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Luxor

Luxor is a province (governorate) in Egypt.

Content

Main article: Egypt

Uaset (Thebes)

Main article: History of Ancient Egypt

During the Old Kingdom era, Thebes was a minor settlement on the east bank of the Nile, located in an exceptionally beautiful area.

Approximately the territory that later constituted Theban nom during the Middle Kingdom was known as Uaset (Uas or Uast) during the Old Kingdom era.

In the Middle Kingdom and later, this name meant not only the nome, but also the city, which was located on the eastern and western banks of the Nile. On the eastern shore was the city center - the Karnaka and Luxora massif, which was actually called Waset or Nut. Here was the residence of the kings, here they were born and lived.

The term "chickpeas" is ambiguous and often refers to settlements of various kinds, but one of its main meanings is "residence (of the king)." Often it also means the residence of some nome. Often the city was called "southern hail" or "southern residence," and sometimes just "hail."

Uaset during the reign of Ramesses II. In the lower part of the drawing you can see the Luxor temple, connected to the temple of Mut by a long sphinx dromos. In the upper part is the temple of Ipet-day (Karnak), preceded by a pier, as well as the temple of Mont. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

The origin of the Greek toponym "Thebes," dating back to Homer ("sister Thebes"), has not been established, and the etymologies proposed are unsatisfactory. Why the Greeks much later gave the Egyptian capital the name of their Boeotian city of Thebes is difficult to say.

205 BC: 20 years of independence from the Ptolemaic power

During the so-called "Theban secession" for twenty years (205-185 BC), all of Upper Egypt, with its capital at Thebes, would be independent of the Alexandrian power. Thebaida as an independent state had its own pharaohs. These internal disagreements in Egypt, among other things, allowed the Cushites to advance to Filet.

Gods of Ouacet

The cult of Mont with a falcon as a sacred animal dominates

In four cities - Hermonte, Uaset (Thebes, Luxor), Medamud and Toda - during the time of Ancient Egypt, mainly the cult of the god Mont, whose sacred animal was a falcon, flourished. Since the KhІKh dynasty, Mont has been considered the god of war.

One of the local Theban deities Amun, like his Coptos prototype, the god Ming, is at the heart of his god of heaven and thunderstorms. The oldest temple of Amun in Uaset (Thebes) was Ipet-day, modern Karnak. Amon is mentioned only once in "Pyramid Texts."

The priests of Amun, as in other areas of Egypt, identify him with the sun god Ra - the ancient god of Heliopolis. This identification began early: on the back of the figurine of Pharaoh Pepi І (VІ dynasty, the end of the Old Kingdom), found in Karnak, it appears that the pharaoh was "loved by Amon-Ra, lord of Uaset."

This means that in Ouacet, from the local god, Amon turns into the supreme cosmic deity and into a demiurge, the creator of the gods and the universe. Thus, the effective influence of the Heliopolian system of religious views on Thebes undoubtedly manifested itself.

1991 BC: Amenemhat І establishes XII dynasty and promotes the development of the cult of Amun in the form of an invisible spirit

The founder of the KhІІ dynasty was Pharaoh Amenemhat І (1991-1962 BC). His theophoric name Amenemhat, meaning "Amon at the head," is one of the first evidence of the cult of Amon in Huaset. "It is certain that the genus of Amenemhat І was especially devoted to the cult of Amun, which, in turn, owes much to this genus: without vigorous support, Amon would not have been able to push back the old local god Mont so quickly."

The religious policy of the kings of the KhІІ dynasty made the cult of Amun nationwide.

The Theban religious system is organically connected with the economic and political rise of Thebes during the Middle and New Kingdoms, it is, as it were, an ideological expression of this rapid economic and political development.

Arising later than the systems of Iunu (Heliopolis), Memphis and Hermopolis, the Theban system learned a number of moments of theogony and cosmogony of these ancient cities compared to Thebes. Developing under the economic and political hegemony of Thebes in the Nile Valley and the emergence of the first "empire" in the history of the slave-owning formation, the cult of the Theban god Amun turns from local to general Egyptian, and Amon, in the eyes of the Egyptians, becomes a demiurge god, creator and ruler of the whole world, "king of all gods." So in the bowels of Egyptian polytheism, prerequisites are created for the emergence of monotheism, which flared up with a bright torch at the end of the reign of the XVIII dynasty, but never became the generally recognized ideology of ancient Egypt.

