karnak

 

 we have a contemporary description of the image of the barque .That does not seem to exaggerate the beauty of this boat, and even omits the delicate reliefs the decorate its hull and still retain some traces of the yellow paint that was used to depict the vessel's gold coating. We know from the Harris papyrus that the barque Userhat was around 68 meters long.
We see in the center of the boat the naos which contained the sacred barque of Amun, which is placed on a pedestal preceded by a staircase holding up the masts and the obelisks. Before this pedestal are three jackal headed figures and seven Nile gods who worship Amun. In the rear behind the naos the king is navigating the boat by holding the steering oar himself. The king also appears in the front of the boat, offering gifts of vegetables and purification incense.
A human-headed sphinx with a cheetah body is perched on his roost atop the wedjat eye that is apparently always to be found on the prow of the barques. Between the sphinx and the king sits an offering table. It should be noted that all of this scene has been reworked by Amenhotep III. Originally the two royal representations were smaller and traces of these earlier scenes remain on the prow, on the offering table and toward the stern on the flabellum held by the ankh.

 

There may have originally been the two smaller barques of Khonsu and Mut behind the naos, as in the barque of Seti I in the Hypostyle hall, but if so, there images have been carefully removed, whereas those of the two original kings were preserved.
The inside part of the royal boat that towed the barque of Userhat at the end of a rope is the only section of that depiction which has survived. Originally, there were sixty oarsmen that propelled it, though only those of the back section can still be seen. They are profiled on the immense cabin that is adorned with a double frieze of ovals and uraei.
Four priests are leaning with their faces turned toward the stern between the first oarsman and the standing king. Two of the priests hold censers and flabellums.
On a small kiosk situated toward the prow, the king was depicted striking down and treading upon Egypt's enemies.
On the south wing at the rear (east face) of the third pylon of Amenhotep III is inscribed a very long text of some seventy-one vertical lines, though only the lower section survives. A sample of this text reads:
"He is one who taketh thought, who maketh wise with knowledge...without his like, the good shepherd vigilant for all people...

searching bodies, knowing that which is in the heart, whose fame apprehends the (evil)...

adorning the splendid Great House of him who began him, with monuments of beauty and splendor forever"
Hence, this text apparently proclaims Amenhotep III's accomplishments and qualities.

karnak

This is the so called magic image of Amun. Here, the pharaoh is referred to as per-aa in the two cartouches, and he is making libation in the presence of a very strange image. The representation has the head of Amun, wearing a crown topped by a solar disk surmounted by two large feathers, which emerge from a goatskin bottle embraced by the extended wings of Ma'at. In turn, this depiction surmounts a pedestal crowned by a uraeus, in front of which is a lion whose chest comes up to the level of the shafts. It would seem that this "magic image of Amun" was perhaps paraded during processions. This scene then sits upon a table fronting a series of lotuses, each of which is giving birth to a new lotus framed by two buds.

karnak

 

There are only three registers that are visible today. The two lower registers begin at the western edge with acts of conquest, after which the king begins his return journey home as the scenes move toward the temple entrance, where he presents his defeated enemies to Amun. On each side of the doorway the scenes expand in height so that they take up the first two registers, and represent the "ritual massacre of the vanquished". At the east end of the southern wall is carved the narration of the Battle of Kadesh in a long text of vertical columns below a large scene in which the king and the princes are bringing a bound group of prisoners
 before Amun.

In addition to the reliefs concerning the Battle of Kadesh, there is also, on the wall protruding from the exterior southern wall of the Hypostyle hall, reliefs that depict the surrender of the fortress of Askalon. This was a city about ten miles north of Gaza and about 40 miles south of Joppa. This scene depicts the pharaoh's soldiers staving in the doors of the fortress with axes, while others scale it by means of ladders. Also, on a nearby hill, Egyptian soldiers are exterminating the fleeing enemy.

Northern Wall
This wall, divided by a doorway, depicts combat at both of its extremes, and then converge toward the center doorway with the king's victorious return to the temple of Amun.

