Egypt 28: More Karnak

Karnak Temple, Egypt.  September 15, 2001.
The giant granite scarab above is yet another of Karnak's famous attractions.
It is located by the sacred lake.
Legend has it that if you touch the scarab's behind you will have luck in romantic relationships.  Needless to say, the scarab-butt is well-touched!

Hatshepsut's obelisk sticking up above the ruins of the vast temple site.

Horus leading pharaoh.
This is one of my favorite falcon-headed human Horus carvings.
The detail on the falcon head was incredible,
especially considering it was carved over 2,000 years ago.
The staff in Horus' hand is called the Was.
It is a symbol of power.

A row of ram-headed sphinxes at Karnak.  These sphinxes represent the god Amun-Ra, and the little pharaoh figures under the rams chins were Ramses II, of course!  Amun-Ra was the #1 god of Karnak, and Ramses II was the god-incarnate when he was at Karnak.  He visited once a year for the festival of Amun-Ra.  Ramses/Amun-Ra had what we would call a harem here, and by no coincidence, there was a birthing temple out back -- you know, nine months after Ramses' visit, that birthing house was a popular place.  Ramses had over 100 sons who lived to adult-hood.  These were the acknowledged sons, who were in succession to the throne -- think about how many he must've had with the Karnak harem.
How a condom ever got named after this prolific pharaoh, I'll never know!