Karnak Temple
October 5th, 2007 by lmenger
The temple is located in the small village of Karnak, which is 2.5 kilometers north of Luxor. During the height of Theban power, the temple was the main place of worship for Egypt. Everything at Karnak is on a grand and huge scale. Standing in the temple you feel like a mere spec or a tiny ant walking around tremendously sized columns, unable to see from one end to the other. I felt as though I were on a movie set that had been created for an Indiana Jones movie. I expected to hear, “Ready, set, action”, at any time. But reality sank in that this was real and had been created thousands of years ago. The temple’s original splendor, when adorned with color and landscaped with the numerous indigenous plants, can only be imagined.
Construction on the Karnak temple began in the 16th century, but it was a work in progress for hundreds of years, with thirty different pharaohs adding various structures to the temple. During the reign of Ramses III over 80,000 people worked on or in the temple. The temple consists of four main parts with the Amun Temple Enclosure being the center of the temple. In the great hypostyle hall there are 134 papyrus shaped stone towers. Mrs. Tolisano and I thought this would be a great place to play hide-and-seek or to just run through the columns, so we did.
Watch our video from Karnak Temple
How big is big? The site at Karnak measures 1.5 km by 800 meters and could easily contain ten cathedrals. The Amun Temple Enclosure alone measures over 260,000 square meters. The first student that can convert these measurements to feet and inches will receive a special prize. Post your answer to the blog.
The Temple at Karnak is probably the sight visited most often, after the Great Pyramid. Just like the Great Pyramid, the building is another example of the incredible construction abilities of the ancient Egyptians. It is mind-boggling how these structures were created without the use of modern technology. Those ancient Egyptians were truly amazing!
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Mrs. Menger and Mrs. Tolisano, The water in Egypt must have energy boosters in it! You looked like you were having a great time. I can’t wait to see if anyone in Mrs. Pickering’s class will be able to solve the math puzzle.