MegalithFringe site
Karnak Temple Complex
Also known asKarnak · Temple of Karnak
Datedc. 2000–30 BCE*
Photo Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynastic Theban Triad, with the god Amun as its head.
It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city. Karnak gets its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.
Read on Wikipedia13 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
Sources disagree on the age of this site
Sources do not agree on how old this site is. Each claim is listed with where it comes from; the mainstream reading is marked.
Range across all claimsc. 2000–30 BCE*
MeasuredWhat this badge means
A physical measurement of this site: a radiocarbon date, a tree-ring count, a luminescence date, or a record that can itself be dated.
- 1971–30 BCEHistorical recordThe range runs from the reign in which construction began to the end of the Ptolemaic period.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- 2000–1700 BCEWikipedia: KarnakSource: en.wikipedia.org
- 1971–1926 BCEWikipedia: KarnakSource: en.wikipedia.org
- 1970 BCEWikipedia: Karnak (infobox)Source: en.wikipedia.org
- 305–30 BCEWikipedia: KarnakSource: en.wikipedia.org
- 1900 BCEWikidata inceptionSource: wikidata.org
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
The full article
Karnak Temple Complex: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak, comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut, 'The Most Select of Places', and the main place of worship of the Theban Triad, with the god Amun as its head. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
What sets Karnak apart is the length of time over which it was developed. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, giving it a size, complexity and diversity not seen elsewhere. The complex has four main parts, of which only the largest, the Precinct of Amun-Re, is open to the public. The others are the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV.
The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re has an area of 5,000 m2 (1.2 acres) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ft) tall, and the other 12 are 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a diameter of over 3 metres (9.8 ft). The architraves are estimated to weigh 70 tons, and were possibly lifted with levers or towed up ramps of sand, mud, brick or stone.
Major construction took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty, when Thebes became the capital. Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Hatshepsut had twin obelisks erected at the entrance, then the tallest in the world; one still stands as the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing on Earth. Most work on the Great Hypostyle Hall came under Seti I and Ramesses II. The last major change to the layout was the First Pylon and the massive enclosure walls, built by Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty.
By the time Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples in 356, Karnak was mostly abandoned. Christian churches were founded among the ruins, and painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen in the Festival Hall of Thutmose III. The first European description of the complex was by an unknown Venetian in 1589.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
The original name of the temple was Ipet-isut, meaning "The Most Select of Places". The complex's modern name "Karnak" comes from the nearby village of el-Karnak, which means "fortified village".
OverviewSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
The complex is a vast open site and includes the Karnak Open Air Museum. It is believed to be the second-most-visited historical site in Egypt; only the Giza pyramid complex near Cairo receives more visits. It consists of four main parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings.
The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are vast. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshipped to those worshipped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), the pharaoh who later would celebrate a nearly monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes, such as Coptic churches.
Hypostyle Hall
The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re has an area of 5,000 m2 (1.2 acres) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ft) tall, and the other 12 are 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a diameter of over 3 metres (9.8 ft). The architraves, on top of these columns, are estimated to weigh 70 tons.
These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be a time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone and that the stones were then towed up the ramps. If stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have employed either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths.
There is an unfinished pillar in an out-of-the-way location that indicates how it would have been finished. Final carving was executed after the drums were put in place so that it was not damaged while being placed. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were made at other locations – some of which are amongst the largest monoliths in the world.
The sun god's shrine was built so that it has light focused upon it during the winter solstice.
In 2009, UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.
History and datingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region, and when a new capital of the unified culture was established, the religious centers in that area gained prominence. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building there would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the ram and the goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amun is "hidden" or the "hidden god".
Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty, when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt. Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored the original Precinct of Mut, that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing on Earth; the other has toppled and is broken.
Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains. Known as the unfinished obelisk, it provides evidence of how obelisks were quarried.
Construction of the Great Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the Eighteenth Dynasty (although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II in the Nineteenth). Merneptah, also of the Nineteenth Dynasty, commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court, the start of the processional route (also known as the Avenue of Sphinxes) to the Luxor Temple. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the First Pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty.
Ancient Greek and Roman writers wrote about a range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubia, including Karnak, Luxor temple, the Colossi of Memnon, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, and others.
In 323 CE, Roman emperor Constantine the Great recognized the Christian religion, and in 356 Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the Roman empire, into which Egypt had been annexed in 30 BCE. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded among the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, where painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.
European knowledge of Karnak
Thebes' exact placement was unknown in medieval Europe, though both Herodotus and Strabo give the exact location of Thebes and how long up the Nile one must travel to reach it. Maps of Egypt, based on the 2nd century Claudius Ptolemaeus' mammoth work Geographia, had been circulating in Europe since the late 14th century, all of them showing Thebes' (Diospolis) location. Despite this, several European authors of the 15th and 16th centuries who visited only Lower Egypt and published their travel accounts, such as Joos van Ghistele and André Thévet, put Thebes in or close to Memphis.
