Luxor

 Luxor is on the east bank of the Nile River, which is only about 500 meters wide at this point. The renowned Greek Philosopher, Homer, called it the city of a hundred gates because of its buildings and large gates. The city grew over the years, and the Arabs, impressed by its beautiful palaces and huge edifices, re-named it 'Luxor': City of Palaces.


The city of Luxor was formerly the location of the 4000 year old city Thebes (that is the name in Greek though in Egypt it was called Weset). Thebes was the capital city of Egypt during two of its flourishing periods, the Middle and the New Kingdom. As it was becoming a cultural and religious centre, the city became the place of monumental buildings.  

 

East Bank of the Nile


The temple of Luxor


The architect was probably amenophis, son of Hotep. The temple of Luxor was joined to that of karnak by a long stone-paved dromos, a drome and a processional avenue, flanked by sphinxes with rams heads that the XXX Dynasty replaced with sphynexes with human heads.

This street has not been brought to life completely and they are still working on it. 

KarnakTemple

 

At about three kilometres from Temple of Luxor stands the vast monumental area of Karnak, which the Greeks called Hermonthis: the archaeological site includes three divided areas separated by a rough brick boundary.

It is the largest temple with columns in the world and according to distinguished historians, it could contain Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in its entirety; Leonard Cottrell affirmed that it was such a vast monument that “it could cover almost half of the Manhattan area “! Not only, but on account of its architectural .

Luxor Museum


Recently built, this Museum displays countless inter – esting finds relating to the history of ancient Thebes.The most interesting piece is Talatat’s wall, a recomposition of an 18-meter well from the temple of Akhen-Aton in Karnak and destroyed by its success- sors; the 283 blocks forming it were found in the filling of the ninth pylon of the temple of Amon in Karnak.

Esna

Esna is located about 33 miles south of Luxor. The town's Greek name was Latopolis and here fish (lates) where thought to embody the goddess Neith, who was sacred to the area.  Esna was increasingly important during the 18th dynasty due to Egypt's developing relationship with the Sudan.  There was a route established between Esna and Derr. Later, the city slowly declined until it received renewed interest during the26th Dynasty.  Later, under the Greeks and Romans, it became the capital of the Third Nome of Upper Egypt.


West Bank of the Nile

Valley of Kings


The Valley of the Kings is a desert valley located on the west bank of Thebes, the political and religious capital of the New Kingdom.

 It was first used as a royal necropolis by Thutmosis I, although it was his predecessor, Amenhotep I, who was considered as the patron-god of the valley by the actual builders of the tombs.

The last known king to have built a tomb in the Valley was Ramesses XI, the last king of the New Kingdom, although it is doubtful that he ever used that tomb.

 Valley of Queens

The Valley of the Queens is an isolated cemetery, at the southern part of the vast

necropolis of Thebes, on the west bank of Luxor. It contains about 70 tombs, mainly belonging to Queens, Princesses, Princes and Nobles, who lived during the XIX and XX Dynasties. 

In general, these tombs are smaller than the ones of the Kings. The plans of these tombs usually consist of a small antechamber, a long narrow corridor with several side chambers, and at the end - the burial chamber.

Hatshepsut Temple

 The mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the  most dramatically situated in the world. The queen's architect, Senenmut,designed it and set it at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of theThebes, the "Lover of Silence," where lived the goddess who presided over the necropolis. A tree lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple, and ramps led from terrace to terrace. The porticoes on the lowest terrace are out of proportion and coloring with the rest of the building. They were restored in 1906 to protect the celebrated reliefs depicting the transport of obelisks by barge to Karnak and the miraculous birth of Queen Hatshepsut. Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen's expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt, the land of incense. Along the front of the upper terrace, a line of large, gently smiling Osirid statues of the queen looked out over the valley. In the shade of the colonnade behind, brightly painted reliefs decorated the walls. Throughout the temple, statues and sphinxes of the queen proliferated. Many of them have been reconstructed, with patience and ingenuity, from the thousands of smashed fragments found by the excavators; some are now in the Cairo Museum, and others the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Madinet Habu

The entire Temple of Ramesses III, palace and town is enclosed within a defensive wall. Entry is through the Highgate, or Migdol, which, in appearance resembles an Asiatic fort. Just inside the Highgate, to the south, are the chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenwepet II and Nitoket, wives of the god Amun. To the north side is the chapel of Amun. These chapels were a later addition dating to the 18th Dynasties, by Hatsepsut and Tutmose II. Later renovations were done by the Ptolemaic kings of the XXV Dynasty.


What to visit In and from Luxor


- Half  Day East Bank ( Karnak & Luxor Temple )

- Full Day West Bank ( Valley of Kings- Valley of Queens – Hatshepsut Temple – Madinet Habu )

- Full Day Dendara & Abydos

- Overday Aswan

- Overday Hurghada

- Hot Air Balloon

- Quad runners

- Sound & Light Show