ḥw.t-nṯr: In the New Kingdom 𓊹𓉱was used as a writing for both ḥw.t-nṯr, ‘temple’ and sḥ-nṯr, ‘shrine’ (Spencer 1984, 117). The use of the feminine pronoun to refer to the structure in the following verses indicates that the word is the feminine ḥw.t-nṯr. However, the orthography of the word does seem deliberately distinct from the writing of ḥw.t-nṯr in cols. 1 and 6 of the back pillar perhaps for visual variety and to lay particular emphasis on this temple.
The work described in the following verses consisted largely of stripping back, redesigning, and redecorating a late 18th or early 19th Dynasty temple (J.-F. Carlotti and L. Gallet, Le temple d'Amon-qui-écoute-les-prières à Karnak: œuvre de Ramsès II ou d'un prédécesseur? In: J.-Cl. Goyon and Chr. Cardin (eds), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists: Grenoble, 6-12 septembre 2004, vol. 1, Leuven 2007, 271-282; L. Gallet, Karnak: the temple of Amun-Ra-who-hears-prayers. Edited by Willeke Wendrich. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2013 (July). 13 p.; 10 figs [plan, colour ills]). Although Bakenkhons’ text does not claim restoration, it refers to ancient components of the building, primarily the txn-waty ‘single obelisk’ that was its central cult focus. This obelisk was prepared under Thutmose III and finished under Thutmose IV, who had it erected here rather than its planned location in the eastern temple of Thutmose III behind the Akhmenu. This eastern temple of Thutmose III was also designated as a hearing temple in fragments of a building inscription found on the northern exterior wall of the barque sanctuary (Nims, in: G.E. Kadish (ed), Studies in Honor of John A. Wilson: September 12, 1969, Chicago 1969: fig. 7; Nims, in: G. Haeny (ed), Äufsätze zum 70. Geburtstag vn Herbert Ricke, Wiesbaden 1971: 109–110; Chr. Wallet-Lebrun, Le grand livre de pierre: les textes de construction à Karnak. Études d'égyptologie 9; Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, nouvelle série 41. Paris 2009: 152–57). The Ramessid temple retained the obelisk, with scenes of Ramesses II adoring Re-Harakhty added to its base. The single obelisk now stands in Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano in Rome (E. Iversen, Obelisks in exile, volume I: The obelisks of Rome. Copenhagen 1968: 55–64).
The position of this structure and its designation as a ‘hearing temple’ led scholars to suggest that it may have been a widely accessible place of worship (e.g. Nims, in: G. Haeny (ed), Äufsätze zum 70. Geburtstag vn Herbert Ricke, Wiesbaden 1971: 110–11; Klotz, in: ZÄS 135, 2008: 65). For the New Kingdom at least, little evidence from finds, graffiti, or formal inscriptions within the temple supports this interpretation (L. Gallet, Karnak: the temple of Amun-Ra-who-hears-prayers. Edited by Willeke Wendrich. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2013: 9–10); it is more likely that it was a place for restricted ritual activities that mediated movement between the secular and sacred domains. Paul Barguet (Le temple d'Amon-Rê à Karnak: essai d’exégèse (re-edition). Cairo 2006: 300–303) and Gallet (2013: 7) consider that the temple’s redesign was connected with one of the last sed-festivals of Ramesses II, which would be appropriate to this mediatory aspect. A model letter in a late 19th dynasty miscellany text includes the ‘Gate of Baky’ among Theban divine manifestations and ‘minor’ cult objects that may have been more popular (Spiegelberg, Das Tor des Beke (Bkj), in: ZÄS 65, 1930, 123-124; Gardiner, Late-Egyptian miscellanies. Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca 7, Bruxelles 1937: 10, 9–10), including ‘the eight baboons who are in the open court (wbꜣ)’, which may refer to the statues of baboons found in the kiosk of Taharqa (Barguet 2006: 226 with n. 1). For the entrance to the temple as a site for legal trials, see P. Berlin 3047: KRI II, 803, 6–8; Cabrol, Les voies processionnelles de Thèbes. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 97. Leuven 2001: 734–35; Allam, Lieux de juridiction. In: Chr. Zivie-Coche and I. Guermeur (eds), "Parcourir l'éternité": hommages à Jean Yoyotte, vol. 1, Leuven 2012: 6–8; contra Helck, in: JARCE 2, 1963: 65–66).

Commentary author: Elizabeth Frood

Descriptions of the single obelisk’s location inscribed on its surface are virtually identical to those on Bakenkhons’ statue: ‘at the eastern (= upper) entrance of Karnak, facing Thebes (r-sbꜣ-ḥry n-Jp.t-s.wt ḫft-ḥr-Wꜣs.t)’ (P. Barguet, Le temple d'Amon-Rê à Karnak: essai d’exégèse (re-edition). Cairo 2006: 241). These are similar to statements of the temple’s location in the dedication texts of Ramesses II on the north and west exterior walls of the outer hall of the temple (KRI II, 585, 16–586, 1; Chr. Wallet-Lebrun, Le grand livre de pierre: les textes de construction à Karnak. Études d'égyptologie 9; Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, nouvelle série 41. Paris 2009: 254–55).

Commentary author: Elizabeth Frood