The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2023 - Issue 33

bitetravel West, they too would be reborn. Hence the tombs and funerary temples of the nobles and pharaohs of Thebes build on the West Bank. On the East Bank, the modern town of Luxor, a corruption of the Arabic word ‘El Qsour’ meaning castles or places, has grown around the two temples of Luxor and Karnak. Ramses II built the first pylon and courtyard at the Temple of Luxor. It shows monumental engravings of himself at the head of an army, smit- ing the Hittites, demonstrating his reputation as a great military ruler. The oldest part of the temple consists of an arcade, court- yard and sanitary complex built by Amenophis III. During the ninth pharaoh’s reign, Amun, god of the air and one of the eight primordial Egyptian deities, and his priests were powerful. However, Amenophis III’s son Amenophis IV turned his back on the traditional gods and launched the first monothe- istic religion, worshipping Aton, the sun’s disc. He changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning ‘horizon of the Aton’ while build- ing a new capital at Amarna. The religion flourished for a few years, producing some of the finest art but returned to Amun after Akhenaton’s death. The Temple of Karnak, developed, built and improved over 1,300 years, is a vast complex of temples within temples, pylons, hypostyle halls and sacred pools, covering 100 acres. During the height of the Amun cult, the priests accumulated 65 villages, 433 gardens, 412,662 head of cattle, 2,395 square kilometres of fields, 83 ships and 81,322 workers and enslaved people. They were one of the most potent forces in the land and, in times of weak phar- aohs, effectively ruled Egypt. Explore the hypostyle hall with columns developed from a pro- fessional colonnade by Seti I, the second pharaoh of the Nine- teenth Dynasty and Ramses II, his son and a renowned builder. In the oldest part of the temple, you’ll see two obelisks erected by the fourth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Thutmose II’s wife, Hatshepsut, who became the first woman to rule as phar- aoh upon his death. One of the obelisks is partly on the ground, and the other is still erect, making it the tallest completed in Egypt. The Isis, Osiris and Horus triad tells a morbid tale of jealousy, murder, and reincarnation. According to the myth, Osiris and Seth divided the world between them, but Seth became dissat- isfied with his half consisting mainly of desert and murdered his brother to get his portion. Their sister and Osiris’ wife, Isis, recovered his body, but Seth took it and chopped it into sever- al pieces, burying them across the country. Isis collected and bandaged all the parts together to form the first mummy. She brought Osiris briefly back to life with help from the other gods, long enough for her to conceive. Osiris reigned as ruler of the underworld, while Isis brought up their son, Horus, in secret. Horus eventually sought out Seth and conquered him in a titanic struggle, bringing order and prosperity to Egypt. On the site where he defeated Seth, Ptolemy III Euergetes, the third pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty, constructed the Temple of Edfu dedicated to the falcon-headed god. Luxor - Luxor Temple - Hieroglyphs on Pylon Valley of the Kings Cairo - Egyptian Museum - Triad Statue of Menkaure - Fourth Dynasty