egypt_karnak1

Lovely, Luxurious Luxor
Temple of Karnak

We had an early start on day 5 with a half day visit to the temple of Karnak. Dedicated to the patron god of Thebes, Amun Re, the temple of Karnak was the most important temple in the kingdom, with each pharaoh enlarging and embellishing parts of it as evidence of his faith. At the end of it, the temple is one huge complex of at least 20 smaller temples and shrines. Most of the temple was built by the three Thutmoses and Queen Hatshepsut. Queen Hatshepsut, wife of Thutmoses I, ruled on behalf of her step son Thutmoses III, but the lack of a cordial relationship between the two is quite clearly demonstrated in Thutmoses' effort to obliterate all her doings, including the cartouches that carry her name in this temple.

The hypostyle hall, a typical feature of all Egyptian temples, is not to be missed in the temple of Karnak. Reportedly the largest hall of any temple in the world, the 50,000 square feet (!!!!) hypostyle hall was once supported by 134 immense columns! Of course, the roof has now fallen away. At the south end of the temple is a sacred lake, which was used for religious ceremonies. There is a pretty huge model of a scarab beetle near the lake, and tourists were doing a frenzied nine rounds around it for good luck! Very similar to the south Indian temple "navagraha" concept, which involves making seven rounds around a set of nine gods. Beats me why they have seven and not nine rounds, but that's digressing.

We relaxed for the rest of the day, recovering from gippy tummy (excess exposure to the sun, drastic change of temperature between AC and non AC, dehydration, accompanied by mild loose motions) and taking it easy, trying to digest all the wealth of history that we were being bombarded with.

The son et lumiere (sound and light) show in Karnak temple is supposed to be the best in Egypt. So we decided to check it out in the evening. However, it was either because we were tired, it was too hot, or there were too many people around, but we didn't enjoy the show too much. Partly, it was also due to the way it was presented. The group is taken from one hall to another, and light is thrown on parts of the building and the history is explained. Finally, the group is made to sit in front of the sacred lake and some more history is thrown at you. It becomes a little too repetitive when it carries on for an hour and a half, but is a can-do for those who've never seen a sound and light show earlier.

We very gratefully sank into our beds that night, and our sleep was never sweeter.

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May 01 2003