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Building the Hall and Decorating the Walls |
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By following the historical chronology of the inscriptions, we can see that scaffolds must have been used. In the Karnak Hypostyle Hall, we know that Seti I carved his inscriptions first and that Ramesses II's reliefs are later, after Seti had died. If the old theory was true, then Seti's inscriptions should be found on the upper half of all the walls and columns, with Ramesses II's being on the lower half. This is not what we see. Seti's reliefs are found in the northern wing of the Hall with some in the northern part of the south wing. Ramesses II's reliefs are all in the south wing. Each king's reliefs are found from the base of the walls and columns to the top. The only way to explain this is if they used scaffolds. |
