Thebes, now the modern city of Luxor in central Egypt, was the royal capital of the Ancient Egyptian civilization during the New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.). Outside its walls, the rulers of the 18th-20th Dynasties built the famous Temples of Amun at Luxor and Karnak on the east bank of the Nile and constructed their mortuary temples along the opposite side of the river. (...)
Thebes, now the modern city of Luxor in central Egypt, was the royal capital of the Ancient Egyptian civilization during the New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.). Outside its walls, the rulers of the 18th-20th Dynasties built the famous Temples of Amun at Luxor and Karnak on the east bank of the Nile and constructed their mortuary temples along the opposite side of the river. The Valley of the Kings refers to the sloping cliffs above the western floodplain, where the bodies of the pharaohs were laid to rest in tombs cut deep into the rock. These tombs range in size from single chamber burials to massive complexes spanning several thousand square meters. Many are adorned with intricate hieroglyphic carving and colorful painted decoration, illustrating a variety of subjects: ceremonies and rites of burial, the crossing to the world of the dead, and the path of the sun. Sixty-two tombs have been explored thus far in the area: the largest, with 110 rooms and passageways, is dedicated to the sons of Rameses II, but the most famous by far is that of 18th Dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamen. Discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, the tomb of the boy-king was supplied with gilded wood furniture and crowded with over 1,000 precious objects of gold, faience, and alabaster.
