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thebes
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 Principle city of Upper Egypt and capital of
the fourth Egyptian "Nome" (36 nomes in all, each district had its own
capital and governor). Modern Luxor
on the East bank of the Nile contains archaeological remains of the city and
temples of Thebes, whilst the West bank is the site of the mortuary temples and
tombs of the kings and high officials from the Middle Kingdom to the end of the
Pharaonic period. The archaeological remains of Thebes offer a striking
testimony to Egyptian civilisation at its height.
The Ancient Egyptians knew the town as "Waset",
it was in fact the Greeks who called it Thebes, possibly either naming it after their own city
of the same name in Boeotia, or deriving from a Greek translation of the Ancient
Egyptian phrase meaning "the most select of places" - one of the names of
the temple at Karnak.
The rulers of the 12th Dynasty (1985-1795 BC)
established Thebes as the capital of Upper Egypt, and from then onwards Amun,
the local god of Thebes became increasingly prominent.
In the 11th Dynasty, royal burials were
already being made on the West bank, at el-Tarif and Deir el-Bahri, where
Mentuhotep II built his funerary complex. By the time of the New Kingdom, the
West bank of Thebes was developing into a great necropolis that would eventually
rival the Memphis necropolis of Saqqara in importance. The New Kingdom was the
most important period in the history of Thebes, and it was during this time that
successive rulers began to enlarge and elaborate the temple complex of Karnak,
dedicated to the divine triad of Amun,
Mut and Khons. In the reign of Amenhotep III, the Luxor temple was founded, just
a short distance south of Karnak.
On the West bank, the Valley of the Kings
became the burial place of the New Kingdom rulers from at least as early as the
reign of Thutmose I (1504-1492 BC). A number of Royal palaces were also built on
the West bank, ranging from small buildings attached to mortuary temples, to the
sprawling complex of buildings at Malkata (from the reign of Amenhotep III).
During the Ramesside period, when the royal
palace and the central administration were transferred to the Delta, Thebes
retained a great deal of its religious and political significance, and the
bodies of the rulers were still bought to the Valley of the Kings for burial. It
was only during the Late Period that the importance of the city finally seems to
have dwindled in favour of Memphis, Tanis, Sais and Bubastis.
Major archaeological sites at Thebes - east bank:
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The temple of Karnak |
A vast open-air museum and the largest
ancient religious site in the world. Karnak is probably the second
most visited ancient site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids
near Cairo. It consists of four main parts, of which only one is
accessible for tourists and the general public - the Precinct of Amon-Re.
This is also the "main" temple part and by far the largest part. The
three other parts are closed to the public. There are also a few
smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of
the four main parts, as well as several avenues of ram-headed sphinxes
connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re and Luxor
Temple. The key difference between Karnak and most of the other
temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was
developed and used. Construction work began in the 16th century BC.
Approximately 30 pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to
reach a size, complexity and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the
individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of
features is overwhelming. |
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The temple of Luxor |
Luxor
temple was dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Khons and
during the New Kingdom was the focus of the annual Opet Festival,
where a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby
Karnak Temple. Construction work on the temple began during the reign
of Amenhotep III in the 14th century BC. Horemheb and Tutankhamun
added columns, statues, and friezes, and Akhenaten had earlier
obliterated his father's cartouches and installed a shrine to the Aten
– but the only major expansion effort took place under Ramesses II
some 100 years after the first stones were put in place. Luxor is
unique among the main Egyptian temple complexes in having only two
pharaohs leave their mark on its architectural structure. The temple
fell into disrepair during the Late Period and Alexander the Great
claims to have undertaken major reconstruction work "to restore it to
the glory of Amenhotep's times" in the 320s BC. During Rome's
domination of Egypt it was converted into a centre for the imperial
cult. By the time of the Arab conquest, the temple was largely buried
underneath accumulated river silt, to the extent that the Mosque of
Abu Haggag was built on top of it in the 13th century, where it still
remains in-situ today. |
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Major archaeological
sites at Thebes - west bank:
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The
valley of the kings |
The official name for the site was "the
Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh,
Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes", or more usually, the
Great Field. It stands on the west bank of the Nile, under the peak of
the pyramid-shaped mountain Al-Qurn. It is separated into the East and
West Valleys, with most of the important tombs sited in the East
Valley. The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately
1539 BC to 1075 BC, and contains some 64 tombs, starting with Thutmose
I and ending with Ramesses X or XI. The tombs are numbered in the
order of 'discovery' from Ramesses VII (KV1) to the recently
discovered KV63, although some of the tombs have been open since
antiquity, and KV5 has only recently been rediscovered. A number of
the tombs are unoccupied, the owners of others remain unknown, and
some are merely pits used for storage. Perhaps the most famous
discovery of modern Western archaeology was made here by Howard Carter
on 4th November 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing
until 1932. King Tutankhamun's tomb was the first royal tomb to be
discovered that was still largely intact (although tomb robbers had
entered it), and was, until the discovery and excavation of KV63 in
2006, considered the last major discovery in the valley. |
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The valley of the queens |
In ancient
times, it was known as ‘the place of the Children of the Pharaoh’.