The first European description of the Karnak temple complex was by an unknown Venetian in 1589 and is housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, although his account gives no name for the complex.
Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers, Protais and Charles François d'Orléans, travelled though the area. Protais' writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s–1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678).
The first drawing of Karnak is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704, (Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas au Levant). It is rather inaccurate, and can be quite confusing to modern eyes. Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699–1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the three huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113 m long, 43 m high and 15 m thick, First Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.
Karnak was visited and described in succession by Claude Sicard and his travel companion Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720–21), Granger (1731), Frederick Louis Norden (1737–38), Richard Pococke (1738), James Bruce (1769), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777), William George Browne (1792–93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon, during 1798–1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex in rather great detail in his work of 1785; especially in light of the fact that it is a fictional account of a pretend journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777–78, and published a work about that too.
Main partsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Precinct of Amun-Re
This is the largest of the precincts of the temple complex, and is dedicated to Amun-Re, the chief deity of the Theban Triad. There are several colossal statues, including the figure of Pinedjem I which is 10.5 metres (34 ft) tall. The sandstone for this temple, including all of the columns, was transported from Gebel Silsila 100 miles (161 km) south on the Nile river. It also has one of the largest obelisks, weighing 328 tons and standing 29 metres (95 ft) tall.
Precinct of Mut
Located to the south of the newer Amun-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess, Mut, who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad. It has several smaller temples associated with it and has its own sacred lake, constructed in a crescent shape. This temple has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. Following excavation and restoration works by the Johns Hopkins University team, led by Betsy Bryan (see below) the Precinct of Mut has been opened to the public. Six hundred black granite statues were found in the courtyard to her temple. It may be the oldest portion of the site.
In 2006, Bryan presented her findings of a festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol. Participation in the festival included the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed the warrior goddesses, Sekhmet and Bast, as some of her aspects. First, Mut became Mut-Wadjet-Bast, then Mut-Sekhmet-Bast (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated Menhit, another lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit, and finally becoming Mut-Nekhbet.
Temple excavations at Luxor discovered a "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the pharaoh Hatshepsut, during the height of her twenty-year reign. In a later myth developed around the annual drunken Sekhmet festival, Ra, by then the sun god of Upper Egypt, created her from a fiery eye gained from his mother, to destroy mortals who conspired against him (Lower Egypt). In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of the battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had tricked her by turning the Nile as red as blood (the Nile turns red every year when filled with silt during inundation) so that Sekhmet would drink it. The trick, however, was that the red liquid was not blood, but beer mixed with pomegranate juice so that it resembled blood, making her so drunk that she gave up slaughter and became an aspect of the gentle Hathor. The complex interweaving of deities occurred over the thousands of years of the culture.
Precinct of Montu
This portion of the site is dedicated to the son of Mut and Amun-Re, Montu, a war-god. It is located to the north of the Amun-Re complex and is much smaller in size. It is not open to the public.
Temple of Amenhotep IV (deliberately dismantled)
The temple that Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) constructed on the site was located east of the main complex, outside the walls of the Amun-Re precinct. It was destroyed immediately after the death of its builder, who had attempted to overcome the powerful priesthood who had gained control over Egypt before his reign. It was so thoroughly demolished that its full extent and layout is unknown. The priesthood of that temple regained their powerful position as soon as Akhenaten died, and were instrumental in destroying many records of his existence.
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by Claude Sonnet 5.5 (2026-11-06) from the cited Wikipedia article “Karnak”. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Pharaonic stone monuments of Egypt
Egypt's stone monuments are the best dated and the most famous in the Atlas. The pyramid took shape from the mastaba, a flat-roofed rectangular tomb with sloping sides built of mudbrick or limestone, which marked the burial sites of eminent Egyptians in the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom. The Great Pyramid of Giza, the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu ("Cheops"), was built about 2600 BCE over a period of about 26 years. It was originally 146.6 metres high and remained the world's tallest human-made structure for more than 3,700 years. Most of the smooth white limestone casing has been removed over time, which has lowered the pyramid's height to the present 138.5 metres.
Temples were just as large. The Karnak Temple Complex near Luxor is a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels and other buildings. Construction began in the reign of Senusret I (1971 to 1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 to 30 BCE), though most of the surviving buildings date from the New Kingdom. An obelisk, which the Egyptians called tekhenu, is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument, usually a single block of stone, with a pyramidal top.
Egyptian monuments are dated by the reigns of the kings who built them, and many carry their names. This is a strong contrast with the prehistoric megaliths of Europe, which can be dated only by radiocarbon or by comparison.
