The Great Columns of theGreat Hypostyle Hall of Karnak Temple

The double row of open-flower papyrus columns in the central nave of the Great Hypostyle Hall. Each one is 21 meters high.

The main east-west axis of the Hypostyle Hall is dominated by a double row of 12 giant columns, each rising to a height of 21 meters (70 ft). All the columns in the hall represent papyrus stalks, and the 12 great ones have open capitals imitating the feathery blossoms of flowering papyrus.

The diameters of these giant bell-shaped capitals are 5.4 meters (18 ft), wide enough to support 100 men. Papyrus stalks are not cylindrical but have three sides with ridges along each edge. The columns are round, but a slight ridge runs up each column like a vertical seam in imitation of the plant. 

Ramesses II even placed his cartouches on the papyrus blossom capitals of the great columns more than 20 meters above the viewer.

Every inch of these columns has been inscribed by Ramesses II. three offering scenes encompass them on their lower halves. Royal cartouches and Ramesses' other royal titles have been inserted nearly everywhere possible from the base of the shafts to tiny ones on the outer rims of the papyrus capitals.  Two huge vertical cartouches below the scenes on each column face the processional axis, marking Ramesses II's claim to be the owner of the Hypostyle Hall. 

      

Three names in one cartouche. Ramesses IV first changed the "spelling" of his own name before Ramesses VI claimed the cartouches for his own. Note the plaster on either side of the large sun disk in the feathers of the god Amen (right) and Maat (left) . The rest of the plaster used to hide these changes has fallen out.

Several reigns later, Ramesses IV (ca. 1153-1147 BCE) added his own cartouches over triangular leaf patterns at the base of the shafts.  These are difficult to read because this king changed the spelling of his name and recut these inscriptions.

Later still, Ramesses VI (ca 1143-1136 BCE) took credit for these by placing his own name inside the cartouches. Plaster was used to cover the earlier versions each time. Most of this is gone, leaving a confusing jumble of hieroglyphs.  In some places the plaster remains, testament to a Pharaonic "cover-up."

The Clerestory and Roof of theGreat Hypostyle Hall of Karnak Temple

                       

 A reconstruction of the roof and clerestory of the Hypostyle Hall. Almost none of the roofing slabs have collapsed.

The word hypostyle means "having a roof or ceiling supported by rows of columns." The ultimate purpose of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall's 134 massive columns is to carry the load of an equally massive roof.  Although flooded with sunlight today, in antiquity, the Hall was somewhat gloomy.  Large slabs blocked out the sun, with a few small square holes cut in each one to admit a faint light.

The roof slabs were supported by a network of ceiling beams resting on the columns. These beams are called architraves and many of them still survive.  Others have fallen and large fragments of them lie in the yards surrounding the temple proper.  

One of the great window grilles from the Hall. these were the main source of light in the building, giving its atmosphere an eerie quality like that present at the dawn of creation. 

The main source of light was a series of large windows screened by giant stone grilles. The difference in height between the smaller columns and the twelve great ones along the central axis leaves an open space for these windows. The massive frames of these windows sit atop the first rows of smaller columns to either side of the great columns.

The frames holding these window grilles in place were fully inscribed. The architraves above and below were carved with long hieroglyphic texts inside and repeating strings of Seti I's royal titulary on the outside of the clerestory. The inner face of the piers have scenes of the king face to face with the gods.  For more about these scenes

An architrave from the Hypostyle Hall with a dedication texts of Seti I.

The Architraves

The architraves are interesting in two respects. They contain long dedication texts and the undersides of the architraves, called soffits, have been sheltered from the elements and still retain their original bright colors.

The rhetoric of these architrave texts is quite grandiose and bombastic. The king is described as a god among the gods and as a superhuman warrior. The texts give accurate descriptions of the hall and its columns although they sometimes also exaggerate, claiming the columns are coated with electrum.  The most colorful text describes Seti's inspiration for building the Hypostyle Hall in the first place.

"Now this Good God (i.e., the king) is always eager to make monuments, lying awake at night, unable to sleep thinking about beneficial deeds to perform.  It was His Person who gave instruction and guided the work on his monument. All his plans came to pass immediately."

