Egypt Field Report – Nov 30, 2022 – The Luxor Temple

I was staying at The Winter Palace. I had been told that if I could, try to book into the old part of the hotel. My tour had me in The Pavilion, which is the larger space across the grassy garden from the original building, which sits facing The Nile and is next to The Luxor Temple. I failed. In fact, I could not extend my stay for the whole time and had to move up the street to The Steigenberger. Before I ad to make that move I thought I ought to see The Luxor Temple.

My tour had taken me to The Karnak Temple located a mile and a half away, but not Luxor, which is right beside the hotel. The two temples are connected by a paved stone pathway lined with sphinxes. Once a year in ancient times the god in the temple was taken out of his inner sanctum and paraded from one temple to the other on this roadway. The god’s inner temple enclosure is called a naos, which is a stone box with doors on it. The god would be put on a barge like paladin and carried on the shoulders of the priests to the other temple. The ceremony was known as the Festival of Opet. 

This sort of procession was done in any number of towns and temples. A recent exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) displayed a naos that was discovered in the harbor of Alexandria and they had a procession between two temple towns via a canal. Both towns sank during an earthquake.

The tour I had been on was physically and mentally exhausting. My back hurt by the end of most days. The walking was painful, which exhausted me further. This led to a kind of mental dumbness that clouded my ability to think much. 

I knew we had been to the Temple of Karnak on the tour and that was a mile and a half away. I knew the Temple of Luxor was a quick right turn out of the hotel. Yet, my guidebook had the temples mismarked. They showed Luxor far away and Karnak nearby. Unable to figure it out I decided to let my next objective on the West Bank rest for a day or two and instead tour The Temple of Luxor. I read there was a mummy museum and the Luxor Museum nearby as well. Hey, why not go for a triple play?

I decided to start at the far temple, which should be Karnak that I had seen before yet the guidebook confusingly mismarked it. Although I had been in the courtyards and hypostyle hall, there was a lot I had not seen. The outdoor museum was not much visited and there were some real treasures there. A small chapel that had started the whole growth of Thebes (now Luxor) as a major religious center. It also turns out that a lot of these ruins have these fat columned covered areas called hypostyle hallways. Who knew? I had seen pictures and thought there was only one. I learned hypostyle refers to columns with a covered roof.

The Luxor Museum is small but houses some fine examples of Egyptian art. There is an introductory presentation by Omar Sharif and a shot or two of a much younger Zahi Hawass.

The mummy museum shows the steps in mummification and some of the tools used. There’s a mummified baboon in a coffin – kind of creepy.

On to the Temple of Luxor. I have to check my notes because I may have done the above one day and the Temple of Luxor another. In fact, yeah, that’s the ticket. The next day, I turned out of The Winter Palace Hotel early and made it to the temple just as it opened. I was the first in line, but was confused as to where to get a ticket. A group of 30ish aged women and one guy in white caftan and pony tail got in front of me.

You see groups like this from time to time. Some are in yoga “grounding” positions, eyes closed, hands forming a “O” with thumb and fore fingers, absorbing the energy, etc. This group was there, apparently, for an early morning ceremony of some sort.

I wanted to shoot some 360 camera stuff and managed to walk the entire complex as they congregated in one of the center courtyards. It seemed they were having a marriage ceremony, or joy of life ceremony, or induction into the munificence of nature – god knows. A woman, slightly older, was standing in front of another woman and they were going on and on quietly. The other women were standing in concentric 270 degree semi-circles around these two, all with sappy smiley faces. The guy was clearly getting laid and seemed to be hoping for more action soon. As I went past I took a look, and even a video and got a “You Pig, What do you think you are doing?” look from one of the outer circle of women. Doesn’t take much to give up the karma, huh?

After half an hour or so the ceremony was over and the crowd disbursed, In fact, I’m not sure what happened to them, but the head priestess lady went by me with her eyes straight ahead, jaw firmly set, with a “Don’t even think about it” look. She seemed to be rushing to her next appointment and the flighty sappy spirit had left her face, exiting the place tout-suite.

“Hey Lady, Wanna buy a scarab? I give you good price? Maybe, later? Okay?” Yeah, I don’t think she would have even turned if I had said that. But I didn’t.

After touring the temple, which is remarkably like three or four others I had seen I went out and walked down the stone pathway. The sun was still low and it was cool. I walked to the barge displayed halfway down the path. Raucous music was coming from somewhere. Kind of weird to be in a place that had been revered thousands of years before as the sun rose and having a cacophony of music (Islamic rap?).

Now, having the Temple of Karnak and The Temple of Luxor firmly fixed in my brain I went back to confront my guide book. How did they get it wrong?

They hadn’t.

What they had done was display two maps: one of greater Luxor and one of the temple complexes. What they had done was orient the two maps 180 degrees different from each other. Thanks guys.

In my bedraggled mental state I hadn’t caught the change, and hence my confusion.

Next – The Valley of the Queens