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Karnak King List

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8-631: The Karnak King List , a list of early Egyptian kings engraved in stone, was located in the southwest corner of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III , in the middle of the Precinct of Amun-Re , in the Karnak Temple Complex , in modern Luxor , Egypt . Composed during the reign of Thutmose III , it listed sixty-one kings beginning with Sneferu from Egypt 's Old Kingdom . Only the names of thirty-nine kings are still legible, and one

16-577: A German expedition directed by Egyptologist Karl Lepsius was traveling up the Nile River to Karnak. A French adventurer, Émile d'Avennes , dismantled and stole the blocks containing the king list one night in order to secure it for France , and sent it home. Severely damaged, it is now on display at the Louvre in Paris . The list features the name of the pharaoh followed by the actual one inscribed on

24-517: Is not written in a cartouche (a border used normally to surround the name of a king). It is not a complete list of the Egyptian pharaohs , as other kings are known from other ancient lists, but this list is valuable as it contains the names of kings of the First and Second Intermediate Periods , which are omitted in most other king lists. It was first described by James Burton in 1825. In 1843,

32-517: The Precinct of Amun-Re , in the Karnak Temple Complex . The edifice is normally translated as "the most glorious of monuments", but "monument to living spirit" is an alternative translation since akh can mean either glory or blessed/living spirit (For instance, Akhenaten is often translated as "living spirit of Aten"). The Festival Hall of Thutmose III is situated at the end of the Middle Kingdom court, with its axis at right-angles to

40-596: The 'Hry-ib', or that which is at the heart of it . The only original entrance was in the south-west corner. The walls contain the Botanical garden of Thutmosis III . In a small room off of the main hall, there is a room referred to as the Chamber of Ancestors, where a large inscription, the Karnak king list , shows Thutmose III making offerings to his 61 ancestors. The originals of these were removed and are now located in

48-457: The list. The list comprises three sections and is divided at the center. The numbering follows Lepsius, counting from the sides, toward the center. Pharaohs that are known have the damaged part of the inscribed name in parenthesis. Festival Hall of Thutmose III The Festival Hall of Thutmose III ( Akh-menu ) is an ancient shrine in Luxor ( Thebes ), Egypt . It is located at the heart of

56-418: The main east–west axis of the temple. It was originally built to celebrate the jubilee ( Heb-Sed ) of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Thutmose III , and later became used as part of the annual Opet Festival . It is seemingly decorated to echo a huge tent shrine, complete with awnings and tent poles. Located in this temple, the Karnak king list shows Thutmose III with some of the earlier kings that built parts of

64-407: The temple complex. Built at the eastern end of Karnak's main axis, and enclosed in its own walls, this building is little understood and its exact purpose is still unclear. It consists of three main parts, a suite of rooms dedicated to Sokar to the south-east, a solar complex to the north-east and the festival hall itself, from which the other areas of the building can be reached. This is known as

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