Luxor: Guide to Ancient Thebes

LUXOR A Guide to Ancient Thebes Second Edition

.Jill Kamil Photo graphs by Alista ir Duncan and George Allen Plans b y H assan Ibrahim

LONGMAN LO NDON AND NEW YORK

LONGMAN GROUP LTD London Associated companies, branches and representatives throughout the world Text © Longman Group Ltd 1973, 1976 Photographs © Middle East Archive, and, for the photograph on page 31, the publishers thank Mrs Hackforth Jones, Robert Harding Associates, who hold the copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Copyright owner. First published 1973 Second edition 1976, reprinted 1977 ISBN 0-582-78065-9 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kamil, Jill. Luxor: a guide to ancient Thebes. 1. Thebes, Egypt. 1. Title. DT73·T3K35 1976 93 2 75-4 2256 ISBN 0-582-78065-9

Printed in Hong Kong by Sherk Wah Tong Printing Press Ltd

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

J

INTRODUCTIOl\"

CHAPTER

2

THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR

Background Description

II

22

Pylon of Ramses II Court of Ramses II, Colonnade Court of Arnenhotep III Hypostyle Hall Birth Room Sanctuary of Alexander the Great

Traditionalism of Egyptian Design

CHAPTER J

Page

26

27 3° 3° 32

33 34

THE GREAT TEMPLE OF AMON AT KARNAK

Background Description First Pylon, Great Court, Shrine of Seti II Temple of Ramses III Triumphal Monument of Sheshonk I Second Pylon, Great Hypostyle Hall Third Pylon, Pavilion of Sesostris I, Central Court Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Pylons Hall of Records, Sanctuary Great Festival Temple of Thutmose III Rear Section of Temple of Arnon, Sacred Lake Southern Buildings, Karnak Cachette, Seventh to Tenth Pylons

37

38 41 42 42

48 50

53 54 56

56

Ikhnatnn T emple Project T emp le of K hon su T emple of Osiris and O pel T empl e of \I ur CH . I P T J::R 4

CH A PTE R 5

TH E ;\;ECROPOLl SI"iTROD CCTIO;\;

G rear Hypost ylc Hall Exte rior Co los si of em non

'I

UI./P T ER () T W: N EC R O PO LIS - T HE V:\ L L E Y OF TH E KI N G S

66

TH E N E C R O P O LIS\10RT UARY TE\IP L ES

Backg rou nd Mor tuar y Tem p le of Seri I (K um a ) M ortua r y T emple o f Queen Hatsch ep sut (Oc r eI Bahri) Introduction Lower and Centr al Courts Pun t Colonn ade Shrine of Harbor Birrh Colonn ade Small and Upper Courts, Sanctuary Der el Bahr i-Shaft and Cavern T he Shaft at De r el Bahri T he Cavern at O cr el Bahri M ortuary T empl e of Ramses II (The R arn as seum) Introd uction Ent rance Pylon First and Second Courts H ypostylc Hall Smaller hyposryle halls T he Port rayal of Rarnses II Mortuary T em p le o f Ramses III (:\ Ie d ine t Ha bu ) In trod uction First Pylon , First Court Second Pylon, Seco nd Court

72 72

75 79 79

Ba ckground Tomb of T'ur enkharnon (62)Q Tom b of Se ri I (17) Tom b of:\ men hote p 11(35 ) T om b of Rarn s es VI (9) T omb of Ram se s III (It) T omb of Rarn ses IX (6) T omb nf Ha rrnhab (57) T omb of T h ut m ose III (34) CH. I PTE R ;

80

10]

1° 7 II]

121 12]

126 12 9

1]1 1]1

T H E "<ECROPOLI S-TH E VALLEY O F TH E Q C EE ;\iS

82 83

84 85 85 87 88 90 90 90 92 94 94

Ba ck gr ound Tom b of Nefer- Tari (66) T omb of Amon-Hir-Khopshcf (55) T omb of Queen Tiri (52) CH , IPTF.R 8

I]] I]]

