Luxor Temple

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Luxor Temple

Entrance of Luxor Temple
Shown within Egypt
Location Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt
Region Upper Egypt
Coordinates 25°42′0″N 32°38′21″E / 25.70000°N 32.63917°E / 25.70000; 32.63917Coordinates: 25°42′0″N 32°38′21″E / 25.70000°N 32.63917°E / 25.70000; 32.63917
Type Sanctuary
Part of Thebes
History
Founded 1400 BCE
Official name: Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, vi
Designated 1979 (3rd session)
Reference No. 87
Region Arab States
Statue at Temple Entrance

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BCE. Known in the Egyptian language as ipet resyt, or "the southern sanctuary." In Luxor there are six great temples, the four on the left bank are known to travellers and readers of travels as Goornah, Deir-el-Bahri, the Ramesseum, and Medinet Habu; and the two temples on the right bank are known as the Karnak and Luxor.[1]

To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Tuthmosis III, and Alexander. During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.

Construction

The original two obelisks, as seen in 1832. The one on the right is now in Paris, known as the Luxor Obelisk.

The Luxor temple was built with sandstone from the Gebel el-Silsila area, which is located in south-western Egypt.[2] This sandstone from the Gebel el-Silsila region is referred to as Nubian Sandstone.[2] This sandstone was used for the construction for monuments in Upper Egypt as well as in the course of past and current restoration works.[2]

Like other Egyptian structures a common technique used was symbolism, or illusionism.[3] For example, to the Egyptian, a sanctuary shaped like an Anubis Jackal was really Anubis.[3] At the Luxor temple, the two obelisks (the smaller one closer to the west is now in the Place de la Concorde in Paris) flanking the entrance were not the same height, but they created the illusion that they were.[3] With the layout of the temple they appear to be of equal height, but using illusionism, it enhances the relative distances hence making them look the same size to the wall behind it. Symbolically, it is a visual and spacial effect to emphasize the heights and distance from the wall, enhancing the already existing pathway.[3]

Excavation

From medieval times the Muslim population of Luxor had settled in and around the temple, at the southward end of the mount.[1] Due to the Luxor’s past city population building on top of and around the Luxor temple, centuries of rubble had accumulated, to the point where there was an artificial hill some forty-eight or fifty feet in height.[1] The Luxor Temple had begun to be excavated by Professor Gaston Maspero after 1884 after he had been given the order to commence operations.[1] The excavations were carried out sporadically until 1960. Over time, accumulated rubbish of the ages had buried three fourths of the actual temple which contained the courts and colonnades which formed the actual nucleus of the Arab half of the Modern village. Maspero had actually taken interest earlier, and he had actually taken over the post of Mariette Pasha to complete the job in 1881. Not only was there rubbish, but there was also barracks, stores, houses, huts, pigeon towers, which needed to be removed in order to excavate the site. Maspero received from the Egyptian minister of public works the authorization needed to obtain funds in order to negotiate compensation for the pieces of land covered by the houses and dependencies.

Festivals

It has been determined that the Luxor temple holds great significance to the Opet festival. The Luxor Temple was dedicated to the Theban Triad of the cult of the Royal Ka, Amun, Mut, and Khonsu and was built during the New Kingdom, the focus of the annual Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby Karnak Temple (ipet-isut) to stay there for a while, with his consort Mut, in a celebration of fertility – whence its name. However, other studies at the temple by the Epigraphic Survey team present a completely new interpretation of Luxor and its great annual festival (the Feast of Opet).[4] They have concluded that Luxor is a the temple dedicated to the divine Egyptian ruler or, more precisely, to the cult of the Royal Ka.[4] Examples of the cult of the Royal Ka can be seen with the colossal seated figures of the deified Ramesses II before the Pylon and at the entrance to the Colonnade are clearly Ka-statues, cult statues of the king as embodiment of the royal Ka.

The Six Shrine Stations

Six shrine stations of bark were set up on the avenue between the Karnak and Luxor Temple.[5] The avenue which went in a straight line between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak area was recently lined with human-headed sphinxes of Nekhtanebo I,21, in ancient times it is probable that these replaced earlier sphinxes which may have had different heads.[5] Along the avenue the stations were set up for ceremonies such as the Feast of Opet which held significance to temple.[5] Each station had a purpose, for example the fourth station was the station of Kamare, which cooled the oar of Amun.[5] The Fifth station of Kamare, was the station which received the beauty of Amun.[5] Lastly the Sixth Station of Kamare was a shrine for Amun, Holy of Steps.[5]

Scandal

Main article: Ding Jinhao engraving scandal

On May 24, 2013, verified Weibo user Mr.Shen posted a picture. The picture's content is someone engraved "Ding Jinhao to this tour" (Chinese: 丁锦昊到此一游) in Chinese on the emboss of Luxor Temple. The message raised the public debate after media reports. On May 26, 2013, the engraving has been cleared.[6]

Gallery

  • Luxor Temple, from the east bank of the Nile

  • Hundreds of sphinxes once lined the road to nearby Karnak

  • A well preserved sphinx

  • The massive First Pylon

  • The red granite obelisk

  • The central corridor of the temple

  • Islamic mosque over pharaonic temple

  • Sitting Ramesses II Colossus inside Luxor Temple

  • Closeup of the same Colossus

  • Amenhotep's colonnade from the peristyle court

  • The east side of the peristyle court of Amenhotep III

  • Roman mural in an inner chamber

  • Central corridor and four colossi by night

  • Closeup of illuminated red granite obelisk

  • Sitting Ramesses II Colossus inside Luxor Temple by night

  • Wall inscription

  • Northwestern part

  • The Abu el-Haggag mosque inside of the temple

A panoramic view of the interior of the Luxor temple, just inside the entrance. The Abu Haggag Mosque, built over the ruins, is on the left.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Science, "Excavation of the Temple of Luxor," Science, 6, no. 6 (1885): 370.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bernd Fitzner, Kurt Heinrichs, and Dennis La Bouchardiere, "Weathering damage on Pharaonic sandstone monuments in Luxor-Egypt," Building and Environment, 38 (2003): 1089.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Alexander Badawy, "Illusionism in Egyptian Architecture," Studies in the Ancient Oriental Civilization, 35 (1969): 23.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lanny Bell, "Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal Ka," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 44, no. 4 (1985): 251.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Charles Nims, "Places about Thebes," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 14, no. 2 (1955): 114.
  6. ↑ Chinese engraving on the emboss of Luxor Temple is cleared

External links

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