Early history of Karnak temple

For nearly two millennia the temples of Karnak were one of the religious and political capitals of ancient Egypt.

The Karnak Temple complex comprises a vast mix of temples, chapels and other buildings. Its construction began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued during the Ptolemaic period. The temple was the main place of worship the Sun God, Amun-Re who, among other prerogatives, guaranteed the rightful transmission of royalty. This complex has therefore received special attention from those who attempted to, or actually gained, power, each ruler seeking to leave his contribution in the temple of the “father” from whom he derived part of his legitimacy to govern.

Egyptologists initially suspected that a temple existed at the site as early as the Old Kingdom. Some scholars suggest that the earliest form of the temple would have dated back to the 3rd or 4th Dynasty, the initial period in the ascension of Thebes. This early temple would have been dedicated to the individual god Amun rather than the syncretized deity “Amun-Ra.”

Senusret I, second king of the powerful 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom must have decided that the god who had led his predecessors to victory deserved a more elaborate temple than that left by the Intef family of early Old Kingdom. On the site of the 11th Dynasty buildings (and possibly a phase dated to Amenemhat I, the king before him), Senusret I erected a large limestone temple, pierced by four doorways with red granite thresholds.
Early history of Karnak temple