El Kab | Ankh | The site of El Kab, known in ancient times as Nekheb, is located 32 km (20 miles) south of Esna on the Nile’s west bank. Activity at the site spans the entirety of ancient Egyptian history and beyond, from the Predynastic period to the Coptic era. El Kab was the cult home of Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, who was traditionally paired...
Abu Simbel temples lies far to the south of the ancient borders of Egypt, in the land of Nubia. Two magnificent rock-cut temples were built here by the 19th Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II (ca. 1304-1237 BC). The larger of the two, the Great Temple, was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ptah, Re-Horakhty, and the deified Ramesses II, while the Small Temple was assigned to the...
Abydos was Revered in ancient times as the burial place and cult center of Osiris, the king of the underworld, Abydos (ancient Abedju) was an important pilgrimage destination and necropolis from the Predynastic era into Christian times (ca. 4000 BC-AD 641). The area of Umm el-Qa’ab (Arabic for “Mother of pots”), located far out in the low desert, contains the tombs...
Akhmim | Ankh | The town of Akhmim stands on the ruins of the ancient town of Ipu, dedicated to the fertility god Min. This town was the capital of the 9th Upper Egyptian nome, and was occupied from prehistoric times through to the end of pharaonic history. It was once home to an immense temple complex dediated to Min, supposedly larger than the complex of Amun at...
Kom Ombo | Ankh | The site of Kom Ombo hosts the Ptolemaic Temple of Herwer (Haroeris) and Sobek, as well as a smaller, Roman-Period temple to Hathor, and a Nilometer. The Temple of Haroeris and Sobek is noted for its symmetrical construction: two entrances, two sanctuaries, and a line of symmetry that divides the temple into the domains of Haroeris and Sobek. The...
Medinet Habu | Ankh | This ancient site was associated with Amun in his form as a creator and fertility god, and was imagined to be the location of the primeval mound of creation. It lies directly across the Nile from Luxor Temple, and was the focus of several annual festivals. In the 18th Dynasty, a temple to Amun was built here by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III...
Valley of the Queens | Ankh | The Valley of the Queens lies southwest of the village and temples of Medinet Habu and roughly 500 meters west of Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. Hidden in a Y-shaped ravine in the western cliffs, the valley served as a necropolis for the tombs of royal family members and the elite, with about 90 numbered tombs...
Luxor Temple Founded perhaps as early as the reign of Ahmose, but begun certainly by the time of Hatshepsut, Luxor Temple was constructed primarily during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II (all during the New Kingdom, ca. 1500-1200 BC). Other kings, including Tutankhamun, Horemheb, and Alexander the Great, also added decoration or minor structures to this...
Philae Temple | Ankh | The original site of Philae lies underneath the waters of Lake Nasser; however, with the help of UNESCO, the entire temple was relocated to a new island, Agilkia, just south of Aswan. The earliest monuments on the island date are from the reign of Nectanebo I, while the largest structure on the island is the Temple of Isis, whose earliest...
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple of the great warrior king Ramesses II. One of the largest and best-preserved of these temples, this “Mansion of Millions of Years” contains the fallen colossus that inspired Percy Bysshe Shelleys poem, Ozymandias. Scenes from the king’s great Battle of Qadesh (in which only Ramesses II’s personal valor...