Egypt

Ancient Thebes

WHS Score 4.39 Votes 96 Average 4.64

Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis is an archaeological site that testifies to Egyptian civilization from the Middle Kingdom to the beginning of the Christian era.

Thebes was its capital and a religious center centered around the god Amun. The remains include temples, tombs, royal palaces, villages of artisans and artists, inscriptions and sculptured figures. Most notable are the two colossal temples of Karnak and Luxor on the east bank of the Nile, and the Necropolis with the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Temple of Hatshepsut on the west bank.

Community Perspective: now known as Luxor, this is considered “one of the world´s greatest archaeological sites” and “the Egyptian authorities could've even divided the site into several WHS”. Spending at least 2 days here is recommended. The Necropolis is the most cumbersome component to visit; Els, Zoë and GabLabCebu have shared some experiences on that.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis (ID: 87)
Country
Egypt
Status
Inscribed 1979 Site history
History of Ancient Thebes
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • i
  • iii
  • vi
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Nov. 26, 2021 theguardian.com — Egypt restores ancient road linking temples of Luxor and Karnak
  • Jan. 3, 2020 egyptianstreets.com — UNESCO Condemns Transfer of Sphinxes from Luxor to Tahrir
  • Dec. 11, 2017 independent.co.uk — Egyptian mummy and ancient treasures 'in near perfect condition' discovered in 3,500-year-old tombs
  • Dec. 1, 2015 fox61.com — Egypt says 90 percent chance of hidden rooms in Tut tomb
  • Nov. 7, 2015 dailymail.co.uk — Egypt opens three ancient tombs in Luxor for the first time in a bid to lure tourists
  • June 10, 2015 bbc.com — 'Suicide attack' at Egypt Karnak temple site in Luxor
  • Sept. 30, 2014 ansamed.info — Italian-Spanish archeologists to launch dig into Luxor tomb
  • June 23, 2014 livescience.com — Remains of 'End of the World' Epidemic Found in Ancient Egypt
  • May 3, 2014 livescience.com — Mysterious Buried Artifacts Discovered in Valley of the Kings
  • Feb. 15, 2014 independent.co.uk — "New" Luxor mummy is 3,600 years old
  • May 27, 2013 egyptianstreets.com — Chinese Tourist Damages 3000-Year-Old Temple in Luxor
  • Feb. 21, 2013 luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.nl — Famous Vizier's tomb found at Luxor
  • Dec. 25, 2011 english.ahram.org.eg — Avenue of sphinxes in Luxor to open to public in March
  • July 5, 2011 english.ahram.org.eg — 1 / 2 Gallery This week, during their routine excavation work, the French-Egyptian archaeological team working at the Karnak Temple in Luxor uncovered two major monuments.
  • May 19, 2010 independent.co.uk — Colossal statue of Thoth discovered at temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor
  • Nov. 14, 2009 news.xinhuanet.com — Egypt to start restoration of tomb Tutankhamen

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Archaeological site: Egyptian
  • Archaeological site: Near Eastern
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
View all (62) .
Connections of Ancient Thebes
Individual People
  • Giovanni Belzoni
    in 1815 he removed the enormous bust of Ramesses II from the Ramesseum and had it shipped to England. Henry Salt presented it to the British Museum where it is still on display. On a return trip in 1817 he made a string of finds including the tombs of Ramesses I and Seti I
  • Emperor Hadrian
    Hadrian and his wife Sabina visited the Valley of the Kings in AD 129. This included a visit to the Colossi of Memnon to hear the statue "sing" and the court poet who accompanied them, Julia Balbilla, recorded the event in 2 epigrams carved in Greek on the legs of the Northern statue. The statues are actually thought to be of Amenhotep III but the Romans associated them with the Greek mythological King Memnon of Ethiopia (Killed by Achilles and immortalised by Zeus). The Northern statue (erroneously thought by Romans to be of Memnon) contains 107 inscriptions in Greek and Latin - mainly about Memnon and carved by Roman "tourists" documenting "expressions of religious and intellectual wonder, crystallized at the moment of hearing Memnon’s voice" . The epigrams by Balbilla make reference to the King but are primarily a panegyric to Hadrian.

