Luxor Temple and Hatshepshut
Ancient Thebes (now Luxor) was the setting for many ancient Egyptian celebrations including the great festival of Opet, which Luxor temple was built expressly to host.
The Opet Festival lasted an incredible 27 days by the reign of Ramesses III in the 20th Dynasty andl included the distribution of over 11,000 loaves of bread, 85 cakes and 385 jars of beer.
A of images of the royal family began at Karnak and ended here, made by barge along the Nile River. Large crowds of soldiers, dancers, musicians and high ranking officials accompanied the barge by walking along the banks of the river and ordinary people were allowed to ask favours of the statues.
Once at the temple, the king and his priests entered the back chambers, where the king and his ka (his divine essence, created at his birth) were merged, transforming the king into a divine being.
The crowd awaited anxiously and would cheer wildly at his re-appearance as a god. The festival was hence the backbone of the entire government, as no-one of a different bloodline could rule the country.
