Chapel of Taharqa and the Southern Pylons
At this point a traveler through the complex has two options: either venture out the back gate of the complex, the Nectanebo Gate, to view the scant remains of a temple built by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), or turn south towards the sacred lake. More will be said about the Akhenaten temple later but for now our attention will turn to the lake.
The sacred lake was the source of water for priestly ablutions and other temple needs. It was filled by ground water emanating from the Nile. On the southern side of the lake there is a break in the stone edging that surrounds the lake. It was through this stone tunnel that the sacred geese of Amen were released into the lake as part of the temple ritual every morning. The area where they were kept is just a bit farther to the south.
At the northwest corner of the lake, adjacent to the refreshment stand, is the chapel of Taharqa. This structure, rather singular in nature, has the appearance of a low square mastaba. Additionally, there are no doors on its outer walls; access was gained most likely by a ramp leading to a terrace. One would then have to cross the terrace to a staircase that descended into the chambers located at the northwest corner of the structure. With the exception of these chambers, the entire structure was dirt filled. There is no doubt that this structure was built by Taharqa with blocks from his predecessor Shabaka.
Sacred Lake
On the outer north face of the chapel is a scene of the king being purified by streams of water made up of ankh and was symbols (life and power). Next to this we again see the king wearing a pleated loincloth. The scene is described as “doing incense to his father Tem; he does ‘given life.’” The king is holding the incense burner and sprinkling pellets of incense into the burner. As of this writing, the inner parts of the chapel are not accessible. Inside however, are scenes of the sun god’s nightly journey through the earth and his rebirth each day. The interior texts refer to the Book of Day and the Book of Night and the baboons seen with the king are identified as the “eastern souls who worship Re” when he rises. Usually, the Book of Day is found on the eastern side of tombs and the Book of Night is located on the west and so the reliefs on the inner side of the west wall probably represent the last hours of the night. Here it is said:
Staircase into Taharqa Chapel
“To emerge from the Duat, to rest in the barque of the morning and sail over the Nun until Re’s hour, “He who sees the beauty of his Master”(the twelfth hour of the night), transforms into Khepri, rises toward the horizon, to enter the mouth and emerge from the vulva, to loom up within the opening of the gate of the horizon at the hour of “ He who raises the beauty of Re”(first hour of the day), to give life to humanity.” (A. Piankoff, The Book of the Day).
This may be the reason for the large scarab located in the southwest corner of this chapel which was brought from the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III on the west bank and placed here. Above the doorway to the inner shrine is the name of the sanctuary “The shndt tree (acacia) of the chest” and the name of Osiris is on the mound depicted here on the door lintel.
To the west of the chapel is the top portion of the second obelisk of Hatshepsut and beyond this is the first court of the north south axis of the Karnak temple. Entrance to the court is by means of a small doorway on the courts eastern side, or directly in front of the traveler against the outer wall of the main Amen-Re temple. The pylon of this court, the seventh, was built by Tuthmosis III and the side walls are the work of Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II. The two granite statues bear the names of Tuthmosis III (on right) and the Osirian statue (on the left) the name of Ramesses IV. The east side of this pylon duplicates these colossi and contains the names of the 119 Palestinian towns conquered during Tuthmosis III first campaigns with the following 240 names referring to places between Lebanon and the Euphrates River that he overran in year 33 of his kingship during his eighth campaign. South of this pylon the bases of the two obelisks Tuthmosis set up here can be seen. These were erected on the occasion of his renewal feasts and a fragment of the sphinx found next to the pylon contains the inscription “He (Tuthmosis) presented two obelisks of stone, one on each side of it.”
Large Scarab
The outer west wall of this courtyard contains the treaty of peace made with the Hittites in year 21 (ca. 1259 BCE) of the reign of Ramesses II. It is the first known example of its kind in the world and outlines the terms of the peace. The treaty was set down on a silver tablet and delivered to Ramesses by a messenger from the Hittite king Hattusili III. On the inner east wall, just in front of the seventh pylon is the location of the famous Israel stela of Merneptah, now in the Cairo museum. On the south façade of the seventh pylon, west side, we see Tuthmosis wearing the crown of the North and holding a club above the heads of prisoners “to strike down the great of Retenu, (from) all the mountains, (from) all the inaccessible lands.” These are Asiatics as can be seen by their beards and facial features. The east wing of this pylon was fronted by a colossus of Tuthmosis III which is now broken. The pylon itself shows the king wearing the white crown of the South standing before Amen-Re and to the right is a scene of defeated prisoners from Nubia and the Sudan.
