Temple of Luxor

The temple of Luxor, some 260 m long today, was built by Amenophis III on the foundations of a previuos religious structure., dating from the time of queen Hatshepsut. The queen had also ordered the construction of six kiosks, at the stopping points of the scared barque of amun, along the original Eighteenth Dynasty Dormos, the scared avenue that connected the temple of Luxor with the temple of Karnak. From the Eighteenth Ddynasty on, the effigies of the scared barques of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were sailed to the temple of Luxor along the course of the Nile. At the festival of Opet, Amun of Karnak paied a visit to Amun of Luxor, also known as Amun-em-ipet, meaning Amun who is in His Harem, revitalizing the Amun of Luxor.

Amenhotep III,  the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh and great-grandson of the inilitaily genius Thutmose III, built the temple of Luxor close to the hanks of the Nile just south of the city. Though by this time Egyptian military power was past its peak, economic conditions within the capital were sound. Trade was flourishing with wealth pouring in from the distant provinces of the empire, which com- prised almost all West Asia including Palestine, Syria, Phoenicia, the western part of the Euphrates, Nubia, Kusli and Libya. Extravagant caravans brought gold and silver, metalware, ivory and timber, spices for the royal taste and strange and exotic animals to roam in private gardens. The temples were bursting with tributes, walls and columns were encrusted with richness and colour, feasts and festivals were bountiful, the pace was brisk, the mood content.

Amenhotep ruled in splendour with relatively little to concern him politically apart from a Nubian revolt which was quickly quelled. His Asian supremacy was unchallenged and he was confident that his armies were strong enough to maintain his foreign empire. At home his viziers took care of all matters of state and held the reins of power in their able hands.

Advantage was taken of slave labour from Nubia and Asia, and Amenhotep imbued traditional architecture with new life both by changing existing temples and also by building new ones. Apart from the Luxor temple he completed the temple to Mut. in the great Karnak triad , which had been begun lift his ancestors, giving it grace and elegance. Size was no deterrent, as van he gauged from the statues at the entrance to his mortuary

temple on the necropolis, now known  the Colossi of Memnon. This was perhaps the most trouble-free time in Egyptian history. The  country was united, the nightmare rule of the Hyksos was no more than a bad memory. The empire was expansive, slave labour cheap, wealth abundant and Amenhotep had every reason to be the most carefree of Pharaos. He raised his bow to beasts and fowl on his native soil where his ancestors had raised theirs to the enemy on alien lands. His wife, Queen Tiy, was very beautiful and clearly loved by the Pharaoh, as she is depicted in name or person always at his side and far more frequently than was usual for royal wives of earlier rulers.  In the circumstances it is not surprising that Amenhotep, architecturally active and emotionally content, should have developed an interest in horticulture. Near his palace on the necropolis his enormous artificial lake, over 1,700 metres long and 500 wide, was ‘ surrounded by luxuriant foliage. Between the temple of Luxor and that of Karnak he laid out beautiful gardens, lining the avenue with rams carved in stone, each with a statue of himself between its forepaws. The effect must have been one of overwhelming grandeur as solemn processions and dazzling ceremonies passed along this splendid avenue.

Description

Pylon of Ramses II

The entrance to the temple of Luxor is by the great  pylon of Ramses II. In front of it are six enormous statues of Ramses  II, two seated and four standing. Were these statues not

carved from solid granite one might imagine them to have been cast from a pair of moulds, so similar are their solid legs firmly implanted feet, square shoulders, clearcut features and eyes looking forward through all eternity. In front of the seated figures were two pink granite obelisks. Then one in position, now reinforced and repaired, has its base adorned with four praying apes on one side, and the inscriptions name Ramses II himself as the builder of this magnificent temple erected to honour Anion, blithely overlooking the fact that he was responsible only for adding to the entrance section of a temple that had stood on site for over seven hundred years. The other obelisk now stands in Paris.

The outer walls of the pylon are embellished with records of Ramses Il’s military campaigns, particularly against the Hittites of Syria. in the fifth year of his reign. Ramses II was always anxious for his personal bravery to be recorded and his sculptors lost no time in pandering to his vanity. On the western tower (a) one can still inake out life at the Egyptian camp (to the right) and the enthroned Pharaoh holding council (to the left). In the centre is the fortified camp with shielded soldiers and the Pharaoh himself dashing with his chariot into the fary.

The eastern tower  depicts a ferocious battle with Ramses II, still in his chariot. hurling arrows at the surrounding enemy. Dead arid wounded lie beneath his feet and the enemy flee in confusion to the fortress of Kiadesh from whence fresh troops appear. Kadesh

itself is surrounded with battlements and the defending Hittite guards and supposedly in fear of the enemy.

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Court of Ramses II, Colonnade

Passing through the entrance pylon we enter the court of Ramses II (A), to the left of which the Fatimide Mosque of Abu El Hagag stands in contrast to the solemn ruins of Pharonic Egypt. is recently as 1968 the local sheikhs, who claim that the tomb of the saint

himself lies here, took advantage of a quiet tourist—free period, when many Egyptologists had escaped from the summer heat, to add an extension to the rear portion of the mosque, built, it will be seen, on ever weakening foundations. The height of the mosque above the stone courtyard indicates the height to which the temple was buried

in sand. ‘ The court itself is surrounded by smooth‘-shafted papyrus- columns with lotus-bud capitals. Standing colossi of Ramses II were placed between the first row of columns in the southern half. On  each side of the doorway are a further two statues of the Pharaoh

wrought in red and black granite. The one on the left has a fine statue of Queen Nefertari, his wife, carved near the Pharaoh’s right leg. On the throne is a representation of the two Niles binding the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt: the lotus and papyrus plants.

