The Luxor Temple ( ar, معبد الأقصر) is a large
Ancient Egyptian temple
Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and in commemoration of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and regions under Egyptian control. Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated. Within the ...
complex located on the east bank of the
Nile River
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
in the city today known as
Luxor (ancient
Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the
Egyptian language it was known as ''ipet resyt'', "the southern sanctuary". It was one of the two primary temples on the east bank, the other being
Karnak.
[Science, "Excavation of the Temple of Luxor," Science, 6, no. 6 (1885): 370.] Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually (as in the case of
Alexander the Great, who claimed he was crowned at Luxor but may never have traveled south of
Memphis, near modern Cairo).
To the rear of the temple are chapels built by
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
of the
18th Dynasty, and Alexander. Other parts of the temple were built by
Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. During the
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area. During the Roman period a chapel inside the Luxor Temple originally dedicated to the goddess
Mut was transformed into a Tetrarchy cult chapel and later into a church.
Along with the other archeological sites in Thebes, the Luxor Temple was inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
Construction
The Luxor Temple was built with sandstone from the
Gebel el-Silsila area, which is located in South-Western Egypt.
[Bernd Fitzner, Kurt Heinrichs, and Dennis La Bouchardiere, "Weathering damage on Pharaonic sandstone monuments in Luxor-Egypt," Building and Environment, 38 (2003): 1089.] This sandstone is referred to as Nubian sandstone.
It was used for the construction for monuments in
Upper Egypt as well as in the course of past and current restoration works.
Like other Egyptian structures, a common technique used was symbolism, or illusionism.
[Alexander Badawy, "Illusionism in Egyptian Architecture," Studies in the Ancient Oriental Civilization, 35 (1969): 23.] For example, to the Egyptian, a sanctuary shaped like an Anubis jackal was really
Anubis.
At the Luxor Temple, the
two obelisks (the smaller one closer to the west is now at the
Place de la Concorde in Paris) flanking the entrance were not the same height, but they created the illusion that they were.
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 spatial effect to emphasize the heights and distance from the wall, enhancing the already existing pathway.
Excavation
From the
Middle Ages, the Muslim population of
Luxor had settled in and around the temple, at the southward end of the mount.
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 in height.
The Luxor Temple had begun to be excavated by Professor
Gaston Maspero after 1884, after he had been given permission to commence operations.
The excavations were carried out sporadically until 1960. Over time, accumulated rubbish of the ages had buried three quarters of the temple which contained the courts and colonnades which formed the nucleus of the Arab half of the modern village. Maspero had taken an interest earlier, and he had taken over the post of Mariette Pasha to complete the job in 1881. Not only was there rubbish, but there were also barracks, stores, houses, huts, pigeon towers, which needed to be removed in order to excavate the site. (There still exists a working mosque within the temple which was never removed.) 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
The Luxor Temple was built during the
New Kingdom
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
and dedicated to the
Theban Triad consisted of
Amun
Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, his consort
Mut, and their son
Khonsu. The focus of the annual
Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby
Karnak Temple
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed Egyptian temple, temples, Pylon (architecture), pylons, chapels, and other ...
(''ipet-sut'') to stay there for a while with his consort Mut, was to promote the fertility of Amun-Re and the Pharaoh. 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).
[Lanny Bell, "Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal Ka," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 44, no. 4 (1985): 251.] They have concluded that Luxor is the temple dedicated to the divine Egyptian ruler or, more precisely, to the cult of the Royal Ka.
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 Grand colonnade are clearly Ka-statues, cult statues of the king as embodiment of the royal Ka.
Avenue of Sphinxes and Shrine stations
The avenue (known as ''wi.t ntr'' "path of god"; ) which went in a straight line for about between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak area was lined with human-headed sphinxes; in ancient times it is probable that these replaced earlier sphinxes which may have had different heads.
Six
barque shrines, serving as way stations for the barques of the gods during festival processions, were set up on the avenue between the
Karnak and Luxor Temple.
[Charles Nims, "Places about Thebes," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 14, no. 2 (1955): 114.] Along the avenue the stations were set up for ceremonies such as the Feast of Opet which held significance to temple.
Each station had a purpose, for example the fourth station was the station of Kamare, which cooled the oar of Amun.
The Fifth station of Kamare was the station which received the beauty of Amun.
Lastly the Sixth Station of Kamare was a shrine for Amun, Holy of Steps.
A small mudbrick shrine was built in the courtyard of
Nectanebo I in early second century (126 CE) and was dedicated to
Serapis and
Isis; it was presented to Roman Emperor
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
on his birthday.
Abu Haggag Mosque
The active
Abu Haggag Mosque
The Mosque of Abu Haggag (Arabic: مسجد أبو الحجاج بالأقصر) is a mosque in Luxor, Egypt. It is integrated into the structure of Luxor Temple, an Ancient Egyptian centre of worship, making it one of the oldest continuously use ...
() is located within the temple, standing on the ancient columns themselves. That part of the Luxor Temple was converted to a church by the Romans in 395 AD, and then to a mosque in 640, which is more than 3,400 years of continuous religious worship. Hence, the Luxor Temple is the oldest building in the world at least partially active for other than archeological or tourist purposes.
Defacement
In 2013, a Chinese student posted a picture of engraved graffiti that read "Ding Jinhao was here" () in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
on a sculpture. This discovery spurred debate about increased tourism after the media confirmed a Chinese student caused this and other defacements. The engraving has since been partially cleared.
Gallery
File:Luxor-Tempel Sanktuar Amenophis III. 01.jpg, Sanctuary of Luxor Temple
File:Flickr - schmuela - IMG 7322.jpg, Sun court of Amenhotep III
File:Luxor, Luxor Temple, sphinx alley at night, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg, The Avenue of Sphinxes at night
File:Pylons and obelisk Luxor temple 2.JPG, Pylon and Obelisk of Ramses II
File:مجموعه اعمدة من معبد الكرنك.jpg, The Grand colonnade
File:Luxor-Tempel Kapelle Thebanische Triade 03.jpg, Barque Shrine of Theban Triad
File:Luxor Temple at night, Luxor, Egypt.jpg, First pylon at night
See also
*
Temple of Khonsu
*
Luxor Museum
Luxor Museum is an archaeological museum in Luxor (ancient Thebes), Egypt. It stands on the corniche, overlooking the east bank of the River Nile.
Establishment
The Luxor Museum was inaugurated in 1975. It is a two-story building. The range of ...
References
External links
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century BC
1884 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological sites in Egypt
Egyptian temples
Colossal statues in Egypt
Former religious buildings and structures in Egypt
Thebes, Egypt
Buildings and structures in Luxor Governorate