Ramesses IV Tuthmosis III
The Eighth Pylon
The Eighth Pylon was constructed by Hatshepsut. The east wing’s north side contains a twenty line inscription to the Karnak triad. What is of interest here is the fact that in this inscription, which was set down by Hatshepsut in homage to her father Tuthmosis I, she confirms herself as “king.” The top register shows the sacred barque of Amen-Re carried by priests towards the east. In front of them is Tuthmosis I being led by the god Wert-Hekau (Great of Magic or Great Magician) to Hathor. The next scene has the king wearing the white crown and presenting himself to Amen in front of fifteen gods situated in three rows. The west side of the north face shows the bark of Amen-Re carried by priests, the king and the god Montu (here the cartouches of Tuthmosis II are changed to Sety I), and Thoth with scepters and the king led by Wert-Hekau to Amen-Re and Khonsu.
The south side of the pylon was originally fronted by seated figures of which now only one, on the west side remains. This is made of a single block of white limestone and is of Amenhotep I. Currently there is a stela rested against the south face of the pylons west side. It will be found between the quartzite remains of a statue of Tuthmosis II and the Amenhotep I statue. The stela recounts the campaigns of Amenhotep II in Syria in years seven and nine of his reign. The remains of another quartzite statue on the east side of the pylon shows an image of the god Amen with the inscription “Words spoken by Amen-Re, Lord of Heaven, all lands (are) under his feet.”
The Ninth Pylon, built by Horemheb who also built the Tenth, probably was built to replace an older brick constructed one built by Amenhotep III. Both the ninth and tenth pylons are off the axis of the preceding two pylons and were likely built to be in line with the avenue of criosphinxes (ram headed sphinxes) that lead out from the Amen-Re precinct towards the Precinct of Mut. The west side of the northern face of this pylon show the king entering the temple but the upper register shows priests carrying barques in the opposite direction and so are probably leaving the temple. This pylon is hollow with a stairway rising from the east and supported in only a few places. Here are to be seen reused blocks with the name of Tutankhamen or Nebkheperure seen inscribed in a cartouche used as filler for the pylon. The east side of the north face shows scenes with the cartouche of Ramesses IV. The south face, west side, contains scenes somewhat difficult to see, of Ramesses II slaying prisoners and is framed by a kind of false door. This may or may not have been the intention but it was surely meant to enhance the scene. On the east side is the marriage stela of Ramesses II to the daughter of the Hittite king. The Hittite king (Hattusili III) is also seen here as he made the trip with his daughter. These things occurred following the peace treaty signed with the Hittites after the battle of Kadesh and the marriage took place in 1247 BCE, year 33 of Ramesses reign. This scene repeats the marriage stela seen at Abu Simbel. Ramesses gave his new queen the title of “Great Royal Wife, Mistress of the Two Lands, Maatneferure” (she who sees the beauty of Re), which is the name of the last hour of the night. There is no record of the princess’s Hittite name however. The story is that the king was very pleased with her.
Amenhotep I
The Ninth Pylon
Ninth Pylon Fill
In the court between the Ninth and Tenth Pylons is the Temple of Amenhotep II. This rather small structure shows a square room with the roof supported by twenty square pillars and two smaller side structures that fronted on the west. Here was a portico of twelve square pillars accessed by a ramp. The construction techniques used here, although somewhat rare, can be seen in 18th Dynasty tomb paintings. Reliefs in the southeast corner of this structure would indicate that the king is celebrating his sed-festival. Most pillars here show the king before the god Amen and several show signs of deliberate defacement, probably from the time of Akhenaten.
Temple of Amenhotep II
The Tenth Pylon, also attributed to Horemheb, shows the reuse of many of the blocks from the temple of Akhenaten. The granite gate shows four registers of scenes on the north face, west side. At the top the king is offering to Mut and Khonsu four times. Below are a series of the king offering first incense to Amen-Re, (the text under the king’s arms reads: “He does censing for Amen-Re. He [Amen-Re] does ‘Given Life’, forever”) then water to Amen-Re Kamutef, and again offering wine to Amen-Re. What is of note here is that the king offers to the gods and the gods in return give back to the king. One can see a directional change in the hieroglyphic inscription to denote this situation. The avenue of sphinxes leads out from this gate to the temple of Mut.
Tenth Pylon, Statue of Horemheb
It should be noted that all of this southern area may not be accessible to travelers. There is a foot path on the east side of the area that can give some access to the structures however. This is a situation that will perhaps change in the future. Until then, it is helpful to the full understanding of this complex to be at least aware of these southern areas, who built them, and their purpose.