Thebes / Luxor

The Karnak Temple's Shishak reliefs provide an Egyptian perspective on the first post-Solomonic military campaign recorded in the Bible (1 Kings 14:25–26).

Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes (known to the Egyptians as Waset), is located on the east bank of the Nile River in Upper Egypt, about 670 kilometers south of Cairo. It was the religious capital of ancient Egypt for much of the New Kingdom period (c. 1550-1070 BCE) and one of the most magnificent cities of the ancient world. The site encompasses a vast complex of temples, tombs, and monuments spread across both banks of the Nile that together form the largest open-air museum of antiquity.

European exploration of Thebes began in earnest with Napoleon's Egyptian expedition in 1798-1801, when French scholars documented the standing monuments and recorded inscriptions. The Description de l'Egypte, published from 1809 to 1829, brought Thebes to wide European attention. Jean-Francois Champollion visited in 1828-1829 shortly after his decipherment of hieroglyphics, reading the inscriptions for the first time. Since then, virtually every major Egyptological institution has worked at Thebes, including the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the French Institute, the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute (whose Epigraphic Survey has been documenting reliefs since 1924), and many others.

The east bank of Thebes is dominated by two temple complexes: Karnak and Luxor. The Karnak Temple complex, dedicated primarily to the god Amun-Ra, is the largest religious complex ever constructed. Its development spans roughly 2,000 years, from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000 BCE) through the Ptolemaic period (c. 300 BCE). The Great Hypostyle Hall, built by Seti I and Ramesses II (c. 1290-1224 BCE), contains 134 massive columns, the tallest standing 24 meters high with capitals large enough to hold 100 standing people. The hall covers an area of approximately 5,000 square meters.

The Luxor Temple, connected to Karnak by a 3-kilometer processional avenue lined with sphinxes, was built primarily by Amenhotep III (c. 1390-1352 BCE) and expanded by Ramesses II. Its reliefs include scenes of the Opet Festival, during which the divine images were carried in procession from Karnak to Luxor. A mosque built on top of the temple in the medieval period and a church within the temple's inner chambers illustrate the site's religious continuity.

The west bank of Thebes contains the royal necropolis. The Valley of the Kings holds the tombs of Egypt's New Kingdom pharaohs, including the famous tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 with its treasures intact. Over 60 tombs have been found in the Valley, decorated with elaborate scenes from the Book of the Dead, the Book of Gates, and other funerary texts that describe the pharaoh's journey through the underworld. The Valley of the Queens contains tombs of royal wives and princes, including the spectacularly painted tomb of Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II.

The mortuary temples on the west bank include the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, a dramatic terraced structure built into the cliffs; the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Ramesses II with its fallen colossal statue (the inspiration for Shelley's "Ozymandias"); and Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of Ramesses III whose reliefs depict the famous battles against the Sea Peoples (c. 1178 BCE).

For biblical studies, Thebes is relevant in several important ways. The prophet Nahum (3:8) refers to the city as "No-Amon" (the Egyptian niwt-imn, "city of Amun") when comparing the coming destruction of Nineveh to the fall of Thebes to the Assyrians under Ashurbanipal in 663 BCE. Jeremiah 46:25 mentions "Amun of Thebes" (translated as "the multitude of No" in the KJV) in an oracle against Egypt. Ezekiel 30:14-16 also prophesies judgment against Thebes (No).

The Assyrian sack of Thebes in 663 BCE was a watershed event in the ancient Near East. Ashurbanipal's annals describe the looting of the city, including the removal of gold, silver, precious stones, and obelisks. This destruction of the greatest city of the Nile Valley sent shockwaves through the Near East and is the event Nahum recalls to warn the Assyrians that their own capital would suffer a similar fate.

The reliefs at Karnak include the campaign records of Pharaoh Sheshonq I (biblical Shishak), who invaded Judah and Israel around 925 BCE and plundered the Temple of Solomon according to 1 Kings 14:25-26. Sheshonq's victory relief on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak lists approximately 150 place names in Canaan that he claimed to have conquered, providing one of the most important correlations between Egyptian and biblical records.

The Merneptah Stele, discovered at Thebes in the mortuary temple of Merneptah in 1896 by Flinders Petrie, contains the earliest known reference to "Israel" outside the Bible, dated to approximately 1208 BCE. The inscription describes Merneptah's military campaigns and includes the famous line "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not."

Thebes was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and its monuments attract millions of visitors annually.

• Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex ever constructed, spanning 2,000 years of development with the Great Hypostyle Hall's 134 massive columns
• Sheshonq I (biblical Shishak) victory relief at the Bubastite Portal listing approximately 150 conquered Canaanite place names, confirming 1 Kings 14:25-26
• Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BCE) with the earliest known extra-biblical reference to 'Israel,' found at Thebes in 1896
• Valley of the Kings with over 60 royal tombs, including Tutankhamun's intact burial (KV62) discovered in 1922
• Reliefs at Medinet Habu depicting Ramesses III's battles against the Sea Peoples (c. 1178 BCE)
• Referenced as 'No-Amon' in Nahum 3:8, Jeremiah 46:25, and Ezekiel 30:14-16 in connection with divine judgment
• Ashurbanipal's sack of Thebes in 663 BCE documented in both Assyrian annals and biblical prophetic texts

The Bible refers to Thebes by its Semitic name No-Amon, meaning 'city of Amon.' Three prophetic books condemn the city directly. Nahum 3:8 challenges Nineveh by asking whether it is better than No-Amon, which sat by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, and who yet fell to destruction. The prophet uses Thebes's famous fall to the Assyrians in 663 BCE as a warning that no great city is safe from judgment. Jeremiah 46:25 records God's declaration that he will punish Amon of Thebes, along with Pharaoh and Egypt, for their pride and power. Ezekiel 30:14 includes Thebes in a list of Egyptian cities that will be destroyed, calling it by its Hebrew name No. The most direct connection to biblical history is the Shishak campaign recorded in 1 Kings 14:25-26, where Pharaoh Shishak attacks Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam and takes the treasures of the temple and the royal palace. The Karnak reliefs of Sheshonq I, found at Thebes, confirm that this pharaoh conducted a military campaign in Canaan at roughly this time, with a list of conquered towns that includes places in both Israel and Judah. This makes the Karnak inscription one of the clearest points of contact between Egyptian records and the biblical narrative of the divided monarchy period.