Temples On Top of Temples - Touring the East Bank of Luxor

During the night, our boat had sailed to its final destination of Luxor.  At 8:30 the next morning, we disembarked for the 10 minute drive to Karnak Temple.  While the complex actually consists of four separate areas, the Temple of Amun-Re is the only one open to the public.  Construction for these monuments lasted over 2000 years with contributions by 30 pharaohs.  But the greatest expansion occurred during the New Kingdom period when Luxor was transformed into the religious capital of ancient Egypt.  The 18th Dynasty pharaohs (Amenohotep I, Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis I and III, etc.) added successive walls and gates (pylons) and obelisks around the original temple.  The 19th Dynasty pharaohs (Seti I and Ramses II) built the massive Great Hypostyle Hall.  The final major addition was a shrine by Alexander the Great's half-brother around 320's B.C.  However, the complex remained important to the Egyptians until 356 A.D. when the Christian Emperor Constantine closed all pagan temples.

A miniature model of the Temple of Amun-Re
as it would have looked in its prime.

The area between the Nile River and Karnak Temple.  Shops
and houses were forcibly relocated to create this unused space.

So far, Karnak has been the most crowded monument we have visited on this trip.  Despite the overall decrease in tourists to Egypt, people still take day trips here from the Red Sea beach resorts.

The unfinished first pylon (the outermost wall) was built by 30th Dynasty pharaohs.

Ramses II built a corridor of cryosphinxes which
were later removed to construct the first pylon.

The "rogue" pharaoh Akhenaten turned several aspects of ancient Egyptian society upside down.  Masonry was no exception.  Unlike his predecessors, his monuments were constructed with scaffolding and smaller bricks.  When Akhenaten's buildings were torn down after his death, the bricks were then reused to build new temples.

Within Karnak Temple, there are several unfinished areas which have helped archaeologists understand how the ancient Egyptians built their monuments.

The remnants of a mud brick ramp lies adjacent to the unfinished outer wall.  The ramp was built upwards
as the walls were constructed higher.  When the zenith was reached, artists would start carving in the
features.  As they made progress from the top going down, the mud ramp would gradually be removed.

This hole cut out from one of the large stones
on the temple wall shows that the smaller
bricks from Akhenaten's buildings were
used inside for support.

Unlike the current teams who have been working
to preserve the temple, the ancient Egyptians
did not have the advantages of scaffolding.

The unfinished column on the far right shows that the pillars were first assembled using raw, uneven 
blocks.  Afterwards, the excess stone was then trimmed off to smooth the surface.  Eventually. it 
would resemble the two columns on the left. 

This statue was built by an unknown pharaoh. Like many other
monuments throughout Egypt, Ramses II usurped it by carving
his name into it and claiming it as his own.

An entire wall lists all of the tribes subdued by the pharaoh's armies.

One of the most remarkable parts of the temple during antiquity would have been the Great Hypostyle Hall.  It was initially designed during the reign of Hatshepsut, one of the few female pharaohs. The Great Hypostyle Hall was eventually completed by Seti I and decorated by Ramses II.  It would have covered 50,000 sq feet and contain 134 pillars.  Windows allowed light to illuminate the middle of the roofed building.  The two middle rows of columns were wider and taller than the outer ones.   Mahmoud explained that these columns represented palm trees.  The Hall would be flooded by the Nile during the inundation.  The combination of light and water on the center-most "palm trees" would have made them grow taller than the ones on the sides.

An artist's rendition of how the Great Hypostyle Hall would have looked long ago.

While color still remains in some areas, the roof is no more.

Light would have shined in at an angle through
windows above the row of smaller columns.

The walls and columns were decorated with religious and military scenes.

Although Hatshepsut was an integral contributor to Karnak Temple, her successor Tuthmosis III tried to erase all evidence of her legacy.  Perhaps it was because she was female or she had prevented him from taking his rightful place on the throne for several years.

This image of Hatshepsut was scratched out while those of the gods were left alone.

Hatshepsut's cartouche was also defaced.  However, the name of the god Amun was kept intact.

In order to prevent it from being seen, Tuthmosis III walled up
Hatshepsut's obelisk.  This preserved it from the ravages of time.

One of her remaining cartouches that Tuthmosis could not destroy

As we walked farther into the temple, we entered the Festival Hall of Tuthmosis III.  This hall was built for the Heb-Sed celebration which celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh once he had been in power for 30 years.  During the Christian period, the Festival Hall was converted into a church.  Traces of Coptic influences still remain.

