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Alternative Names: Latopolis; Latopolia; Latónpolis; Esneh; Esna; Asnā
Latitude/Longitude: 25° 17' 35" N/ 032° 33' 10" E
Although a door jamb of the Temple of Khnum is from the 18th Dynasty, the rest of the temple located here dates from the age of the Ptolemies and the Romans. The site was called Latopolis by the Greeks, in honor of the Nile Perch, and many graves attest to the veneration of the fish. The Temple, however, is dedicated to the ram headed god, a creator deity. Today, the city has a large Coptic community.
Alternative Names: Al Uqşur; Luqsor; Luksor; Louksor; El Uqsor; El Qusur; El Kusur; El Aqsur; El-Aksur
Latitude/Longitude: 25° 41' 00" N/ 032° 39' 00" E
Luxor is actually not one location, but three: under the name of “Luxor” you will find the city itself, on the east side of the Nile, the archaeological complex of Karnak only a short distance north of Luxor, and Thebes, which is on the west side of the Nile directly across from Luxor. Even the modern city of Luxor has a pharaonic look to it, as much of its building was completed during the period of Howard Carter’s excavation of King Tut’s tomb. In addition to the Mummification Museum, the city has another museum of local finds. Luxor is the base for trips out to the Valley of Queens, Thebes, and numerous other temples and tombs. This area has been a major tourist attraction since ancient times, and may indeed be referred to as the world’s largest open air museum.
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Latitude/Longitude: 20° 00' 00" N/ 032° 00' 00" E
A region in the southernmost portion of modern Egypt. Today the region is partially in Egypt while the rest is in Sudan.
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Alternative Names: Fīlah, Jazīrat
Latitude/Longitude: 24° 01' 00" N/ 032° 53' 00" E
Called “The Pearl of Egypt,” Philae was an island in the area of Aswan, in the southern portion of Upper Egypt, and it was the location of the Temple of Isis and the Kiosk of Trajan as well as a few other temples. After the construction of the Old Aswan Dam, the island was partially submerged during certain times of the year, and algae discolored the stone as well as eroded some of the reliefs. The situation became more serious after the new Aswan High Dam was built, and the island was completely submerged, thus washing away the paintings that adorned the buildings. With help from UNESCO and Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, a coffer dam was built around the island,and the monuments were moved, stone by stone, to nearby Agilka island, which was carefully landscaped to look as much like Philae as possible.
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Alternative Names: Osymandyas, Tomb of
Latitude/Longitude: 25° 44’ 00” N/032° 37' 00" E
Although this much-visited site, located on the Theban necropolis on the west bank of the Nile across from Luxor, is the home to several temples, this site is known to most westerners as the site of the Tomb of Osymandyas, immortalized in Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias”. Osymandyas is one of the names of Rameses II, who built a huge mortuary temple to the god Amen-Re at Ramesseum, as well as smaller temples in honor of his wife and mother. Damaged by the Nile flood waters, the temple and its colossi were of great interest to Europeans, and Belzoni engineered the removal of a seven ton head to London, where it was proudly displayed in the British Museum. This object, and the objects which Shelley knew to have remained in Egypt, inspired his very famous poem.
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Latitude/Longitude: 25° 42' 00" N/ 032° 41' 00" E
The name Thebes generally refers to the entire region, on both the east and west banks of the Nile near the modern city of Luxor. This area served as the capital of Egypt in periods of both the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom, and is testament to the glories of ancient Egyptian monument building. The area, in Upper Egypt, encompasses the Temples at Karnak and Luxor on the east bank, and the Colossi of Memmnon, the Ramesseum, and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens on the west bank. Collectively, Thebes is home to the greatest concentration of major ancient sites in the world.
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