Position 53 - (return.) The Entire Length Of The Gigantic Temple Of Amon At Karnak, Thebes

We have stood here before, but we shall now be able to understand the relation of the various parts as we could not do at first (Plan 12). That pylon tower on the left in the distance, is over 1,200 feet away; that is, this gigantic temple is nearly a quarter of a mile long. Between it and our present point of view are the additions and enlargements of 1,800 years. What would you think of a European building which had been 1,800 years in course of construction? Why, the whole span of European history is scarcely more than 2,500 years.

Here in these expanding halls we see embodied the career of the Egyptian nation, dynasty after dynasty, till it closes with the Ptolemies in that vast pylon nearly a quarter of a mile distant. If you will look beyond the queen's obelisk you will notice that none of the columns of the side aisles on that side is visible. That is where they fell in October, 1899, but on the left over the top of the queen's fallen obelisk, you can see them in rank on rank. Just behind this vacant space, behind the turbaned native, where the original chapel of Amon stood, is the Holy of Holies, exactly in a line with the queen's obelisk, where you see one of the roofing blocks lying aslant ready to fall to the floor.

Those few blocks that rise just this side of the queen's obelisk are a part of the fifth pylon, which formed the rear of Thutmosis I's hypostyle hall, in which the queen erected her obelisks. After she had thus defaced her father's hall, Thutmosis III would not attempt to restore it, nor was he willing to build a new hypostyle in front of his father's obelisks, as the 19th Dynasty later did. He therefore built a great hall here in the rear of the temple, with many adjacent chambers, and a holy of holies of his own, thus really bringing the front of the temple to this end and inverting it. He has left extensive records of his conquests in this temple, especially a long series of annals, occupying the walls of a gallery around yonder holy of holies.

On our extreme left in the middle distance are some of his small chapels, of which now only the bottom courses remain. They belonged to the main temple, and one of them was devoted to the service of his ancestors, and contained a long list of the earlier Pharaohs, which has since been removed to Paris, where, as already mentioned, it now is in the National Library.

We shall now visit one or two of the more important records in this sanctuary, which will show us what a great historical volume such a temple is. We shall go first to some inscriptions not far away to our right. See the lines numbered 61 in the right-hand portion of Plan 12.