Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Luxor Egypt: Tombs & Temples

by · Published · Updated

From Kenya we flew to Luxor Egypt. Luxor is smaller and even more tourist oriented than Cairo so it’s a nice intro to Egypt. The main attractions in Luxor are the Nile river which is very lush here, the Tombs of the new kingdom pharaohs, and the temples built by the new kingdom pharaohs. We focused on the tombs and temples since we have rivers but 3500 year old tombs not so much. Luxor was called Thebes in ancient times and was the capital of Egypt

Morning balloon flights from our balcony. The Nile is very green and lush around Luxor but you can see the very dry valley just beyond
Model of the tombs gifted to Egypt by Japan. You can see how deep some of them go. King Tut is famous only because his tomb was blocked by a later pharaoh’s tomb which made it the only pharaoh’s tomb not to be looted before modern times (so far).
There are lots of tombs but less than a dozen are safe and open to the public.
The King’s tombs were buried, the valley sealed with stone then sand for camouflage but it didn’t work and all the tombs except King Tut’s was looted.
Inside, the tombs are covered with colorful scenes that have survived over 3500 years. This is the sarcophagus room
Notice how well the hieroglyphics and Karen have been preserved by the dry desert weather
It’s amazing that these colors have survived so long
The temples are a lot of pillared courtyards and shaded galleries with a few rooms. Very different than temples today
Over 1000 statues guarded the avenue connecting Karnak and Luxor temples
We visited the temple complex of Karnak which was started around 2055 BCE and continued to be added to until about 100 CE. Though not as well preserved the temples are still amazing!
The columns are intricately carved sandstone
You can see the immense scale compared to the people
Very little of the color has survived but it must have been impressive back in the day
The main spaces are giant courtyards and covered passageways added by successive pharaohs as a show of wealth and connection to the gods
Luxor is smaller but full of great statuary
The left foot forward pose means the pharaoh was a military leader. A seated pose with hands down meant stability during their reign
The Coptic Christians avoided Roman persecution here around 300 BCE. This is a painting of the last supper
Luxor is different from Karnak in many ways. It is 650 years newer and has been used to worship Ra, Allah, and Christ at different times in its history. There is still an active mosque on property

Jose

AKA Alfred

You may also like...