Luxor Temple

Luxor Travel Guide

The east

The history of Luxor dates back more than four thousand years.

Luxor was the Capital of Egypt in the era of the new kingdom and the ancient world’s center.

What does the word “ Luxor “ mean ?  

Throughout history, the city of Luxor had several names. When the Arabs came to Luxor and saw the Pharaonic temples, they mistakenly believed that those temples were palaces, so they called the city “ Luxor “, which means the city of palaces.

The Arabs came from the Arabian Peninsula where there is no temples and being Muslims who have never had the palaces of kings.

In the Greek era, it was called Thebes, which means the City of Gold.

The area of the city is about 60 square meters.

The city’s economy is based mainly on three pillars : 1- Tourism 2- agriculture ( one of the most important crops in the city is sesame tomato, eggplant and hot pepper 3- alabaster.

In addition, in Luxor, there are many pharaonic monuments such as the Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple.

For more imformation : https://thisthisegypt.com/news/ 

When was it built ?

The Luxor Temple is the most proof of Luxor’s glorious past, and it was built to honor the God Amun.

Where is the Luxor Temple located ?

It is less than one kilometer from the Karnak Temple in distance and it was built in the 14th century BC.

Three generations of pharaohs were contributing in this temple’s construction including Amenhotep III and Ramses II.

Luxor Temple represents three civilizations: 

First: Pharaonic civilization. The second: Christian civilization where it contains church’s ruin as you will see inside. The third: Islamic civilization where it contains a part of a mosque as you will see inside.

Luxor Temple Construction 

Amenhotep the third ordered the establishment of this temple for the Triad of Thebes, most likely for two reasons:

The first was to confirm the attribution of the god Amun himself, as his entitlement to the throne was not clear according to the Egyptian tradition, which states that the pharaoh must be The son of Pharaoh and a princess of pure bloodline, but if his bloodline is impure, then he acquires his right to the throne by marrying the eldest daughter of the ( former ) king.

Who constructed the Luxor Temple?

Neither of the two conditions applied to Amenhotep the third, as a slave woman was not Egyptian and his wife was not of a royal lineage, so he confirmed his legitimacy to the throne by establishing his lineage to the god Amun himself and recording his sacred birth on the walls of the famous room in the temple, known as the birth room.

The second is to please the priests of Amun in order to accept him as a legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt, and that is why he dedicated this temple to the god Amun and to one of his images, which is called “ Amun-Ra-Ka-Mut-Af “ meaning “Amun-Ra’s mother’s bull” which is the image that shows Amun-Ra as a god of fertility and for the life cycle.

What is the Luxor Temple made out of ?

Sphinx Road

The Sphinx was constructed ( the shape of the body of a lion and the head of Ramses II ), was 3 kilometers long and was previously associated with the path of rams in the temple of Karnak.

During the anniversary celebration of Amun and his wife “ Mut’s marriage “ every year, People start their celebration from the Temple of Karnak, taking this road to the Temple of Luxor.

After the ceremony, also used this road to return to the Karnak Temple.

Visiting the Luxor Temple 

The first pylon

Outside the temple wall is a courtyard, which was built during the reign of the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramses II. The gate is about 24 meters high and 65 meters wide.

Ramses II definition: 

Here I would like to give a glance about Ramses II. Ramses II was born in Memphis in 1290 BC.

He began studying at the “ Pharaonic School “ when he was very young, and served in the army at the age of ten, and when he was 15 years old, his father took him to war to ensure that he would become a wise and brave king in the future.

It did not take long for Ramesses II to learn much.

Ramses II was 30 years old ( ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC ) and was the third of the nineteenth dynasty pharaohs. He ruled Egypt for 67 years and lived until the age of 99 years. He was the greatest “ architectural pharaoh “ in ancient Egypt. He carved his name in various temples and statues, which is found until now.

Later, many of his statues will be seen in many temples, and Ramses II will restore temples and buildings built by his predecessors.

According to what was said that king Ramses II married more than a hundred wives, but his love for his first wife Nefertari was the cause behind carvings many statues for her.

We will see later that beside or between the feet of king’s statue is a picture or a statue of Queen Nefertari, and a large temple was built for her in Abu Simbel.

According to what was said that Ramses II married more than a hundred wives, but many of his children died while he was alive and his son Merneptah inherited the throne, who was number 13 in the list of the throne and therefore ruled Egypt at the age of sixty years.

Later, his power began to deteriorate, so the reign of Ramses II is considered one of the late ages of power in the Pharaonic era.