Adjoining the western tower of the entrance pylon (P.1) is a raised platform comprising three chambers. This was the granite shrine originally built by Hatshepsut and restored by Ramses II.

The chambers were dedicated to Amon, Mut and the Moon-god Khonsu. Four papyrus columns form a colonnade on the side facing the court. The reliefs and inscriptions which adorn the walls of the court date from the reign of Ramses II. They represent sacrifices and hymns to the gods. and all Ramses II’s family, his many wives and

a horde of princes and princesses are depicted on the walls.

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The Colonnade

The Colonnade (B) was built by Amenhotep III. In the early morning and towards sunset heavy shadows are cast between the seven pairs of columns and the interplay of light has long been exploited by photographers as it slants from heavy architrave to calyx capitals

and down the slender shafts of the columns. Though Amenhotep III conceived the idea of this colonnade. Tutankhamon, Haremhab, Seti I, Ramses II and Seti ll also recorded their names there. It was Tutankhamon however who had the walls embellished with the

reliefs representing the august annual festival, the Opel, when the god Anion visited his southern harem. The sacred barges were brought in splendid procession from Karnak to the Luxor temple, borne on the shoulders of white robed priests from the temple to the

river. and then towed upstream in a splendid and majestic procession. The festival took place at the height of the Nile flood and continued for twenty~four days of merry-making. Unhappily much of the relief work has been destroyed.

On the right-hand wall starting at (0) are preparations for the occasion, which include a rehearsal by dancing girls. The procession begins at the gate of the Karnak temple (d), which is complete with flag staffs and from whence white»robed priests bear the sacred

barge of Anion down to the water’s edge. An enthusiastic audience (v) claps hands in unison and at (f) the boat in the water is being towed upstream by those on shore. A sacrifice of slaughtered animals (g) is followed by a group of acrobats, and finaly offerings are made to Anion, Mut and Khonsu at the Luxor temple . On the opposite wall are scenes of the return procession, including (ii) sacrificial bulls being led to the scene accompanied by soldiers, standard—bearers, dancers and negro slaves who are roused to frenzy by the pomp, the barges floating downstream (j) and the final sacrifice and offerings of flowers to Amun and Mut at the Karnak temple (k).

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Court of Amenhotep III

In 1989 the supreme council of antiquities came upon what has become to be known as the Cache of Luxor temple. It was a horde of treasures, twenty two statues in all, buried beneath the flagstones. They included some of the most famous pharaohs, now on display in a new gallery in Luxor museum.

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Hypostyle  Hall

Adjoining the court to the south is the Hypostyle Hall (D), comprising gigantic columns arranged in four rows of eight columns each. The hall stands today as a somewhat  cheerless ruin, though the Walls still have reliefs of Amenhotep III before the Theban deities. The columns bear the cartouches of Ramses IV, Ramses VI, Ramses II and Seti I, mentioning repairs carried out in their respective reigns.

To the left of the hypostyle hall stands an alter bearing Latin inscriptions dedicated to the Emperor Augustus. Adjoining the rear wall are two small shrines, one to Mlut and one to Khunso. The section  leading off the rear originally had eight columns. which were removed when the area was converted into an apse

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Birth Room

Several small chambers surround the sanctuary, including what has become known  the Birth Room (E). Though in poor condition, the murals are of special interest because they depict the birth of Amenhotep III. The Egyptian Pharaoh was the embodiment of Horus, or the son o Ra or Amon. But he had, in addition, to be of direct royal lineage through his father and royal consort. If, as in the case of Amenhotep III, whose mother was not of royal Egyptian blood, his accession was not considered legitimate, he could overcome this difficulty by marrying a sister of royal lineage. Amenhotep did not do this. It was

necessary for him therefore to consolidate his monarchy in other respects. Queen Hatshcpsut had already shown him how. In her mortuary temple she depicted how she ruled by divine right of Amon and was, in fact, a direct descendant of the Sun-god Amon

Ra. In his temple at Luxor Amenhotep also showed that he was the son of the divine, begotten of Amon and born under the protection of the gods.

The story of the birth room is depicted in three rows on the left hand wall. From right to left in the lower row the god Khnum moulds two infants, Amenhotep and his guardian spirit or Ka, and fashions them on a potter’s wheel. The goddess Isis sits opposite.

She watches Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataract region, playing the role of a creator god. In the next scene Amenhotep’s mother is embraced by Isis in the presence of Amon. In the centre row Amen is led by the ibis-headed god of wisdom to the qucen’s

bed chamber where he approaches her to beget the child already moulded by Khnum. The pregnancy and confinement are attended by Bes and Thoueris, the patron deities of childbirth. After the delivery Anion stands with the child in his arms in the presence of Hathor and Mut. On the much-damaged top row are the suckling of the infant king, his guardian spirits, and his presentation to Amon by Horus who promises him ‘millions of years like Ra’. In the corner the grown Anienhotcp stands as king. In all other reliefs of this chamber Amenhotep is blessed by the various deities.

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Sanctuary of Alexander the Great

We now come to what has become known as the Sanctuary of Alexandar the Great (m), the area entirely rebuilt by him on the site where the sacred barge of the deity was originally housed. Both the inner and the outer walls have reliefs representing Alexander before Amon and other deities. He obligingly left unmolested some reliefs of Amenhotep III before various Theban deities. The true sanctuary that housed the gold-plated statue of Amon was the square chamber with four pillars to the south (11). To imbue it with life each day the priests of Amon carried out a series of rituals.

Those perfonned at dawn were the most elaborate. The statue was first carefully cleansed. Then it was clothed with garments and anointed with perfumes. The eyes were made up and prayers were chanted. Then, just as painstakingly, the clothing and makeup were removed and the priests humbly withdrew.