thebes

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:

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.
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.

Major archaeological sites at Thebes - west bank:

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.
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.

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.
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".

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.
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.

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.
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.

Information on major archaeological sites courtesy of Wikpaedi