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Friday, June 8, 2012

Today is Friday, and we met at Karnak Temple in the late afternoon for a visit to Amun-re’s home. These days there are small numbers of tourists in most places, and in the late afternoon there are even fewer, so we had no trouble seeing whatever we wished. However, Karnak is always best in small amounts, so you can come back again and again to see something else. We did a traditional west to east visit because the undergrads have never been here before, and it was all so new!  Karnak Temple, first pylon.

Just inside the first pylon we briefly discussed the god Amun and the distinctiveness of Karnak before proceeding past the Second Pylon to the Hypostyle Hall. You see Darcy, Allie, Sean, Hannah, and Monika [top right] and Katherine, Monika, Sean, Gaultier, and Sheri [bottom right] in the Hall listening to me talk before beginning to take their pictures.

Darcy, Allie, Sean, Hannah, and Monika.

Katherine, Monika, Sean, Gaultier, and Sheri.
Hypostyle Hall at Karnak.

We passed from the Hypostyle Hall into the Wadjyt Hall where one of Hatshepsut’s obelisks still stands, and we talked about the history of the temple’s development in the early New Kingdom. Hatchepsut's obelisk.

Taking pictures at Karnak.
The areas around the central bark shrine have been a focus of work recently by archaeologists and historians, so we paused there as well to talk about some of the proposals for reconstructing the Middle Kingdom form of the temple. We also discussed Hatshepsut’s additions to Karnak and how they were altered by Thutmose III. For example, the Annals of that king, which you see in part, masked the northern Hatshepsut suite of chapels. Betsy discussing reconstruction of temple.
Students at Karnak.

Sean, Sheri, and Monika.
Eventually we returned from the Eastern Contra Temple along the north side to view the wars of Seti I depicted on the exterior of the Hypostyle Hall. Everyone wanted a quick snap of these reliefs. Photographing reliefs.
Taking pictures at Karnak.

Our last photo is an homage from Marina and Katherine, particularly, to Dr. Richard Jasnow (Johns Hopkins University) – Demotic graffiti from the Ptah Temple. Hello back in Baltimore!

Demotic graffiti from the Ptah Temple.

 

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