For the Egyptians, the Temple of Karnak was known as the Ipet-Sut – the “Most Select of Places”. Even today these majestic ruins, which constitute one of the largest religious precincts ever built, reverberate with echoes of this ancient name, and a deeply sacred past.
The Temple of Karnak
This hugely outstanding collection of monuments is unparalleled anywhere in Egypt. For most visitors, there is simply too much to see here, with the average tour barely lasting long enough to scratch the surface. Even within the temple’s pièce de résistance, the grand Hypostyle Hall, tour parties hardly have time to recover from the hypnotizing power conjured up by this ambitious forest of columns, before they are whisked off down its imposing central nave to marvel at the next architectural treasure on offer.
Interior of Hypostyle Hall
I don’t propose to dwell here on the achievements of the ancient architects and engineers responsible for the construction of the Hypostyle Hall, suffice it to say that this was probably the most ambitious building project of the reign of Seti I (c. 1296-1279 B.C.). The subject of this short piece is to draw the reader’s attention to the magnificent series of imposing battle scenes that Seti had carved in his honour on the exterior northern wall of the hall.
Seti astride his chariot
Following any Egyptian success on the battlefield, the engines of the empire’s vast propaganda machines would have been fired into action in an effort to maximum public exposure for Pharaoh’s physical and military prowess. Throughout the New Kingdom (c. 1549-1064 B.C.), the exterior walls of many temples often served as giant billboards, ablaze with the king’s personal achievements and (to a far lesser extent) those of his armies.
Pharaoh smiting his enemies
Here on the external wall of the Hypostyle Hall, Seti I celebrated the success of a series of military campaigns conducted against the Syrians and Libyans. Known collectively as his “Northern Wars”, these richly realistic scenes provide an (unfortunately) incomplete documentary record concerning a number of wars fought by the king in the early years of his reign.
The wall was originally divided into six individual registers, three either side of the central doorway leading into the hall. Five of the original six registers have survived, with the upper register of the east side having been completely destroyed. The actual number of separate campaigns being celebrated here is still open to debate. So too is the dating of these events, with only one scene bearing a date in Seti’s first regnal year.
The action of each register starts at its outer edge and runs inwards towards the central doorway. Typically, they begin with Pharaoh preparing for war, followed by the main event – the battle – and ending with the king presenting the spoils of war before Amenre on his return to the Temple of Karnak.
From a historical and political perspective, these reliefs, and their accompanying inscriptions, are hugely significant. They are a clear testament to the vigour with which Seti sought to repair Egyptian domination in the northern territories of Syria-Palestine and in the west, along the Mediterranean seaboard into modern-day Libya. For anyone interested in military history, or in Egypt’s response to the growing opposition to her interests in these regions at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty, then these striking reliefs are a “must-see”.