War Scenes of SETI 1 in the hypostyle hall of karnak temple

The war scenes of Seti I on the north exterior wall of the Great Hypostyle Hall. At the far left is the north gateway. An equally large panorama of war scenes lies beyond it.

The whole northern exterior wall of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall is filled with a panorama of war scenes celebrating the military achievements of Seti I.  The first of the great Ramesside war monuments, they set the artistic standard for Seti's predecessors, but their superb style and composition were never equaled.  

 The war scenes are our main source for Egypt's foreign relations during Seti's reign.  The scenes are laid out in a symmetrical form on either side of the north gateway. 

        A nineteenth century drawing of Seti I smiting prisoners.

On both sides of the north gate are two huge scenes  of the triumphant king smiting a group of prisoners with his mace in the presence of the god Amen-Re.  The text above them is purely rhetorical. Of genuine historical interest are the two extensive lists of foreign place names. These are arranged in groups, each consisting of an oval with the upper body of a bound enemy prisoner emerging from the ovals.  Inside the ovals-- which are not royal cartouches-- are the names of cities and countries in Western Asia and in Nubia. 

Some of the names are copied from earlier lists,  others are original an may reflect the range of Seti's military campaigns.  At some point, the Nubian names were replaced with locations in Syria perhaps reflecting the king's later wars there. 

 

Shasu bedouin try to flee Seti's attack by running toward the town of Canaan on a hil. At the top, two men break their weapons as a sign of surrender. a third man waves his arms in submission.

The eastern half of the north wall is dedicated to Seti I's campaign in his first year as king.  The rhetorical texts claim that pharaoh received a report that:

 "The Shasu-bedouin are plotting rebellion. Their chiefs have gathered together in the hills of Kharu (= Syria-Palestine). They have fallen into chaos and are fighting and each one is slaying the other. They do not obey the laws of the Palace!"

In response, Seti lead his army into Palestine across the north coast of the Sinai and into Gaza.  This route was called "the Ways of Horus" by the Egyptians and it was a fortified military highway with a series of forts, each with a well.  Recently, Egyptian archaeologists have discovered the site of the first and most important of these fortresses, the border town of Tcharu at the north-east corner of the Nile Delta.

Seti I attacks the town of Yenoam in Canaan.

 

After fighting a running battle with Shasu Bedouin who were never a serious threat to pharaoh's army, Seti arrived in Gaza and began the main part of his campaign of year one progressing north through Canaan all the way into Lebanon.

 After defeating the Shasu, the only real fighting shown was the attack on a town called Yenoam in Palestine.  From two stelae the king left at Beth Shan, we know that he split his army into three divisions and sent them against the towns of Hamath and Beth Shan, presumably leading the third against Yenoam in person. These battles were won "in the space of one day" and must have been easy victories.

Seti I presents gold vessels and enemy prisoners after his Hittite campaign. the oval depressions on the lower part of the scenes were made by religious pilgrims scraping bits of powdered stone for magical healing spells.

 

There are scenes devoted to the presentation of booty and prisoners to the god Amen-Re.  The caption over one reads:

 "Presentation of tribute by His Majesty to his father Amen...consisting of silver, gold, lapis-lazuli, turquoise, red jasper and every sort of precious stone. The chiefs of the hill countries are in his grasp to fill the workshops of his father Amen."

The hieroglyphic texts also record speeches by the god praising the king for his actions and gifts:

"Welcome in peace.  I make you victorious over every foreign land and set fear of you in the heart of the Nine Bows (= all foreign countries). Their chiefs come to you their tribute on their backs!"

"That vile town of Kadesh." Detail from the War scenes. On the ramparts of the citadel, the citizens despair in the face of defeat. At the bottom, a herdsman chases his cattle into the forest away from the king's attack

The war reliefs are arranged in three levels or registers of scenes. Unfortunately, nothing of of the top register on the east side survives. We do not know if it contained additional events of the year one campaign or an entirely different war, perhaps in Nubia. The western side of the north wall is dedicated to Seti I's later wars further north in Syria and to a battle with the Libyans on Egypt's north-west border. Only one scene from the top register survives, but fortunately it is the most important historically.  Seti is shown attacking the Syrian town of Kadesh in the land of Amurru. Amurru was a costal kingdom in northern Lebanon and southern Syria.  It has been in Egypt's possession several decades earlier, but was lost during the reign of Akhenaten when the Hittite Emperor Suppiluliuma captured it.

