Digital KarnakUniversity of California Santa Cruz
Digital KarnakRelated Features
Originally built by Tutankhamen – 1336 BCE to 1327 BCE
Modified by Nectanebo I – 380 BCE to 362 BCE
Other works initiated by Tutankhamen:
Other Processional WaysOther works initiated by Nectanebo I:
1st Pylon, Contra Temple, Opet Temple, Shoshenq I Court, Enclosures and Gates, Bab el Amara Gate, Other Processional WaysIntroduction
The southern processional route leads both to the Mut and Luxor temples.
Phases of Construction
Tutankhamen
To the south, along the temple’s processional to the Mut temple, he added two lines of ram-headed sphinx statues. Study of the sphinxes suggests that they originally depicted Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and that the heads were removed and replaced with the image of a ram (the animal associated with the god Amun). The human-headed sphinxes likely adorned the temples in east Karnak, and were moved and altered by Tutankhamen as part of his religious restoration projects.
Nectanebo I
The entire two-kilometer processional route between Karnak and Luxor Temple was lined with approximately 700 sandstone human-headed sphinxes.
Construction materials: sandstone
Modern Site Photos
Documentation
Abd El-Raziq, Mahmud. (1968),Study on Nectanebo Ist in Luxor temple and Karnak. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo. vol. 23 , 156-159.
Bell, Lanny. (1992),Les Parcours processionnels. Louqsor : Temple du Ka royal. Dijon: Editions Faton, 27-29.
Cabrol, Agnes. Centre Franco-Égyptien des temples de Karnak (1995),Les criosphinx de Karnak: un nouveau dromos d’Amenhotep III. Karnak. Le Caire: Le Centre Franco-Égyptien d’Étude des temples de Karnakvol. X , 1-32.
es-Saghir, Mohammed. Leclant, Jean (1992),The great processional way of Thebes (the avenue of Sphinxes at Luxor). Atti Sesto Congresso internazionale di egittologia. Turin: International Association of Egyptologists]vol. I , 181-187.
Murnane, William. (1991),Tutankhamun, Ay, and the avenue of sphinxes between pylon X and the Mut precinct at Karnak. Bulletin de la société d’égyptologie. vol. 15 , 31-38.
Arnold, Dieter. (1999),Temples of the last pharaohs. New York: Oxford University Press