The southern exterior wall of the Hypostyle hall  records several military campaigns of Set I into the Levant, as well as one battle with the Libyans in the west.
 we see scenes depicting the taking of the fortress of Pekanan. They begin with the king's departure from Raphia (now Rafah or Rafiah) for the desert road. This is followed by the Bedouin's ambush and scenes depicting the waterholes along the desert path. The next scene heading west depicts return of Seti I to the Egyptian boarder, followed by the offering of booty to Amun. Beyond this and next to the doorway is a scene, taking up both upper and lower registers, depicting the ritual massacre of the vanquished.
 the wall scenes on the eastern facade of the wall depict the "new version of the great chieftains of Lebanon". depicts the capture of Yamoam, followed by the binding of the vanquished. Next comes a scene showing the capturing of prisoners, followed by the offering of booty to the Theban triad.
On the western half of the northern wall, the lowest of three registers on the western end, begin by depicts an archery battle against the Kheta (Hittites), followed by the return to Egypt with Khetan captives. Further east we find the offering of booty to the gods, Amun, Sekhmet-Mut, Khonsu and Ma'at. This in turn is followed by another portrayal next to the doorway, two registers high, of the ritual massacre of the prisoners before Amun, which mirrors that on the western half of the doorway.

 

  scenes, represent  javelin combat against the Libyans. This is followed by the return to Egypt with Libyan captives, and the offering of booty to the Theban triad.
 scenes with archery combat at Kadesh, the land of Amor. Finally, above the scene depicting the ritual slaughter of the vanquished ,another scene depicting tribute that is being presented to this temple.
In this final scene of slaughter, the king wears the red crown of the North, and holds a dozen prisoners tied together by their hair. The king holds them secure with his right hand, while with his left he brandishes the white hedj club. Before him stands the god Amun, presenting the harpagon in his right hand while in his left holding the key of life and the bonds of the prisoners with the escutcheons representing the conquered towns. Amun speaks the words:
O my son of my body...
I bring to thee the chiefs of the southern countries...
(I turn) my face to the north, I work a wonder (for thee), snaring the rebels in their nests...
I turn my face to the east, I work a wonder for thee,
I bind them all for thee, gathered in thy grasp...
I turn my face to the west, I work a wonder for thee,
consuming for thee every land of Tehenu...
I turn my face to heaven, I work a wonder for thee....The gods of the horizon of heaven acclaim to thee when Ra is born every morning...
I turn my face to the earth, (I work a wonder for thee, I appoint for thee victories in every country).
on the upper register the king has removed his warrior attribute and is now clad in a triangular apron and wears upon his forehead a diadem. Here, he offers the sacred lettuce to Amun-Re, here the ithyphallic prince of Thebes, who is followed by Isis.
Below, on the lower register, the king is clad in a long linen robe and presents bouquets of lotus flowers to Amun, who walks before Ptah. These sunk reliefs were completed by Ramesses II. On the door splay, the king wears the blue war helmet and is depicted as he enters the doorway with the key of life in his left hand and his right hand extended towards Amun. This carving has been reworked on several occasions.

karnak

the king is wearing the blue helmet and a long coat. He stands before the barque of Amun, which terminates with a ram's head crowned with a disk, spraying incense. The barque is supported by a stretcher that is carried on the shoulders of three groups of five falcon-headed figures in the front and thirteen jackal-headed figures in the back. These are the spirits of Pe and Nekhen, though some Egyptologists have suggested that these are real priests wearing jackal and sparrow hawk masks, a notion that has been hotly debated. If indeed priests wore masks in some of the ceremonies, they must be clearly distinguished from the depictions in the sanctuaries where animal headed figures are "functional principles" and certainly not masked officials.

The king facing the barque of Amun

In the center of the scene, the first prophet of Amun, the king Usermaatre Setepenre, clad in a panther skin, accompanies the barque. Scholars who have studied this representation believe that the scene was first sculpted in relief, by either Seti I or Ramesses II, and then, with the exception of the naos and the king's face, was entirely re-carved in sunk relief, preserving the traces of the original scene.
Within the upper part of the naos is the ram-headed Amun. He rests upon a lotus and the mer sign, and is overshadowed by two winged Ma'ats placed on the men sign and holding the user symbols in their hands. In the middle part of this representation, Ra is also present. He his placed on the men, and is also holding the user symbol in his hand rather than the feather of Ma'at that his holds in the north naos.