The oldest temple of Amun in Thebes - Ipet-day, modern Karnak, remained the main place of the cult of Amon as a cosmic deity of air and wind, filling the entire visible world, giving the breath of life to everything living, i.e. ubiquitous.

In many texts, Amon is called "the great soul," "the secret soul," "the great living soul that is over all gods." Like air and wind, the soul is invisible. Hence the idea of ​ ​ Amon as a spirit that revives and gives life.

At the same time, in iconography, Amon had an anthropomorphic appearance, was "married" to the goddess Mut and their son was the moon god Honsu. Temples were also erected in their honor in Ouacet.

Much later, this Egyptian representation penetrated the Jewish religion, and then into Christianity and Islam. Chapter one of the Bible book of Genesis begins:

1. "At first God created heaven and earth. 2. The earth was invisible and empty, and dark over the abyss, and the spirit of God was hurtling over the water. " It is not difficult to see that these two concise verses contain in compressed form some basic provisions of Egyptian cosmogonies.

In the city of Uaset, the cult of other deities also flourished, in particular the goddess of the Theban necropolis Mertseger (which means "loving silence"), the god Hnum, etc.

Temple complexes

Ipet-day or Karnak temple of Amon-Ra

The temple in Karnak, called Ipet-day in ancient times, was the famous sanctuary of Egypt, the supreme official temple, the expansion and decoration of which was the focus of every pharaoh.

The temple of Amon-Ra in Karnak, built over the course of several centuries by various architects, reflected traces of the most heterogeneous architectural plans, and is an extremely complex, not in all parts an equally successful complex.

Even in the Middle Kingdom, a relatively small sanctuary of Amun was first built here, which was the starting point from which the pharaohs of the New Kingdom began to erect their giant structures.

Karnak temple is visible from the east. In the foreground, workers build an axial obelisk base. In the background is the temple of Amun, to the left of which is a sacred lake and pylons. Away - Neil. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

Construction in Karnak was completed only during the time of the Ptolemaic. The temples erected here are mainly dedicated to Amun, Mut, Hons, Mont, Osiris and Pta.

A large processional corridor of the Karnak Temple in Thebes, when viewed from south to north. Dromos with sphinxes leads to the entrance to the temple. It leads to four pylons decorated with colossal statues or obelisks, behind which there are four vast courtyards. The passages are filled with figures. The sanctuary is seen in the distance. To the right of the drawing are the pantries and warehouses of the sanctuary, located next to the sacred lake. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

The scale of the Karnak temple was truly huge, suffice it to say that its main pylon was 113 m wide, 43.5 m high and 15 m thick. The large hypostyle hall occupied an area of ​ ​ 5000 square meters. m - it could accommodate, for example, the Paris Cathedral of Notre Dame. The ceiling of this giant room rested on 134 columns arranged in 16 rows. The columns of the central nave were 19.26 m high, the rest - 14.74 m. The surface of the walls and these columns was covered with colored reliefs with an area of ​ ​ 24282 square meters. m3.

Karnak is correctly considered a stone archive of Egyptian history: not only the dedication inscriptions of kings, hymns to gods or images of various moments of the ritual, but also information about the most important historical events of the New Kingdom have been preserved on its walls, pylons and cornices. The annals of the campaigns of Thutmose ІІ and the history of his accession to the throne, the story and poem about the battle of Ramesses ІІ with the Hittites at Kadesh, the lists of the kings of Egypt - all this and much more saved us the buildings of the Karnak temple.

The richest contributions of the pharaohs made him one of the largest farms in the country and contributed to the fact that his priesthood gained enormous influence in state affairs. The best architects, sculptors and artists worked to create Karnak, a real treasury of Egyptian art.

There were many statues here, which were sacrificed by people who wanted their images to be constantly in the'house of Amun'. The number of these statues was so large that only 779 stone and over 17,000 bronze statues and figurines were extracted from only one cache where priests put outdated votive statues.

Sacred Lake

In the temples of ancient Egypt, there were special ponds in which priests were "cleaned" before the service. According to Herodotus (ІІ, 37), they were immersed in water four times a day. This message of Herodotus is also confirmed by information from the papyrus Anastasi І (7, 6-7). It says about the obligation for priests three times a day "to be cleaned in the river," despite the weather and the season.