Seti I attacks Kadesh in Syria

Kadesh seems to have been an obsession for Egyptian pharaohs of the New Kingdom. Egypt fought against the Hittite empire for nearly a century in order to regain its former northern border territory.  Before Seti, two Egyptian attempts to regain Kadesh had failed including one at the very time Tutankhamen died.  Later, Seti's son made his own failed bid to recapture Kadesh in year five, less than a decade after Seti's Kadesh campaign.

Seti I, however, succeeded where other pharaohs did not. We know that he captured Kadesh, because of a victory stela in his name that was found there by French archaeologists.  But Seti's victory did not last.  Within a short time, Kadesh once again became part of the Hittite Empire, and Ramesses II would have to make another failed bid to claim it for Egypt. 

Despite these military setbacks, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom should be given credit for their accomplishments.  Coastal Syria was hundreds of kilometers north of Egypt's border, yet for generations, Egypt was able to project its military might far beyond the homeland, sending armies overland and even by sea up the Levant coast.  An Egyptian army in Amurru was a long way from home. The Hittites, based in eastern Turkey, were on their front doorstep. 

Seti probably faced a smaller, local force at Kadesh. In his next war, his foe was the Hittite imperial army.  As before, however, Seti I's army was the victor. His forces even killed the king of Carcamish, a Hittite royal prince who ruled Syria on his father's behalf.

Unfortunately for Seti, the Hittites still had the upper hand. Once pharaoh and his armies went home, only a small garrison of Egypitan soldiers was left behind.  The Hittites quickly recovered their losses in Amurru.

 

Seti I attacks a Libyan chief.

The final episode in Seti I's war scenes is found on the middle register on the west side, between the Kadesh campaign at the top and the Hittite campaign at the base of the wall.

These reliefs are especially well preserved and show off the artistry of pharaoh's sculptors well. In one scene, the king skewers a Libyan chief with a javelin with one foot placed over the cab of his chariot, resting on the pole connecting it to the horses!  Needless to say, a great deal of artistic license is involved.

Seti's victory over the Libyans was the first of a series of wars on that front during the 19th and 20th Dynasties. His grandson Merenptah and later Ramesses III would face increasingly larger forces of Libyan invaders. 

The Epigraphic Survey's drawing of a relief showing the military officer Mehy. Ramesses II later replaced the image with one of himself as Crown Prince.

Everywhere in Seti's war reliefs, it is the king alone who defeats the enemy single-handed. The Egyptian army is nowhere to be seen.  Except for a welcoming delegation of officials and priests, only one other Egyptian appears. A small figure stands behind the pharaoh in some of the battle scenes.

Texts identify this person as none other than Crown Prince Ramesses!  But even the casual observer will note that something strange is going on in these reliefs.  There is clearly another figure with a different name over which Ramesses II later carved his own name and image.

For decades, it was thought that this shadowy figure was a disgraced or even a murdered elder brother of Ramesses.  The Epigraphic Survey discovered the truth. The man was a military officer named Mehy.  Mehy was only a mid-level officer, but he bore high honorific titles.  Like Prince Ramesses figure, his figure had been added after the war scenes were completed.  Who he really was and why he is there remain a mystery.

War Scenes of Ramesses IIin the hypostyle hall of karnak temple

View of the south wall of the Hypostyle Hall showing the war scenes of Ramesses II. Part of our dismantled scaffolding is visible in the lower right corner.

Ramesses II is perhaps best known for the battle of Kadesh fought against the Hittite Empire over the city of Kadesh in Syria. Although a military failure, Kadesh was a propaganda victory for Ramesses, and he displayed this "victory" prominently on the walls of several temples throughout Egypt.

The Karnak Hypostyle Hall was intended as one of the venues for his Kadesh narrative of texts and war scenes, but before work was finished, pharaoh changed his mind and had scenes of his later wars in Syria and Palestine carved over top of the incomplete Kadesh scenes.

