Late Afternoon Itinerary: Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt
~ 33°C/92°F (at 6 pm)

By Paul Bryers

Today we are exploring the primary temples located in Luxor. The Karnak Temples were covered in the previous post. Luxor Temple is the subject of this post.

The Luxor Temple is a large complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city and was constructed approximately 1400 BC.

In the Egyptian language it was known as ipet resyt, “the southern sanctuary”.

Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death.

Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually (as in the case of Alexander the Great, who claimed he was crowned at Luxor but may never have traveled south of Memphis, near modern Cairo).

I’m not doing much of a write up as I’m running out of time 😃 . Suffice to say the photos go roughly pylon, courtyard, column hall, courtyard, sanctuary….

However, it is worth mentioning the active Abu Haggag Mosque located within the temple, standing on the ancient columns themselves (it was built whrn tge majority if the tempke was under sand and mud.

That part of the Luxor Temple was converted to a church by the Romans in 395 AD, and then to a mosque around 640 AD, which is more than 3,400 years of continuous religious worship.

After the sun set there was a female belly dancer and a Swirling Dervish – Egyptian style; he was very camp and a good laugh. Definitely not to be confused with the serious, religious Sufi Dervishes of Turkey.