Located near the better known Valley of the Kings, this was where many
of the royal queens of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties together with
many princes and princesses were buried along with various members of
the nobility. The tombs of these individuals were maintained by
mortuary priests whom performed daily rituals and provided offerings
and prayers for the deceased nobility. This necropolis is said to hold
more than eighty tombs, many of which are stylish and lavishly
decorated a fine example of this being the tomb of Ramesses the
Great's principle queen, Nefertari. QV66 is the most lavishly
decorated tomb in the valley.
The tombs were built according to patterns
from the Valley of the Kings, but on a smaller scale. Most of the
tombs are very simple, as well as uninscribed. The general layout is
long corridor with antechambers and the burial chamber at the end. |
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The temple of
Medinet Habu |
Medinet Habu is the name commonly given
to the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III and is probably best known as
the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the
Sea Peoples during the reign of Ramesses III. The temple, some 150
metres long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the nearby
mortuary temple of Ramesses II (the Ramesseum). Ramesses III had an
usual entrance built for the complex, possibly modelled on citadels he
had seen on military campaigns in Syria. The tower is in the form of a
"migdol," a kind of Asiatic fortified gate house. The temple is very
well preserved and surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which
may also have been fortified. In Coptic times, there was a church
inside the temple structure, which has since been removed. Some of the
carvings in the main wall of the temple have been altered by coptic
carvings. On the north wall of the
temple are reliefs depicting the victory of Ramesses with the
Sardinians, Cretans, Philistines and the Danu, otherwise known as the
"Sea Peoples". This was perhaps the greatest victory in ancient Egypt
and these are the only know reliefs of a sea battle in Egypt. |
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The Ramesseum |
The
Ramesseum is the mortuary temple of Ramesses II. He ruled for 67 years
during the 13th century BC, the apogee of Ancient Egypt's power and
glory. This extraordinarily long reign, the wealth available in the
state coffers, and, undeniably, the pharaoh's personal vanity meant
that Ramesses, of all the ancient rulers, left what is perhaps the
most indelible mark on the country. His legacy can be seen most
clearly in the archaeological record – in the many buildings that
Ramesses modified, usurped, or constructed from the ground up. Most
splendid of these would have been his memorial temple – a place of
worship dedicated to pharaoh, god on earth, where his memory would
have been kept alive after his passing from this world. Surviving
records indicate that work on the project began shortly after the
start of his reign and continued for 20 years. The main building,
dedicated to the funerary cult, comprised of two stone pylons some
60m, one after the other, each leading into a courtyard. Beyond the
second courtyard, at the centre of the complex, was a covered
48-column hypostyle hall, surrounding the inner sanctuary.