Explanation of the Battle of Kadesh

King Ramses II participated in many battles, achieving victory. He was also the first king to sign the first written and recorded peace treaty in human history.

After King Ramses II returned from the war, this war was engraved on the walls of the Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, Abu Simbel and the king’s palaces.

So the Battle’s scenes of Kadesh are found on the first pylon’s walls in the Luxor Temple.

King Ramses II’s desire to control the rule of Syria resulted in a conflict between the Egyptians and the Houthis.

King Ramses II, at the end of April 1275 BC, led his army across the Ornet River, controlling the city of Kadesh but the Hittin built a base for them in Syria.

Ramses commanded about 200,000 soldiers and 200 chariots, dividing the army into troupes “ bands “ with different names for each band as Amon, Petah, Farah and Set.

The aim of that war was to control the lands in northern Syria.

In return, Hittites’ king “ Moatlich “ had more than 10,000 soldiers and more than 3;500 war vehicles, and a shelter near to the Orente River.

The Egyptian army arrested two Hittite soldiers, who disclose about much important news to the Egyptians. Both stood before King Ramses II and admitted their statements.

He did not wait for the great teams’ gathering.

King Moatlich Forces were very far and the Pharaoh could easily attack the city, but as soon as he saw Kadesh, he did not wait for the old teams to be gathered.

Moatlich himself led Amun’s troupe between the plains, camping near to the city of Kadesh.

But late at night the Hittites hid inside the fortresses, surprised the pharaohs with the attack, and the Egyptian soldiers fled.

Only King Ramses was left and he was forced to retreat at the end while the Hittite soldiers rushed to the Egyptian camp, being busy in collecting spoils.

By dawn, the rest of King Ramses’ army joined the rest of his troops to support him in facing the enemies, and at that time the two armies stopped fighting.

In the end, the Hittites were forced to surrender because of the fierce attacks carried out by the army of King Ramses II.

Ramses II signed a peace treaty with the Hittites and was the first modern peace treaty signed since 4,000 years ago.

After the Battle of Kadesh, the clash between the Egyptians and the Hittites until the death of King Moatlich.

His successor, King Moatlich, signed the first existing international treaty in human history with Ramses II that includes many modern concepts.

According to this treaty, the war must be stopped between the two peoples, and if there is any attack by enemies on them, the two peoples would join hands against that enemy and unite in order to achieve the interests of the two countries.

From here we can see that tall pylon and obelisk

In the beginning, there were two obelisks in the Luxor Temple.

In front of the pylon, we find one obelisk and the base of another, which was 22.5 meters long and weighed 227 tons. In 1835, Muhammad Ali granted it to the King of France, Philip.

In 1845, the king of France presented to Muhammad a clock tower to express his thanks.

This watch was placed inside the Muhammad Ali Mosque, but from 1845 until now, it is idle and they did not find a way to fix it.

A description of the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The Place de la Concorde is known as the most beautiful square in the world. As for the other obelisk is in the Luxor Temple, it was restored and placed on a high base.

There are many symbols and drawings on the obelisk and it’s base. It appears shabby and attractive in the night of Paris.

The Ramesseum 

The current obelisk in the front the temple:

The obelisk in the Luxor Temple weighs about 254 tons and it is about 25 meters long, behind it the high Pylon.

Obelisk inscriptions:

From the top we find king Ramses II worshiping before the god Amun.

Then we see Kartosh, names and attributes of King Ramses II.

Then we see the inscriptions of the works, achievements and contribution made by King Ramses II, whether religious or military, or those projects that he undertook to serve the people of Egypt.

If we look closely obelisk’s base, we will see a monkey body…Guess what is its purpose?

When the ancient Egyptians saw these monkeys, they raised their hands to prevent harmful sunrays but the ancients mistakenly believed that monkeys worship the sun god, so they placed it in their temples and palaces.

Statues of Ramses before the first pylon : 

There are two seated statues of King Ramses II, with 15.5 meters in length; the height of the base is about a meter, and 120 tons in weight before the first pylon. According to research, in the beginning there were four statues of pink granite leaning on the gate of the edifice, along them statues of Queen Nefertari, wife of King Ramses II.

Madinet Habu 

Here, on either side of the pedestal of the statue, we see the god ( Habu ) ….. ( the God of the Nile) in a double inscription that bestows the Egyptian King Ramses II of the Nile.

There is a crumbling statue of his son, King Mariette Amun to the right of the pylon.

