Luxor | The City of Hundred Gates

The City of Hundred Gates

The City of Hundred Gates

No, one does know exactly when Luxor was founded; it is likely that the city has been already in the Old Kingdom some kind of provincial capital. Luxor became the capital of all of Egypt, for the first time under the rule of King Montuhotep 11, at the time of the Middle Kingdom. It was the height of the Theban Kingdom in the New Kingdom, from where the greatest king of history ruled.

Luxor | The City of Hundred Gates

From this place Queen Hatshepsut sent her diplomatic missions to Punt, from here King Thutmose III planned his war battles, and here was the story of King Ramses II, whose name was recorded on his temples more than a hundred thousand times!

 Who founded in his time obelisks, temples, statues, and his wonderful temple in Abu Simbel, Also, he immortalized the name of his beloved beautiful, Nefertari, in Abu simple temple and in her magnificent, colorful tomb in the Valley of the Queens.

The Meaning of Luxor

 In the past, it had several names it was called “waste,”, meaning the government, and it was also called “Niot,” or “No-Amun,” meaning the city of Amun.

During the era of the modern state, it was called "Ta-Apet", which is the name of its holy places.

As for the city of the dead on the western site, it was called "Wast Amenet", meaning Western Thebes, and it was also called "Br Hator", meaning the house of Hathor, in reference to the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor.

During the Greco-Roman times, the region was called "Diospolis Magna" or "Diospolis Magna", meaning the great city of Zeus.  "Ta-Apet"it was later changed to "Tiba" or "Thebes", which Homer described in Ilias as the City of Hundred Gates, either because of the pylons of its temples or because of the gates of its fortified walls. 

The name "Luxor" is the Arabic name given to the city of Luxor, which represents the heart of the current governorate, which was newly created, is the plural of the word palace in reference to the remains of the city's temples or perhaps the city has many palaces that mean palaces in the Arabic word (Arabic: palaces) or castra from the Roman word for "fortresses".

Amun worship

Thebes was the city of the idol Amun, whose worship spread throughout Egypt, and Thebes was the center of this worship for Amun, with his wife Mute and son Khonsu, formed the sacred triad of Thebes.

 The City of Hundred Gates

All of the kings of Egypt offered Amun the obligations, obedience, and loyalty and Doing daily rituals in these temples to make the deities peaceful.

At the time of Akhenaten, Thebes again became the capital of the country, But Akhenaten changed the worship of Amon to the worship of Aton, so he was called the unbelieving king, then the temples and palaces of Akhenaten were destroyed. Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti moved to the Acket Aton (Tell al-Amarna) now, then transferred the capital to it, at this time the name of Thebes fell into oblivion.

During Tutankhamun's rule, the capital was moved again to Thebes. At the time of Ramses, it moved, this time to PR Ramse in the northeast (Tell Basta) now, but Thebes remained the religious capital.When the Pharaonic Empire ended, the Greeks also came to the south and sanctified the ancient Egyptian religion. Alexander the Great and his successors built chapels and temples in the Siwa Oasis where the Temple of Revelation is, as well as in Thebes and the surrounding area between Thebes and Aswan.