The Macedonian Queens sof Ancient Egypt

Macedonian Kings of Ancient Egypt

24th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt

Egypt Unwrapped Series - Alexander the Great's Lost Tomb Documentary - WATCH NOW

Alexander the Great, Egypt.
One of the most powerful politicians and invaders of history, and still his body was being traded for politics. National Geographic trying figure out where the tomb of Alexander the Great is.

Egypt : Southern Buildings, Karnak Cachette, Seventh to Tenth Pylons - Karnak Complex part XI

Karnak Complex, Luxor, Egypt :

The buildings extending southwards from the central court of the main temple of Karnak are mostly in ruin today. A brief survey will be made, however, to show the importance of the plan of reconstruction over the next ten years. A group of architects arc under contract with the Department of Antiquities for the complete reconstruction of the Karnak area, of which this is only one section, but perhaps the most important.
Proceeding from the central court (lying between the third and fourth pylons) are the remains of a court where there is a good view of Ramses II's famous treaty with the Hittites, followed by the seventh pylon. This court was the site of a temple of the Middle Kingdom and it was here that Legrain extracted a fantastic number of works of art from what became known as the Karnak Cachette. Buried in a pit were thousands of pieces including statues in stone and bronze, sphinxes and sacred animals. The bronze items alone numbered 17,000.  It seems that one of the Pharaohs decided to have a spring clean in the temple and remove all the junk. Though most of the pieces are of little artistic merit, the find shows that the temple could well have housed the 86,486 statues mentioned in the Great Harris Papyrus. The seventh pylon was built by Thutmose III, and facing it to the south are the remains of two colossal statues of him in red granite. Between the wall suniting the seventh and eighth pylons, to the east, is as mall shrine dating also from the reign of Thutmose III. The eighth pylon was the work of Queen Hatshepsut and is the most ancient part of the structure. In fact there is very little proof of her having built this pylon, for her name was removed from the reliefs by Thutmose II. And following Akhenaten's removal of all allusions to Amon, Seti I restored them, often inserting his own name in place of those of the older rulers. Reconstruction of this area may yet supply the missing clues to the overlapping reigns of the Thutmosides.
In the doorway at the rear left-hand of this court is an important historical relief on the left. It is the first instance in Egypt's long history where the high priest, in this case Amenhotep, is depicted in the same size as the Pharaoh. Standing with arms up lifted, Amenhotep offers flowers to Ramses IX. This relief indicates the growth of priestly power. Faithful traditionalists of the established religion, the priests of Amon had hitherto been righteous, just and devout. The power of leadership had been firmly vested in the throne and they had recognized and accepted this. Over the years however their simple piety had turned to mild interest in earthly matters, then acute interest, and finally to intrigue and a craving for political power. The high priest depicted in this mural makes offerings to the Pharaoh while being draped in linen by two servants. A reciprocal gesture of appreciation? Or a royal bribe?
Beyond the eighth pylon is a row of six royal personages. The best preserved are Amenhotep I (in limestone) and Thutmose II (inredgranite), both to the west. The ninth pylon was built by Harmhab the one-time general. When repairs started it was found to be filled, like its companion the tenth pylon, with blocks from Akhenaten's temple to the Sun. Together with the 40,000-odd blocks from this same period found beneath the hypostyle hall and the second pylon, these number some 60,000 blocks and are valuable clues to a period about which there are many gaps in our knowledge. When the first small,distinctively uniform sand stone blocks were discovered in the pylon of Ramses II, it was at first erroneously assumed that they had been brought lip-river from a dismantled temple in Tel eI Amarna, Drain age operations subsequently led to the excavation of parts of no less than seventeen colossal statues of Akhenaten himself. Akhenaten in fact had had the temple erected before he changed his capital to Tel eI Amarna and while Thebes was witnessing the slow indoctrination of a new religious concept.

Egypt : Rear Section of Temple of Amun, Sacred Lake - Karnak Complex part X

Luxor, Egypt :
The entire portion eastwards from the fifth pylon, or in other words the rear section of the temple of Karnak, was surrounded by a girdle-wall. What remains of this is embellished with reliefs of Ramses II sacrificing to the various deities. His colonnade at the far end just outside this girdle-wall is now a jumble of ruins and beyond this is a small temple also built by him, and an ancient gateway which dates from the time of the Ptolemies. To the south of this section of Karnak is the Sacred Lake, the symbol of Nun the eternal ocean, where the priests of Amon purified themselves in the holy water. Unfortunately too few of the hewn rocks survived the years to allow of genuine restoration. The gigantic stone beetle or scarab that overlooks the lake was one of four placed there by Amenhotep III in honor of the Sun God.

The Temple of Luxor- Part VII, Sanctuary of Alexander the Great!

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.