Luxor

Luxor has frequently been characterized as one of the “world’s greatest open-air museums”, as the ruins of the Egyptian temple complex at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lay the monuments, temples and tombs of the Theban Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.

Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom, and the glorious city of Amun. This city was regarded in the ancient Egyptian texts as “Waset”, which meant “city of the scepter”, and later in Demotic Egyptian  “tA ipt”  meaning “the shrine/temple”. The temple now known by its Arabic name Karnak, meaning “fortified village”, which the ancient Greeks adapted as Thebai and the Romans as Thebae. Thebes was also known as “the city of the 100 gates”, sometimes being called “Southern Heliopolis”, to distinguish it from the city Heliopolis, the main place of worship for the god Ra in the North.

The importance of the city started as early as the 11th Dynasty, when the town grew into a thriving city. Montuhotep II, who united Egypt after the troubles of the First Intermediate Period, brought stability to the lands as the city grew in stature. The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom in their expeditions to Kush saw the city accumulate great wealth and rose to prominence. Thebes played a major role in expelling the invading forces of the Hyksos from Upper Egypt and from the time of the 18th – 20th Dynasty, the city had risen as the political, religious and military capital of Ancient Egypt.

However, as the city of  Amun-Ra, Thebes remained the religious capital of Egypt until the Greek period. The main god of the city was Amun, who was worshipped together with his wife, the goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu, the god of the moon. With the rise of Thebes as the foremost city of Egypt, the local god Amun rose in importance as well and became linked to the sun god Ra, thus creating the new ‘king of gods’ Amun-Ra. His great temple at Karnak was the most important temple of Egypt right until the end of antiquity.

The city was attacked by Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal who installed a new prince on the throne, Psamtik I. The city of Thebes was in ruins and declined in significance. However, Alexander the Great did arrive at the temple of Amun, where the statue of the god was transferred from Karnak during the Opet Festival (the great religious feast). Thebes remained a site of spirituality until the Christian era and attracted numerous monks of the Roman Empire who had established monasteries amidst several ancient monuments including the temple of Hatshepsut.

In April 2018, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of the shrine of god Osiris dating back to the 25th dynasty in the Temple of Karnak. On the same day in November 2018, two different discoveries were announced.

The first was a 13th-century tomb on the West Bank belonging to Thaw-Irkhet-If, the overseer of the mummification shrine at the temple of Mut, and his wife.

The second discovery was of 1000 ushabti and two sarcophagi each containing a mummy in the TT33 complex.

 

On the 8th of April 2021, Egyptian archaeologists led by Zahi Hawass found Aten, a 3,400 years old “lost golden city” near Luxor. It is the largest known city from Ancient Egypt to be unearthed to date. This site was said to be “the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamen”. The site is celebrated by the unearthing crew for showing a glimpse into the ordinary lives of living ancient Egyptians whereas past discoveries were from tombs and other burial sites.