun-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess , Mut , who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad. It has several smaller temples associated with it and has its own sacred lake , constructed in a crescent shape. This temple has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. Following excavation and restoration works by

SECTION 60

#1732837607182

5828-510: The last ancient Egyptian obelisk to be erected in Rome. Its location was formerly the spot where the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius stood until 1538, when it was relocated to decorate the Piazza del Campidoglio on Capitoline Hill . The obelisk was topped with a cross and the pedestal was decorated with inscriptions explaining its Egyptian history and its travels to Alexandria and Rome, mentioning

5922-626: The main complex, outside the walls of the Amun-Re precinct. It was destroyed immediately after the death of its builder, who had attempted to overcome the powerful priesthood who had gained control over Egypt before his reign. It was so thoroughly demolished that its full extent and layout is unknown. The priesthood of that temple regained their powerful position as soon as Akhenaten died, and were instrumental in destroying many records of his existence. Egyptian temple B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Egyptian temples were built for

6016-440: The massive 113 m long, 43 m high and 15 m 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), Granger (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

6110-471: The mortuary temples of the Theban Necropolis in the New Kingdom oversaw the provision of the royally employed tomb workers at Deir el-Medina . Kings could also exempt temples or classes of personnel from taxation and conscription. The royal administration could also order one temple to divert its resources to another temple whose influence it wished to expand. Thus, a king might increase the income of

6204-501: The nation's decline and ultimate loss of independence to the Roman Empire in 30 BC. With the coming of Christianity , traditional Egyptian religion faced increasing persecution, and temple cults died out during the fourth through sixth centuries AD. The buildings they left behind suffered centuries of destruction and neglect. At the start of the nineteenth century, a wave of interest in ancient Egypt swept Europe, giving rise to

6298-540: The obelisk now known as the Lateran Obelisk stood at 32 m (105 ft) which was the tallest one in Egypt. Both it and the other obelisk, known as the Obelisk of Theodosius , were brought to Alexandria over the Nile by an obelisk ship in the early 4th century by Constantius II . He intended to bring both obelisks to Constantinople , the new capital for the Roman Empire . The Lateran Obelisk never made it. After

6392-575: The obelisk remained in Alexandria for a few decades, Constantius II had the Lateran obelisk shipped to Rome when he made his only visit there in 357. It was erected near the Egyptian obelisk called the Flaminio , which had stood since 10 BC where it was installed by Augustus to decorate the spina of the Circus Maximus . There they both remained, until after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in

6486-456: The obelisks and had them erected to the east of the great temple of Amun in Karnak . Now His Majesty completed the very great sole obelisk from what his ancestor the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Menkheperre (Thutmose III) brought after His Majesty found this obelisk having lain for a total of 35 years on its side in the possession of the craftsmen on the south side of Karnak. When it was completed,

6580-426: The official worship of the gods and in commemoration of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and regions under Egyptian control. Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated. Within them, the Egyptians performed a variety of rituals , the central functions of Egyptian religion : giving offerings to the gods, reenacting their mythological interactions through festivals, and warding off

6674-457: The original Precinct of Mut , that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks , at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing on Earth ; the other has toppled and is broken. Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel or Chapelle Rouge ,

6768-400: The other 12 are 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a diameter of over 3 metres (9.8 ft). The architraves , on top of these columns, are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers . This would be a time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved

6862-448: The performance of temple rituals was still an official duty, restricted to high-ranking priests. The participation of the general populace in most ceremonies was prohibited. Much of the lay religious activity in Egypt instead took place in private and community shrines , separate from official temples. As the primary link between the human and divine realms, temples attracted considerable veneration from ordinary Egyptians. Each temple had

6956-567: The pharaoh who later would celebrate a nearly monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes, such as Coptic churches. The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re has an area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m ) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ft) tall, and

7050-556: The population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed the warrior goddesses, Sekhmet and Bast , as some of her aspects. First, Mut became Mut- Wadjet -Bast, then Mut-Sekhmet-Bast (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated Menhit , another lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit, and finally becoming Mut- Nekhbet . Temple excavations at Luxor discovered

7144-496: The rising place of the sun or particular stars. The Great Temple of Abu Simbel , for instance, is aligned so that twice a year the rising sun illuminates the statues of the gods in its innermost room. Most temples were aligned toward the Nile with an axis running roughly east–west. An elaborate series of foundation rituals preceded construction. A further set of rituals followed the temple's completion, dedicating it to its patron god. These rites were conducted, at least in theory, by

7238-416: The sanctuary, halls, courtyards, and pylon gateways oriented along the path used for festival processions. New Kingdom pharaohs ceased using pyramids as funerary monuments and placed their tombs a great distance from their mortuary temples. Without pyramids to build around, mortuary temples began using the same plan as those dedicated to the gods. In the middle of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Akhenaten promoted

7332-460: The stone or, if the stone was of too poor quality to carve, a layer of plaster that covered the stone surface. Reliefs were then decorated with gilding , inlay , or paint. The paints were usually mixtures of mineral pigments with some kind of adhesive, possibly natural gum . Temple construction did not end once the original plan was complete; pharaohs often rebuilt or replaced decayed temple structures or made additions to those still standing. In