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • James Bruce
    Bruce visited Thebes, where he entered the tomb of Ramesses III. (wiki)
  • King Chulalongkorn of Siam (Rama V)
    (9-10 Nov)
  • John D Rockefeller Jr
    The excavations over many years at Luxor by the Chicago Oriental Institute (which itself had been founded with the assistance of Rockefeller) were funded by the Rockefeller Foundation). John D Rockefeller had a direct personal relationship with the Institute's founder Henry Breasted who had initiated a direct request to him for funds, and visited the dig in 1929.
  • Prince Pückler
    Karnak, Luxor temple, Ramesseum, Valley of Kings - tombs of Rameses IV and VIII
  • Sir William Matthews Flinders Petrie
    Discovered and interpeted the Merneptah Stele at Luxor in 1896. Though primarily about Libya, the inscription also refers to a people who Mernaptah had "smitten" during a military campaign in Canaan (c 1208 BC) which has been widely interpreted as specifying "Israel" ("Israel is laid waste and his seed is not") and is thus considered to be the "first probable instance of the name "Israel" in the historical record" (Wiki)
Geography
Trivia
History
  • Hittites
    Representations of the Battle of Kadesh between the forces of Egypt and the Hittites (Ramesses II ("The Great") and Muwatalli II) exist in the Temples of Luxor and Karnak and at the Ramesseum. e,g The Karnak Hypostyle Hall. The "Poem of Pentaur" describes the Egyptian version of events on the walls and was first translated by James Henry Breasted in 1903.

    See www.memphis.edu

  • Oldest Buildings
    2100-2000 11th Dynasty tombs. Thebes was inhabited from around 3200 BC.. (and) was the capital of Egypt during part of the 11th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom) and most of the 18th Dynasty" Wiki (After which its use for burials continued throughout the New Kingdom period to the 20th Dynasty - 1189-1077BC). The 11th Dynasty ruled from c 2200BC to 1991BC approx and the tombs of its rulers are visible today at Thebes. Most of "its rulers were buried in complexes cut into low gravel hills at Tarif, at the northern end of the Theban Necropolis. Called saff tombs (saff meaning "row" in Arabic), these complexes were fronted by a long rectangular courtyard and a western portico consisting of a row of pillars behind which lay rock-cut offering chambers and burial crypts. Some think these saff tombs had pyramidal superstructures, but no traces of these now survive." Mentuhotep II (2061 - 2010BC) broke with tradition and had his mortuary temple built at Deir el-Bahar. This structure certainly had "buildings" with walls and roofs and its built ruins are visible today

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Contains significant structures from the 20th Century
    New Gourna: built by Hassan Fathy, one of the best-known (and to me only-known) Egyptian architects of the 20th century, and is considered a prime example of the fusion of Modern architecture with traditional building techniques

    See whc.unesco.org

  • Located in a Former Capital
    Egypt during 11th and 18th Dynasties
  • Oldest continuously inhabited cities
    Luxor, c. 3200 BC
  • Bronze Age Collapse
  • Queens and Empresses
    Queen Hapsetshut (1508-1458BC) 5th Pharaoh of 18th dynasty. Several Buildings initiated by her - The red chapel of Hatshepsut in Karnak and the Deir el-Bahari Temple
  • Specified on Herodotus' Oikumene
  • Strikes
    Around 1152BC the workers at Deir el Medina went on strike: the first documented strike in history!

