Position 58 - Looking Across The Sacred Lake (n.n.w.) To The Great Hypostyle Hall Of Karnak, Thebes

Here we gain a better idea of the relation of the gigantic aisle where we have just stood, to the rest of the building. We were stationed, at our last point of view, just back of those two columns which stand out so prominently at the hither end of the aisle (Plan 11). We are now looking obliquely across that aisle, nearly northward. There are the two obelisks which we saw from the rear of the temple (Position 53), back of the hall as they should be. The side aisles of the great hall now spread out on each side of the central aisle in clear view before us.

Especially on the left you can see row after row of architraves with the capitals of the supporting columns beneath them, each capital crowned by the square abacus block upon which hidden behind the walls which once enveloped them the architrave rests. The side columns themselves are entirely, but have now partially fallen, exposing the capitals sufficiently so that you can see that they are bud capitals, contrasting with the broad spreading flower capitals of the central aisle.

We shall notice both sides often as we proceed, but the arrangement here, with flower capitals in the middle and bud capitals at the sides, is the usual one, and should therefore be particularly remarked. Now these side columns are 43 feet high, 20 feet 8 inches in circumference, and nearly 7 feet through.

Those of the middle aisle are 22 feet higher, and the resulting difference in the height of the roofs over the middle and side aisles, which we call a clerestory, is utilized for the insertion of a row of windows, which you see here on either side of the middle aisle, above the roof of the side aisles. These were filled with gratings cut from limestone, but only one of these gratings is now preserved. It is on the other side and concealed from us by the tops of the middle columns. You will immediately recognize in this arrangement the basilica hall of Roman architecture and the columned nave and side aisles of the early European cathedrals.

The earliest example of this form is the central aisle of splendid columns erected by Amenophis III, which you saw at Luxor; but you will remember that the side aisles are there lacking, as it was never finished. If you will turn back to those Luxor columns you can now better understand them than before. It is evident, therefore, that Egypt furnished Europe and the later world with this beautiful architectural form, and if we owed her nothing else, this single contribution would be plentiful cause for gratitude and recognition.

We have spoken of the vast size of the central aisle and its supporting columns, but what of the entire hall itself? Its roof is supported upon 134 columns of which twelve in two rows of six each occupy the middle aisle, while 122 are equally divided between the two sides. When we remember that the side columns are each nearly seven feet through, and the middle ones nearly twelve, it will be evident that such a host of colossal shafts must of themselves demand an enormous amount of room if set at a proper distance apart.

The great hall is therefore 170 feet by 329 feet. It does not seem possible, as we look upon it from here, but we could put the whole cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris into this hall and have plenty of room to spare. And we should not forget that this is but one hall of the temple, occupying less than one-seventh of the entire length of the building. (See Plans 11 and 12.)

Our view is much interfered with by those great heaps of rubbish which we find here at the side, as we found them in front of the temple, but they are being gradually removed, and there will some time be an unobstructed view of great beauty from this point. The south wall of the hall, which appears above the rubbish on the extreme left, is filled with the most interesting records of Ramses II, especially the poetic narrative of his brave defense at the battle of Kadesh, which we found depicted in the reliefs on the pylon of the Luxor temple.

Abutting upon that wall you see another which is continued out of range of vision on the left. Parallel with it, between it and the lake, you can just discern the line of another, a corresponding wall, which, with the first, forms an enclosure leading up from the southern pylons (pylons VII to X, Plan 11), which we do not stop to view, owing to their ruined condition.

This sacred lake, now merely a wallowing pool for the buffaloes of the neighboring peasantry, has been the scene of the most gorgeous pageants, when the victorious conquerors of Syria returned to celebrate their triumphs in the state temple. In his glittering barge, resplendent with gold and precious stones, the god was borne around this lake, followed by a long line of gaily decorated boats carrying the king, the white-robed priests and crowds of the royal favorites who had gained military distinction in the Syrian wars.

Great heaps of costly plunder, the richest wealth of Asia, were piled upon these shores to delight the eye of the god, while lines of wretched captives stood waiting to be led into the temple, there to be sacrificed before him. In those days this lake was lined with lotus flowers and other water lilies, rich masses of nodding palms were mirrored in its crystal surface, while all around were gardens filled with strange and rare plants, brought by the conquerors from the extreme limits of their distant conquests. But now where once floated the Pharaoh's royal barge, the buffaloes stir up the muddy pool and dirty little urchins throw stones into the turbid waters.

But we must now look once more into the great hall, and then turn our attention to the two obelisks yonder. Do you see that fragment of wall which cuts off about half of the smaller obelisk, leaving only the upper half visible? That piece of wall is part of the fourth pylon. Glance at its relative position on Plan 12, for we are about to take position upon it for another view down the central aisle of the great hall. This position is indicated by the lines numbered 59 on Plan 12.