Karnak

Karnak in Selestor’s Men of Atlantis

Selestor’s Men of Atlantis tells that some Atlanteans fled to Egypt before Atlantis sank. One of them was an ancestor of the narrator. They came during the reign of Osiris and built Karnak, a grand city of pillars and arches. Karnak is now in ruins. It reflects a lost age of greatness under the stars. This is a paraphrase of the book (Selestor’s Men of Atlantis).

The timeline of the OAHSPE Bible places the reign of Osiris from about 7,250 BCE to about 3,950 BCE. Apollo begat him. He is linked with idols and heavenly figures like Vishnu, Etau, Ram and Osiris in Orachnebauhgalah.

The Karnak Passage Retold

The passage gives a mystical, poetic account. It claims that the knowledge to build Karnak came from Atlantis. An Atlantean, an ancestor of the father of the narrator, wrote the secrets on parchment. These were how to hew huge pillars from rock and the “way of reading poise”, meaning the principles of balance and construction. His sons carried on this knowledge.

While Atlantis still stood in glory, this ancestor and a band of others fled by boat. They reached Egypt during the reign of the young Osiris. Osiris ruled the state that his father had founded on the shores of Egypt. This Atlantean skill made the building of Karnak possible.

The book describes Karnak as a place of unmatched grandeur. Its pillared arches seem to touch the sky. They came from a mind that drew sublime thoughts “from atom’s realm” into solid, beautiful form. Karnak became a vast city of palaces, temples and tombs.

The text stresses its tragic fate. A “stern decree” ties it to the Ages. It is now a set of roofless ruins. Night, stars and the mocking moon shine through broken arches and pillars. Only fragments remain, speaking “in tongue of ruin.”

The mood of the first builders still lingers around the crumbling stones. It is a tantalizing yet cold and gnawing reminder of a lost age. The book shows human greatness as a “mock” in the end, impressive but not lasting. In its time, though, Karnak stood like a warrior’s shield. It fiercely guarded the great treasures in its temples, “emeralds” in particular, from greedy invaders.

The book frames Karnak as a surviving monument of Atlantean engineering and spiritual greatness, not as a purely Egyptian achievement. It is ruined now, yet it still calls up that vanished glory.

Scott-Elliot on Karnak and Teotihuacan

W. Scott-Elliot compares the ruins of Mexico and Yucatan with those of Egypt. He sets the ruins of Teotihuacan beside Karnak. He also points to the same false arch, burial mounds, serpent mounds and temple decoration on both sides of the ocean.

The vast remains of cities and temples in Mexico and Yucatan also strangely resemble those of Egypt, the ruins of Teotihuacan having frequently been compared to those of Karnak. 

The “false arch”—horizontal courses of stone, each slightly overlapping the other—is found to be identical in Central America, in the oldest buildings of Greece, and in Etruscan remains. The mound builders of both eastern and western continents formed similar tumuli over their dead, and laid the bodies in similar stone coffins.

Both continents have their great serpent-mounds; compare that of Adams Co., Ohio, with the fine serpent-mound discovered in Argyleshire, or the less perfect specimen at Avebury in Wilts. The very carving and decoration of the temples of America, Egypt and India have much in common, while some of the mural decorations are absolutely identical.

W. Scott-Elliot

Archaeological understanding of the Karnak Temple Complex

As of 2026, archaeology understands the Karnak Temple Complex in great detail. This rests on more than 150 years of systematic excavation and restoration, and on recent geoarchaeological work.

Karnak is the largest religious complex ever built in the ancient world. It lies on the east bank of the Nile in modern Luxor, ancient Thebes. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis”, inscribed in 1979. The site covers roughly 200 to 600 acres, as sources vary on the exact boundaries.

It includes four main precincts. The largest and most visited is the Precinct of Amun-Ra. The others are those of Mut and Montu and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV. The site also has pylons, courtyards, hypostyle halls, obelisks, chapels and sacred lakes. It was dedicated mainly to the Theban Triad of Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu. It was a major religious, political and economic center for over 2,000 years.

Origins and Early Development

Until recently the earliest phases of the site were debated. A major geoarchaeological study in 2025, published in Antiquity, was the most complete ever. It analyzed 61 sediment cores and tens of thousands of pottery fragments.

It showed that the area could not be lived on before about 2520 BCE (plus or minus 420 years). Fast-flowing Nile channels flooded it all year round. Around that time, shifting river channels created a river island or a raised terrace. This made permanent settlement possible.

The earliest pottery dates to about 2305 to 1980 BCE, from the late Old Kingdom to the early Middle Kingdom. This island setting may deliberately echo ancient Egyptian creation myths of the “primeval mound” rising from the Waters of Chaos.

Firm royal building began in the Middle Kingdom. The earliest surviving evidence is a column fragment from Intef II (c. 2112 to 2063 BCE). Major building started under Senusret I (c. 1971 BCE). For the next 1,500 years and more, roughly 30 pharaohs added to or changed the complex.

Main Construction Phases

In the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 to 1650 BCE), the foundations of the temple of Amun-Ra were laid.

The New Kingdom (c. 1550 to 1070 BCE) was the golden age of expansion. Hatshepsut added obelisks and chapels. Thutmose III built the Festival Hall. Amenhotep III contributed, as did later rulers. Seti I and Ramesses II built the famous Hypostyle Hall with 134 columns. This era produced most of the visible monumental architecture.

Work continued in later periods. It went on into the Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period, the Ptolemaic era and even Roman times. One example is a stele, restored in 2026, that shows Emperor Tiberius as pharaoh performing rituals before Amun, Mut and Khonsu.

The builders used huge sandstone blocks and precise engineering. They also reused earlier materials. The complex grew outward with new pylons, courts and temples. These were layered over older ones as the Nile and its banks changed.

Religious, Political, and Cultural Significance

Karnak was far more than a temple. It was the “Estate of Amun,” a powerful institution that controlled vast land, resources and labor. Pharaohs used it to make their rule legitimate. They recorded military victories there, for example in the reliefs of Shoshenq I. They performed rituals there tied to maat, the cosmic order. Sacred lakes were central to rites of purification. The complex also held administrative buildings, quarters for priests and processional avenues.

Recent Discoveries and Ongoing Work (2020s)

The geoarchaeological study of 2025 changed the understanding of how the site began in dependence on the Nile, and of its links with myth.

In January 2026, an Egyptian-Chinese mission found a previously unknown monumental sacred lake in the precinct of the Montu Temple, in north Karnak. This gives a unique pair of lakes, north and south, within the enclosure walls. It adds to knowledge of ritual water systems.

The French-Egyptian Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak (CFEETK) continues its restorations. Work from 2022 to 2025 on the gate of Ramesses III revealed the Tiberius stele.

Extensive documentation, 3D modeling and digital reconstruction continue. The site is still actively studied. It is partly restored for preservation and tourism.

Modern archaeology shows Karnak as a sacred place that kept changing over thousands of years, not as a single “temple.” The Nile, royal patronage and religious cosmology shaped it. It is one of the best documented and most visited ancient sites in Egypt. Ongoing research is still refining its earliest phases and hidden features.