The procession that explains Luxor Temple
The Opet festival connected Karnak and Luxor Temple through a journey of divine images and royal renewal.
Luxor Temple makes more sense when you connect it with Karnak. During the Opet festival, the divine images of Amun, Mut and Khonsu travelled from Karnak to Luxor Temple and later returned. Processional routes and modes of transport changed over time, and reliefs preserve particular versions of the festival.
Luxor Temple was not an empty destination waiting for a visiting god. It housed Amun in his form Amenemopet and had its own cult (the worship and rituals devoted to a deity or royal figure). The festival brought related divine forms and royal rituals together, helping renew the relationship between the king and the gods.
At the temple, look at the colonnade and the spaces through which the ritual journey was represented. A procession could involve public movement beyond the temple while its inner rites remained restricted. The monument and its images show an ideal religious order, rather than a complete record of everyone who watched.
Later generations altered the site. Roman adaptations, Christian remains and the mosque of Abu el-Haggag contribute to its layered history. Their presence should not be compressed into a claim that one unchanged form of worship continued without interruption. Each belongs to a different context.
The Avenue of Sphinxes makes the connection between the temples visible in today’s landscape. Walking any part of it depends on current access, your energy and the weather. You do not need to walk the entire route to understand the connection: a visit to each temple, with the journey in mind, is enough to begin.
Recognise the procession
In the Great Colonnade at Luxor Temple, look for sacred boats and the people carrying or accompanying them. The shrine on the boat matters: a divine image could travel without being openly displayed. Use the inscriptions and a published scene plan to distinguish Amun, Mut and Khonsu and follow the sequence. Do not assume every part is visible from today’s permitted route.
Read the two temples together, with the procession between them in mind.
Approximate reading time, calculated from the English text at 200 words per minute. Arabic reading time may differ.
At Luxor Temple, look for this.
Explore related details in the site’s field guide. Current access still needs checking.
- 1
A doorway that opens into thin air
North-east side of the Court of Ramesses II — look up at the mosque of Abu el-Haggag
An old doorway of the mosque opens out of a blank wall several metres above the paving you are standing on, with nothing beneath it. It was at ground level when it was built, on top of the silt and rubbish that had filled the court.
It is the clearest measure anywhere in Luxor of how deeply these buildings were buried before they were dug out. The excavators stopped at the mosque and left the ground under it alone, because it is a working mosque and it has been one for centuries.
- 2
Roman paint over Egyptian relief
Beyond Amenhotep III’s hypostyle hall, look for the inner chamber adapted during the Roman period, with remains of painted plaster over earlier Egyptian decoration.
In one inner hall the Egyptian wall was plastered over in the Roman period and painted with figures in Roman dress. Where the plaster has fallen away, the pharaonic relief underneath shows through it.
Fact — the Roman plaster and painting, and their date. Interpretation — the identification of the room as a chamber of the imperial cult.
Two religions, two empires and about fifteen hundred years are visible in the same square metre of wall.
- 3
The front of the temple is not square with the rest of it
Stand just inside the pylon and sight down the length of the temple
Ramesses II’s court and pylon (a monumental gateway formed by two massive towers) sit at a clear angle to the colonnade behind them. Sight along the columns and the kink is obvious.
InterpretationFact — the change of alignment. Interpretation — that it was made in order to meet the processional route.
The older temple faced the river; the newer front was turned to meet the processional road coming down from Karnak. The bend is a building responding to a route, and it is the sort of thing you only notice if someone tells you to look.
- 4
The festival, carved along the colonnade
The side walls of the great colonnade, both sides — the journey out on one, the return on the other
A continuous, crowded relief: barges towed along the river, soldiers, musicians, acrobats, offering bearers, cattle, and the shrines of the gods carried shoulder-high on their poles.
Seeing the temple with the Opet procession in mind helps connect its courts and colonnade with Karnak. Current visiting hours and evening access still need checking.
Look closely, photograph only where permitted, and keep hands and bags clear of ancient surfaces. Follow barriers and conservation instructions.
Sources & further reading4
Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references.
Published works and institutional references for further reading.