Spring in Egypt Part 9 - Luxor Temple

At the time when we arrived at Luxor temple it was already after dusk and it became a little difficult to take photos. I compensated by setting my camera ISO to 4000 to make tripod-less picture-taking possible even though the grains became more visible.

Just like the previous nights, the moon still looked round to me. I wasn't sure which one of those moons was the actual full moon. We walked around the temple first with Michael for explanations about the temple. In the distance we were able to hear the adzan calling the people for prayer.

Situated in the east bank, the construction of the temple was started by Amenhotep III, continued and finished by the famous King Tut and Horemheb, and then added on to by Rameses II and finally by Alexander the Great. Unlike the other temples we had previously visited, this temple is not dedicated to a single cult/god. Instead, it is used as a place to rejuvenate kingship. May of the kings were said to have been coronated at this temple.

Upper Egypt and lower Egypt were symbolized by lotus and papyrus plants respectively. At this temple we saw a relief of the god of Nile flood in double, tying upper and lower Egypt.

Two figures of god Hapi representing upper and lower Egypt tying lotus and papyrus around Nile.

Pillars unusually decorated with closed lotus (instead of blooming lotus)

There was a time in history when the Romans occupy Egypt. At Luxor temple we saw the remains of what the Romans did: they made a dome in the wall, plastered it, and then painted the plaster with Roman figures (similar style to what you can see in Italy).

Dome done by the Romans

There were some ongoing restoration work in the temple so some of our views were blocked by scaffoldings. In that particular area, Michael explained that one wall was an old wall built by one king, and the other wall just 2 metres across was a newer wall built by another king.

In that same area, we saw a relief of Min, their god of fertility. He is usually pictured with an erect penis and a flail. The mystery here was that they also carved semen as well as a sperm. If you think about it, how would they know what a sperm looked like, for as we know it microscopes were only invented in the 17th century.

Dusty air

Somehow they reconstructed this upside down

It was a beautiful clear night at Luxor and we were able to see a few constellations in the sky. My friend used her Skyview app to show Kiki the constellations.

The Nubians

Some blue paint still remain visible

After we left Luxor Temple, we were taken to a papyrus store. We were shown how the papyrus was made and then of course they would sell us paintings on papyrus. I originally wanted to buy plain papyrus paper but didn't want to pay $15 for a letter size sheet. Thus, I left the store empty handed.