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The Third Pylon |
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An erased image of Tutankhamen on the Third Pylon of Amenhotep III at Karnak. The king's image was removed by Horemheb who replaced it with a table of food offerings. |
The inscriptions on the Third Pylon are not without interest. On the rear wall of the north tower is a huge scene showing the great gilded barge of the god Amen-Re being towed by the king's barge. Amenhotep III appears twice on either side of the temple-like cabin which held the portable shrine of the god when it was transported by Nile from Karnak to Luxor or to the west bank. Behind Amenhotep III in both cases are the shadowy traces of two more royal figures which were later erased. A fierce debate about these erased images has raged for decades among Egyptologists. Some believe them to be Akhenaten (ca. 1352-1336 BCE) from the beginning of his reign, and evidence for a coregency (i.e., joint reign) between Akhenaten and Amenhotep III. Other scholars doubt this. |
