Karnak Temple covers about 247 acres and was developed over roughly 2,000 years, from around 2000 BCE through the Ptolemaic period. Its Great Hypostyle Hall contains 134 columns. Akhenaten closed the traditional temples and moved the capital to Amarna; afterward, the Aten complex was dismantled and some stone reused at Karnak. Cylindrical drill holes, some about 8 inches across, have spiral striations associated with tubular copper drills and abrasive grit. Flinders Petrie documented such drilling evidence. The video argues that the holes reflect more advanced ancient drilling, but that is not an established archaeological conclusion.
Karnak Temple: 247 Acres, 2,000 Years and Ancient Drill Holes
EgyptGeneral
Key facts
- Karnak covers about 100 hectares (247 acres).
- Karnak was enlarged from around 2000 BCE through the Ptolemaic period—roughly 2,000 years, not nearly 3,000.
- The Great Hypostyle Hall contains 134 columns.
- Akhenaten closed the traditional temples and moved the capital to Amarna; after his reign, the Aten monuments there were dismantled and some stone was reused at Karnak.
- The cylindrical drill holes, some about 8 inches across, have spiral striations consistent with tubular copper drills and abrasive grit.
- Flinders Petrie associated such marks with tubular drilling; the assertion that he said the mechanical action could not be reproduced is inaccurate.
Sources
Karnak Temple - Egypt Tour Magicegypttourmagic.com
Stretching across two hundred acres of the Theban East Bank, Karnak is the largest religious complex ever constructed by human hands, a sprawling labyrinth of ...
Karnak Temple Egypt: Luxor's Largest Temple & Visitor Guideweroad.com
Located on Luxor's East Bank, the Karnak Temple Complex is the largest religious site ever built, covering more than 200 acres. Rather than one ...
Middle Kingdom Monuments Karnak: The City of Templesegyptianmuseum.org
Its size covers an area of over one hundred hectares (247 acres) and is bigger than some ancient Egyptian cities. It is the largest temple construction in ...
Karnak Temple - Discovering Egyptdiscoveringegypt.com
It is the largest religious building ever made, covering about 200 acres (1.5 km by 0.8 km), and was a place of pilgrimage for nearly 2,000 years. The area of ...
Karnak - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
(1.2 acres) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ; ft) tall, and the other 12 are 21 ...
Karnak Temple - Streaming thru Americastreamingthruamerica.com
Our tour of Luxor began with a visit to the Karnak Temple Complex, encompassing 247 acres, and considered the largest religious structure ever ...
The temple of Karnakranasafvi.com
... 247 acres of land. Karnak is actually the site's modern name, after the modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5 km north of Luxor. Its ancient name was Ipet ...
Karnak Templenile-cruise-egypt.com
largest Temple in the World. s located about three kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt situated on 100 ha (247 acres) of land. was built and enlarged over a ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.