What You Shouldn’t Miss in Egypt: the Karnak Temple

The Karnak temple was known as Ipet-isut (most select of places) by the ancient Egyptians. This location has been in existence for 2000 year, and it has been made to praise the Theben triad of Mut, Amun and Khonsu. The temple is located in Luxor, Egypt.

This derelict place is still capable of overshadowing many of the wonders of the modern world, and in its day must have been awe inspiring. For th ancient people of Egypt, this has been the monument of the gods, a place where they can freely communicate with them. It is the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made, and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years. Although, today’s pilgrims are mainly tourists.

The temple which is one of the top attractions in Egypt covers about 200 acres – 1.5 km by 0.8 km. The temple is truly massive in size; Amun’s sacred enclosure alone is 61 acres in size, this can be comparable to an average-sized cathedral in Europe.

The Home of Amun

This temple was dedicated to Amun. This god was considered unimportant until Thebes became Egypt’s capital in the 12th dynasty. He was represented in his original state as a goose and later as a ram, at the height of his power he was shown as a human with a head dress of feathers – all that remained of the goose.

During the ancient times, war was not centered on man or countries, wars were fought due to the contests of gods. It was one god getting the best and defeating another , the victorious god and its people growing in strength. This is how Amun, with the help of Thutmose III and various other New Kingdom kings, rose to become the first supreme god of the known world and was hailed as God of gods.

Not much is known about this god compared to the others, he has no legends or magic to impress his followers, and this must be close to the idea of a godhead. His followers came from all the strata of society and he was known to some as ‘Vizier of the poor.’

The Sacred Lake

Every ancient Egyptian temple has its on sacred lake. Among all the temples, the largest one belongs to Karnak.This are was used during festivals, people would put up images of the gods in golden barges.

The water supply to the Sacred Lake, which symbolized the primeval ocean Nun, comes directly from the Nile. Next to the lake is a small café where you can pit stop in the shade and fantasize about the temple in its golden ages.

The Hypostyle Hall

The Hypostyle hall in the Karnak Temple, at 54,000 square feet, and with its 134 columns (the tallest of the 134 columns reaches a height of 23 meters) is still the largest room of any religious building in the world. In this enormous forest of columns you get a genuine feeling of the wealth of the New Kingdom and of the importance of Amun as the State-God.