Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology

Thebes (West Bank at Luxor)

On the West Bank of Luxor, just off the road which leads from the cultivation to the desert, sit the so-called Colossi of Memnon. These are actually statues of Amenhotep III (c.1390-1353 B.C.E.) which are about 64 feet/19.6 meters in height and are carved of quartzite. These statues flanked the main entrance into Amenhotep’s mortuary temple. Unfortunately, very little remains of this temple, most of the stone having been "quarried" away during the late New Kingdom.

Why are these statues named Memnon? Actually, their name applies only to the northern statue (most distant statue in this picture). It was damaged in an earthquake and began producing at sunrise a musical sound which Greek visitors associated with the mythological Memnon calling to his mother Aurora, the goddess of the morning sun. If the sound was not emitted, it was assumed that the god was angry. In the early 2nd century C.E., Emperor Septimius Severus had the statue repaired (to propitiate the god?), and it has not produced the sound since.

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (c.1478/72-1458 B.C.E.) dates from the New Kingdom. It nestles at the foot of the cliffs in a natural "bay" on the West Bank of Luxor. This area had long been sacred to the goddess Hathor and was the site of an earlier mortuary temple/tomb of King Nebhepetre-Mentuhotep (c.2008-1957 B.C.E.) of the Middle Kingdom (ramp on the far left). After the introduction of Christianity, Hatshepsut’s temple was used as a monastery, hence its modern name, Deir el-Bahri, Arabic for "Northern Monastery."

Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh who had herself represented pictorially as a male. She served as co-regent with her nephew Thutmose III (c.1479-1425 B.C.E.).

The Polish National Academy of Sciences is responsible for the study and restoration of the three levels of the temple. As of spring 1995, the first two levels were almost complete, and the top level was still under reconstruction.

Hatshepsut’s temple was well situated to escape rock slides, unlike the temples of Nebhepetre-Mentuhotep and Thutmose III (to the left and behind Hatshepsut’s Temple).

Since Hathor was the guardian of the Deir el-Bahri area, it is appropriate to find a chapel dedicated to her within Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple (south end of second level). The columns which fill the court of this chapel have Hathor columns, each of which resemble a sistrum, a percussion instrument associated with the goddess of love and music. The capital is a female head with cow ears topped with a crown, the curved sides ending in spirals, perhaps suggestive of cow horns. The central section of the crown is a shrine in which two uraei (rearing cobras with spread hoods) are surmounted by sun disks. A cavetto cornice tops the whole.

At the north end of the second level of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, is the Anubis Chapel. Anubis was the god of embalming and the cemetery. He was frequently represented with the body of a man and the head of a jackal, as he is shown here. Anubis sits on a throne, which, in turn, rests on a small plinth. He faces a pile of offerings which reaches in eight levels from the bottom to the top of the register.

Although much of the color is now gone, one can imagine the vibrancy of the original painting. The Egyptians used mineral pigments; so the colors have not faded as much as vegetable pigments would have.

This Osiride statue stands in front of one of the columns on the third level of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple. Osiris was the Egyptian god of fertility, resurrection, and the next world. He was usually pictured wrapped as a mummy, holding a crook and flail as scepters and as symbols of his control over nature. Combined with the crook (on the right) is a was scepter (hieroglyphic sign meaning "dominion"). Combined with the flail (on the left) is an ankh (hieroglyphic sign meaning "life"). This statue of Osiris has the delicate features of Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh. He wears the Double Crown of Egypt and a false beard with a curved tip (indicative of divinity).

Among the loose blocks on the third level of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple is this one decorated with a raised relief carving of Horus as a falcon. He wears the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, reminding us that the pharaoh was the earthly manifestation of the god, who was ruler of the heavens.

The Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of Luxor is a remote, desolate place with no vegetation. Rising above the area is the Qurn ("horn"), a mountain which many regard as a natural pyramid shape which presides over the entire cemetery.

This scene of Horus and Anubis paying honor to Osiris is on the lintel above a doorway in the tomb of Sethnakht (c.1190-1187 B.C.E.) in the Valley of the Kings. In order to balance the scene, Osiris is shown in profile facing both left and right. As god of the dead and the next life, he is mummiform, wears the atef crown, carries a crook-flail-was scepter, and has a curved false beard. Horus (on the left) symbolized the living king and has the body of a man and the head of a falcon. He wears the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. His left hand holds an ankh, the hieroglyph for "life," while his right hand is raised in homage to Osiris, his father. Anubis (on the right) was the god of embalming and was a protector of the dead. He has the body of a man and the head of a jackal. His left hand extends over an offering table, while his right hand is raised in homage to Osiris.

Deir el-Medinah is a New Kingdom workmen’s village, with remains dating principally to Dynasties 19 and 20. The men who constructed the tombs in the Valley of the Kings lived in this village with their families. It is situated between the high western mountain (from which this photograph was taken) and the hill of Qurnet Murai (top right). The ruins of a Ptolemaic temple occupy the left/center of the picture. The workmen constructed rock tombs for their families in the side of the western mountain overlooking their village.

In this village the workmen lived in homes whose stone foundations still remain (middle right). From here, the workmen followed a trail north to the top of the western mountain and down into the Valley of the Kings to construct and decorate the tomb of the reigning pharaoh.

These stone foundations (Dynasties 19 and 20) in Deir el-Medinah call attention to the limited size and close proximity of quarters available for workmen and their families. Most of the homes had shared walls, and the "streets" (on the far left) were seldom over one yard wide. Although the rooms seen here are quite small, remember that most all Egyptian houses (ancient as well as modern) had two stories with a usable flat rooftop. The mudbrick walls of a Ptolemaic temple are visible in the upper right.

Within Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (c.1187-1156 B.C.E.), are many wall carvings executed mostly in sunk relief (faster to complete than raised relief). This one pictures Ramesses III standing before Amun and Khonsu. Ramesses III (on the left) wears the Blue Crown, the royal shendyet kilt, and sandals. Amun, whose name means "the hidden one," sits on a throne on a short plinth, wears his traditional double-plumed crown, and holds in his left hand the jubilee staff, by which he offers the king a rule of many years. Behind Amun (on the right) is his son Khonsu, god of the moon. He has a mummiform body, wears the sidelock of hair (symbolic of childhood) and a full-moon-within-crescent-moon crown, and holds a staff replete with symbols: crook and flail, ankh (hieroglyph for life), and djed pillar (hieroglyph for stability).