Three temples of Ancient Egypt claimed superemacy over all others: The Temple of ptah at Memphis, the Temple of Re-Atum at Heliopolis and the Temple of Amon-Re at Karnak. However, only one has been spared the ravages of time to amaze the visitor even today, 4,000 years after its initial stage of the Temple of Karnak. The Temple -of ptah was probably the oldest and the most formal of the three. It was there that the solemn jubilee festivals were celebrated by the kings, and the astronomical viewings of the moon and a star named Sirius (Sopdet), which periodically regulated the calendar of Ancient Egypt, took place.
The temple of the sungods Re and Atum was the undisputed center of religious dogma which zealously maintained the intimate connection between state and religion.
the temple Amon-Re was the melting pot of religion and politics. Its monumental courts and halls witnessed the most critical events of Egyptian history. A delicate but tenacious interplay of statesmanship, ambition for power, intrigué and religious pomp was always tangible at Karnak.
Karnak is the modern name of a village on the northern outskirts of Luxor. The ancient name of the site was Ipet-sut or Nesut-neteru ("the seats of the gods"). The city of Luxor (originally Waset and later Thebes) was a latecomer in Egyptian history. It earned its initial fame on account of the role it played during the difficult times of the late First Intermediate Period. Under the Middle Kingdom, Waset replaced Armant as the capital of its nome, and Amon, the god of Waset, gradually overshadowed the war-god Montu of Armant as tutelary of the royal family. It was then that the temple of Amon began to take shape. From that time on, the temple grew steadily. Its extent and fame reached a peak under the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom). The Amarna period put a temporary stop to its developnient, but later kings made particular efforts to restore the prestige of the temple by constructing monumental additions to its initial plan. The famous hypostyle håll was constructed, with what is now known as the "Second Pylon". Significant bark stations were added by Seti Il and Ramesses Ill. By the end of the New Kingdom, Amon-Re was so powerful and his estates so well admiriistered by the High Priest, that theocracy was established in southern Egypt. The temple of Karnak grew even larger. The Libyans and Nubians ruled Egypt in the Third Intermediate period in the name of Amon.