1]6 1]6

T H E NECROPOLIS- TH E T O M BS OF TH E N O I3I.ES

Background She ikh Abd cI Kuma T omb of Na kht (52 ) T omb of Ramose (55) Tom b of Khacrnhct (57) T om b of Lserh ct, fi rst P rophet (5 ') To mh of Lscrher, Royal Scr ibe (56)

1]9

I.p I.t]

146 147 148

T omb of Rekhmire (1 00) T om b of Ernunzch (l; ~ )

PLA NS AND MAPS

Page

Tom b of Am e nernh eb lil5 ) T omb of Sen nofer (rl l)

l: pper En closures T omb of \ lenna (()(J ) T omb of Inr efoqer l(0 ) To mb of Ha rmhab (7S) To mb of lneni (Enn e) (8 1) T omb of \lenkheperrasonb (86) Asasif T omb of Kh er u-ef'{r qz) O cr el Medina T om b of Scnnu rcm (36)

CfH PTER 9 TH E TE\l P L E O F D ER £ L ~I EDI:\:\

165 166

:\ile Yall ey

15

Luxor T em pl e

21 36

Ka rnak Com p lex \HI :\I TE\ IP L E OF :\ \ 10 :\ : Ar ea between Pylons 1 and 2 ~ Area between Pylons 2 and 3 5 IJ Area between Pylons .1 and 6 Pylon 6 and Sanctuary 7 Fes tival T em ple of T hurrn ose III 8 Karnak T emple : Southern Buildings T emple of Khonsu 9

40 44 51 52 55 58

62

C H A P T I' R IO CO N CL C SIO N (including wor k in progress in 1( 76 )

'0

An cient T h ebes

IfI S T OR I CA L (JfTI./ N E (including table of Ki ngs of the New Ki ngdom)

II J2

Mortuar y Tem p le of Seti I (Kuma ) Mortuary Tem ple of Hatsch ep sut (D er el Bahri ) Mo r tuary T emple of Ramses II (Ram asseu m)

.,

J'

q Medinet Habu Com p lex 15 Mortuary Temple of Ramses III Tombs o f Kings 16 Tomb o f T ut en kh a m on (62 ) 17 T omb o f Seti 1 (17) 18 Tomb of Arn enhotep II (35) I Q Tom b o f Ramses VI (9) T omb o fR amses UI (II ) 20 21 T omb o f Ra mses lX (6) 22 T om b o f Har m h a b (57) 2.1 Tomb o fThutmose III (34)

~I'U

P.\PERS

73 78 86 93 95 !OJ 112 I I:Z

122 I:Z5

128 1.10 1.10 1.12

'.

T omb of Xe fer-Tar'i (66)

25 T omb of Amon-Ilir-Khopshef (55 ) 2()

'20 7

,S z t)

30 3l oJ.:! .lJ

3.. 35

3b 37

3S 39 ..0

.. [

..'

.. 3

[34 135 [35 [38

Tomb of T i ti (52) T ombs o f the X oblcs T omb o f :'-ia kht (5' ) Tomb of R am ose (55) Tom b of Kha errrhet (57) Tom b u fU se r h e t (5 1) Tom b o f U serhet (50 ) T o mb of Rekhm ir e (100) T o m b of Emunz eh (8..) T om b of Am en emheb (85) T omb o f Sen no fer (96) T omb of ,\ I en n a (69) T omb o f Inr e foqer (60) Tomb o f H armh ab (78 ) T om b o f l nen i (8 1) Tomb of :\I enkheperrasonb (86) Tomb o f Kheru-ef {rqa ) Tomb of S ennutem (36)

154 159 160 160 16 4 16 5 166 16 7

Temple o f Der el Med ina

[7 0

References

III

CHAPTER

1

INT RODUCTIO N

14 1

I.B

14i 14i 15 0 [50 [52 [52

rhe pl an s an d m a p s :

Rden : Jll;C;S in rhe fe\! (0 the pbns arc always in fu ll 11'140 l -t: d e. hi/Ill numbe rs J nJ lett ers in hradx:s refer to points ofinte rest wn hin a parucch r plan . ( P.l ). (1J..1), for examp le, J h" ;J ~ s indica te first (l}lnr:, second p ~ Jon CH:.

