We now cross the Hypostyle Hall again, and go out by
the south door, in the middle of the south wall, to view the reliefs of Ramses
II . These relate to his campaign against the Hittites . The wall of the first of
the southern courts of the temple projects from the middle of the east section
of the south wall of the Hypostyle Hall, and on the western face of this
projecting wall, in the angle formed by it with the wall of the hypostyle, is
inscribed the treaty of peace, which was made between Ramses and Hattushilish,
King of the Hittites, in the twenty-first year of the Egyptian king .
Beyond the projecting wall, and more conveniently to
be visited during the survey of the southern buildings, is a representation of
Ramses leading his captives before Amûn, and beneath, an inscription which
gives the so-called " Poem of Pentawêr ", the poetical account of the
battle of Kadesh which is so named because it happened to be transcribed by a
scribe named Pentawêr .
On the end of the south wall of the Hypostyle is a
relief with Ramses presenting his captives and loot to Amûn . The reliefs of
Ramses, however, do not compare favourably with those of his father Seti .
On the south end-wall of the pylon of Ramses I, beyond
the reliefs of Ramses on the south wall of the Hypostyle, is the famous
unfinished relief of Sheshonq I, celebrating his triumphs in Judah and
Palestine in the invasion recorded by the Bible as having taken place in the
fifth year of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon . The relief represents Amûn,
distinguished by his tall upright plumes, holding in his right hand the curved
sword, while with his left he leads up a series of captive towns, represented
as usual by ovals with a human half-figure rising out of them . Within the
ovals the names of the various cities are inscribed, to the number ( originally
) of one hundred and fifty-six . Several of the names can be equated with
familiar Bible names, and the list shows that Sheshonq's heavy hand fell
impartially upon king Rehobam and his northern enemy, the rebel Jeroboam .
To the right of the relief the unfinished figure of
Sheshonq can be made out, smiting a group of captives whom he holds by the hair
in the usual manner . The relief has no merit, apart from its historical and
Biblical interest .
Before we return into the Hypostyle Hall, in order to
pass through the pylon ( No. III ) of Amenophis III, and enter the eastern
portion of the great temple, it might be as well to realize that all this part
of Karnak which we have been surveying belongs to the late period, when Thebes
was undoubtedly on the downward slope, at least in the days of Seti I and
Ramses II, a great and splendid city .
From pylon No. III, which at present forms the back
wall of the hypostyle, we have, more or less exclusively, the older work of the
New Empire in its great days, before the break caused by the religious
revolution of Akhenaten . There are, of course, later intrusions even in this
eastern section of the great temple, as there are also earlier remains of the
Middle Kingdom ; but in the main all from this pylon eastwards belongs to the
great time when Egypt was a conquering power .
Passing
through the gateway of the pylon, we find ourselves in the Central Court of the
temple . On either side of us, as we emerge from the gateway, are the bases of
two obelisks of Tuthmosis III, which marked the western front of the temple as
it was in his reign, before Amenophis had erected his pylon . A little beyond
these stood two other obelisks erected by Tuthmosis I . Of these, one has
disappeared. But the other is still standing . It is a one piece of red Aswan
granite, 64 feet in height, and it weighs 143 tons, being thus the second
lightest of the greater extant obelisks .
To realize the Karnak of the glorious days of the
Empire, you have to think away all that lies west of the third pylon, which now
stands in front of us, and to imagine that this pylon, the work of Amenophis
III, the most gorgeous of Egyptian Pharaohs, is the west front of the great
temple .
Unfortunately it is not easy to do this, as the pylon
is now almost completely ruined and can give but little idea of its former
magnificence . The vestibule of the pylon projects in front of it a later
erection, into which some alabaster slabs, with noble reliefs of the reign of
Amenophis III, have been built . On the rear wall of the north tower of the
pylon are the much-ruined remains of a colossal relief depicting the voyage of
the great barge of Amûn " Userhêt-Amûn ", with King Amenophis on board .
Another vessel accompanies the sacred boat ; but the scene is only a shadow of
what it was . On the rear wall of the southern tower is an inscription ( also
partly ruined ), recording the gifts of Amenophis to the temple and its god .
It had originally a single column of hieroglyphs running
down the centre of each side ; but it now has three vertical columns, those on
the sides having been added by Ramses IV and Ramses VI . The dedication
inscription of Tuthmosis I is of no particular interest, being merely formal .
The fragments of the companion obelisk have been discovered, and show that this
second shaft ( the principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base ), though set up, as we know from the inscription of Ineni ( Anena )
already quoted, by Tuthmosis I, was not inscribed by him, but by Tuthmosis III,
so that it must have remained uninscribed for no fewer than twenty-three years
. Strange though this may seem, which, as Tuthmosis IV tells us in his
additions to the inscription on the shaft, lay on its side, uncared for, at the
south side of Karnak for thirty-five years, until he set it up and caused the
record of his piety to be engraved upon it .
Part ( 13 ) .. The Great Temple Of Amen-Rê .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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