A unique city of a mystically old and interesting character. In the past, it inspired the Greek poet Homer that he couldn’t but immortalize it in his Iliad:
Not all proud Thesbes’ unrivalled walls can contain
The World’s great Empress on the Egyptian plain;
That spreads her conquest o’er a thousand states
And pours her heroes through a hundred gates.
Today it is hosting a large amount of preserved monuments; the complexes of Karnak & Luxor temples, the Ramseum, the City of the Dead on the west bank of the Nile where the valleys of the kings and queens are still the home to the mysterious tombs of the Pharaohs -among whom is the famous King Tutankhamun – in addition to Luxor museum and other awe-inspiring monuments.
Nowadays Luxor is colorful with its rich green plains of cultivated lands framed by a bold range of yellow mountains and grey shadows on the horizon
It is located about 670 km south of Cairo, it has a wealth of antiques, it contains the grandest number of monuments of the ancient world, and it consists of two areas, western & Eastern Banks.
The East Bank:
It consists of two Temples, the temple of Luxor & the temple of Karnak.
The Temple of Luxor has huge papyrus columns &was dedicated to the God Amun.
The Temple of Karnak consist of several temples, the most important temples are the God Amun, his wife the Goddess Mut, their son Khonsy the God of Moon & Ptah , the temples of Karnak & Luxor are linked in the past by an avenue of ram-headed Sphinx.
The West Bank:
The visitor should cross the Nile in a Ferry Boat to get to the West Bank; there are many areas to be visited like the Valley of King, the Valley of Queens, the Nobles tombs, El Deir El Bahari (Hatcheput temple), the Ramesseum temple & Madinet Habu.
Some of the most important tombs in the Valley of Kings are:
-The tomb of Tutankhamon
-The tomb of Amenhotep 2
-The tomb of Ramses 2
-The tomb of Ramses 3
The most important tombs in the Valley of Queens are:
- The tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife of the king Ramses
- The tomb of Queen Tity.
The Temple of Dandara:
It was at Dandara area about 30 miles north of Luxor, in this temple Hathor is the ancient Egyptian goddess of love & joy as Aphrodite to the Greeks & Romans.
The Temple of Abydos:
It has an important place in the religious history of Pharaonic Egypt, Osiris one of the most famous of the Egyptian Gods was buried in Abydos. |