For ritual purification, it was not by chance that water was used, it was water that was considered the beginning of all the beginnings, it was an element of the pristine World Ocean, personified by the god Nun.

The sacred lake on the territory of the Ipet-Sut temple complex is a vast rectangular basin 200 m long and 117 m wide, located in the area of ​ ​ the first two courtyards on the North-South procession axis in the west. The lake already existed during the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, but its current appearance belongs to the XXV dynasty.

Lake at Ipet Day in January 2026, Luxor. TAdviser photo

Filled with groundwater, the lake for the ancient Egyptians was a direct contact with the Nun - the pristine ocean where all life was born.

Access to the lake was through the Seventh Pylon, where priests performed daily bathing and where a sacred rook ran during religious ceremonies.

The shores around the lake were occupied by buildings for various purposes. In the north, Taharqa dedicated a monument to Ra-Khorahti, a rising sun depicted as a dung beetle. And, probably, during his reign, a monumental scarab made of red granite from the Temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile was transported here.

The area on the south side of Holy Lake is the economic zone of the temple, where offerings were kept and prepared in the storerooms, some of which have survived to this day. The texts mention the place where the bird was bred for ritual offerings.

A scene supposedly depicting the southern shore of the Holy Lake in the temple of Ipet-day, with storage facilities and birds (geese?), From the tomb of Pakhemneter, XIX dynasty, TT284.

The east side of the lake is an administrative and residential zone. According to the inscriptions found in them, they were occupied by priests who conducted a monthly ritual cycle in the temple.

20 BC: The Cult of Veneration of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus

Statue of Octavian Augustus. Granite. 27 BC - 14 AD Cairo, Egyptian Museum. Photo: TAdviser

A granite portrait found in Karnak near Thebes, undoubtedly of local work, depicts, as suggested, Octavian Augustus after the battle of Cape Actium, held on September 2, 31 BC. e.) during the civil war between Octavian Augustus and Mark Anthony.

The sculpture is executed in the spirit of late Egyptian portrait plastic of the Saisi period (664-525 BC). The traditions of art of the Saisi era could be long held in the south of the country, far from the impact of the wave of Hellenistic Alexandria.

The solution of this portrait is completely different from the Roman images of the emperor. Here is the winner, whom the sculptor showed in the guise of the new ruler of his country, depicting on his head not the crown of the Egyptian pharaohs, but only nemes (a handkerchief made of fabric) and a small, barely noticeable uraeus (a symbol of supreme power). An element of the compromise was the preservation of the Roman hairstyle. Thus, the artist introduced Octavian not as the heir to the great Egyptian kings, but rather as the successor of the Ptolemy dynasty alien to the Egyptians.

Octavian restored the position of the highest priest of the god Ptah and the cult of veneration of the pharaoh in Memphis. Since the sculpture was discovered in Karnak, probably the cult of veneration of the emperor pharaoh was maintained there.

View of the Karnak temple in Thebes in the II century. In the center of the drawing is the sanctuary of Amun, surrounded by a brick wall with monumental gates. The main entrance is to the west, in the lower right corner. It is preceded by a dromos with sphinxes and a tribune located on the shore of the lake, connected to the Nile Canal. The stand faces the courtyard. This court leads to the pylon, behind which is the sanctuary in the east, as well as to the procession alley, consisting of several courtyards and pylons leading to the sanctuary. Pylons lead to the Mut properties to the south. The grounds also contain a sacred lake and priestly dwellings, as well as the Honsu Temple. In the north, behind the fence, are the possessions of Mont. This is Jean-Claude Golvin's first watercolor.

Annual Opet Ceremony - Amon and Muth Marriage

The Opet Festival is an annual celebration of the marriage of Amun and Mut, during which barques with images of these gods and their child Khonsu (Theban triad) were transported from the Karnak Temple (Ipet-day) to the Luxor Temple, the distance between which is about 2.5 km.