Co n,'" ph ot ogr a ph : K arnak : sphin a-Iined avenu e leadin g tr om the ceremonial b n d i n ~~,,(J ~ (' In rhe rirv fll tHO ao.d th e te m ple cornprcx.

On th e easte rn bank of [he R iver :\ile, nearly seven hu ndred kilom etres so uth of Cairo , there once stood an unp rete nt io us village call ed Waser. It was no d ifferent from hun dreds of oth ers and as yet had no in kling of its destined gr owth into the pivot of a stupendou s civiliz ation . T hi s was the site of an cient T he bes and of pre sent -day L uxor. L ike peasant s all ove r Eg vpt since the beginn ing of histor y, its inh abita n ts were su per stitious . T he v lived mu ch as thev do tod ay in man y isolat ed r ural areas, in villages compo sed o f sun -·dried m ud hr ick houses sepa ra ted oy nar row lan es. Their lives were largely governed by t he cycle of the Ni le flood which they had learn ed to cha nnel and to explo it. Because its be nefi ts and its haza rds cam e with unt iri ng regularity, th e lives of th e people were simi larly rh ythm ic, follow ing an un changing soc ial patt ern . Th is en igm atic un iverse awaken ed s pec ulation in the minds of the Eg yptians long before dynastic tim es. T he prim itive dw ellers of the Ni le Valley, in Wa ser as els ewh er e, dev ised explanations, at once n aive an d del igh tfully imaginati ve, of the alternation of night and day, o f the glitter ing heave nly bodies and of all good thi ngs on earth. T he world as they saw it was created by superna t ural beings who revealed the m selves in th e heavenly bodi es. Aru m , who cre ated himsel fo ur of himselfon the top of a hill th at emerged from th e etern al ocean , brought forth four ch ildr en : Shu and Tefn ut, Keb and N ul. K eb, the god of the earth, and Nut, t he god de ss of the sky, were one. T he y were lock ed in a lover s' emb rac e , K eb beneath Nut. Sh u, representing the atmosph er e, eme rged from th e primaeval wa ters and for cibl y separated the t wo by slip pin g betwe en them and rais ing N u t aloft in hi s outstre tched arms to h er new abode . K cb and N ut were father and m oth er of fo ur diviniti es : O siris, who became asso ciated with th e N ile and the fer tile lan ds bo rdering it, Isis, Se t and N ephthys . T he grea test ph en om en on of nature, the sun , nat ur ally m ad e th e most powerful im pression on the Ni le dw el lers. Thou gh uni versall y recogni sed as th e pr in cip al heaven ly bod y, it was in ter preted

13

12 difle rentlv in different areas . The centre of th e cu lt was On (He liopoli s) where th e Sun God was known as Ra (the s?lar orb) or .-\t um (the setting; sun). Lnd er one pn e.sthood he was Khepri (the beetle) , under another Horus (the brilliant-pl um ed ha wk). It was believed tha t he sailed acr oss the heaven ly ocean U1 a boat each dav, from the pink-speck led ~a'\1l to the bl ood -red sun .set. With th e last ravs of the day he t ranslerred to a barg e th at. co':t1m~ ed the voyage rhrouzh th e netherworld . n-rnpora rily illuminatin g It S da rkness. In these prehistoric times religious bel iefs devel oped in sepa rate and indep endent ar eas. The~e was a patron deitv 10 each town or village: a dei ty to whom th e inha bitants pr ayed for guidance, help and 'courage. a deity they court ed wit h offerings, pray ers an d sacr ifices. The name s of these local dei ties bore no rese mb lance from one area to ano ther. In the linl e village of Wa set, Wast was the local goddess ; M onru was the local god of Arm anr some ten kilom etres south of Waser ; and Arnon, who was later to beco me rhe nationalgod , was at this time no more than one of the eight local deities of Ashrnounein , a distr ict of M iddle Eg ypt. In addition to the local deities evid ence exists that even from early tim es there were a grea t many generally accepted religious concepts not confined to a limi ted are a. The crocod ile for instance, the evil spirit th at dw elt in water, was known down the length of the N ile, as were dem on spi rits and lesser deities like the good god Bes who helped wom en through child birth. As time passed. com mercial and admi nistrative inte rcour se develope d and largely inc om patible beliefs no longer remained local. As a town or dist rict g-rew, so th e local deity ext en ded its jurisdictio n. The people consequen tly ado pted a new deity and erected new shrines to him whi lst ma int aining the worsh ip of their orig inal local god . Sometimes a stronger d eity managed completely to overshado w a weak er. This is what happened in Wase t, The tiny local goddess was alm ost swept aside by the strong war-god of .....rrnant, t he hawk-h eaded Mo nro . It is not sur prising that the in dependent provinces of Egy pt should have tended to wards political unity. They slowly m erged unti l two power ful states came into existence : a north ern kingd om which largely incl uded the Del ta, and a southern kingdom whic h exte n ded south to Aswan , T he rule rs of the nort hern kingdom ha d as thei r insignia rhe red croum, and th eir capital was Buto in the north-western sect ion of the Delta. The sout hern capita l was Nc kheb (EI Kab) near the mo dern town of Edfu on the lett bank of th e 'iile, and the rul er s had as t heir insignia the whit e croton. Eac h 0