One massive
fallen statue at the Ramesseum is now inextricably linked with the
poet Percy Byshe Shelley - the cartouche on its shoulder bearing
Ramesses's throne name, User-maat-re Setep-en-re, transliterated into
Greek as "Ozymandias". |
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Deir el-Medina (the workers'
village) |
An ancient
Egyptian village that was home to the artisans who built the temples
and tombs ordered by the Pharaohs and other dignitaries in the Valley
of the Kings during the New Kingdom period. Its ancient name was "The
place of Maat (truth) to the west of Thebes" and its inhabitants were
responsible for most of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and
Queens, together with the temples of the Theban necropolis. These
included the famous tombs of Tutankhamen and Nefertari, and the
memorial temples of Ramesses II, Amenhotep III, and Hatshepsut. Deir
el-Medina contained some 70 artisans' homes with another 40 or so
based outside the perimeter wall. The village itself was built around
one central avenue, with occasional alleyways leading off. Most of the
houses were single-storey, mud brick constructions, although stone was
used towards the end of the village's existence. The village was
abandoned, and then ransacked, during the Third Intermediate Period.
Its importance largely lies in the large number of ostraca (pottery
shards) found there, which provided revolutionary insights into
matters of everyday society and economics in the New Kingdom. The site
is also noteworthy for a number of tombs belonging to local artists
that have been excavated, the sumptuous decorations of which indicate
that the village residents placed no less importance on their own
afterlife than on that of their employers. |
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Deir
el-Bahri |
Deir el-Bahri
is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of
the Nile, probably best known for Hatshepsut's mortuary temple. The
first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep
II of the 11th dynasty. During the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep I and
Hatshepsut also built extensively at the site.
Mentuhotep II's
temple is called "Splendid are the places of Nebhepetre" and was
discovered in the 1860s. The temple was divided into two parts, the
front being dedicated to Montu-Re, and the rear serving as the cult
centre for the Pharaoh. It is made of limestone and sandstone, and
consists of a colonnaded ramp, leading up to a flattened terrace,
which originally had a small structure on it, probably a pyramid or
mound. This structure was surrounded by a pillared hall. A wrapped
image of the pharaoh was discovered by Howard Carter, in some
underground unfinished rooms believed to have originally been intended
as the king’s tomb.
An 11th
Dynasty shaft tomb located at the southern end of the complex
contained a cache of 40 royal mummies, moved there from the Valley of
the Kings. The bodies had been placed there by 21st Dynasty priests
most likely to prevent further desecration and looting. Private tombs
dating from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic period can be
found at the Deir el-Bahri site. |
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The Malqata |
The Palace
of Amenhotep III, known as the Malqata, is located in the desert just
south of Medinat Habu. There are various structures in the desert,
consisting of several residential palaces, a temple of Amen, a
festival hall, elite villas, houses for the relatives of the Royal
Family, apartments for attendants, and a desert altar termed the Kom
al-Samak, all of which were constructed by mud bricks. Originally the
palace was known as the Palace of the Dazzling Aten. and was
constructed mostly out of mud-brick, the palace was Amenhotep's
residence throughout most of the latter part of his reign. Begun
around year 11 of his reign and continued until the king moved here
permanently around year 29. Once completed it was the largest royal
residence in Egypt. To the east of the palace a large ceremonial lake
was dug. The palace area was connected to the Nile through a system of
canals, which end in a large habour or quay, now called Birket Habu.
The palace ruins were "rediscovered" in 1888 by J. Daressy and have
been the site of excavations by the Archaeological Mission of Waseda
University since 1985. |
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Colossi of Memnon |
Originally
standing guard to the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, all that now
remains are these twin giant sandstone seated statues of Amenhotep,
towering 18 metres high. Two shorter figures are carved into the front
throne alongside his legs: these are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya.
The side panels depict the Nile god Hapy. The temple was a massive
cult centre built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he was
worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from
this world. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most
opulent in Egypt. Even later rivals such as Ramesses II's Ramesseum or
Ramesses III's Medinet Habu were unable to match it in area. With the
exception of the Colossi, however, very little remains today of
Amenhotep's temple. Standing on the edge of the Nile floodplain,
successive annual inundations gnawed away at the foundations and it
was not unknown for later rulers to dismantle and reuse portions of
their predecessors' monuments. Strabo, writing in the early years of
the 1st century, tells of an earthquake in around 27 BC that shattered
the northern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up. |
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Information on major archaeological sites
courtesy of Wikpaedia
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