Egypt day 8: Luxor temples of Karnak

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When I said we were up early, I meant early! 0400, bags outside the room at 0430 and on the bus at 0500. We just had time to grab a bite to eat and make our sandwiches for the day. We arrived at the airport in no time - there is little traffic at this time of day - checked in and sitting around waiting for our flight to Luxor.



The name Luxor is the modern Arabic name meaning palaces. The ancient Egyptian name was Waset, meaning the city of the sceptre. It was the ruling centre. The Greeks renamed the city Thebes and it became the capital of Egypt. The Arabs couldn’t say Thebes and so it became Luxor which means temples in Arabic.

The city became important during the 11th dynasty when the town grew into a thriving city. Luxor flourished during the reign of Montuhotep II who united Egypt, and as stability came to the country the city grew in stature. The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom in their expeditions to Kush, in today's northern Sudan, and to the lands of Canaan, Phoenicia and Syria saw the city accumulate great wealth and it rose to prominence, even on a world scale. From the time of the 18th Dynasty to the 20th Dynasty, the city had risen as the political, religious and military capital of Ancient Egypt.



We deplaned, collected our bags and then on the bus to the hotel.

We were staying at the Steigenberger Nile Palace which was a lovely colonial style hotel.

After shacharit and breakfast it was back on the bus to visit Karnak Temple.



Like all of the temple sites in Egypt the Karnak Temple area was HUGE! Unfortunately all that remains are in fact remains. We were unable to get an idea of the surrounding houses, gardens, storerooms etc. There are the remains of ten pylons (doorways) forming a processional series of gateways going from north to south. These avenues were lined with an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes. The temple was for the god Amun, his wife the goddess Mut, and their son Khonsy. We heard the usual story about how one Pharaoh built a temple and then his heirs decided to either add to or alter the temple by deleting a part and using those stones to add another section to the temple. The wall paintings were again examples of clues as to how the mishkan was constructed. We did see some colossal columns. The circumference of the largest column was so large that it took five persons with outstretched arms to circumnavigate the column. These columns were to support the roof which no longer is extant. Because of the humidity and the damp from the annual flooding of the Nile, repairs and excavations are being carried out continually and as a result further things are being discovered.

One highlight of this temple is the sacred lake which is really what it says on the label - a lake. Unlike for example Japanese lakes, there were no flowers surrounding it nor sculpted designs - it is possible that they have been destroyed over the years. There was a portaloo, though, which we all took advantage of.



Then back to the hotel. I am sure that the bus stopped to do shopping but as Don and I didn’t want to go to any factories we stayed on the bus and caught our breath.



After dinner it was back on the bus to see the Luxor temple by night. In some respects we were a little disappointed. We saw the temple at night highly illuminated. We did see a row of statues of the sphinxes which line the avenue. Otherwise it was really difficult to see any hieroglyphics of note in the dark and it was very crowded. This was the most people we had seen in one venue on the trip so far!

Ramses II erected a pair of obelisks for the portal of the Luxor Temple when it was 150 years old. They are about 25 meters (80 feet) tall but now only a single obelisk graces the western side of the temple entry. Its twin was removed in the 1830's to the centre of the Place de la Concorde in Paris where it famously stands today.




Then back to the hotel to go to bed. Some of the tour group were getting up very early (again) for an optional balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings! Not us - Don had previously enjoyed a hot-air balloon elsewhere, I was never keen about heights, and both of us needed our sleep.

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Photos

huge Karnak Temple columns
(photo by other group member)

Karnak Temple ram heads
(photo by other group member)