state also had irs ow n natio nal emb lem : the papy rus in the north and the lotu s in the south . During the long pre - d ynasti c years whi le these two cap itals flourished independently. someti mes peacefully, someti mes clash ing in armed str ife, ancient T hebe s slum bered. When the north ern kingdo m overcame the sou thern and the two were united into a sin gle state with th e C ity of th e Sun (Heliopo lis) as its religious capita l. the peop le of an cient Thebes continued to live as did the ir fathers and their fathe rs' father s before them : a simpl e rur al existenc e where th e annu al flood was the all- impo rtant event of the year and rhe re gu lar cha nnelling of irs flow the most crea tive activitv. Little was kno wn of acti vities elsewhere . In rhe north " I enes founded the 1St Dynasty and set up his capital at M em phis. ..... frer vcars of frustrated effort toward s uni ty came th e ultimate solu tion .'The Pharaoh of Egypt was henc eforth a god . the god- king- of a single unit ed cou ntry . And not onlv was he to be recognised as di vine and worshi pped as suc h duringhis lifetime, but his cult sh ould be con tin ued for ever afte r in a mortu ary temple. With K in g Zoser we pass from the Eilrl )'Dynast ic P rrsod of the first two dy nasties (to J too-2686 B.C.) to the period of the Old King dom, exte n ding from the j rd to the 6th Dynasties (c. 26862 l S I II.C.). Z oscr , the first god - king. firm ly established .\ Iemp hite su pre macy. In his reign vessels over fifry met res long " ere constructe d for r iver traffic, the co ppe r mi nes in S inai were exploit ed, comm erce was carr ied on with the Phoenician coast, cedarwo od was im ported from J .ebanon, sla \L'S from" uhia......nd he instruc ted his gi fted ar chitec t, lmh o rep, to erect the first large s tructur e of sto ne known in histor y : the Step Py ra m id at S akkara, Bur in The bes the m ost d ramatic occurrence had been rhe adop tion of M ontu as local deity and the ere c ting of mod est shri nes to him . Then came the -lth Dy nasty and the epoch of powe rful mo narc hs whose great pyramids at Giza and D ahs hur secured them undyi ng fame : Sn efru, Kh u fu, Khafrc and Menkure. Onl y a strong and effective go vern ment suc h as th at under Khu fu could ha ve envisaged and organised. as we assu me that it did, the erection of the g-reat pyra m id of Gi za, by one hundred th ousand men over twent y year s. T his was the dev elopment of org-anised society under one cont r olling m ind and it was a peri od of unprecedented gran deur . But Thebes was hard lv affected . In the 5 th Dynasty Egypt's civiliza tion attai ned new height s. In particular her art rea ch ed a degree of per fection never known 0