A giant figure of Ramesses II attacks two fortified towns in Syria. Here the king is on foot, but most war scenes show in his chariot. all the scenes have suffered from erosion and other damage, making them hard to understand.

Ramesses II campaigned in Palestine and Syria for the next fifteen years after Kadesh and also commemorated these wars with panoramic war scenes on several temples including the Hypostyle Hall.  Egyptologists have not been as interested in these later war scenes, so that the later part of Ramesses' career as a warrior is poorly understood.

One reason for this scholarly neglect is that the scenes and text themselves are not as interesting as the unique Kadesh record.

Another problem with Ramesses II's battle scenes on the Karnak Hypostyle Hall is the erosion and random damage they have received over the centuries, making them hard to read.

A list of towns and countries in Syria and Palestine. Each name is enclosed in an oval with the upper body of a bound Asiatic prisoner sprouting from it.  The ovals are not royal cartouches but the hieroglyphic sign for fortress.  These are carved over the Battle of Kadesh inscriptions.

In some places on the wall, these later war scenes were carved over the Battle of Kadesh inscriptions. The Kadesh reliefs were not completely erased however. Plaster was used to cover them. After 1300 years, the plaster is almost gone, leaving the two versions to be read-- with difficulty.

This double set of inscriptions is called a palimpsest and is difficult to untangle. Damage to the reliefs makes this even more difficult. After weeks of tedious work, we were able to make some minor discoveries.  The Kadesh palimpsest includes part of a text known as the "Bulletin." Although better preserved elsewhere in several copies, the Karnak version included some variant phrases not found elsewhere. 

A sketch of one of the name rings with the palimpsest of the "Battle of Kadesh" narrative underneath. Unscrambling these two sets of inscriptions is a difficult task. Note the "spikes" on the oval representing crenellations or towers of a fortress.

 

Our study and recording of these later war scenes is also aimed at discovering some of the names of places Ramesses II fought against. Two lists of place names are given in giant triumph scenes on either side of the south gateway.  Parts of these were copied from earlier lists, others are original. All of them are damaged however. 

We also hope to recover the names of the towns shown in the battle scenes themselves. These are inscribed on the forts Ramesses attacks, but most are damaged and have never been read. Many of these inscriptions are several meters off the ground and have never been looked at closely.

By careful study of these reliefs, we hope to achieve a better understanding of Ramesses II's wars in Western Asia. We will publish the war scenes in facsimile drawings which are easier to read than photographs of these badly damaged scenes.

Wall Scenes of Seti I Inside the Great HypoStyle Hall

. The fine grain of the limestone used to build the temple allowed for the intricacy of the work.

Seti I is admired by many art historians for the superb quality of the relief carvings made during his reign. This pharaoh's high standards is especially appreciated when it is compared to the often poor quality of reliefs carved during the reign of his son Ramesses II and later in the Ramesside era. One scholar, Herbert Winlock, went so far as to write an elaborate description of Seti as an art connoisseur!

The finest reliefs made during the reign are found in the temple of Seti I at Abydos. In this temple, flawless blocks of limestone were used to their full advantage by sculptors who embellished the reliefs with exquisite details usually done in paint. Only the fine grain of the limestone permitted this high level of detail. 

The reliefs in the Karnak Hypostyle Hall are typical of the excellent quality we expect from Seti I, although they are not quite as fine as the Abydos reliefs.  The reason for this is that the Hypostyle Hall was built of sandstone, which is much coarser than limestone. Sandstone is made of compacted sand crystals, while limestone is basically compacted chalk powder.

Seti had reliefs inside the Hypostyle Hall carved in the bas relief style where the figures and hieroglyphs stand out against a flat background. They are very elegant, but take longer to make than sunk relief. 

  All of Seti's inscriptions inside the Hypostyle Hall are in bas relief, but a closer look reveals some interesting changes along the way.  We know that the first wall scenes were carved on the north gateway 

Some reliefs on the north gateway and on the east half of the north wall just to the right of the gate were carved with the high level of detail found in the Abydos temple. 

But soon, it was decided that this method was too laborious or that the sandstone was too coarse for such elaborate relief.  Other reliefs of Seti I in the hall have a more usual level of carved detail. The rest was done in paint. 