    See www.reshafim.org.il

  • Buried treasures
    Tomb of Tutankhamun / by: Howard Carter / in: 1922/ now: Cairo Museum
  • Historical Food Remains
    Tutanchamon Tomb (3,000 year old doum fruit)
  • Assyrian Empire
    Seized by the Assyrians in 664 BC

    See en.wikipedia.org

Architecture
Damaged
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
Human Activity
  • Ancient Board Games
    Tomb of Nefertari with a mural showing her playing the ancient Egyptian game of "Senet"

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Masks
    Burial mask of Tutankhamun's mummy
  • Spice Route
    Relief records early spice trade expeditions
  • Historical Graffiti
    The tomb of Ramesses VI in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings contains inscriptions from visitors up to 2,000 years ago, including a text saying "I can not read the hieroglyphs!"

    See scienceinpoland.pap.pl

  • Mummies
    Mummy of Ramesses II was found here (now displayed in Cairo museum). Also Tutankhamun and others
  • Writing systems
    Champollion came here and developed some of the ideas which led to his decipherment of the script
Constructions
  • Obelisk
    "The Luxor Obelisks are a pair of Ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand either side of the portal of the Luxor Temple in the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1250 BC). The right-hand (western) stone, 23 metres (75 ft) high, was moved in the 1830s to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France, while the left-hand (eastern) obelisk remains in its location in Egypt." (wiki)

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Dynastic Burial Places
    Valley of the Kings
  • Necropolises
  • Granaries
    The Ramessuem - " behind the temple and the palace, were huge and extensive storerooms. Most of them appear to have been for grain, and had a hole in the roof through which sacks of corn could be poured. Barry Kemp has calculated that to fill all the granaries would have taken 226,328 sacks of grain, which would have been enough to feed 3,400 families for a year, and assuming an average sized family, this would mean 17,000 to 20,000 people" See

    See www.civilization.org.uk

  • Historical Zoos
    Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut established a zoo in Thebes around 1490 BC
  • Sphinx
    Great Sphinx of Thebes
WHS on Other Lists
  • World Monuments Watch (past)
    Mortuary Temple of King Ahmenhotep III, Luxor (2004, 1998); Valley of the Kings, Luxor (2006, 2002, 2000); West Bank of the Nile, Luxor (2008)
Timeline
Science and Technology
Visiting conditions
18
News
theguardian.com 11/26/2021
Egypt restores ancient road linkin…
egyptianstreets.com 01/03/2020
UNESCO Condemns Transfer of Sphinx…
independent.co.uk 12/11/2017
Egyptian mummy and ancient treasur…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

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First published: 10/01/25.

Andrew_Kerr

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Andrew_Kerr

I'm no historian but history is one the things in life that interests me greatly and there are fewer places anywhere that can boast the riches of history that is available in modern day Luxor. There is just so much to see and do that I couldn't manage it all in a 2 week vacation and had to return the following year for another 2 weeks.
At times you can feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to see.
In the immediate vicinity you have the temples at Luxor and Karnak, with Karnak being particularly impressive due to the sheer scale of it. Across the Nile there is the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut. These are the main tourist attractions for visitors to Luxor but there are countless other sites that are available to visit with the Tomb of Rekhmire being one I would say not to miss due to the impressive wall paintings.
The museum in Luxor is also unmissable, full of ancient Egyptian treasures and artifacts. 
Once the main sites around Luxor have been explored it makes a great base to visit other sites, such as Dendera, El Kab, Aswan, Kom Ombo and many others.
No trip to Luxor would be complete without taking in the sunset on a River Nile felucca.

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First published: 30/04/20.

Gablabcebu

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by GabLabCebu

WHS#61

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Ancient Thebes is one of the most underrated WHS out there. I don't think it gets quite the reputation it deserves, among both tourists and more in-depth travellers, for I dont know, maybe housing not just one, but multiple world-class wonders? For being the peak of Ancient Egyptian history, culture, and art? For being one of the most influential cities in world history? In Egypt alone, Cairo and Giza get almost all the attention, while more in-depth travellers might prefer the more peaceful Aswan and far-away Abu Simbel, but Luxor is in the middle of it all, and I don't think enough people realize that. And it's not only the best of both worlds, it's the best in its own right. For me, the Ancient Egyptian civilization as a whole doesn't get the credit it deserves, either. It's more often remembered for its age, its opulence, or as a great setting for Western media, but really, what astounded me when I visited in May 2018 was how far ahead of its time it was. They made so many developments that we see as normal now, and they left so much more for us to learn by studying their history. And Ancient Thebes was the center of it all. Even though so much is gone and has been replaced by the (not so beautiful) modern city, there's still so much left to experience that other ancient civilizations that had …

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First published: 15/02/19.