Removal of the statue of Amun-Ra from the Karnak temple in Thebes. The action takes place in a fresco-decorated hall with a ceiling dotted with golden rays that illuminate the statue. Priests maintain a sacred naos rook that houses a statue of Amun-Ra. In the front part of the procession, priests wearing falcon masks (Choir), and in the back - wearing dog masks (Anubis). The procession is escorted in front and back by priests waving their opahals. White smoke indicates incense in the rook. The pharaoh, who can be recognized by the blue crown (hepresh), walks next to the scow, performing a worship ceremony. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin, 1993
A large colonnade during the festival of Opet in Thebes. A sacred naos rook containing a statue of the god Amun-Ra leaves the temple. Some priests maintain the sacred rook while others fan. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
A view of the temple in Thebes (Luxor) during the reign of Ramses II, during the festival of Opet. The temple is located inside a fortified brick fence. The pylon, framed by two obelisks, leads to the first courtyard with porticoes. This courtyard is connected to the second courtyard with porticoes by a high rectangular covered room. The second courtyard leads to a hall with columns and a sanctuary. On both sides of the temple are temple warehouses, priestly dwellings and a sacred lake. In the foreground is a procession during the festival of Opet. Two boats are moored near the coast: the boat of Amun and the royal boat. To the cheers of the crowd, the procession enters the temple. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin, 1995
A procession with sacred rooks during the Opet festival enters the large sunny courtyard of the Luxor temple. While some priests support the three naos rook that houses the statue of the god, others wave fans or fencers. The three rooks diverge. The one with the statue of the god Amun-Ra goes straight. Statues of Mut (his wife) and Honsu (their son) are in side shrines. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
Boat arrivals at the Opeth Festival in Thebes. Priests install three rooks of Amun-Ra, Mut (his wife) and Khonsu (their son) on a triple vault in the first courtyard of the Luxor temple. The boats are followed by a long procession of priests dressed in white. The crowd who came to see what was happening is depicted in the right corner of the drawing. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

During the time of Thutmose III, the holiday lasted 11 days. Under Ramses III, 270 years later, the holiday lasted for 24 days. It continued throughout the New Kingdom and into the Roman period.

It is interesting to note that this custom persisted in Luxor in 2018: on the holiday of Mulida (birthday) of the 13th-century Muslim saint Abu el-Hagg (Abu Hajaju, speaking with an Upper Egyptian accent), dozens of men drag boats on wheels through the streets of the city. The holiday takes place two weeks before Ramadan.

The celebration revolves around the Abu al-Hagg Mosque, located on the grounds of the Luxor Temple, highlighting the continuity of cultures.

The main feature of the Abu al-Hagg festival is a procession with gifts and closed shrines through the streets of Luxor in the direction of the Abu el-Hagg mosque.

Boats are filled with dancing and singing boys who beat drums and tambourins, blow horns, click with bows and sticks. The crowd cheers and throws nuts at the boats. Some boys are dressed in regular street clothes, others in paper holiday caps and costumes. Older and bolder boys wore mum's dresses in 2018 and their lips were made up with red lipstick[1].

Luxor Temple of the Theban Triad - Amona Ra, Mut and Khonsu

The so-called Luxor temple, dedicated to the Theban triad - Amon-Ra, Mut and Khonsu - is the second largest and most important temple of Thebes. It began to be built under Amenhotep ІІ and was connected to the Karnak Temple by a sphinx alley.

Temple in Thebes (Luxor) under Ramesses I

In the foreground is a wide dromos, along which stand sphinxes leading to the pylon. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin]]

At the bottom of the drawing is the city of Eastern Thebes, to the left of which is the Luxor temple. On the right are Amona Ra Temple and Mont Temple. In the upper part, between the Nile, the Theban Plateau and the Valley of the Kings, are the palace of Malgat and its lake, the temple of Ramses III in Medinet Abu, the temple of Amenhotep III, Ramesseum and the necropolis of Assasif. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
Temple of Amun in Luxor. On either side of the temple are temple warehouses, priestly dwellings and a sacred lake. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

Priests were required to wear clothing made of white linen, in no case wool fabrics. The cut of clothes was archaic, simple. Some priests wore the skin of a panther (priest-sem). On their feet they had white sandals, which distinguished them from other Egyptians, who were mostly barefoot. For the priest, the cleanliness of clothes and bodies was strictly mandatory. Therefore, priests were obliged to shave hair on the body and on the head. A shaved head is one of the main signs of priestly dignity.

