Archaeologists have uncovered the mystery of the founding of the Karnak Temple in Egypt

Archaeologists from the University of Southampton have established that one of Egypt's greatest sanctuaries originated on an island surrounded by ancient Nile floods. The discovery sheds light on how the temple complex gradually turned into a religious center of ancient Egypt and may have been associated with the creation myth. This was reported on October 6 in the journal Science Daily.

It is specified that a team of scientists led by Dr. Angus Graham and with the participation of experts from the University of Southampton analyzed 61 soil samples and many fragments of ceramics to determine the age and stages of development of the complex. The co—author of the study, Dr. Ben Pennington, shared that the Karnak Temple grew out of a small hill surrounded by water, and over time this territory became a symbol of the cosmogonic myth - the earth arising from primordial waters.

According to archaeologists, the territory of Karnak was uninhabitable until 2520 BC, when it was regularly flooded by the Nile. However, it was precisely these natural conditions that could have led to the choice of a construction site: in Egyptian mythology, the creator god appears from the waters, just like the earth on which the temple was erected.

Later, the riverbeds changed, creating space for the expansion of the complex. Scientists believe that the ancient Egyptians deliberately filled up the old canals with sand to make way for new structures.

According to experts, the temple of Karnak has become not only an architectural, but also a symbolic reflection of ancient Egyptian cosmogony. Its foundation on the island could be perceived by the priests as the embodiment of the moment of creation — the appearance of land from the sacred waters.

On September 19, National Geographic magazine reported the discovery by a group of archaeologists led by Dr. Kathleen Martinez of traces of a sunken port in Egypt of an ancient ship that will allow them to find the tomb of Queen Cleopatra. The expedition leader clarified that the discovered parts of the vessel may be evidence in favor of the hypothesis that it was in this area, a few miles from the coast of Taposiris Magna, that Cleopatra and her lover Mark Anthony were buried.

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