 the king as an older man. He is represented in a large naos in the lower register, which encloses the entire scene. To his left is a deity wearing the disk in the lunar crescent on his head and holding all the scepters in his and except for the wadj. Before the king, Amun is seated and holding the was scepter and the palm of the years in his left hand. Amun's right hand extends to the king the hek and nekhakha scepters, which is for the renewal of the king. Behind Amun, Mut is blessing the king and holding a double palm of the years in her right hand, from which are hanging eight sed renewal festival symbols.
Above this scene in the second register we find the king sacrificing the oryx, which is placed on a table of offerings adorned with the djed pillar of Osiris and the knot of Isis, alternating with each other. The Theban triad is also present in this scene. The oryx is one of the forms of Seth capable of devouring the Eye of Horus, and there are various mythological passages concerning this beast. There are countless allusions in the Ritual of the Daily Divine Worship concerning the sacrifice of the Sethian oryx (in this instance, white), which symbolizes the last phases of the re-conquest of the Eye of Horus. Hence, this scene is all about renewal and the sacrifice of the oryx is indispensable in the ceremony of the sed festival.

the Hypostyle Hall

 a scene of bird hunting with nets. The image represents a pool in the midst of a papyrus thicket out of which seven ducks are flying. The net had been open, but on the signal given by Thoth with his scarf, they are now closed over the captured birds. This scene is interesting in that it is repeated in many private tombs, where peasants close the net under the watchful eye of their master. Here, the texts describes Thoth as the "master of the city of Eight" who presides in Hesret at the heart of the "temple of nets". This refers to the sanctuary located in Heliopolis and therefore named in memory of the place where Seth was captured in a net by Horus. Furthermore, Thoth administers the "snaring" operation and it is said that he extends his two arms like a bow in order to unfurl the strip of cloth. The text goes on to explain that Thoth has crossed the swamp filled with birds, and has set a trap so that the fowl may be offered to the gods. In fact, just beyond, the red-crowned king holds three birds in each hand that he is presenting to Amun, from who he receives all life and "enlargement of heart".

karnak

In the next series of scenes on this wall, in the upper register and clearly defined, we find the king kneeling on the sma symbol. He is flanked by Thoth, master of the city of the Eight (Heliopolis) on the left and Horus, great god, master of Mesen.t. Hence, the king is joining the Two Lands of the North and South "under his feet", and the gods are assuring him of the monarchy. The horizontal bar on which the king is kneeling always indicates a significant measurement.
In the lower register, the barque of Amun is resting in a large naos (of which only a small part of the uraei frieze of the dais can be seen). Before it sits the barques of Khonsu and Mut. All of these wall sculptures are rendered in sunk relief, with the exception of the naos of the barque.

karnak

the Race of the Apis Bull which is often associated with the king's sed festival. This well known ceremony is for the first time found mentioned on the Palermo Stone in regard to several archaic kings, and afterwards, on a cylinder of Horus Den, the fourth king of the 1st Dynasty, we have the first known testimony of the Apis race.During the inauguration of a monument, the sacred bull Hap, at times accompanied the king during his race, as in the image on the second register at this point on the wall. Some inscriptions provide that "the king gives the land four times", implying that this ritual race was made around the area of the temple, once for each direction. Here, this is a double scene that is often found on the lintels of doorways that provide access to the sanctuaries of temples. On one side the king wears the red crown and on the other side, the white crown. Clearly visible, the king on the right holds two libation vessels. Behind him the two symbols of heaven, cut in half, are crowning the symbols of the the bull.
On the far left of this same register, Usermaatre, who wears the curling locks of a crown prince is clad in a panther skin. he holds the censer in one hand while he presents "food" to Menmaatre ( Seti I), who is standing on a pedestal in a naos, as an equal of a god. Hence, Ramesses II is paying homage to his father.
On the bottom register below these scenes, a column of text behind the barques of Khonsu and Mut, inform us that Menmaatre, maa kheru, accompanied his father Amun into the splendid temple Seti-beloved-of Ptah in the house of Amun. Hence, Seti I is depicted walking behind the sacred barques, in the same direction as the gods, and he is qualified as maa kheru (vindicated), which indicates that the king "was brought up to heaven and that he has rejoined He who has created him".