Luxor, temple of Amun, sanctuary. It is an ornate room with four columns with lotus-shaped capitals. At the far end of the room is the naos. There is a statue of a god. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
Luxor temple during the reign of Nectaneb I, founder of the XXX dynasty. The pylon, flanked by two obelisks, leads to the first courtyard with porticoes. This courtyard is connected to the second courtyard with a portico with a high rectangular covered room. The second courtyard leads to the hypostyle hall and the sanctuary. On either side of the temple are temple warehouses, priestly dwellings and a sacred lake. A second courtyard is being built in the foreground. Workers are busy erecting it. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
Temple in Luxor, turned into a Roman military camp. Castrum is located inside a fence fortified by towers and having six gates. The camp is divided into zones on both sides of the temple. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
A view of the ruins of the colonnade of the front yard of Amenhotep III in the Amun temple complex in Luxor, flooded during the Nile spill. 1870-1888.

Amenhotep III Palace in Malkat

Malkata (Arab: lit. "place where (ancient) things are collected").

The construction of the palace on the western bank of the Nile, apparently, was begun by Amenhotep III at the beginning of the XIV century BC. e., and the place itself was inhabited until the Roman-Byzantine period. Malkata was definitely the main residence of Amenhotep near Thebes, the capital of Ancient Egypt, and, therefore, probably its main palace throughout the country. Remains of other, smaller palaces in Thebes and other cities in Egypt have been found, but none as large as Amenhotep's palace in Malkat.

On the right is the memorial temple of Amenhotep III. In the distance you can see the Theban Mountains and the western desert. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

Malkata was abandoned by Akhenaten, son and successor of Amenhotep III, when he moved the capital to his new city of Amarna, possibly in order to weaken the influence of the powerful priests of the Temple of Amun. However, it may have been repopulated by the young Tutankhamun when the traditional religion and capital were restored and the temple priests regained influence in the religion and government of ancient Egypt.

Malkata in 2005

Tutankhamun's successor, Hey, probably did not live long in the palace, as did Pharaoh Horemheb after him, but by the time Ramesses II ascended the throne it was only a minor residence, as the capital was moved to Pi Ramses in the far north of the country.

Rock tombs and memorial temples

Main article: History of Ancient Egypt

Since the New Kingdom, when the capital and residence of the pharaohs move to Thebes, the so-called rock tombs have become royal tombs - long caves cut down in the rocks on the western bank of the Nile, rectangular in section. Pharaohs of the XVІІІ, KhІKh and XX dynasties were buried in such caves.

The walls of the tombs were painted with bright, multi-colored frescoes, which no longer reproduced the real, earthly life of the pharaoh, but the unreal otherworldly world created by the fantasy of the priests. The texts of religious and magical content accompanying the frescoes were supposed to provide the deceased ruler of the country with an eternal, happy life in the otherworldly world, in the society of the gods.

The oldest monuments of Thebes - two tombs (N 185 and 186), dating back to the Old Kingdom, are located on the west bank of the Nile.

The largest of the rock tombs are the tomb of Ramesses ІІI (N11), the tomb of Queen Tauosret (N14) and the tomb of Seti І (N17).

Hatshepsut Temple

Hatshepsut Temple in Deir el Bahari. The main alley leads to the gate. Colossal sphinxes stand on both sides of the alley. A second courtyard leads to porticoes with terraces and columns, to which visitors climb ramps. Next to it is the temple of Montuhotep II. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

' Evidence 'of Hatshepsut's birth from god Amun in temple images and inscriptions

The temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Der el Bahri has preserved images and inscriptions telling about the birth of a woman pharaoh. As you know, the true, earthly parents of Queen Hatshepsut were Pharaoh Thutmose І and his wife, Queen Ahmose. The images and accompanying inscriptions do not leave the slightest doubt that the famous queen was officially considered the daughter of Queen Ahmose and the god Amon (in those days the supreme god of Egypt, identified with the god Ra).

Accompanied by the god Thoth, Amun heads to the queen's chambers, adopting the image of her earthly consort, Pharaoh Thutmose І. The divine aroma emanating from it excites the queen. She ignites a passion for God and gives herself to him. A child of divine origin is born - Hatshepsut. Similar images and signatures tell of the birth of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Luxor, whose earthly parents were Pharaoh Thutmose ІV and Queen Mutemuya, and the god Amon himself was the "true" father. Thus, in relation to the two pharaohs of the XVІІI dynasty - Hatshepsut and Amenhotep ІІI we have a completely irrefutable proof of the concept of "double fatherhood."

