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   Egypt / Cities and Towns /
Ancient Egypt / Religion /
Luxor
Arabic: 'al-'uqsur
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Sun sets over Luxor, here seen from the west bank across the Nile.
The temple of Hatshepsut.
Columns of the Temple of Amon at Karnak.
19th century house.
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City in Egypt with 440,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate), situated on the Nile in central Egypt.
The economic base for Luxor is tourism and production of cereals, sugarcane and dates. Luxor is one of the foremost places for tourists from all over the world, and has great attractions like Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, the Temple of Hatshepsut (other side of the Nile) and the temple structure at Karnak (north of Luxor).
The name of the city comes from Arabic for "the palaces".
History
2100 BCE: Under the name Thebes, it is the power base of Mentuhotep 2, who reunited Egypt under the Middle Kingdom.
1567: Princes stationed in Thebes found the 17th dynasty.
15th century: Thebes rises to its zenith, and has about 1,000,000 inhabitants. Thebes holds on to its position for 400 years.
747: Once again Thebes becomes the capital of Egypt with 25th dynasty, this time under Nubian rulers.
645: End of Nubian rule, and Thebes declines in power and importance.
1990 CE April 26: Luxor becomes an independent governate of Egypt.
1997 November 17: More than 60 tourists are killed by gunmen of the al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, an outlawed Islamist organization.
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Ancient Egypt
