passageway leading to a terrace. Inside, at the upper end,
was a gate that led to a paved courtyard 250 feet across and
330 feet long. Additionally, the temple had a large rectangu-
lar podium that was exposed to the sun. Its sides sloped in-
ward, and the structure was built out of limestone on a base
of granite. On top of the podium was a limestone obelisk,
or a tapered pillar with a pyramid at the top (similar to the
Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.). Th is obelisk
symbolized the sun god. An immense alabaster altar, built of
a single huge circular block of stone, lay to the east of the obe-
lisk. A small chapel was located at the base of the obelisk. At
the sides of the entrance were two large basins and two stela
(stone slab or pillar) made of granite.
OBELISKS
Obelisks, or tall tapered columns with pyramid-shaped caps,
were a common feature of ancient Egyptian architecture. Th e
temple at Heliopolis began the trend, and most temples built
aft erward featured obelisks, typically one on either side of a
temple gate. In some cases, a single obelisk, representing the
creative power of the sun, was built in the center of a temple.
Most weighed hundreds of tons, and little is known about
how they were transported or put in place. Th e largest surviv-
ing obelisk, weighing 1,000 tons, was never completed and
still lies in the quarry near Aswān.THE TEMPLE AT KARNAK
Th e world largest religious structure is the temple at Karnak,
located just north of the city of Luxor. Karnak is a modern
name; at the time of its construction it was called Ipet-sut, a
name that means “Th e Most Sacred of Places.” While much of
the temple is damaged, parts of it remain intact, and it is one
of the most popular tourist sites in Egypt. It is possible that
the Temple of Ptah in Memphis was larger still, and numer-Facade of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel (Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)
architecture: Egypt 59