where the entire nation could be more effectively

Administrated and the eastern frontier could be better accessed (Leprohon 1992:345–46).Still, the most powerful city in the south, Thebes, continued to serve as a national shrine with each Pharaoh bringing gifts to the Amun Temple at Karnak. Throughout the Second Intermediate Period, when the Asiatic Hyksos from the Delta ruled Egypt, Thebes continued to be the dominant city in Upper Egypt. A new Theban dynasty (the 18th) finally defeated the Hyksos and again reunited the nation.While all New Kingdom Pharaohs were not Theban like the 18th Dynasty, they all treated Thebes as their royal hometown and necropolis. Admittedly they did seem to prefer residences in the north to administer their growing empire in Canaan to the east, but they continued to make their own mark on the national shrine at Karnak, the ever-growing Amun (now known as the combined god—Amun-re) Temple. Bringing vast quantities of booty from foreign wars, each Pharaoh made pilgrimages to Thebes for the annual Opet-festival (Redford 1992:442). During this ceremony, the images of Amun-re, Mut and Khonsu (the moon god) were transported up the Nile from Karnak to the newer Luxor Temple where Pharaoh would meet with the gods.While royal palaces would have been constructed all around Thebes in antiquity, they have not yet been found. What we do know is that, at its height, Thebes was actually a series of settlements around major temples situated along broad sphinx-lined avenues on the Nile’s east bank. The central settlement lay in and around Karnak’s Amun-re Temple. To the north was the Montu temple and 1 km (0.6 mi) south was the complex to Mut (mother goddess) and Khonsu (her child). Another 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south was the Luxor Temple to Amun (Redford 1992:443). Communities of priests, builders, artisans and supporting industries made relatively self-sufficient settlements near each temple. Numerous prisoner-of-war slaves were employed in the state building projects in and around Thebes, including the Karnak Temple, the Pharaoh’s own Valley and Mortuary Temples, and the royal tomb. Many of these slaves were Asiatics from Canaan.Massive columns of the Hypostyle hall in the Karnak Temple built in the early 13th century BC. Note the remnants of paint still visible on the under side of the capitals and stone roof beams. The hall is a dizzying forest of 134 papyrus-shaped columns. The columns of the two central rows that form the main aisle are a lofty 69 ft high and 34 ft in circumference. Remains of one of the stone-cut clerestory windows along the central aisle can be seen in the upper center. The capitals are so large that 125 men can stand on the top of one capital! On either side of the central aisle are seven rows of smaller columns 42–1/2 ft high and 27–1/2 ft in circumference. Michael LuddeniLuxor TempleConnected to the Karnak Temple by a 3.2 km (2 mi) long sphinx-lined avenue was a later temple known as the Luxor Temple. Very near the Nile’s east bank, the earliest religious structures were shrines built by Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty) to the Theban triad of Amun-re (the husband/father god), Mut (the wife/mother goddess; the goddess of war) and Khonsu (their divine offspring; the moon god). They still can be seen today within the Peristyle Court.Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) greatly enlarged the temple as Amun’s private quarters, including the Great Colonnade and the Court of Amenhotep III behind it with its double rows of massive columns. Much of this still can be seen today. The Luxor Temple was the focus of the annual ophet-festival. Later additions were made by Tutankhamun (18th Dynasty), Rameses II (19th Dynasty) and Alexander the Great (who redesigned the main sanctuary). During the Roman period, the Temple was rededicated to the imperial cult and even an altar was found dedicated to Emperor Constantine (fourth century AD).During the 19th century, the Mosque of Abu el-Hagag was built within the ruins of the Luxor Temple. Until excavations of the temple began in 1885, a village was located inside the temple walls. Within the Inner Sanctum was a suite of rooms, the “bedroom” of the god, where the secret rites of the opet-festival took place (Oakes and Gahlin 2003:152–53). The boats, which floated down the Nile with the images of the gods, were carried into this area for the culmination of the festival.The first pylon was constructed by Rameses II (19th Dynasty) and recorded his military exploits against the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh (1275 BC). He further decorated the entranceway with six statues of himself (two seated and four standing) and two obelisks.Along the secondary north-south axis of Karnak Temple is a relief carved by Merenptah (1212–1202 BC) that apparently corresponds to the famous stele found in his mortuary temple on the west bank (Byers 2004). In an area between the Hypostyle Hall and the seventh pylon at Karnak Temple, known as the Cour de la Cachette, Merenptah depicted military exploits from his Canaanite campaign in 1210 BC. This wall, originally about 49 m (160 ft) long and 9 m (30 ft) high, was constructed by Ramesses II and already contained the text of his Battle of Kadesh (1275 BC) peace treaty with the Hittites. Merenptah usurped space on both sides of the treaty text to illustrate his Canaanite campaign. Interestingly, he did the same thing with the stele on which is recorded in text form this same military action. After demolishing Pharaoh Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple to build his own, Merenptah appropriated and reused the reverse side of a 3 m (10 ft) tall stone monument originally carved by Amenhotep III. In the Karnak Temple, three cities are depicted being conquered by the Pharaoh. One of them, Ashkelon, is named and apparently the other two are Gezer and Yenoam, as described in Merenptah’s stele. The fourth scene, above and to the right of Ramesses’ peace treaty, did not depict a city but a people group being defeated—also described in the stele. They appear as a confusing jumble of defeated soldiers beneath the horses of Merenptah’s chariot. Like the people in the conquered cities, these soldiers wear ankle-length garments, suggesting they inhabit the same region. Apparently these soldiers were the fourth defeated enemy in Merenptah’s Canaan campaign—Israel—just as recorded in the Merenptah Stele. That makes this the earliest visual portrayal of Israelites ever discovered. The next time Israelites are visually depicted on a relief comes ca. 370 years later on an Assyrian obelisk (Maier 2004:91). Michael LuddeniValley of the KingsWhile the Nile’s east bank was given over to palaces and temples and their surrounding settlements, the west bank was a vast necropolis, both royal and private, within the desert mountain region. Beyond Pharaonic tombs in the Valley of the Kings was the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Nobles and even the necropolis (and village) of the Valley of the Kings’ workers, at Deir el Medina (Hawass 1997:287). As was customary throughout dynastic Egypt, the royal necropolis was located near the capital. In Old Kingdom Egypt, when the capital was at Memphis, Pharaohs built their mortuary temples and pyramid tombs at Dahshur, Saqqara, Abu Sir and Giza. When Thebes became Egypt’s capital during the 11th Dynasty, Pharaoh Montuhotpe I constructed his mortuary temple and tomb in a valley on the Nile’s west bank, across from Thebes.Later Middle Kingdom Pharaohs also built pyramid tombs, now of mud brick, near the northern capital, itj-tawy. While the exact location is unknown today, it was no doubt near the royal Middle Kingdom cemetery at modern El Lahun (Leprohon 1992:346). But with the 18th Dynasty reuniting Egypt at the beginning of the New Kingdom, Thebes was reestablished as a capital city. The new royal cemetery was in the mountains across from Thebes.In the desert directly across from Thebes each Pharaoh had his own Valley Temple constructed at the end of a canal dug from the Nile. Here the royal body was received from Thebes by way of the royal funeral barque. The body was then transported to the Pharaoh’s specially constructed mortuary temple in preparation for his burial.