Through the Eras

Architecture and DesignAerial view of Great Temple of Amun in Karnak. © YANN ARTHUS-BERTRAND/CORBIS.perpetual cycle. Finally, the king’s ancestors helped to establishhim as the “correct” Horus in a succession ofOsiris and Horus who ruled the underworld and Egyptthroughout eternity. This building, along with anotherfestival hall built by Amenhotep II but now destroyed,shows the close connection between worship of Amun atthis temple and the legitimacy of the king.PROCESSIONS AND PROCESSIONAL WAYS. Thefour major temples of the Estate of Amun—Karnak,Luxor, Medinet Habu, and Deir el Bahri—were linkedin ancient times by processional ways and axis alignmentsdesigned for the celebration of processional festivals. Aprocessional way is a road, permanently decorated foruse in a formal parade. Axis alignment refers to the practiceof building two distant structures on the same axisso that one imaginary straight line would pass throughthe center of both buildings. One processional way ranfrom Karnak to Luxor, about three kilometers (1.86miles) both on the east bank of the river. Karnak’seast/west axis was aligned with Deir el Bahri’s east/westaxis across the river. Luxor and Medinet Habu were alsoaligned with each other across the river. The main festivalscelebrated at these temples featured the god’s processionfrom Karnak to Luxor (Feast of Opet), fromLuxor to Medinet Habu (Feast of Amunemopet), andfrom Karnak to Deir el Bahri (Feast of the Valley). Thestone-paved processional routes passed through a seriesof pylons in Karnak. Lines of sphinxes stood on bothsides of the street. Along the way were small, formalshrines that provided a place for the priests carrying thegod’s barque, a ceremonial boat, to rest on a stonepedestal. The route from Karnak led south to Khonsu’stemple, Mut’s temple, and to the Luxor temple. Themost important of these processional festivals was theFeast of Opet.FEAST OF OPET. The Feast of Opet took place annuallyin late August during the New Kingdom. On theEgyptian calendar this was the second month of the seasonof inundation when the Nile flooded. In the reignof Hatshepsut the festival lasted eleven days, but by thetime of Ramesses III it lasted 27 days. In Hatshepsut’stime the festival procession proceeded along thenorth/south axis of the temple, exited the south gate,and followed the processional way to the Luxor temple.The priests paused six times at stations where they couldsupport the barque on a stand in a sacred booth. Amun’s50 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)