Mise au point sur l'orientation du temple d'Amon-Rê à Karnak en direction du lever de soleil au solstice d'hiver

Abstract

International audienceIn 1993, it had been proposed that the main axis of temple of Amon-Ra of Sesostris I had been precisely oriented on the point where the sun used to rise in these days at the winter solstice. The hypothesis has been challenged by J.A. Belmonte (in 2005 and 2006) and by R. Krauss (in 2006). As a response, precision are given here on the state of preservation of the remains which allowed the determination of the axis, on the exact phenomenon taken into account, on the question of the influence of the extinction and of the refraction, and, at the end, on the relation between the temple and the general urbanistic grid of the town which surrounded it since the Middle Kingdom. The conclusion of this reexamination is that the theory of an orientation to the sun rise at winter solstice is reinforced