Plan I : Nile Valley

befor e. Co mmerce existed with Punt on the Soma li coast. The qu arr ies of Wadi Harnmamar in the east ern des ert were opened . The be nefits were being reap ed of years of in te lligen t, singlem inded and imaginati ve administra tion . But the n som ethi ng ha ppe ned thai was to have far-reach ing co nse q uences. T he unlimi ted power enjo yed by th e Ph ara ohs was partly passed to thei r officia ls, an d the result was an inevita ble weakening of Ph aro nic pow er. In fact th e oth Dyn asty saw the local governo rs actuall y sha king themselve s free of the Ph ara oh 's yoke and estah lishing independenc e. And Theb es' Polit ical awareness was da wning at last . After the fall of the mona rchy in .\ l emphis there was a readj ustment of the scales of po wer. This was in what historians refer ro as the Firs' l ntcrmediatc Period, covering the 7t h to the lo t h Dy nas ties tr. 218120 4 0 B .C. ) . So me of t he independent kin gs in th e no rth esta b lished the mse lves at Her acleop olis and oth ers at Memphis. The disorga nisation and weakn ess of th e j th and 8th D yna sti es, which lasted for a mer e thirt y year s. ga ve way to 285 years of H er acleop olitan ru le in the oth and l oth Dynasties when some degr ee of order was rest ored . Altho ugh littl e is known about th em , the last rule rs in th e fam ily line were po wer ful monarchs. And in t he sout h po wer was seized by anot her family of monarchs, whose capi tal was Armant , neighb o ur ing Thebes . Toward, the close of th e lo th D ynas ty thi s famil y force d thei r way northwards from Thebes. L itt le by littl e the y exte nde d their authority, annexing local pr ovinces and establishing them selves until the inevitable clash wit h the r u lers of th e nor th . The stru ggle was fierce and long and res ult ed in tri um ph for the sou th . T hus, afte r almost three centuries of'feudal ism , Entef and M enr uh otep succ eede d in reuniting th e coun try . T heban su pr emacy was recog nised, trade was resumed, expa nsionist aim s were reborn . And Am on was at last introduced to Theb es, not as a local deit y, like W ast and Monru before him, but as th e nation al god . The Jl iddle K ingdom co vers the r t th and r zth Dy nas tiesf c. 2040 1j 86 B .C.) . The i rrh D ynasty was Eg ypt's mOSI pr osp erou s era since th at of th e pyram id builders. The first Ph ar aoh over the reuni ted co untry was M entuhotcp II. Amen emh cr I, whose rul e hera lded a time of gr eat bu ilding acti vit y and a lit erary and artistic revival, establish ed the rz th D ynasty. T here is hardl y a to wn in Egy pt, and T heb es is no exception , wit ho ut some trace of the bu ildi ng activities of th e Pharaohs of this dynast y. G oldsmi ths , jewellers and rel ief work ers perfected the ir skills, while architec ts

r--

1 3 0" ~

MEDITERRANEAN

i I

I

,......