The Atlas files these monuments among the megaliths only because they are great works in stone.
When visiting, look at the scale of the blocks and at the inscriptions and reliefs that give the names of the kings.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Pyramid, Wikipedia: Great Pyramid of Giza, Wikipedia: Temple of Karnak, Wikipedia: Obelisk, Wikipedia: Mastaba · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1926 BCE
Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom.
Source - 323 CE
In 323 CE, Roman emperor Constantine the Great recognized the Christian religion, and in 356 Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the Roman empire, into which Egypt had been annexed in 30 BCE.
Source - 1589
The first European description of the Karnak temple complex was by an unknown Venetian in 1589 and is housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, although his account gives no name for the complex.
Source - 1668
Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers, Protais and Charles François d'Orléans, travelled though the area.
Source - 1696
Protais' writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s–1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678).
Source - 1699
Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699–1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the three huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113 m long, 43 m high and 15 m thick, First Pylon of the...
Source - 1704
The first drawing of Karnak is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704, (Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas au Levant).
Source - 1777
Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777–78, and published a work about that too.
Source - 1979
It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city.
Source - 2006
In 2006, Bryan presented her findings of a festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol.
Source - 2009
In 2009, UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
1971–30 BCEHow this date was established: Historical sourcesThe range runs from the reign in which construction began to the end of the Ptolemaic period.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Former name
- Ipet-isut, meaning “The Most Selected of Places”Source: Former name
- Principal deity
- AmunSource: Principal deity
- World Heritage listing
- added in 1979 with the rest of ThebesSource: World Heritage listing
- Hatshepsut's obelisks
- one standing and one toppled and brokenSource: Hatshepsut's obelisks
- Great Hypostyle Hall
- largely built under Seti I and Ramesses IISource: Great Hypostyle Hall
- Christian reuse
- Festival Hall of Thutmose III reused as a churchSource: Christian reuse
- Inception
- 1900s BCESource: Inception
- Culture
- Ancient EgyptSource: Culture
- Heritage designation
- part of UNESCO World Heritage SiteSource: Heritage designation
Where it stands
Egypt
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 25°43′06″ N, 32°39′30″ EFor a GPS or map app: 25.71833, 32.65833
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q522862wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Luxor, Egypt, Karnak.jpgVyacheslav ArgenbergCC BY 4.0
- Templo de Karnak, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-03, DD 138.jpgDiego DelsoCC BY-SA 4.0
- Templo de Karnak, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-03, DD 139.jpgDiego DelsoCC BY-SA 4.0
- 134 Säulen in 16 Reihen geordnet trugen das Dach der Halle. 12.jpgHolger Uwe SchmittCC BY-SA 4.0
- 1979 wurde der Karnak-Tempel UNESKO-Weltkulturerbe. 01.jpgHolger Uwe SchmittCC BY-SA 4.0
- 1979 wurde der Karnak-Tempel UNESKO-Weltkulturerbe. 02.jpgHolger Uwe SchmittCC BY-SA 4.0
- Karnak Temples.jpgAhmed Bahloul Khier GalalCC BY-SA 4.0
- Temple at Karnak.jpgMaddyCC BY-SA 4.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tradition
Located to the south of the newer Amun-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess, Mut, who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad.
Located to the south of the newer Amun-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess, Mut, who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad. It has several smaller temples associated with it and has its own sacred lake, constructed in a crescent shape. This temple has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. Following excavation and restoration works by the Johns Hopkins University team, led by Betsy Bryan (see below) the Precinct of Mut has been opened to the public. Six hundred black granite statues were found in the courtyard to her temple. It may be the oldest portion of the site. In 2006, Bryan presented her findings of a festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol. Participation in the festival included the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed the warrior goddesses, Sekhmet and Bast, as some of her aspects. First, Mut became Mut-Wadjet-Bast, then Mut-Sekhmet-Bast (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated Menhit, another lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit, and finally becoming Mut-Nekhbet. Temple excavations at Luxor discovered a "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the pharaoh Hatshepsut, during the height of her twenty-year reign. In a later myth developed around the annual drunken Sekhmet festival, Ra, by then the sun god of Upper Egypt, created her from a fiery eye gained from his mother, to destroy mortals who conspired against him (Lower Egypt). In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of the battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had tricked her by turning the Nile as red as blood (the Nile turns red every year when filled with silt during inundation) so that Sekhmet would drink it. The trick, however, was that the red liquid was not blood, but beer mixed with pomegranate juice so that it resembled blood, making her so drunk that she gave up slaughter and became an aspect of the gentle Hathor. The complex interweaving of deities occurred over the thousands of years of the culture.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Karnak" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): KarnakCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q522862CC0