Luxor Accommodation and Luxor Temple at Night

After touring sites in Cairo, we flew to Luxor.  We were pleasantly surprised to see such wonderful hotel accommodations! Because tourism is down, you can get a 5 star hotel at 3 star prices. The Steigenberger Nile Palace/Convention Center is conveniently located  on the east bank of the Nile River, just 20 minutes from the airport.  

This looks like a little piece of Paradise.

Jerusalem Center students enjoying a delightful meal. 

We ate all our meals in one of the four restaurants 
and the selection of foods was great. 
 be on the safe side, we always drank bottled water. 

The food was so beautifully displayed and I couldn't resist taking photos.

Professors Esplin and Huff and their wives.

One of the stations served hamburgers and French fries for lunch and that was the choice for most of the students because hamburgers are not commonly served in Israel nor Egypt. 

For the gourmet cooks out there, this fruit tray was very enticing.

There were all kinds of pickled vegetables and I loved the veggie bouquet. 

The dragon was made from bread dough.

After a scrumptious dinner, we were off to see the Luxor Temple.  We took carriages to the location and it was fun seeing the city at night. Carriage rides cost $6 and Garth said when he sat in front, the driver kept talking about how much more he wanted to be paid for the ride.  The night was a little chilly and with a slight wind so we needed jackets.

Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. The Luxor Temple, constructed in 1400 BC,  is a gigantic ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River.  In Luxor, there are several temple sights but the two primary temples on the east bank are known as the Karnak and Luxor.  Sphinxes consisting of lion bodies with human heads lined the walkway into the temple complex.

At one time, this was a mile and a half avenue of sphinxes which connected the temples of Karnak and Luxor. This road was used annually during a festival when ancient Egyptians paraded along it carrying statues that symbolized the reenactment of their unification. Around 1,350 sphinx statues are thought to have lined this road together with chapels stocked with offerings. 

Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1425 BC) built six of these chapels and each of which had a precise function. The construction of the Avenue of Sphinxes was begun and finished around 380-362 BC. The road was then renovated by Queen Cleopatra (51-30 BC) and later used by the Romans. Recently, 850 fragmented sphinxes have been discovered along a section of this road built  in 1390-1352 BC.  

We were in awe as we approached the entrance.  The large pylon front looks like a triumphal entrance and is 213 feet across.  On each side are granite statues of Ramses II on a throne, standing 51 feet in height and on the sides are baboons in relief.  You might ask, who was Ramses II or perhaps you might have just forgotten?  Let's go back.  

If you recall on an earlier entry, we visited a small museum in Memphis and there we saw a statue of Ramses II. Remember now? 

Ramses II was the third pharaoh (or King) of the 19th dynasty and was considered the most powerful and influential pharaohs of ancient Egypt. (And . . do you remember that if the statue had a square beard it meant it was created when the pharaoh was alive?) 

Why? He took the throne in his early twenties (around 1279 BC) and ruled for 67 years. Ramses II was originally buried in the Valley of the Kings which we will be visiting later but had to be replaced because of looting. Statues like this show us the influence Ramses II had on the artwork of his day because many other sites have yielded other large Ramses II statues.  

The entrance to the temple is known as the first pylon and was built by Ramses II and was decorated with scenes of his military expeditions, particularly the battle of Kadesh. Ramses II had an enormous military army up to 100,000 men and much of his reign was occupied with taking back territories that were lost to Egypt during the rule of other ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The temple complex is surrounded by mud-brick walls, symbolic of the separation between the world and the sacred world of the gods.  

Originally, the pylon towers supported four huge cedar flag masts from which banners would have waved in the breeze.  The entrance was once flanked by 6 massive statues of Ramses II -- two seated and four standing.  However, the two seated statues are the only ones that remain intact today.  

Not just anyone could enter the temple complex as only the pharaoh, priests and other high ranking officials were allowed. The pylon at Luxor is guarded by statues of Ramesses II sitting on each side of the entrance. Two stone obelisks also marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple, though only one still stands today.

We were enthralled by the obelisk at the entrance. An obelisk is the tall, four-sided and tapering monument which ends in a pyramid shape at the top. It was cut from pink granite. As mentioned, originally two obelisks stood at the entrance . . . each cut from a single piece of red sandstone, standing 75' tall and weighing many, many tons. What struck us the most were the hieroglyphics inscribed on all the sides. Currently, it's twin obelisk stands in Paris and was gifted to France by Muhammed Ali (from Cairo). By the way, the Washington Monument in D.C. is "obelisk-shaped" and not considered an obelisk because it was constructed of several stones and not just one.

Note the four sacred baboons carved on the pedestal of the obelisk that symbolically greet the morning sun. Commemorative inscriptions also appear about Ramses II on each side of the obelisk.

We entered at the West & East Pylon entrance. The diagram below will give you a better idea how it existed with 6 statues of Ramses II and the place where we entered.

The Luxor Temple may have been where many of the kings (pharaohs) of Egypt were crowned.  Alexander the Great claimed he was crowned at Luxor but historians say he may have never traveled any further south than Memphis near Cairo.  Also, this temple was not dedicated to a cult God.  

Just inside the entrance of the temple there are 18 giant stone statues, each representing Ramses II. Each has its left leg identically extended as if taking a step in the same direction.  Since marchers always step off with the left foot, this has a symbolic reference. And what we find most interesting is the fact the the entire temple is laid out at the same angle as the left leg of Ramses II.  In other words, if you were to see an aerial view of the temple, it looks like a marching army on an angle.    