Zoë Sheng

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Zoë Sheng

It's not every day that you meet the real Indiana Jones, and I'm talking about one of the heads of the archeological team inside King Tut's tomb right when I was visiting the Valley of the Kings. With an extra ticket required and the checker not buying I am VIP Tara Emad I produced mine and descended into one of the quieter tombs. (Seti I currently costs a whopping 1,000 pounds but a Finish lady told me they are closed anyway plus a guide told me it is mainly interesting for hieroglyphics). I was the only one that isn't part of a crew preparing to be filmed inside the tombs, I forgot to ask what for. With hat and no whip but a pouch that should be leather and not say “xxx archaeological team” he was still as close as Harrison Ford portrayed one in Raiders as you can imagine. He was clearly bored waiting and told me about the tomb and Tut more than any guide could ever do (they tend to follow their scripts and don't seem at all excited about doing it over and over again). What was even more striking is that he has been at Dunhuang for 30 years doing research. Actually my story has little to do with Luxor overall so I shall stop with the personal stuff here.

The massive site would take 2 days to fully see everything. One needs to think what they really want to see if they only …

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First published: 16/04/17.

Els Slots

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Els Slots

Thebes, what we now call Luxor, is one of the most ancient “tourist” destinations in the world. Already the ancient Greeks came here to marvel at the temples that were built by the Egyptian pharaohs. Later Christian and Muslim generations had much less respect for their forefathers, so it wasn’t until the 19th century that these sites were rediscovered by Europeans. The 21st century has brought Asian tourism to the spectrum: the Chinese are the only nation that dares to come here today en masse. It became especially popular since a visit of president Xi Jingping to president Sisi in 2016, which partly took place in the inner courtyard of Luxor Temple.

The site was already inscribed as a WHS in 1979, with epithets such as “splendid”, “monumental” and “unique and unequaled”. It is also part of our Top 200. Not much has been written about it yet among our reviewers though (sorry guys). Important to know is that it comprises 3 locations: the temple of Karnak and the temple of Luxor on the East bank of the Nile, and the Necropolis on the West Bank. Especially the latter is a collection of many temples and tombs, scattered around a rural area and at the foot of a barren mountain ridge.

On my first day, after having visited the excellent Luxor museum as an appetizer, I started with Karnak Temple. Heavy security measures are in place at this and Luxor Temple: cars are searched, and trunks have to …

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First published: 19/06/16.

Jay T

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Jay T

The temples and monuments of Ancient Thebes, including the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, are a must-see for anyone interested in Egyptian history. I visited this area found in the modern-day city of Luxor at the end of a three-day Nile cruise by dahabiya in 2012. After viewing many beautiful, smaller temples along the river, I was a bit overwhelmed at the size of both the Karnak and Luxor Temples in Luxor. The columns in Karnak Temple's Great Hypostyle Hall were massive and covered with hierogylphs, and the walls seemed to stretch in all directions. Statues of pharoahs were found throughout both temples, and one of a former pair of obelisks remained in front of the Luxor Temple; the other obelisk was given to France in the 19th century, and can now be seen in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Across the Nile River were a number of tombs, including the famous Tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, and the fascinating mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, which were well worth visiting. I enjoyed my time in Luxor, and recommend at least two days to spend viewing the sites (and even that may be too short). I also recommend drinking plenty of water, since I saw at least one tourist faint from dehydration.

Logistics: The great temples in Luxor are on the east side of the Nile in Luxor, while the tombs are on the west side of …

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First published: 07/09/12.