7426-501: The temple proper was an outer wall enclosing a wide variety of secondary buildings. A large temple also owned sizable tracts of land and employed thousands of laymen to supply its needs. Temples were therefore key economic as well as religious centers. The priests who managed these powerful institutions wielded considerable influence, and despite their ostensible subordination to the king, they may have posed significant challenges to his authority. Temple-building in Egypt continued despite

7520-455: The temple to Isis at Ras el-Soda were built in a style derived from Roman architecture . Temple-building continued into the third century AD. As the empire weakened in the crisis of the third century , imperial donations to the temple cults dried up, and almost all construction and decoration ceased. Cult activities at some sites continued, relying increasingly on financial support and volunteer labor from surrounding communities. In

7614-508: The temples became part of the Roman ruling apparatus by, for example, collecting taxes and examining charges against priests for violating sacral law. The earliest known shrines appeared in prehistoric Egypt in the late fourth millennium BC, at sites such as Saïs and Buto in Lower Egypt and Nekhen and Coptos in Upper Egypt . Most of these shrines were made of perishable materials such as wood, reed matting, and mudbrick . Despite

7708-442: The temples of a god he favored, and mortuary temples of recent rulers tended to siphon off resources from temples to pharaohs long dead. The most drastic means of controlling the temple estates was to completely revise the distribution of their property nationwide, which might extend to closing down certain temples. Such changes could significantly alter Egypt's economic landscape. The temples were thus important instruments with which

7802-405: The temples, particularly Ramesses II , the most prolific monument-builder in Egyptian history. As the wealth of the priesthoods continued to grow, so did their religious influence: temple oracles, controlled by the priests, were an increasingly popular method of making decisions. Pharaonic power waned, and in the eleventh century BC a military leader Herihor made himself High Priest of Amun and

7896-414: The workers used construction ramps built of varying materials such as mud, brick, or rough stone. When cutting chambers in living rock , workers excavated from the top down, carving a crawlspace near the ceiling and cutting down to the floor. Once the temple structure was complete, the rough faces of the stones were dressed to create a smooth surface. In decorating these surfaces, reliefs were carved into

7990-449: Was farmland , producing grain, fruit, or wine, or supporting herds of livestock. The temple either managed these lands directly, rented them out to farmers for a share of the produce, or managed them jointly with the royal administration. Temples also launched expeditions into the desert to collect resources such as salt, honey, or wild game, or to mine precious minerals. Some owned fleets of ships with which to conduct their own trade across

8084-399: Was a major religious center, and several Old Kingdom pharaohs built large sun temples in his honor near their pyramids . Meanwhile, the small provincial temples retained a variety of local styles from Predynastic times, unaffected by the royal cult sites. The expansion of funerary monuments began in the reign of Djoser , who built his complex entirely of stone and placed in the enclosure

8178-499: Was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city. Karnak gets its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor. The original name of the temple was Ipet-isut , meaning "The Most Select of Places". The complex's modern name "Karnak" comes from the nearby village of el-Karnak, which means "fortified village". The complex

8272-431: Was buried under mud. It was dug up and restored in the late 1580s, and by the order of Pope Sixtus V was topped with a Christian cross and installed in its present location near the Lateran Palace . Originally, the obelisk was created by Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) for himself and another for his father, but neither were completed before his death. Thutmose III's grandson, Thutmose IV (1400–1390 BC) finished

8366-608: Was equated with this original temple and with the site of creation itself. As the primordial home of the god and the mythological location of the city's founding, the temple was seen as the hub of the region, from which the city's patron god ruled over it. Pharaohs also built temples where offerings were made to sustain their spirits in the afterlife , often linked with or located near their tombs. These temples are traditionally called " mortuary temples " and regarded as essentially different from divine temples. In recent years some Egyptologists, such as Gerhard Haeny, have argued that there

8460-450: Was executed after the drums were put in place so that it was not damaged while being placed. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were made at other locations – some of which are amongst the largest monoliths in the world. The sun god's shrine was built so that it has light focused upon it during the winter solstice . In 2009, UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of

8554-524: Was intended as a barque shrine and originally may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan , where it still remains. Known as the unfinished obelisk , it provides evidence of how obelisks were quarried. Construction of

8648-426: Was theoretically his duty to perform the temple rites. While it is uncertain how often he participated in ceremonies, the existence of temples across Egypt made it impossible for him to do so in all cases, and most of the time these duties were delegated to priests. The pharaoh was nevertheless obligated to maintain, provide for, and expand the temples throughout his realm. Although the pharaoh delegated his authority,

8742-502: Was ultimately under the pharaoh's control, and temple products and property were often taxed. Their employees, even the priests, were subject to the state corvée system, which conscripted labor for royal projects. They could also be ordered to provide supplies for some specific purposes. A trading expedition led by Harkhuf in the Sixth Dynasty ( c.  2255 –2246 BC) was allowed to procure supplies from any temple it wished, and

8836-451: Was unknown in medieval 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 2nd century Claudius Ptolemaeus ' mammoth work Geographia , had been circulating in Europe since the late 14th century, all of them showing Thebes' (Diospolis) location. Despite this, several European authors of

#181818