Unification’s of the two countries on the throne

On both sides of the throne of King Ramses is a famous painting describing Egypt after monotheism, and if we look closely, we will see the inscriptions of the papyrus leaves and the lotus flower, symbolizing the unity of Egypt, as the papyrus symbolizes Upper Egypt and the lotus to the north, and the two together indicate that Egypt cannot be separated.

Many cartridges of his enemies are exiting under the King’s feet as he every day tramples on his enemies and despises them.

The open courtyard

After entering Luxor, we find a hall with columns in the form of a closed papyrus flower.

This hall was built by King Ramses II, so we will find between each column and the other a statue of the king with about 10 meters in long.

Most of it is destroyed and there are many rumors, as some said because of the erosion factors and the other said because of the hatred of Rameses II’s successive kings, they destroyed his statues therefore, we will find a destroyed face so that the king cannot resurrect again, and some say that the temple has turned into a refuge for Christians that  they do not worship idols, so destroyed their faces.

Why is face specifically?

The five senses are in face, which are the center of the king’s power, so by destroying the head where the eye, mouth, ear, mind and nose, the king becomes powerless and will not be able to speak or breathe in the other world. So every time we visit a temple, most of the images and heads are erased.

Temple of Hatshepsut 

The three chambers 

These three rooms, which now we see, was built by Queen Hatshepsut, but after her death, king Thutmose III took revenge on her and wiped her name from her traces, replacing his name into these chambers.

Abu Al-Hajjaj Mosque

A small mosque that is more than a thousand years old is inside the edifice, on the north at the top, and it is the oldest mosque in the city of Luxor.

This mosque was built to commemorate a Sufi monk named Abu Al-Hajjaj, who died and was buried here.

It turns out that the entrance to this mosque was originally here, but the entrance was turned outward and the original door turned into a small window.

Why is there a mosque here ? 

Since the collapse of Thebes, yellow sand gradually flooded everything, even the Luxor Temple, most of it was buried.

Later generations built mosques and dwellings in the temple.

The Luxor Temple was discovered with an urgent need to rebuilt it as it was, while the surrounding houses and buildings were destroyed at that time and only this mosque was left because it is a building that represents Islam.

Columns Hall 

Inside the temple, there is the so-called huge hall of columns, which stand from the inside to outside. This hall was built by King Amenhotep III with 14 columns, each column is about 22 meters long.

The sacred marriage scene’s Explanation of Amun and his wife Nut on the walls.

On the right side of this hall, there are some bas-reliefs on the wall commemorating the marriage of the sun and his wife.

The wedding anniversary celebration of Amun and Mut should be celebrated in Luxor Temple because the temple of Luxor is the temple of god Amun’s wife “ Mut “.

At that time, the priests of the Karnak Temple carried the sacred boat, in which the statue of the god Amun, the creator of humanity, and they pass through the path of rams within dancing and sing by people until they reach the Luxor Temple.

It was said that the god Amun spends 14 nights in Luxor’s temple, returning to the Temple of Karnak in the next morning by the way of the rams.

Some inscriptions that illustrate the aspects of the celebration:

A large portion of the drawings on this wall been cleared, but we can see some drawings. As for this large boat, the statue of the sun god, which is above, people dancing and singing, people slaughter a cow and others look like Africans beating drums as if they were in a show with their heads back.

The Pharaohs were afraid that the temple would be in great danger due to the groundwater. However, they managed to solve this problem by removing the water from that area and adding 60 meters of dirt to prevent the water from entering the temple again.

Remains of the church 

The ruins of the Christian Church is in the front left, as Christians were afraid of being persecuted by the Roman Emperor as I told you before.

Therefore, Christians went to southern Egypt and lived in the temple without performing their religious rituals.

Therefore, there was no way but to paint some religious rituals on the temple walls.

If we look closely, we find a very famous painting, named the last dinner, where we see Christ and his twelve disciples,  tu the colors are no longer clear, and now we are doing some restoration work for this part.

In this place there are two columns different from the rest of the temple columns and they have the Greco-Roman style, which is a complex style that does not resemble the Pharaonic style, which depends on the shape of the papyrus plant and the lotus.

Divine ( holy ) birth

( Mamazei ) 

We always find that a king resorts to a trick in order to prove his legitimacy on the throne, especially if he is one of those who have no legitimacy to rule. And this trick is that he claims, in agreement with the priests, that he is the son of the deity from his crucifixion, by making the story of the sacred birth and depicting it on the walls in the temple of the greatest idol. To delude the people that the king runs in his veins the sacred royal blood.

And many kings did this, including Amenhotep the third and Hatshepsut.

