The beautiful Luxor Temple lies on the east bank of the Nile. The temple was dedicated to the god Amun-Re, his wife Mut and their son the moon god, Khonsu; together they create the Theban triad. Some of the earliest parts of the temple today date from the 14th century B.C. and the time when AmenhotepIII was around. Amenhotep III's son, Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV, made the Luxor Temple suffer under his reigon.

    They tried to do some restoration later during the time of Tutankhamun and Horemheb. Ramesses II over saw the addition of a new entrance, which was decorated with scenes of his military battles. Ramesses II had placed in front of his pylon six granite statues of himself four standing and two sitting. Going through the pylon entrance, a guest steps into the court of ramesses II with many statues of the pharaoh and circling it are papyrus-type columns with lotus-bud capitals. Right outside the court is the amazing Colonnade stood by AMenhotep III. The walla were carved on both sides of the Colonnade. They were carved during the time of Tutankhamun.

    Following is Amenhotep III's court with a double row od columns surrounding it. In the late 1980s many statues were found buried in this courtroom.

     The Hypostyle Hall is beyond the court of Amenhotep III. The Hall holds thirty two columns and four rows. Amenhotep III's reliefs were plastered over and painting with Christian themes when the back of the Hall was transformed into a Roman Shrine. The sanctuary at the south end of the temple complex is surrounded by many different chanbers, one of the chambers is called the Birth Room where Amenhotep III's birth is depicted in reliefs.

    Luxor Temple became the focus of surrounding Roman military camp for about 1,500 men around the beginning of the third century.
 

Here is a map of the Luxor Temple:

 Homepage
 

 Return to Index
 
 

Work Cited:

 Rigby, Mark. "Luxor Temple." Rigby's World of Egypt. 2001. <http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/luxtem1.htm> (1 Oct. 2002)

Dunn, Jimmy "Luxor Temple." Egypt. 1999-2003. <http://www.touregypt.net/Map17.htm> (3 Oct. 2002)