The temple was built to resemble a large tent
with the columns representing tent poles.

A statue was altered to appear like Jesus on the cross.

Jesus' face was carved onto a column.

A faded image of The Virgin Mary is also depicted on a pillar.

Past the Festival Hall is the Botanical garden of Tuthmosis III.  During his military conquests in foreign lands, the Egyptian army encountered new flora and fauna.  Artists depicted these findings on bas relief carvings.

These columns were decorated
to resemble bundles of papyrus.

Even in ancient time, cotton was king.

Priests purified themselves in the Sacred Lake prior to performing rituals.
Most archaeologists agree that the crane was not originally part of the temple.

The view of the Temple of Amun-Re from the "rear" view.

After leaving Karnak Temple, we drove to the other east bank attraction, Luxor Temple.  Mahmoud told us that these two temples were initially connected by a 3 km avenue lined with statues of sphinxes.  The Egyptian government has plans to return this procession to its original state.  They hope that visitors would walk this path just like the ancient Egyptians had thousands of years ago.  Several locals are not too happy because this would mean tearing down many houses, two churches, and a mosque which are all in the way.

I don't foresee too many tourists walking this potential gauntlet of street vendors in 100 F heat.

The small Temple of Isis is also located at the end of the Avenue of Sphinxes

Luxor temple was started by Amenhotep III, but construction was temporarily abandoned by his son Akhenaten.  After his death, Tutenkhamen resumed the building process.  Subsequent pharaohs such as Alexander the Great also added their personal touch as well.  The monument was built to celebrate the Opet Festival, a renewing of the bond between the gods and the Egyptian people.  During the ceremony, processions would be made starting from Karnak and finishing at Luxor Temple.  Throughout history, it was subsequently occupued by Romans and Muslims.  Two obelisk used to flank the entrance, but one was given to the French as a gift by Mohammed Ali.

Mahmoud poses in front of two large statues...

...of Ramses II that guard the temple entrance.

The god Hapi (the personification of the inundation of the Nile River) symbolically
ties together Upper and Lower Egypt, represented by the lotus and papyrus plants.

The statue of Tutenkhamen and his wife and half-sister Akhesenaten is unlike most other statues of
 pharaohs and their wives.  A show of affection is depicted here with her arm gently caressing his shoulders.

Within Luxor Temple are carvings covering a wide variety of topics.

Depiction of a horse-drawn chariot. 

 Sadly, this horse is not hung like...well, a horse.

Limbo?

Touchdown!

This illustration shows how bulls were slaughtered.  Three of their legs were bound,
and the artery on the fourth was cut.  The bull would then exsanguinate.

After the demise of the Egyptian pharaohs, Luxor Temple became altered by foreign influences and religions. The temple gradually became buried by the sands.  During the Middle Ages, the Abu Haggag Mosque was built upon the ruins of the temple.

Alexander the Great is shown making offerings to the Egyptian gods.

Alexander's cartouche

Christians during the Roman occupation plastered over the walls and painted colorful murals.  
This one was just uncovered during recent restorations.

Locals have successfully resisted efforts of archaeologists
from removing the Abu Haggag Mosque.

After leaving Luxor Temple, we headed back to the boat for lunch.  Most of the passengers on the boat were visiting the west bank of Luxor in the afternoon.  We instead were going to do it on another day.  It would turn out to be the hottest day of our entire trip.  I felt bad (for all of two seconds) for those fellow passengers as I joyfully cooled off by the pool.  Madeline, who was in the group that visited the west bank of Luxor that afternoon later told us the best words she heard all day were "This is the last tomb of the day".

We had the somewhat more formal farewell dinner that night.

Avocado salad

Cappuccino of mushroom cream soup

Fried fish fingers

Grilled beef tenderloin

It's not a cruise without a baked Alaska!

Pan-seared salmon with cilantro mashed potatoes

Afterwards, entertainment included a Sufi-style dancer who whirled around for a good 10 minutes.  A few turns of 'dizzy-bat' are enough to make me want to puke, so kudos to that guy.  A belly dancer then performed a few PG-rated routines.  Mahmoud remarked, "She's very, um...old," understating her general unattractiveness.  The Wife noticed that the lady had had a baby recently (she still had a linea nigra--the vertical line that runs below the belly button during pregnancy).  It just reminded me of the one and last time that I had gone to a Hooters.  My waitress was about nine months pregnant and still wore the skimpy uniform.  I STILL have trouble eating hot wings to this day.