Karnak during the Graeco-Roman Period

The blog post for this week has been written by Jan Stremme, who is a member of the Egyptian Study Society in Denver, Colorado. She has no formal studies in Egyptology, but has enjoyed a very informal education for over thirty years. While not very tech savvy, she believes that the Egypt Centre classes have been the best thing to come out of the COVID pandemic. She has even been known to stay awake for an occasional 2:00AM lecture!

When COVID-19 forced us all into lockdown, I knew I’d have to embrace twenty-first century technology in order to survive. However, one advantage to the Zoom world is that it has given me access to a world of new experiences, like the Karnak class from the Egypt Centre. Week 5 concentrated on the Graeco-Roman Period (fig. 1). As Dr. Griffin pointed out, many people tune out when Egyptology gets into this period. Because it’s not as popular, I had previously learned less about this period in my explorations. Therefore, this week’s class helped me fill in a few blanks, and they seem quite interesting to me. 

Fig. 1: Recently cleaned relief in the Opet Temple

The Graeco-Roman pharaohs did not build on a massive scale at Karnak. It is not that these people were incapable of building: Philae, Edfu, and Dendera prove they were. For whatever reason however, they chose to invest their efforts at Karnak on restoration and redecoration. It is interesting how their attitudes towards restoration varied. For example, when Alexander the Great restored the Akhmenu, he chose to keep the old style and existing themes of the walls. They are completed in beautiful raised relief. He even left the name of Thutmose III on one wall—quite a tribute, considering the usual tendency to over write and claim the works of predecessors. However, on another wall, he showed himself offering to the gods, with his cartouche carved above. As a result, it is not always easy to spot the recreations based on style alone. Clues include skin-tight robes and prominent breasts (which I associate with the Ptolemaic era), contemporary clothing, and of course the new hieroglyphs to accommodate the new language. In one inscription dating to the time of Augustus, the indicators for “Lord of the Two Lands” included a pair of seated kings, one with the crown of Upper Egypt and the second with the crown of Lower Egypt. In addition, a bull over two scarabs read as “Lord of the Two Lands” (fig. 2). These symbols were not new to me, but they were used in new ways. The inscription also contains one of the few instances where Rome is mentioned by name the name hrm. 

Fig. 2: Roman hieroglyphs at the Opet Temple

It is also interesting that wall scenes began to include the ruler’s wives, mothers, and/or sisters in deified form on the same scale as the gods. Imhotep, the famous “architect” of Djoser, is deified for his healing skills (fig. 3). Perhaps the lines between the realm of the Gods and mortal men were becoming a little more blurred? I found it interesting that when Ptolemy VIII modified the Eastern Temple he “unveiled that which was veiled. Since his Majesty had made it open to all.” Might this indicate a more inclusive attitude toward religion? 

Fig. 3: Plaster cast in the Egypt Centre (EC1959) of a relief from the Ptah Temple depicting Ptolemy III Euergetes I offering to Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu

At the end of class, we saw a graphic from Digital Karnak, which attempted to show how the temple grew and changed over the centuries. This was quite a helpful graphic. After taking the class, I definitely want to see Karnak again—now that I have a better understanding. A bonus for this class has been the e-mailed supplementary materials, including pdfs and other useful links. I have enjoyed “meeting” Dr Griffin, Sam Powell, and a few other members of the Egypt Centre team online. This has been my silver lining to the COVID-19 cloud!