A towering tribute to the gods: Karnak

U.S. News

In 1799, French soldiers trudged south along the Nile, dispatched by the Emperor Napoleon to secure Upper Egypt. With them were artists, engineers, and scientists, commissioned to sketch and record everything they saw. On January 27, they caught their first, stunning glimpse of Karnak, rising defiant from the sands. "Without an order being given," wrote one lieutenant, "the men formed their ranks and presented arms, to the accompaniment of the drums and the bands."

Karnak's awe-inspiring power is timeless, a tribute to those who built and understood it as the sacred home of the gods. Perhaps the largest religious complex ever constructed, Karnak was called Ipet Isut, "the most select of places." Over the course of two millenniums, it was enlarged and enriched by consecutive pharaohs until it comprised 247 acres on the Nile's east bank. Centered on the Temple of Amun (begun in the 11th dynasty, 2134-1991 B.C.), it was more than a group of structures dedicated to different gods. Within Karnak's precincts were administrative offices, treasuries, palaces, bakeries, breweries, granaries, and schools.