The columns have capitals as closed papyri (or buds) and 
Osirian statues between the columns.  Osiris was an 
Egyptian God known as the "god of the afterlife."

All of the pillars and statues of the Luxor Temple were built from 

sandstone and the hieroglyphics were truly amazing!  These particular pillars were stones piled on each other, plastered and then engraved with inscriptions.

There are several variations of columns at the Luxor Temple. Some have circular shafts representing a single plant, while others have ribbed shafts that represent a plant with multiple stems. Those on the photo above are called papyrus columns which represent papyrus sheaths.  When we were at Djoser's Step Pyramid, we saw the same type of columns. The capitals above are closed buds.  These columns were stacked stones that were plastered and then  shaped to look like papyrus stems or sheaths. 

Ramses II added a courtyard surrounded with a double row of columns.  The courtyard is 187' x 164'.  

The hieroglyphics depict the celebration of the Apis Bull. 

(Remember that they were considered sacred to the ancient Egyptians?)  

The hieroglyphics above are extremely interesting and show the unification of upper and lower Egypt with the Nile River running between them. The horizontal cut or joint of the stone falls directly at the knees of both the figures.  The joint marks are as significant as the figures and have hidden symbolic meaning. 

These are statues of a pharaoh and his wife.  

The tree of life is depicted often in hieroglyphics and represents the growth of humanity.  The inscriptions show celebrations, life, teachings of the temple with a lot of symbolism.  All of the writings deal with spiritual growth and life after death.

The inner sanctum is reached by an antechamber with eight columns which was used as a temple during the Roman Period and Roman decorations overlay the original Egyptian carvings.  The original carvings can be seen in patches where the stucco is crumbling away. A second antechamber contains a further four columns and depictions of Amenhotep II offering incense to Amun.

Walking through a courtyard 188' in length and 168' wide and surrounded with 74 papyrus columns.  The columns once supported a roof which coveredthis area where only the pharaoh and the priest could enter. 

The Luxor Temple has two outer courtyards connected by a colonnade (column lined hallway).  Since the very beginning, the Luxor Temple has always been a sacred site.  After Egypt's pagan period, a Christian church and monastery was located here and after that a 13th century mosque was built and continues to be used to this day.  

VII Aristotle ranked the country of the Pharaohs (Egypt) the most ancient archaeological reserve in the world. He wrote:  "That is how the Egyptians whom we considered as the most ancient of the human race."

The Luxor Temple is one of the best preserved of all of the ancient monuments 

with large amounts of the structure, statuary and relief carvings still intact. 

During the reign of King Tutankhamen, the walls were embellished with the reliefs representing the annual August festival (the Opet) when the god Amon visited his southern harem. Sacred barges were brought from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple on the shoulders of white-robed priests in a grand procession. Then the barges were towed upstream in another procession. This festival took place at the height of the Nile flood and continued 24 days but because of the flood, most of the inscriptions were lost or damaged.

As you go deeper into the temple, the buildings become older and older. On the walls on each side are faint but delicate reliefs showing more of the festivities connected to the Opet Festival.

The priests of Egypt began to keep written records between 4000 and 3000 B.C. The precision of these inscriptions were remarkable!  HOW were they able to keep them horizontally and vertically straight?  Our guide explained that lines were drawn on the sandstone but we kept thinking they must have had some type of template because repeated symbols were  exactly the same height and the same depth as they were evenly etched into the sandstone.  

We were fascinated with the hieroglyphics.  This particular style of writing takes more time because the images are not recessed. Many walls are decorated by scenes of the Opt Festival and special ceremonies.

From Medieval times as the Muslim population of  Luxor began to grow and settle in and around the temple, residents built houses, stores, pigeon towers and what have you that came with the expanding population.  There was so much rubble and sand accumulated that it became a hill or mound about 50' in height.  Excavations began around 1884 and continued until 1960 and all of that had to be removed very carefully.  I can just imagine the excitement of historians and excavators as they uncovered the temple.

A Christian basilica was added to the north east corner of the temple and later a mosque was constructed on top of the ruins of this Christian building. The mosque was constructed around 969-1178 AD with a foundation that rested on top of the temple columns. When it was excavated in modern times, the columns of the Luxor Temple were found.  It's interesting to see the level it used to be and how much sand had filled in until it was uncovered when excavated. 

This Muslim man was standing at the entrance and remained there until closing and always ready to pose for a photo for a small price.

One last look before we leave the Luxor Temple site.  One can never deny that people lived here. One can never doubt nor wonder because this is living proof of an ancient Egyptian population that still stands 3,000 years later. 

Egypt is "the cradle of mathematics-that is, the country of origin for Greek mathematics." So, according to Aristotle, "the mathematical arts had never before been formed, constituted or elaborated anywhere else originating in Egypt only."  

We left the Luxor Temple and went to a local bazaar until it was time to return to our hotel.

How would you like to buy your fresh meat here?  

I  bought a necklace from this merchant.

Anyone shopping for a wooden snake or alligator?

 Students bought lamps, beautiful neck scarves, rugs, scarabs and small statues as souvenirs.  

This vendor is showing a student a scarab paperweight.  Scarab is the beetle that ancient Egyptians considered sacred and was associated with the Apis Bulls. Remember from a previous post?

After a wonderful evening, we headed back to our hotel where once again we were told, 

"Breakfast at 6 AM and the bus leaves at 6:45.  

To be continued . . .