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The Majesty of Two Theban TemplesEgypt, Part 4
(by Patti Day-Miller - June 22, 2010)
Wake-up call was at 5 a.m. that morn. (Yes, that is two mornings in a row.) Then breakfast, and by 6 a.m. we were leaving the ship and boarding our bus. We had two temples in the city of Luxor to view that morning, before cruising on to Esna is the afternoon.
Luxor has been inhabited for at least 6,000 years. It was the center of power in Egypt from 1550-1069 BC controlling an area that extended from the depths of what are now Sudan and Libya. It owed its prominence to the local god Amun, along with his wife, Mut, and their son, Khonsu. These three formed the Theban Triad.
The Egyptian armies brought back a great deal of wealth from their campaigns in Africa and Asia, much of which went toward the temple of Karnak, as succeeding pharaohs vied to leave their mark over nearly a 1500-yr. period. From Alexander the Great onward, Luxor lost its political power to Alexandria, but remained Egypts religious capital for centuries. Then, over time, it became only a large, sleepy village.
It was in 1798 when Napoleon, along with French archaeologists and scholars, came to Egypt and realized that Luxor was ancient Thebes. With the publication of Description de lEgypt, interest in Egypt skyrocketed, and by the time Thomas Cook brought his first group of tourists to Egypt in 1869, Luxor was one of the highlights. (Florence Nightingale published a series of letters detailing her 1848 trip, which inspired other writers, including Agatha Christie, who came to visit Luxor and wrote Death on the Nile while there.)
Our first stop of the day was at Karnak, with the Amun Temple being the center of the 100-acre complex here. This complex is huge and awe-inspiring. Temples, courts, pylons, halls, obelisks, a large sacred lake—well, the scale and complexity here is absolutely amazing. At one point, during the reign of Ramses III, 80,000 men worked in the temple as laborers, guards, priests and servants! And to think that this temple lay buried under sand for more than 1,000 years before excavation work began in the mid-19th century! The task of excavation and renovation continue today.
The Amun Temple is the largest of any Egyptian temple. Beyond the entrance pylon is the First Forecourt. Originally there were ten 69-ft. tall columns here, but only one remains. To the right is the Temple of Ramses III, which was only later included in the forecourt. It gives an idea of the basic design of every temple: forecourt, lifestyle hall, and sanctuary.
Beyond the second pylon is one of the wonders of the ancient world, the towering hypostyle hall, supported by 134 gigantic papyrus-shaped columns in 16 rows, forming a symbolic garden. This massive hall was built by Seti I, with decoration by Ramses II, and is considered the most striking feature of the temple.
The third to sixth pylons lead to the two-chambered granite sanctuary. The walls here depict the pharaoh making sacrifices to the gods. The obelisks were erected by Tuthmosis I and III, and the two pink granite ones by Hatshepsut. One fell down, but the other is the tallest standing obelisk in Egypt.
Nearby, the Botanical room features reliefs of plants and animals Tuthmosis brought back from Syria, including sunflowers, goats, falcons, and chickens. Not far from here is the sacred lake placed here by Amenhotep III so that the priests could do their ritual washings four times a day to purify themselves.
Other sights in the complex include the Temple of Mut, Amuns wife. It was built by Amenhotep III and huge black granite statues of the lioness godess Sekhmet line the temple courts. Nearby, the Temple of Khonsu was built largely during the reigns of Ramses III and IV. The main entrance is via a magnificent gateway, built by Ptolemy III, and is still virtually intact.
I could go on and on and still never do Karnak justice. Amelia Edwards, a 19th century writer and artist who traveled the Nile to Karnak felt the same way, writing. It is a place that has been much written about and often painted; but of which no writing and no art can convey more than a dwarfed and pallid impression … The scale is too vast; the effect too tremendous; the sense of ones own dumbness, and littleness, and incapacity, too complete and crushing.
Yes.
Our time at Karnak seemed over too soon, but we had another sight to visit that morning, and we then bussed less than two miles to the Temple of Luxor. The complex at Karnak and the Temple of Luxor were once connected by the Avenue of Sphinxes, the excavated parts of which can be seen in spots along the way. How magnificent that must have been at the time, when the entire avenue was visible!
Luxor Temple sits gracefully on the eastern bank of the Nile, atop what was once a temple built by Hatshepsut. All the religions associated with Egypt are represented in this temple, which was built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for the ancient gods. It also contains a mosque and part of it has been used as a church.
Over the centuries it was buried in sand and silt and only rediscovered in 1881, and before excavation work could begin, an entire village had to be removed. When you see the foundation level of the mosque, which was added much later than the original temple, you realize just how deeply the temple was engulfed.
The entrance pylon depicts the exploits of Ramses II including scenes from the Battle of Kadesh, where he fought the Hittites. The colonnade has a unique work of art dating back to Tutankhamun showing scenes from the Festival of Opet where a joyous procession of deities and common people are going from Karnak to the Luxor Temple. (One can even spot the drummer and the acrobats doing backbends.)
Two huge seated statues of Ramses and an 82-ft. high pink granite obelisk flank the gateway to the temple. The obelisk was one of a pair, and the other can be seen in Paris Place de la Concorde (a gift in the early 1800s from the Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali to the people of France).
In the court one views the double-rows of papyrus columns, the best preserved in the temple. In 1989 work here lead to the discovery of 22 statues that are now on display in the Luxor museum. The hypostyle hall on the southern side of the court holds 32 papyrus columns bearing the cartouches of Ramses II, IV, VI and Seti I. Another hall nearby was rebuilt by Alexander the Great. It is decorated with scenes of Alexander making offerings to the Theban triad.
Again, words fail to describe. This temple was touched by so many pharaohs and other leaders of various cultures over the centuries, including the Romans who built a military fort around the temple, at one point in time. And modern Luxor owes its name to the Arabs who called the city Al-Uqsur (The Palaces).
It was a quick ride to our ship, where we ate lunch, as our ship began its cruise to the view the temple at Esna.
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