Sphinx Avenue, Luxor Temple, Egypt - Sphinx Sculptures on Waymarking.com

The Avenue of Sphinxes at the Luxor Temple was a double line of human-headed sphinxes that once connected the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak with the Luxor Temple. It was built for processions in which priests and celebrating pious people moved along the shore of the Nile and through the Avenue of Sphinxes to and from the temple. The priests carried wooden barks, or small ships, that held shrines containing the statues of the Theban Triad, which included the three deities: Amun-Re, Mut, and Khonsu. The small wooden barks were taken from their sanctuaries in the Karnak temple and were carried on the shoulders of priests on feast days to the big Nile barges waiting at the landing in front of the temple.

The Avenue of Sphinxes in front of the Luxor Temple was about 2.5 kilometers, or 1.5 miles, long. It was built in the time of King Nectanebo the First, who reigned from 380 to 363 BC, of the Thirtieth Dynasty.

This avenue had replaced older ones that dated from the Eighteenth Dynasty and from the reign of King Ramesses the Second of the Nineteenth Dynasty, who reigned from 1290 to 1224 BC. The latter avenue was depicted on the walls of the tomb of Kha-bekhenet, Number Two, at Deir el-Medina.

Each sphinx is on a rather high pedestal and has a human face resembling the features of Nectanebo the First wearing the Nemes headdress topped by the cobra. A line of dedicatory hieroglyphic inscription for the king is depicted on all sides of the base.

Only 34 sphinxes on the western side and 38 on the eastern side have been excavated so far; most of the remaining ones are still buried under the houses of modern Luxor.

Style: Egyptian Medium: Clay Head Type: Man Head Namesake: King Nektanebo Statue Name: Not listed Specify Other Head: Not listed Website: Not listed Street Address: Not listed

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