Luxor, Egypt.
We now come to what has become known as the Sanctuary of Alexander the Great, the area entirely rebuilt by him. He removed the four original columns and placed a shrine in their stead. Both the inner and the outer walls have reliefs representing Alexander before Amon and other deities. He obligingly left unmolested some reliefs of Amenhotep III before various Theban deities.
In the sanctuary stood the gold-plated statue of Amon. To imbue it with life each day the priests of Amon carried out a series of rituals. Those carried out at dawn were the most elaborate. The statue was first carefully cleansed. Then it was clothed with garments and anointed with perfumes. The eyes were made up and prayers were chanted. Then just as painstakingly the clothing and makeup were removed and the priests humbly withdrew.
The chambers at the rear of the temple are of little significance. One to the north has four clustered papyrus columns and three rows of wall reliefs showing Amenhotep before Amon and other deities; another was a sanctuary with twelve columns.