1350 BC: The Memorial Church of Amenhotep III and the "Petersburg" sphinxes

The memorial temple of Amenhotep III was built during the life of the pharaoh in Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile.

The memorial temple of Amenhotep III, whose ruins today make up the archaeological zone of Kom el-Hettan

The surviving figures of Amenhotep III (Colossus Memnon) were located in front of the first pylon.

In the southern part of the peristyle court behind the third pylon were sphinxes bought by Russia in 1832 (see St. Petersburg), and in the northern - sphinxes of the wife of Pharaoh Theye.

The courtyard was followed by a hypostyle, or covered, column hall. Between the painted and gold-upholstered columns in the form of papyrus bundles stood countless statues of the goddess Sekhmet, guarding the passage to the holy of holies. There were statues of deities and probably Amenhotep III himself. The sanctuary has not yet been excavated, and somewhere below, under a thick layer of silt and sand, is the main mystery of the temple: it is not yet known whose statue stood there.

The storage space is shown on the left. On the right is the sacred lake and its garden, as well as the burial temple of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

The temple was completely destroyed by the earthquake, the spills of the Nile and the pharaoh of the XIX dynasty Merneptah, who let his stones build his own sanctuary. Stone blocks from the temple of Amenhotep III went to the construction of the temple of Merneptah in Medinet Abu and the temple of Khonsu in Karnak.

About 700 statues of the goddess Sekhmet ended up in the Mut temple (one of the four key ancient temples that form the Karnak temple complex), and a giant scarab on the shores of the holy lake of the Amon temple in Karnak.

Memnon colossus. Thebes, Egypt, 1877.
Colossus of Memnon, Egypt, 1910s.

Dozens of restored statues from the memorial temple of Amenhotep III for 2022 are stored in the Luxor Museum.

Tomb of Tutankhamun

British archeologist Howard Carter, starting work in the Valley of the Kings in 1917, knew that there was a tomb of Tutankhamun, wrote Victor Solkin. The reason for this was the finds of other archaeologists who confirmed that a memorial ceremony was held in the valley along the king.

In 1909, archaeologist Edward Ayrton, near a cache of KV58, found this faience vessel with the inscription "god of the good Nebheprur, (to whom) life is given." It is with this subject that the new story of Tutankhamun begins, which led to the discovery of his tomb in 1922.

The vessel is kept in the Grand Egyptian Museum. Photo: GEM
On November 5, 1922, the entrance to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered and cleared in Egypt
Seal at the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun (remained intact for 3245 years), 1922.
Archeologist Howard Carter opens Tutankhamun's sarcophagus. Egypt. 1924.

Funeral temple and tomb of Seti I

Immediately after his accession to the throne, Seti I began a large-scale program of restoration of all temples throughout the country, but especially in Thebes.

For his own funerary temple, Seti I, following tradition, chose a place on the west bank of the Theban capital, directly opposite the magnificently restored (once again) temple complex of the "almighty and omnipresent" god Amun.

The funeral temple of Seti I is located in the northern part of the Theban necropolis, on the western side of the ancient village of Kurna; from here it became known as the Temple of Kurna. Not much further north in ancient times was the capital and residence of the king of Heft-her-Heaven, the "City opposite his Lord," i.e. the god Amun, whose dominant temple complex towered on the east bank of the Nile (Karnak Temple). Thus, the funeral temple of Seti I became the first on the west bank, built along the street of temples and tombs, which led from the state temple in Karnak in the south to the temples of Deir el-Bahari in the west.

Every year in the new moon of the second month of summer, in mid-May, during the reign of the Seti (circa 1300 BC), a colorful procession filled this street as the rooks of Amun and his companion deities traveled from the Karnak Temple to the desolate Deir el-Bahari Valley during the "Valley Beautiful Festival."

Memorial Temple of Seti I, Father Ramses II, in Sheikh Abd el-Qurn (Western Thebes). Jean-Claude Golvin's reconstruction is not entirely accurate

The plan of this temple continues the previous, especially Theban, evolution of the funeral temples of the XVIII dynasty, which is an architectural combination of the temple of Amun for processions and the royal funeral temple.

However, Seti also added more ancient structures and architectural models from ancient royal temples at the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, true to his revival program, which should be understood primarily in a religious and cult sense.