50

50

'm

SEA

16 raised some o ft he mo st beaut iful temples eve r known , For some t wo hundred years Am enernher 's successors mainrained a pro sperous rule and Egyp uan in flu ence was extended abroa d : along: the Red Sea ro N u bia and Punt , around the Vled iterranean [Q Libva. Palestine and S vr ia, even to Cre te, the A.egean Islands and the mainland of G reece. But though natives ofTh'ebes the ru lers had the ir ca pital in the F ayourn. With the passin!! of the 'vliddle Ki ngd om we come ro a time of decli ne, (he Second l ntermedtat« P{'r;IIJ, cove ring the rjr h 10 (he I ; th D ynasties (c. 1786 -1567 B.C. ) . T his was the er a of the ascend ancy of the Hylrsns. Coming Ii-om the direc tion of Syria , these tri bes occu pied Egypt at the end of the i jth Dynasty and ruled for OI W 150 years unt il the 17th D ynasty. T he Egyptian prince Se kcncn rc and his son Kum osc finally rose aga inst the bru tal invade rs . Kumosc's brorhe r Ahmose establishe d the rSth D vnastv an d the .VellJ Ki ngdom, wh ich included the t Sth, n jt h and zot h D ynast ies (c. 1567 -1 085 B.C. ) . H e com pleted th e task begun by Kam ose, fina lly rid the country of the Hyksos plague and began a period of gigantic im perial expansion in West Asia and the Sudan. It was o nly now that T he bes began to dev elop. .-\s befitted a ne w capital, the expansion was slow at first but it continued with increasing m oment um unt il the one -time village was transformed int o rhe sear of a world power never before witnessed. 'vlil itary conqu ests and terr itoria l expansion went hand in hand with an art ist ic and ar chitectu ral revolution of unp ar alleled gra nde ur. Fo llo win g the accession and conq uests of Th utm ose HI , who pus hed the nort hern frontiers of the co untry to the Euphrates, booty fro m conq uered nations and tri butes from the provinces of the then known po wers pou red into the giganti c sto rehouse of T he bes. The greater part of the wealth was bestowed upon Amon who, with the aid of the now influentia l p riesthood, eme rged at last as 'Sola r Go d', 'The K ing of Go ds ', the grea t Amon-Ra . T he power of Amon was everv where in evidence, Ma gnificent templ es were bu ilt for him, elabora tely emb ellished and adorne d . It was both a duty and a pr ivilege to serve him and successive Pharaohs syste matically endeavour ed to ou tdo the ir predece ssors in the magnificence of thei r arch itectu ral an d art isti c endeavours . 'Hund red- Gated Thebes' was at th e peak of its glory. Pr imitive animal deities had long ago given way to variations of the hum an for m with an imal head s or, where the head was also hu man, adorn ed with plaited beard or cha racteristic headge ar as dist inguis hin g mar ks. Arnon-Ra himse lf was variously rep rese nte d:

as 3 ram with cu rved ho rns ; as a man wit h a ram ' 5 head : as

J

man

with a head gear 0; two upright plu mes in whose hands were a scept re as a sym bo l of po wer, and the sym bol oflife. H e was sometimes d epi cted sta nd ing, some times seated ma jestically ho ldi ng his emb lems. On ly the Ph ar aoh of Egy pt or the high priest deleg ated in h is stead were permitted into the sacr ed sanc tuarv of Amo n. or Ho lv of H olies. .-\nd on ly on cert ain da vs 0; the l ear was the deirv sho wn to the populace: carried in cxrravngan r pro cession along garla nde d thoroughfares. .-\mon gu ided the Pharaoh in civic affairs, granted him vicrory over his enemies, favoured all who served him . -\mon gave divine protection . When Arnon was dis hon oured by .-\menhot ep IV (Ikhnaron) , who worsh ipped the life-giv ing rays of the fu ll solar disc of Aron in place of the ascending sun Ra, thi s in retrospect affected T heb es hut slightly. .Altho ugh murals wer e defaced , shrines destroyed and the ima ge of Amon hacked away. his dethronement was shor tlived, T uren khamon, on succeed ing to the th rone, started the restora tion of damaged tem ples, and H arrn hah, Rarnscs I, Seti I and Ramses I I con tinued the wor k of rehuilding, reconstr ucti ng and renov ating the tem ples, to restore the reputatio n of the Kin gof Gods . D own the vears Arnon 's wealth increased cnormo uslv. H e possessed (W CI 5,000 d ivine st at ues, more than 8t ,000 slaves , vassals and serva nts, well over .p J ,000 head of catt le, .0 3 gardens and orc har ds, /)91,33+ acres of/an d , 83 ships, +6 bui lding yards and 65 cities and town s.' The arch-p riests, already wielding a growing politic al power as a re sult of their very special reinstated position, grad ually came to reg-ard them selves as the ru ling- power of the sta te. Their longawaited op portu n ity finally carne when Ikh natori's religious revolt was followed, in the zo rh Dvn astv, bv a success ion of weak ru lers. This enabled Arnon's pr iests to usu rp the throne and for a time to unite p riest hood with royalt y. T he days of Egyp tian conquest were ove r. To en de avo ur to d ate the fall of T hebe s is d ifficult. O ne could say it start ed as far back as the t8th D ynasty when Ikhnaron, the sensitive, peac e-lo ving Pha raoh who beli eved in a uni versal god , shifted the cap ital to Tel el Arnar na and failed to main tain his foreign inter ests . One cou ld date it to th e reign of Rarn scs 1I in th e 19th Dynasty when, in his co ncern to place h is armies mo re stra tegica lly for his bat tles against the H itt ites, he trans ferre d th e royal residence to Per-Rarnscs in the eastern pa n of the Delta. O r

