Originally, Egypt's capital was Mennefer — Memphis to the Greeks — located in Lower Egypt. Foreigners tend to find that confusing, but it's all based on the flow of the Nile. The river flows south to north. So upstream, Upper Egypt, is in the south; downstream, Lower Egypt, is north. Simple.
 Approximately one thousand years into Egypt's history, she was over-run by a foreign people we call the Hyksos. They held sway for nearly two-hundred years and it was a noble family from Waset that led the Egyptian army to cast the Hyksos out and reinstated a united Egypt. In this way, an obscure local deity became the chief god of Egypt and remained so nearly 2,000 years. Karnak was built to honor him. So let us enter his Temple.
This is the West entrance. It's where the boats that carry the gods to Luxor depart and arrive during festivals such as Opet. The approach is made through this short avenue of sphinxes, called criosphinxes because they have the body of a lion and the head of a ram. The ram was sacred to Amun. As we pass through their ranks, look closely and you will see that there is a tiny statue of Pharaoh Ramses II between the paws of each sphinx. We do this to symbolize Amun protecting Pharaoh.
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