Reconstruction of the complex, placed by archaeologists on the territory of the temple

The temple was surrounded on all four sides by an imposing wall of unfired brick 3.20 m wide (= 6 ancient Egyptian elbows) and apparently 10.50 m high (= 20 elbows). It was fitted with four tall corner towers and six turrets on the long sides and five on the west short side.

In the center of the side wall of the temple fence was a high brick pylon, the dimensions of which can be reconstructed from the preserved foundations. The length of the pylon was 68.80 m (= 131 elbows), the width was 10.50 m (= 20 elbows), and the height, at an angle of inclination of 86 °, was probably 24 m (= 44 elbows).

The first court of the burial temple is the court of the "masses," who were allowed to visit it on holidays in order to contemplate with amazement the images of the power of the pharaoh. Giant sphinxes were also conceived as the embodiment of the king's supernatural power. Additional sphinxes, and presumably also statues of Seti I, were once located on both sides of the procession road between the first and second pylons, in the shadow of shrubs or Persian trees, the existence of which today is confirmed only by the pits in which they were once planted. Four royal steles, two on each side of the street, were erected in memory of the visits of Seti I and Ramses II.

The second pylon, like the first, was built of clay bricks, but was smaller. Its length was 43.25 m (82 elbows), and its width in the gate area was about 6.70 m (12.5 elbows).

A wide ramp led from the lower level of the courtyard to the temple itself. Its plan is not entirely rectangular, but rather forms a barely visible trapezoid.

The facade of the temple, facing the court, is 52 m long (almost exactly 100 elbows), as is the rear facade of the temple, facing west. The facade was decorated with an elegant portico with initially ten columns of papyrus bunches with closed capitals. From the southernmost column today there is only a small stump. The architrave is covered with the building inscription of Ramesses II, in which the young king describes his pious construction activity in his father's temple.

A view of the temple in January 2026. Photo by TAdviser

All external surfaces of the temple were covered with relief images of cult rituals. The best preserved examples can be seen on the north outer wall. These scenes gave an idea of ​ ​ ritual actions to ordinary people who were denied access to the interior. Thus, the walls of the temple became "invisible," and "the masses did not desecrate the shrines inside."

The temple plan shows a clear three-part shape that corresponds to the three-part function of the building itself. The central premises constituted Amun's sanctuary temple for his visit during the Valley Festival. To the south were the rooms of the royal funeral church with a slaughterhouse adjacent to it, and to the north - a long sunny court and chapels of the sun god Ra.

In the southern courtyard, presumably arranged as a temple garden, there is a sacred well of a very unusual nature. A small gate opened from the south wall of the temple itself onto a paved passage leading to a small pylon, through which it was possible to enter a double staircase. This staircase led to two fountain chambers, symbolizing the origins of the Nile of Upper and Lower Egypt. Outside these well chambers, statues of fertility deities of Upper and Lower Egypt were installed, presenting their gifts to the temple.

On the south side of the first courtyard stood a magnificent palace, from which only the foundation and part of the facade were preserved. The palace was traditionally built as an adobe residence; only the central part of the facade was made of high quality limestone, while the two-gate side wings were once brick. Thus, the central place was occupied by the central building, where the monumental window of phenomena was located, a kind of balcony from which the king watched and took part - personally during his lifetime, and spiritually, as a "revived statue" after death, in the entrance of divine rooks and the crowds accompanying them during the Valley Festival.

Under the window of the phenomena was a beautiful relief depicting people offering gifts, both Egyptians and representatives of foreign kingdoms, all of them brought gifts. All that remains of them today are traces of palms, legs, and some costumes and coasters.

The warehouses once occupied the entire northern strip of the complex: their walls and vaulted ceilings in the northwest corner of the temple fence have survived to this day. Archaeologists have reinforced the ancient remains of the walls. In those places where only the foundations are preserved, they covered them to a certain height with modern bricks with a similar production technology, but of a different size to make the structure of warehouses more understandable.

After the god Ra supplanted Atum and took the place at the head of the pantheon created by the priests Jonu, he also "inherited" the gods of the elements created by Atum. Of the latter, Chickpeas, Heaven, is the most colorful figure. There were various mythological images of the sky. One of them is recorded in a poorly preserved text inscribed in the tomb of the І Network. Here No is an anthropomorphic goddess whose belly is a sky dotted with stars. At night these stars float along it, and during the day - inside it, because in the morning she eats them, and in the evening gives birth again. Due to the fact that Chickpeas eats her children daily, her husband, the god of the earth Geb, quarreled with her. It was for this reason that her father, the god Shu (space), separated the spouses and lifted the goddess up forever - she was nicknamed "the pig eating her piglets." A comparison of Nut with the Greek Kronos eating his children suggests itself.