The theory of royal divine and its relationship with the sacred rebirth :

This theory is the central and vital basis associated with Egypt’s social, political and economic ideas : 

1- According to this theory, the king is appointed by deities at the beginning of time in accordance with justice. So the complementarity between politics and religion has been sacredly described, and thus the ruler administers both the spiritual and the secular powers.

2- The ruling pharaoh is the natural son of the cosmic sun deity, the Creator, Ra. During the Holy Nativity, the king is found by Amun-Ra, in his human form, and is born of a blessed woman chosen to bear him, and becomes the mother of the deity ( metaphor for the Queen ).

3- The living king is the embodiment of the deity Horus, and the deceased king is known as the sacred father of Horus, Ozir.

This sacred birth was actually depicted in two rooms east of the sacred boat compartment and the Presentation Courtyard, in what is called the birth room.

That room, which was associated with temples in the Greco-Roman period, “ Mamazei “.

As an example, we present the architectural and technical description of the “ sacred birth room of King Amenhotep III in the Luxor Temple “.

A- The site inside the temple : 

To the east is the compartment of the sacred boat and the Presentation Courtyard, and its entrance is in the north wall of the Coronation Chamber on the far right.

B- Architectural description of the room : 

There was originally a roof for this room supported by three columns of sealed papyrus, but this one went ahead with the roof.

C- The purpose of its establishment:

That birth room was one of the main reasons for the construction of the entire Luxor temple, as the record by which the king wanted to confirm his lineage to the idol Amun himself. Since we know that his father, King Tuthmosis the Fourth, had married a Mitanni princess, who is ( “ Mut En Wea “ ), daughter of King “ Artatama “, and as we know, the Egyptian royal blood does not flow in her veins; That is why the king wanted to confirm his legitimacy to the throne by proving himself to god Amun himself, just as Hatshepsut had done before him.

D- Description of room Scenes : 

The room included scenes of sacred birth in its stages on both the western and southern walls, and the most important of them are : On the western wall : 

Starting from the bottom row and continuing on the walls, we find : 

1- The view of the idol Amun, announcing his desire to give birth to a crown prince from the queen, “ Mut Em Wea “. Amon appears heading to the queen’s lair- after he took the form of King Thutmose the Fourth - and accompanied by the idol Jahuti to replace Thutmose IV.

2- And after that we find the god Amun and the queen who are sitting on a bed carried by the two deities “ ( Silkt ) and ( Neth ) and resembles the Egyptian sign of the sky, and he gives her the breath of life.

3- Then the idol ( Amun ) orders the idol ( Khnum ) to form the child; Because he is the one responsible for creation, and he appears as he forms the child and his companion on the wheel ( pottery ), and with him Hathor, the deity, the protective mother, birth, to give the child the same life and predict his future.

We turn next to the middle row; And here the scenes go from south to north, where ( Khnum ) tells the queen that she is pregnant, and her stomach appears slightly swollen, so she goes to the birth room with ( Khnum ) and ( Hathor).

Then we see her sitting on the throne in the birth room, and with her are the goddesses of childbirth and protectors of the newborns, including the divine ( Hathor), ( Taourt ) and ( Bes ) sitting to receive the newborn child and his companion, and at the bottom of the bed there is the deity ( Heh ) who comes to give the child his life for millions of years.

And after the queen gives birth to her newborn, Hathor carries him and his consort to the idol Amun-Ra. So that long life grants him and blesses him, and then he heads to the top row; It shows scenes of the child’s return to ( Hathor) and ( Mut ); to carry him to the nursing room.

Finally, we find the idol Horus introducing the child and his companion, the idol Amun , so he carries him and blesses. Then a picture of the child and had grown up and was in the prime of youth.

As for the southern wall, the king was depicted after he ascended the throne and became king ( Pharaoh) over Egypt, and they represent the scenes of the coronation while they are marginalized.

And this is how politics has been since ancient times, based mainly on well organized propaganda to prove the legitimacy of a ruler to rule, especially if this king is not of the same blood of his people.

Holy of Holies

This is the last place we will visit.

It is the God place and his son , king Amenhotep III.

Originally, it had four columns, but in the year 332 BC, Alexander the Great came to Upper Egypt, presenting a gift to the God Amun, so he destroyed the four pillars of the ancient Holy of Holies. Then he added another Holy of Holies greater than the old one.

Therefore, if you take a tour, you will find two of the Holy of Holies. The large one was built by Great Alexander and the second by the Pharaohs inside the large one.