Online Encyclopedia

LUXOR

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 147 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

LUXOR  , more properly El-Aksur, " The Castles" (plur. of kasr), a

See also:
town of Upper
See also:
Egypt, on the east
See also:
bank of the Nile 450 M. above Cairo by
See also:
river and 418 by
See also:
rail . Pop . (1907 census) 12,644 . It is the centre for visitors to the ruins of and about Thebes, and is frequented by travellers and invalids in the winter season, several
See also:
fine hotels having been built for their accommodation . There are
See also:
Anglican and
See also:
Roman Catholic churches, and a hospital for natives, opened in 1891 . The
See also:
district is the seat of an extensive manufacture of forged antiques . The temple of Luxor is one of the greatest of the monuments of Thebes (q.v.) . It stands near the river bank on the S.W. side of the town and
See also:
measures nearly 300 yds. from back to front . There may have been an earlier temple here, but the
See also:
present structure, dedicated to the Theban triad of Ammon, Mut and Khons, was erected by Amenophis III . The
See also:
great
See also:
colonnade, which is its most striking feature, was apparently intended for the
See also:
nave of a
See also:
hypostyle hall like that of
See also:
Karnak, but had to be hastily finished without the aisles . After the
See also:
heresy of Amenophis IV . (Akhenaton), the decoration of this incomplete
See also:
work was taken in hand by Tutenkhamun and Haremhib .

The

axis of the temple ran from S.W. to N.E.; a long paved road bordered by recumbent rams led from the
See also:
facade to the temples of Karnak (q.v.) in a somewhat more easterly direction, and Rameses II. adopted the
See also:
line of this avenue in adding an extensive court to the work of Amenophis, producing a curious change of axis . He embellished the walls and pylons of his court with scenes from his victories over
See also:
Hittites and Syrians, and placed a number of
See also:
colossal statues within it . In front of the pylon Rameses set up colossi and a pair of obelisks (one of which was taken to Paris in 1831 and re-erected in the Place de la Concorde) . A few scenes and inscriptions were added by later kings, but the above is practically the
See also:
history of the temple until Alexander the Great rebuilt the sanctuary itself . The chief religious festival of Thebes was that of "
See also:
Southern Opi," the ancient name of Luxor . The sacred barks of the divinities preserved in the sanctuary of Karnak were then conveyed in procession by
See also:
water to Luxor and back again; a representation of the festal scenes is given on the walls of the great colonnade . The Christians built churches within the temple . The greater
See also:
part of the old
See also:
village of Luxor
See also:
lay inside the courts: it was known also as
See also:
Abu '1 Haggag from a Moslem saint of the 7th century, whose tomb-mosque, mentioned by
See also:
Ibn Batuta, stands on a high heap of debris in the court of Rameses . This is the last of the buildings and rubbish which encumbered the temple before the
See also:
expropriation and clearances by the Service
See also:
des Antiquites began in 1885 . The
See also:
principal street of Luxor follows the line of the ancient avenue . See G . Daressy,
See also:
Notice explicative des ruines du temple de Louxor (Cairo, 1893) ; Baedeker's Egypt .

(F . LL .

End of Article: LUXOR
[back]
DUKE FRANCOIS HENRI DE MONTMORENCYBOUTEVILLE LUXEMB...
[next]
LUXORIUS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.