Luxor: My introduction to Ancient Egypt

Reliefs on the side walls of the pylon at the Temple of Edfu. These were
most likely desecrated during the Christian Roman Empire

Egyptian at the temple of Edfu

The temple of Kom Ombo and the relief carvings had left me in awe considering they were created more than 2000 years ago. The design of the temple however seemed Greco-Roman to my untrained eye and my deduction wasn’t too far off as I have since learnt that it was build during the Ptolemaic dynasty whose rulers were actually descendents of a general from Alexander’s army rather than indigenous Egyptians.

Pylon at the front of the Edfu temple. Note the depiction of the Pharaoh holding his enemies by the hair on the edges 

Some of the jargon I might use in the next few blogs might not make a lot of sense to general readers but I will try to use layman terminology as much as possible. Egyptian history is so extensive that even after a bit of research I am still dazed. The earliest Egyptian dynastic history dates back as far as 3000 BC so there is no way I could summarize it here on my blog.

Statue of Horus at the entrace

Depiction of baboon on the inner walls of the temple

No wonder there is a profession called Egyptology for the study about ancient Egypt, its history, culture, and religion. I would highly recommend a cursory glance at Wikipedia’s site on Egyptian history if anyone is interested in learning more or most certainly if planning a trip there.

Anubis: Jackal headed god

After Kom Ombo, the next stop was the intimidating and very well preserved temple at Edfu sitting on the banks of the Nile north of Kom Ombo. Being a temple dedicated to it, the hieroglyphs had extensive depictions of probably the most distinguishable of the Egyptian gods, Horus, who has the head of an eagle.

Avenue of sphinxes

This temple was also built during the Ptolemaic (Greek) dynasty period but it was more Egyptian in design with a massive wall (pylon) at the entrance of the temple with huge relief carvings of the Pharaoh holding his enemies by their hair ready to smash their heads.

Interestingly as big as this temple is, with the passage of time it was almost completely covered with desert sand and flood deposits from the Nile and had a town grow right over this rubble until it was excavated in the 18th century.

After visiting these two temples lying between Aswan and Luxor the minibus dropped us in the city of Luxor. Luxor is the modern name of this city called by several other names like Waset (ancient Egyptian), Thebes (Greco-Roman) and Al-Uqsur (Arabic) and the city has so many architectural wonders that its sometimes referred to as the largest open air museum in the world.

Oblisk with hieroglyphs

Luxor temple with the Abu Haggag mosque within it

Considering the abundance of archeological wonders in and around this city, I decided to base myself here for 3 nights to explore its temples, tombs, monuments and hopefully its modern day citizens.

I checked into a hostel pretty much in the center of town and proceeded to the Luxor temple just a few blocks away. It was dusk and as I neared the temple I could see the pillars bathed in the golden hue of the setting sun. The temple was dead in the center of town and right on the banks of the Nile and although it’s more than 3500 years old, its juxtaposition with Luxor’s living Arabic population thriving all around it was a fascinating sight. Contrary to how it’s referred today, the Luxor temple is not a single temple but a complex of various shrines, monuments and sanctuaries build by successive pharaohs over several centuries.

Statues of Ramses II at the main entrance

Queens & wifes were often
depicted much smaller,
generally only up to the knee
of the Pharaohs

The most prominent features of the complex were its pylon, several statues of Ramses II, a colonnade built by another pharaoh called Amenhotep III and the avenue of sphinxes. Since I went there during sunset, I got real value for my entrance ticket as I first saw the temple in the soft light of sunset and then when it got dark they put on the lights giving a completely different perspective to the architecture and the carvings.

A few hours of wandering within the complex was enough to make me hungry. Outside the temple complex there were several roadside kiosks selling falafel sandwich which is a common Egyptian snack made of deep fried balls of ground beans served with lettuce, eggplant, and other condiments. Amazingly each of these sandwiches cost about 1 Egyptian pound which translates to about 16 cents (or 9 rupees). Street food in India is fairly cheap but perhaps not this cheap anymore with the almost double digit inflation that’s plagued my country in recent years.

Generally speaking, I found Egypt to be very inexpensive which was a surprise but that might be due to the fact that I live in West Africa. Similar was the case in Ethiopia and I wonder if this has something to do with both these nations being agrarian societies.

Colonnade of Amenhotep III behind statues of Ramses II

Luxor Temple view at night



Falafel stall

My statement of costs in Egypt should come with a big qualifier as most Egyptians will blatantly add in a few more pounds upon seeing a foreigner. This happened to me even in a small store for an item as basic as water. It’s only when I told them that I purchased a similar bottle across the street that they reduced the price. I have seen it happen to tourists in India so I can’t say it only happens in Egypt but it just seemed more prevalent here than any other country I have visited. Seen from an open mind, it’s understandable why they do it but it’s a hassle and leaves a bad taste.

I got back to the hostel and met Eric, an American, in the dorm room that we shared. He had arrived in Luxor the same day and had similar plans to mine. Against the proposal of the hostel owner, we decided to explore the archeological sites on the west bank of Luxor the next day on a bicycle.