Just a few miles to the north of Luxor are
the temples of Karnak, which form the largest and most complex example of
ancient Egyptian architecture.. At Karnak there are three main sacred areas. At
Karnak, there are three main scared areas or precincts. , each with its temple,
dedicated to Montu, an ancient Egyptian local warrior god, , to Amun , the
chief god of Thebes and to the goddess Mut. The great temple of Amun was the
most important element of the complex and was probably begun during the middle
kingdom, but took on its impressive dimensions during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Since nearly every pharaoh wished to enlarge or
improve upon the temple-often destroying and reusing previous structures and
buildings- the whole site is architecturally complicated. There are four
courtyards, ten pylons, a scared lake and a multitude of associated buildings.
The last pharaoh to carry out major construction on the temple, and who was
responsible for its final appearance, was Nechtanebo I, of the Thirtieth
Dynasty. He ordered construction of the enormous first pylon, approached by the
avenue of ram-headed Sphinx (the ram was scared to Amun), which still serves as
the entrance to the temple. The temple of Amun has a two-fold orientation: an
east-west axis and a north-south one. The east west axis, incorporating the
first to sixth pylons, corresponded to the trajectory of the sun: the solar and
celestial axis. The north-south axis, incorporating the seventh to tenth
pylons, ran parallel to the course of the Nile, and was real and earthly axis.
Source: Alberto Silliotti, Egypt temples men and gods.
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