18 one co uld see the zorh D ynast y as the tu rn in!, point, an d certain ly Rarnse s I I I and his ever -wea ken ing successors fell mo re and mor e under the voke of the pr iesthood and undo ubted lv co nt ributed to the collapse of the stare. But the real downward slope of th e g-raph , and its cont inu ed dro p, came in th e z rst Dynast y, just over on e thousand years D.C.. wh en Hrihor made Egypt an ecclesiastical sta te. Thu s began th e peri od know n by historian s as the L ate Period of the z i st to the 25t h D yn asties (t. 1085 .6 63 B.C. ). N ubia rook ad vantage of th e weakened capital 10 gain ind ependen ce. Palestine and S yria wer e lost. T he thr one was the n us ur ped by Li b van mo narchs who ruled for nearlv two hund red Years. T hev w'ere in turn ousted b y the :'\ ub ian s. Th~ gro win g Assyr ian empire adva nced on Egy p t, p lunder ing the cap ital and overt hrow ing the Nu bian rul ers..\nd th ou gh the cou ntry shoo k off the occ upy ing force s d ur ing a short- lived comeback under the kings of the 26th Dy nasty , th e Per sian s in vaded Egypt in 525 n.c. and the country became a Persian province. T hen Alexander the Gr eat marched triumphantly along th e N ile Valley to lib erate th e coun try bu t actu ally succee ded in destro ying the state 's ind ep end ent statu s once and for all. F ina lly t he Rom ans tu rned Egy pt int o a colony . Y et while T heb es was sin king- into med ioc ri ty, its conq uero rs treated it as a great city and tr ied to p reserve and em bellish it. T he \i ubians p art icular ly, hav ing assimilated th e cu ltu re of Egypt and beco m e fanati cal adh er ent s o f Am on , sou gh t to reinspire T hcban cult ure and safeguard th e city from co llapse. T he kings of the 26t h Dynasty b uilt lesser temp les to Amo n and bestowed t heir wealt h, what remain ed of it, up on him. The inva d ing arm y of Cambyses, tho ugh striking as far as U pper E gypt , actu ally did very litt le dam age to the cit y. T he rule of the Ptolernies is noted for its architec tura l activ ity and the G reeks co nsc ient io us ly endeavo ured to add to th e sp lendour of natio nal build ings afte r a priest had to ld Alexan der th at he was the son of Amon and sh ou ld revere him . The Rom an s too rep aired ru ins and bui lt temples in the t raditiona l style, each retaini ng som et hin g of the ear lier gra ndeur. But it was a losing hattie. The pas t was not to be recaptured , T he bes co uld hard ly hide its well-e arned wrinkles an d a time-weathered quality lay over th e metropolis. Willi the ad vent of th e di vine religions came syst ematic destruction . It happ ened first in the tombs an d s hrines where the earl y Chr istians hid . L at er th e " pagan " sta t ues were up root ed, sacred sanctuaries mutilated, atte m pts made to to pp le obelisks and co lossi and obl ite ra te foreve r the visages of th e ' hea then god s' . Ikh nar ori's

acts we re h alf- hearted da bb lings when com par ed with th is wholesale des truction . The city weakened and cr umb led till it was no more t han a collect ion ofvi llages, :\ 1 last, as tho ugh wishi ng to protect what remained , the d ry desert win ds b lew a ma ntle of sand over the dead city. Pa rticle settl ed fir m ly ont o par ticle , layer upon layer, until once loftv colonnades were half su bmerged in a sea of san d. Between the ela borately decorated ca pitals ch ild rens' playgrou nds sprang up . \Iud dw ell ing s were built by peasan ts alon gside sculpt ure d wall and co lum n. D o vecots were erec ted on arc hit rave and p ylon . An cient Thebes was gone. ' Luxor' was born : its name being de rived from the Ara bic El-Ok sor. ' the palaces' . S till the des tr uc tion went on . S labs from the mon um ents with thei r in valuabl e inscr iptio ns wer e torn down or redu ced to lim e. Wi nd and sun ate int o the facad es. And the N ile, risi ng and falling with t he annual flood , continued to play its part in causing ir repar able ha rm to t he t rea sur es of Amo n .