Temple-tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses II - Ramesseum

Ramesseum is the tomb temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great").

Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

It is the second largest temple in Egypt, covering an area of about 10 hectares.

Modern view of the temple complex. The entrance leads to the courtyard and to the remains of the first pylon. On its left adjoins the royal palace, which today is largely destroyed. The second courtyard, surrounded by columns, leads to the portico, which originally served as a covered gallery for the sanctuary. On both sides of the temple are buildings intended for priests and storerooms. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin, 1990

Funeral temple of Ramesses III in Medinet Abu

Although other structures are located on the territory of Medinet Abu, and important discoveries have also been made, today this place is associated primarily with the largest and best preserved monument - the Funeral Temple of Ramesses III.

The lower part of the drawing depicts the memorial temple of Ramesses III, on the sides of which are the memorial temples of Eye and Horemheb, as well as cultivated fields. In the second fence is an artificial lake, a sacred lake and the temple of Thutmose. The second monumental gate leads to various buildings: the premises of the priests, administrative buildings and stables. On the sides of the building are warehouses and the royal palace. At the top of the drawing is the Valley of the Kings with the craft village of Deir el-Medina. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

In addition to its size, architectural and artistic value, the funeral temple is best known as the source of relief inscriptions depicting the invasion and defeat of the "peoples of the sea" during the reign of Ramesses III (c. 1186-1155 BC. e.), including the battle in the Nile Delta.

The temple is located inside a triple fortified fence. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
Winged Disc on the ceiling relief at the entrance in the first column hall of the Temple of Ramesses III in Medinet Abu
German archaeologist studies hieroglyphs at Ramses III temple known as Medinet Abu, 1927

Tomb of Ramesses XI

Archaeologists at lunch in the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses XI, Egypt, 1923.

Beautiful Celebration of the Valley

One of the holidays was the "Beautiful Feast of the Valley," during which the Theban god Amun sent from the temple of Ipet-day through canals to the western edge of the Theban necropolis and then returned back to Karnak.

The picture shows the routes of the Opet Festival and the Beautiful Holiday of the Valley. The lower part of the drawing depicts the city of Thebes with the Luxor temple on the left, connected to the temple of Mut by a sphinx dromos. On the right are the temple of Amon-Ra and the temple of Mont. In the upper part, between the Nile, Theban Hill and the Valley of the Kings, are the palace of Malgat and its lake, the temple of Ramses III, the temple of Amenhotep III, Ramesseum and the temple of Seti I. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golven

Amon made this journey on a vessel made of Lebanese cedar, which was called Userhat. The well-known story about Un-Amun's journey to Bibl mentions that the purpose of the trip was to purchase cedar forest from Bibla for the construction of Userhat in Thebes (the beginning of the KhKhІ dynasty). Basically, the significance of the holiday was the introduction of the god Amun, who rested in the Theban necropolis, to the sacraments and grace of the god Amun.

Seth Maat ( Deir el Medina) - a village of tomb builders

Seth Maat (Deir el Medina) is an ancient Egyptian village of artisans who worked on tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th and 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1550-1080 BC).

The small Hathor Maat temple in Deir al-Medina was located inside the fence, a doorway is visible in the upper part. The courtyard leads to the hypostyle hall and the sanctuary. On the sides of the temple are secondary buildings. A village of workers is visible in the distance. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin
The picture shows a night holiday in the village of Deir el-Medineh in Thebes. People with torches walk along the paths. In the necropolis are the tombs of the villagers. Many are crowned with pyramids. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin, 1991
In the foreground from left to right: a large lake with a royal palace in Malgat and its village, then a fence with the temple of Jem and the temple of Ramses III in Medinet Abu, Amenophis, Ramesseum and quite to the right - the temple of Seti I. In the distance, under the mountain, is the Valley of Kings and Queens, necropolis Gurne Murrai, Sheikh Abd el Gurna, Assasif, Abu Dha and Khaa. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin, 1999