        

The sculptors had completed all of the walls and smaller columns in the south wing of the Hypostyle Hall and had just started on the walls in the south wing when Seti I died.  Although the clerestory roof was inscribed in his name, the twelve great columns were not carved until Ramesses II became king. 

The great columns were the first inscriptions carved in the name of the young king.  Ramesses bows to the gods in the scenes on the great columns. This bowing pose is typical of Seti I's work but not of Ramesses II's own reliefs.

The most likely explanation is that Seti's artists had drawn cartoons for the scenes, but had not yet carved them. In fact, they may have also colored these drawings as a temporary substitute for genuine relief carving.  With so much work to complete, this is hardly surprising and similar colored cartoons are found in parts of the Abydos temple of Seti that were never carved in relief.l.

The face of Ramesses II from a scene he converted from bas relief to sunk relief. the raised edges and engraved lines around the king's face are traces of the raised original. After his father Seti I died, Ramesses II continued the decoration of the southern wing of the Hypostyle Hall. Originally, he used the same high quality of bas relief favored by Seti. Very soon, he changed his mind and began to have all the decoration made in sunk relief. Sunk relief is less elegant, but can be made more quickly. Visitors will not find any of these bas reliefs in the south wings because Ramesses later had them changed into sunk relief. We know they were originally carved as bas relief from the numerous carved lines and raised edges surrounding the carvings in this part of the hall.

    

 

Although the basic themes remained mostly the same, Ramesses II's made other changes to his style of decoration as well. Ramesses completed the Hypostyle Hall in the first two years of his reign. At the same time, he was experimenting with the way his royal names were written in his cartouches. 

In his first year or so, his throne name was User-maat-re, meaning something like "Powerful-of-Truth-is-the-Sun-God-Re." The name is "spelled" with different combinations of hieroglyphs in the scenes carved at this time.

He also spelled his personal name in two different ways. Sometimes he was Ra-mes-su, like his father Ramesses I, elsewhere the cartouche is in the more familiar written Ra-mess-es

 

In the south east corner of the hall, Ramesses  inscriptions have been partly sheltered from sunlight and weather. Much of the original colors are preserved, giving us a partial view of the Hypostyle Hall's original brilliance.

Sometime during his second year on the throne, Ramesses II decided on the final form of his cartouches.  Now, Ra-mess-es was used consistently.  He had also been experimenting with adding different epithets on to his throne name. His final choice was Setep-en-Re, "The-Chosen-One-of-Re."  The full throne name was therefore always written User-Maat-Re-Setep-en-Re until the end of his reign.

Once he had decided the permanent form of his cartouches, Ramesses II went about making the different styles of decoration in the south wing of the Hall uniform.  Both he and his father had made some bas relief decoration here. This was all converted to sunk relief.  The cartouches of Seti I along with the earlier form of his own cartouches were all changed to the final version.  By detecting all these changes, Egyptologists have been able to discover the order in which the decoration in the south wing was completed.

                   

Although Ramesses II seemed to show little respect for his father Seti I by taking credit for his inscriptions in the southern wing of the Hypostyle Hall, other reliefs show this was not the case. 

In several reliefs Ramesses carved there, he is shown conducting the offering ritual for his deceased father who is portrayed as a deified king. Although Seti looks like any other king at first glance, he always holds an ankh-sign, the symbol of life usually carried only by the gods.

The Ramesside 19th Dynasty was only a decade old when Ramesses II came to the throne. They came from a line of military officers after the old 18th Dynasty had died out. But their legitimacy might still be challenged. Just as Seti I had done by honoring Ramesses I on the west wall, Ramesses II honored Seti on the south wall. Each wanted to show that he was the son of a pharaoh, no matter how brief his father's reign had been. Only the son of a pharaoh could become pharaoh

Building the great hypostyle Hall and Decorating the Walls

The Egyptian construction method using ramps and embankments to raise tall buildings

To construct the Hypostyle Hall, the builders laid down the foundations and then the bases of all the columns and the lowest course of blocks for the walls.  Next, they buried the whole area with earth. The next course of stones for all the columns and walls were then laid down and they too were buried. mud brick rams were added to allow the builders to drag the next layer of stone.