It was left to the mo dern arc heo logists, who began to filte r south wards be for e the ru m of th e 19 th ce ntury, to excava te an d int erpret for us the gol den era of Eg ypt's histor y. . Napoleon Bonapart e unloc ked t he door to the past. H IS 179 S exp ed iti on to Egy pt , while m ilitarily d isappointin g in its failu re to wre nch po litic al power fro m the Br itish , remains sign ifican t for its imp ressive archeological rese arch and for t he establishment of the l nstitut d' Fgypte in Ca iro. In fact it was to t he Institut th at t he fam ous Rosetta S lone, discovered by soldi er s d igging a tr en ch near the for t ress of S t. J ulian at Ro sett a, was sen t. T h is stone was quickly recogn ised as some sort of decree written in three scr ipts a nd thu s a possib le key to the under standi ng of th e 'p icture lan gua ge ' wh ich had been lost si nce t he days of th e Rom an occ upa tion . The bottom text was in G reek. At the top of t he stone was th e sacr ed Egy ptian 'sy m bol wri ting' , und erstood only by the priests, and in betw een t he two was the pop ular sc ript which was un der stood by the masses. H owe ver, the tex ts had to wait a fu ll twenty years, until 1822, to be deciph ered. The F renc h scholar Jean I'r a!,\Cois Charn pollion who wo rked on th em for ten years fin ally est ablish ed tha t far from th e hi eroglyphics being sym bols as was supposed, each pic tu re ac tually repres ented a ph on et ic sound which, com bined, spe lled o ut word s. Ch arnpollion co m pi led a dict ion ary of the lost langua ge. It is t han ks to him th at we have an insight int o. the anci ent religio n, the ma nn er s and the custo ms of a peopl e of

20 long ago and, above all, int o the compl ex political institutions uf a civilization that en dured for five thousand wars. For rnan v vcars exca vation was domi nated bv the Fr ench. Loret was responsible for discovering the tom bs ·of Thurrnose Ill , Amcnhotep II and Rarnscs I. His cont empo rary Belzoni, who has gone down in history as OnC of the most ruthless tomb-robbers, excavated the tom b th at surpasses all others in size and arti stic execution, that of Seti r. In tS20 he said that in his opinion there were no morc tombs 10 be fou nd in the Vallcv of the Ki ngs. The French also gave Egypt M ariette. who revealed the delicately carved reliefs of Queen Har schcpsur's voyage to the Land of Punt, and M aspero. who was in charg e of the Egyptian Depar tmen t of Antiquities for many year s. .\ s early as ,S-H Gcrman expe di tions wcre making such important tinds as thc tombs of Ramscs II and \ [ern cptah. T ben in 18j 6 Em il Bru gsch, following a local rum our , discovered the 'cache' or 'shaft' at D er el Bahri, containing a hoard of mum mies of some of Egypt's most important Pharaohs, hidden there lor safety from tom b- robbers by the priests of the 20th Dynasty. T his fantast ic discovery started an avalan che of inter est in Egyptolo gy. England' s Flinders Petr ic worked with his tcams in the mort uary temp les and in the Valley of the Ki ngs for many years . Italy's Professor Schiaparelli excavated ent husiastically in the Valley of the Queens, and T . ,\ 1. Davis, thc wealthy Ame rican who excavated on the necropo lis, said in 19 I2 what Belzon i had said befor e him, that the Valley of th e K ings was now exhaus ted. T hen came Ho ward Cart er and th e most cxrraordin arv discovcrv of all: the intact tomb of Tutcnkham on " discovered in 192i , ind icating that the revelations of ancient Thebes had only just begun . As we show in our concluding chapter, work continues today on both sides of the N ile at L uxo r.

21 Plan 2

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