Lecture Notes: Amun Temples and Mortuary Complexes (Mentuhotep, Hatshepsut, Karnak, Luxor)

The temple is described as being built by Pacheco, and it is her mortuary temple within the Egyptian pantheon in the fourth kingdom.
Over approximately two thousand years, as new gods were introduced to the pantheon, Ra becomes fused with the god Amun to form Amun-Ra (Amun Re). By the New Kingdom, Amun-Ra is the chief god.
The sphinxes along the avenue leading up to the complex are aligned on this route; they are shown in the foreground.
The temple itself is said to glorify Hermione (as referenced in the transcript).

The temple is reached by moving past a row of sphinxes and ascending a long ramp to the upper terrace.
Drawings illustrate a progression similar to Mantuhotep/Mentuhotep II’s temple, suggesting a shared architectural logic.
For Hacatesev (the site discussed), the temple is larger, grander, and more impressive than earlier examples.

On the upper terrace, there are two colonnades on either side of the next ramp: the Punt colonnade (left) and the Birth colonnade (right).
The wall behind the Pont/colonnade is decorated with carved reliefs depicting trading activities, underscoring trade as a hallmark of peaceful lands.
The Birth colonnade features images of Amun’s divine birth, emphasizing her status as daughter of Amun.

A second ramp leads to a colonnaded court.
The route ends at a false door painted on the sanctuary wall, carved directly into the cliff face.
The terrace would historically be planted with incense trees, envisioned as a garden or earthly paradise for Amun.
The setting is described as sublime: a stark contrast between the temple’s crisp geometric forms and the jagged cliff face.
The termination of the processional axis at the false door of the tomb implies burial within the mountain, giving a sense of the eternal for the goddess, with the cliff painted red by the morning sun.
A final plan drawing shows how the temple is embedded into the cliffside.

The mortuary complexes at Mentuhotep and Hatshepsut are oriented to the Nile River.
Temples to prophets were built on the opposite side of the river.
The annual ritual involved a statue of Amun being born on a boat that travels across the Nile from the Eastern Bank (land of the living) to the sky (west), illustrating the Nile as a metaphorical boundary between living and dead.

The temples to Amun at Karnak and Luxor are massive complexes, oriented parallel to the river.
Karnak Temple is perpendicular to the river, while Luxor Temple is roughly aligned with the river.
Daily purification rituals were performed in a large pool at the temple complex.
The temple can be entered from two directions: coming up from the river or moving north, parallel to the riverbank, from Luxor.

When accessed from the south (from Luxor), the approach is marked by a sequence of massive gateways called pylons.
The sides of the pylons slope, being thicker at the bottom than at the top, creating a metaphorical threshold into the sacred precinct.

The Luxor Temple plan is discussed, with construction activity spanning from roughly April (start) to December (end), and the bulk of work occurring around March.
Ramses II is depicted with statues seated before the massive structure that marks the entry to the temple complex.
An obelisk is present on the left; obelisks are stone monoliths with a square base, tapering sides, and a pyramidal tip.
The transcript emphasizes how in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was common to relocate large architectural elements (e.g., obelisks, statues) to fill European and American museums and to support urban planning schemes.

The speaker notes that erasing and displacing artifacts was, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, an acceptable practice used to fill European and American museums and urban planning schemes.
The movement of monuments included transporting pieces north along the Nile, such as from Karnak to Luxor, by boat in a large priestly procession.

The lecture references a processional route described by Spiro Kostof (Kostov in the transcript), which had been mentioned in the previous lecture.
The instructor invites students to pause their notes to read a passage by Spiro Kostof describing the processional route.

The transcript ends with an instruction to pause and read a passage by Spiro Kostof to describe the processional route more fully.
The reference to Kostof anchors the discussion in architectural history scholarship and emphasizes the ceremonial procession aspects of the temples.