The process was completed until the highest part of the roof was finished.  The Hyposytle Hall was structurally complete, but there was still much work to do. 

Egyptian construction method. On the left, rough blocks are set in place and an earth embankment is raised.  On the right, the embankment is being removed and the masons are smoothing down the walls.

The masons who quarried the blocks only smoothed down the tops and bottoms so they would fit neatly on the walls. The outer surfaces of the blocks were left rough.  The next stage of construction was to remove the earth fill and ramps.

During this "one-way ride" to the ground, the masons carefully smoothed the walls down.  Some blocks were too rough and had to be patched with plaster or cut back so that patch stones could be placed over them.

Modern painting showing sculptors and painters decorating the building before the earth fill has been removed. This theory is now outdated.

For many years, Egyptologists assumed that the sculptors were carving the scenes immediately after the masons smoothed the walls as the earth embankments and ramps were removed. 

Recent research has shown that in the Hypostyle Hall and in other temples, the walls were not decorated until the last of the construction embankments were removed and the walls entirely smooth. 

 

By following the historical chronology of the inscriptions, we can see that scaffolds must have been used.   In the Karnak Hypostyle Hall, we know that Seti I carved his inscriptions first and that Ramesses II's reliefs are later, after Seti had died.

If the old theory was true, then Seti's inscriptions should be found on the upper half of all the walls and columns, with Ramesses II's being on the lower half. This is not what we see.

Seti's reliefs are found in the northern wing of the Hall with some in the northern part of the south wing. Ramesses II's reliefs are all in the south wing. Each king's reliefs are found from the base of the walls and columns to the top.  The only way to explain this is if they used scaffolds.  

Sculptors using a wooden scaffold to finish a colossal statue. From the Theban tomb of Rekhmire.

Scaffolding appears in a painting from the tomb of an 18th Dynasty official called Rekhmire. It is used to decorate a colossal statue of the king.  The scene also shows the construction method using ramps and embankments.

The only part of the Hall to be decorated before the construction rams were dismantled was the clerestory.  Since the clerestory was 24 meters (80 ft) off the ground, it made sense to inscribe it while the embankments provided a convenient way to reach it.

After that, scaffolding was used to decorate the columns, and again when Ramesses II later changed the decoration of the clerestory-- unless you believe he buried the whole building just to change some inscriptions!

Function and Meaning of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall

Seti I kneels to receive symbols of life, dominion and "millions of jubilees" from the falcon-headed sun god Re-Horakhty and the lion-headed goddess Weret-hekau. In return for his devotion, the gods promised the pharaoh an eternal kingship

"The God's Living Room"

The Karnak Hypostyle Hall can best be seen as a glorified vestibule, and even an introduction to the inner parts of Karnak temple beyond. Every wall and column inside is covered with inscriptions, displaying virtually a cross-section of what took place here. On some walls we see a sampling of the rituals that took place at Karnak. On others there are episodes of the festivals that were celebrated here, or at nearby temples. 

       Seti I defeating Libyan Tribesmen. War scene on the north wall of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall

 

War scenes on the exterior walls not only glorified the king as a warrior, they magically protected the temple by showing the forces of chaos- the enemy- defeated by the forces of cosmic order, called Maat led by the king himself.

Ramesses II offers four calves to the god Amun-Re. 

 

Endless scenes like this one of the king making offerings to the gods cover the walls and columns inside the Hypostyle Hall. In return for worship and offerings, the gods gave "life, prosperity, and health" to the king and to Egypt. Pharaoh plaid a unique role as the sole mediator between humanity and the divine world.

 

On a theological level, this forest of columns reproduced the primeval marsh that grew up on the first mound of land at the dawn of creation. It is a model of the Egyptian cosmos

Temples were designed to reflect these connections between the human and cosmic spheres. The Great Hypostyle Hall itself is not only an enormous replica of the sort of columned hall that, in private houses, was the master's receiving room: its 134 columns, modeled on open and closed stalks of papyrus, represent the marsh that stood at the edge of the island where creation first took place, making the temple as a whole a microcosm of the world as it was and, in essence, ever would be