Johnny Carson did skits of Karnak the Great, where he spoofed magicians & psychics. You can catch a show at the end.
Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt
The modern day Luxor is what the ancient Greeks called Thebes and the Egyptians called Waset. It is in Upper Egypt, about 312 miles south of Cairo and once had a populace of a 100,000. Luxor is the modern Arabic name meaning “the fortifications” & boasts a matchless concentration of ancient ruins.
Of these, the most astounding is the Temple of Karnak, part of a complex that dates from as early as 2,000 B.C. It sprawls across 100 hectares, and includes the awe-inspiring Great Hypo-style Hall, which features 134 hieroglyphic-clad columns 70 feet high and 33 feet around. The highlight of the Temple is dedicated to the god Amun-Ra, who was the top male god associated with Thebes. On the south of his temple is another, smaller one dedicated to his the goddess Mut who rules all drinking, singing, feasting and ritual sex.
This complex is second o the Great Pyramids in tourist popularity. You can explore it further here. UCLA made a recreation of it here as Digital Karnak. The project has since been abandoned as has the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. They do not tell us why, and much of it is lost so you can to retrace page by page via Archive.org, a tedious experience.
Temple of Karnak and Genesis
All of this brings us the citation in the Zondervan Archaeology Bible (page 50 + 243 v. 2010) that links Jacob with Karnak.
from the King James Version
²⁴ When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²
⁶ Afterward his
brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.d Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
According to Zondervan the reason for the linkage is that Jacob’s name was an old one among the Semitics people and as easly as 2000, when Luxor was being built, it was a well known name about the Canaanites of pre-Abrahamic days as mentioned in the records in the Temple of Karnak. The city captured by Thutmose III is similar to the Hebrew word = Jacob-el. Thutmose had many battles against the Canaanites in 1457 BC.
In my anguish... 