Clyde

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Clyde

I visited the WHS in April 2010. It is the cradle of ancient egyptian civilization and includes the temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings with Tutankhamen's tomb. I dreamt of visiting this WHS since I was child and would visit again in a heartbeat! Incredible!

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First published: 16/10/10.

John Booth

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by john booth

The temples of Luxor and Karnak on the west bank and the Temple of Hatshepsut on the east bank of the Nile are simply amazing for the amount of work and effort that was expended creating them. Today, even with cranes and other machinery it would be difficult, but 5000 years ago it was all done by human power. And then followed all the work of painstakingly carving the designs and hyroglyphs. The effort surely dwarfs any construction project of the modern era.

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First published: 20/06/09.

Stewart Ayukawa

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Els Slots

A visit to the Valley of the Kings and Queens is remarkable. The tombs were mesmerizing spectacles. The chambers might have once be filled with artifacts like the one of Tutankhamon fame. The hieroglyphics were stunning . some filled entire chambers. Some told stories on the ceilings or pillars. It was unlike anything anywhere. This is not a place that one can describe in words. It was very complex and otherworldly. I was much more impressed with the tombs than the great architectural achievements. Many of the artifacts found in the tombs is on display at the incomparable Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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First published: 28/04/06.

Ben Pastore

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Els Slots

Once the religious center of ancient Egypt, the Temple of Karnak was as impressive as they come. And while repeated exposure to ancient sites tends to leave one jaded to a place's importance, Luxor and its surrounds still made for a wonderful place to wander about and image the glory of the days of the Pharoahs

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First published: 25/02/06.

Christer Sundberg

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Christer Sundberg

You can cruise up and down the Nile in many ways. As a matter of fact it is quite an industry these days and I heard that over 600 vessels have a permit to operate on the river. Have I known better in advance, I would rather have embarked on a felucca for a couple of days even though I must admit that the luxury of the Mövenpick Nile Cruiser was quite enjoyable after all...

Working our way up the river, passing and visiting the temples of Edfu and Kom Obo my cruiser finally reached Luxor where I had decided to stay for a couple of days. I started with a visit to the valley of the Queens, which is less visited than the Kings and a better place to study the hieroglyphs and carvings in the ancient tombs. The graves of the valley of the Kings are of slightly larger proportions and despite the hordes of tourists it is quite exciting to enter the tomb of Ramses II and the other, since long gone, royalties of Egypt. I recommend you to skip Tutankhamen’s grave. It is very small and really nothing to see. The exhibition in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on the other hand, is the place to go in this case.

The temple of Luxor and Karnak is an absolute must. If Luxor is impressing, Karnak is enormous and top of the pops when it comes to Egyptian temples and I read somewhere that over 80.000 people …

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First published: 29/06/05.

Klaus Freisinger

Ancient Thebes

Ancient Thebes (Inscribed)

Ancient Thebes by Els Slots

It´s hard to believe that this is the first review for Thebes, since it´s not only one of the Egypt´s, but also one of the world´s greatest archaeological sites and definitely worth a journey. Most people will combine visiting Thebes with a cruise on the Nile, and this is highly recommended - easily beats any Mediterranean or Caribbean cruise! Thebes (as the Greeks called it - it was Weset in ancient Egyptian) is the capital of Upper Egypt and was the country´s centre throughout the Middle and New Kingdoms. It was much larger in Antiquity than it is today, but seeing everything in the area still takes up a lot of time (worth it). On the east bank of the Nile, the Luxor Temple is great, but can´t be beaten by the Temple of Karnak connected to it by an avenue of sphinges, truly a wonder of the world with its huge columns and the impressive hieroglyphs. They are both in the city of Luxor, which offers many conveniences for visitors, but you have to cross the Nile to the west bank to see even more stunning attractions: the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Memnon Colossi, and the Temple of Hatshepsut, all located in a beautiful desert landscape. The tombs of the pharaohs can be visited (at least some of them), and this is something nobody should miss - truly a fascinating experience.

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