LUXOR TEMPLE – APOTHEOSIS ON THE NILE

The Solar Courtyard of Amenhotep III shines in the darkening dusk light.
The Solar Courtyard of Amenhotep III shines in the darkening dusk light.

Luxor Temple stands at the southern end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes in the center of the City of Luxor. Along with Karnak, Luxor Temple rates as one of the most popular visitor sites in Egypt. The temple (Ipet Resyt or Southern Opet to ancient Egyptians) became dedicated to Amememopet, “Amun in Opet”. This particular form of Amun-Ra was specific to this temple, especially tied in the idea of royal ka or the spirit of kingship entering into a king’s body at the time of his coronation. Evey year the Opet Festival took place in which the king visited the Luxor Temple in order for the royal ka to be ritually reborn, reconfirmed and re-energized.

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MAGIC AND RESURRECTION AT ABU SIMBEL

Baboons hold court above the entrance facade at Abu Simbel.
Baboons hold court above the entrance facade at Abu Simbel.

Far to the south, not far from the border of Egypt and Sudan, lies one of the greatest monuments surviving from the New Kingdom and its most prominent pharaoh, Ramses II. The magnificent temple complex erected here at Abu Simbel demonstrated the power and supremacy of Egypt over Nubia lying to the south. This became the most extravagant of all of the many building projects the great Pharaoh commissioned over his long life.

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