The Precinct of Mut at South Karnak: An Archaeological Guide Paperback – 29 Dec. 2020

The Mut precinct at Karnak was a major independent religious centre for some two thousand years, particularly from the Eighteenth Dynasty through to the Roman Period, but with evidence of an earlier temple on the site dating to the Middle Kingdom. A team from the Brooklyn Museum has systematically explored and documented the precinct since 1976, joined in the early 2000s by Johns Hopkins University – working independently and collaborating on certain projects. In this beautifully illustrated book, Fazzini (from the Brooklyn team) and Bryan (from the Johns Hopkins team) have provided a handy archaeological guide to bring the goddess and her temple precinct to a wider audience.The authors begin with the mythology and importance of the goddess herself; she is of course the consort of Amun-Ra and mother of Khonsu, but she is also independently the daughter of the Sun God and Eye of Ra. In her Sekhmet form (the site is famous for the huge number of seated Sekhmet statues found there) she is the protector of kings and fierce protector of Egypt who must be appeased by rituals to prevent her taking on her more destructive persona.After a brief overview of the 20- acre precinct there is a short summary of the early exploration of the site, beginning with Napoleon’s scientists and including the first official excavations in 1895-7 by Margaret Johnson and Janet Gourlay (the first women to direct excavation work in Egypt), illustrated with archive drawings and photographs.The authors then take the reader on a guided tour of the precinct, beginning at the propylon stone gateway inscribed for Ptolemies II and VI, past rows of restored sphinxes and rams and a small magical healing chapel, to the Temple of Mut itself, surrounded on three sides by a large crescent sacred lake known as the Isheru. We walk across the first and second courts with their remaining Sekhmet statues, visit Hatshepsut’s ‘Porch of Drunkenness’ and Montuemhat’s Contra Temple and pass through the open air museum containing blocks from the early Hatshepsut/Thutmose III temple.The tour also takes in a larger separate ‘Temple A’ in the north-east corner and the Temple of Ramesses III to the southwest – both of which were originally outside the precinct, but enclosed as part of the site in the fourth century BC. Other highlights include a Seventeenth Dynasty cemetery, a stand-alone ‘Chapel B’ which may have been used for preparing divine offerings, and the remains of a monumental gateway built by Taharqo (Twenty-fifth Dynasty). On the way, we are given a short commentary on the architectural structures and reliefs, and a fascinating insight into the historical development of each feature and the work carried out there in modern times.Colour photographs are inserted at the appropriate points of the tour, but I would like to have seen separate, more detailed captions for clarity. The price is quite high for such a slim volume (94 pages), but it is still highly recommended as an illustrated guide to such a fascinating site.Review by ancientegyptmagazine dot com