The Heb- Sed Temple at Karnak is not a very large one, but still did the job. By Amunhotep's reign the use of the heb-sed had completely changed. He was in his second or third year of his reign, not his thirtieth like Doser. The overall concept was still the same. It solidified the rule of a king.
The temple at Karnak was nothing special. It does not compare to large and still mainly intact ones like the one at Saqqara, but it was an addition built onto the temple complex. Almost every king from its beginning until Alexander the Great added on to Karnak, so Amunhotep did his part by building the temple.
I think that the heb-sed was a great idea that began getting over used. When it was actually used to celebrate a milestone in a rule and not just used as a celebration because a king wanted to celebrate, then it held real meaning. The things that kings did to demonstrate their rule and power was also very interesting. My favorite thing would be that they used to run around two small structures, one in the north and one in the south, to symbolize their rule over both upper and lower Egypt.King Doser demonstrating his rule over the north and south at a heb-sed.
Work Cited: http://www.philae.nu/akhet/HebSed.html
Interesting post. Over the years I’ve read about several Egyptian sites, but have never heard of this one. I was aware that Egyptian kings used a Heb-sed to celebrate the renewal of a king, but the one I was most failure with was the one you mentioned at Seqqara. Amunhotep, I think most have been a good king. While he still wanted a monument to establishing his reign he didn’t demand something as opulent as the great pyramids or the sphinx. I think that this goes to show that he understood the requirements it would take to make something like that and he probably used this rationality to show kindness to his people. I think this was a good post but it seemed a little short.
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