Happy New Hijri year 1440 and Happy New Ancient Egyptian/Coptic Year 6260 from Egyptian Chronicles to the Whole World.
On Tuesday Egypt celebrates the start of the Coptic new year or Nayrouz as well the Hijiri new year on the same day.
It is a coincidence that has only occurred 66 times according to historians and experts.
Tuesday is the first day of Muharram 1440 and is also the first day of Thout 6260
Amazingly, Jews around the globe as well as in Egypt celebrated the beginning of the new Jewish year or Rosh Hashanah 5779 on Sunday.
Interesting coincidence, I hope that those new years will be better than the previous ones for all of us.
Now on that occasion especially having the start new Hijiri year and the new ancient Egyptian/Coptic year on the same day, I decided to share with you those very few photos I took in a very short trip to Luxor temple in February 2012.
The famous Luxor temple or Luxor temples complex is not your usual ancient Egyptian temple or temples complex it is very unique ancient Egyptian temple complex or unique Egyptian religious complex.
The Luxor temples complex contain the original ancient Egyptian religious temples dedicated to the coronation of Kings and Queens, a Christian chapel and a mosque dedicated to a Sufi Sheikh.
When I saw Luxor temple, I felt that it represented Egypt religiously in a historic way.
We got that beautiful ancient Egyptian temple complex built during the New Kingdom era where it was dedicated to the Theban Triad of the Cult of Royal Ka, Amun, Mut and Khonsu. The Royal Ka refers to the Royal spirit of the King who is a demigod.
It is sanctuary dedicated to the Kings and their coronation as well their achievements.
Time goes on and Christianity spread in Egypt replacing that the Theban triad with the Holy Trinity and parts of Luxor temples complex began to disappear under rubble, sand, dust and mud.
Other parts of were open and a new Church with its paintings replaced the ancient Egyptian inscriptions according to mainstream Egyptology.
Interestingly I have known that according to news studies and theories that chapel had been dedicated to the Cult of Royal Ka but in its Roman edition.
One of the proofs that support that theory, the fact that there were no halos around the people depicted on those paintings that survived all those years.
Back to our complex, one would think that time was not a friend to that ancient temples complex but actually, it was his best friend forever.
As time went by, sand and rubble had accumulated to the level it had created an artificial hill covering it for centuries.
During the era of the Ayyubid dynasty in the 13th century, an Iraqi-born Sufi Sheikh called Youssef Bin Abdel Raheem aka Abu Hagag arrived at the city of Luxor after receiving knowledge of religion and Sufism by its masters and Sheikhs above them Sheikh Abdel Rahim of Qena “Oh yes, the Sheikh Abdel Rahim El-Qenawy”.
Legend says that Sheikh went to buy a small piece of land over that hill to build a small mosque and a shelter from a wealthy Coptic Christian woman called Theresa who agreed to sell for him that land.
The Sheikh became popular among the people of Luxor to the level that some said that Lady Theresa converted to Islam and was buried in his mosque.
I do not know about that but one thing for sure that this small mosque built on the columns of the ancient Egyptian temple became a shrine for the old man who died in his 90s.
Every year since his death, the Muslims of Luxor hold a festival Moulid to honor Sheikh Abu Hagag.
Fast forward to the 19th century and Gaston Maspero began to excavate Luxor temple complex and to bring back to the World.
This is just a teaser for the rest of the photos from that beautiful temple. Wait for the rest of the photos.
On Tuesday Egypt celebrates the start of the Coptic new year or Nayrouz as well the Hijiri new year on the same day.
It is a coincidence that has only occurred 66 times according to historians and experts.
Tuesday is the first day of Muharram 1440 and is also the first day of Thout 6260
Amazingly, Jews around the globe as well as in Egypt celebrated the beginning of the new Jewish year or Rosh Hashanah 5779 on Sunday.
Interesting coincidence, I hope that those new years will be better than the previous ones for all of us.
Now on that occasion especially having the start new Hijiri year and the new ancient Egyptian/Coptic year on the same day, I decided to share with you those very few photos I took in a very short trip to Luxor temple in February 2012.
The famous Luxor temple or Luxor temples complex is not your usual ancient Egyptian temple or temples complex it is very unique ancient Egyptian temple complex or unique Egyptian religious complex.
The Luxor temples complex contain the original ancient Egyptian religious temples dedicated to the coronation of Kings and Queens, a Christian chapel and a mosque dedicated to a Sufi Sheikh.
When I saw Luxor temple, I felt that it represented Egypt religiously in a historic way.
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| The Luxor Temple |
It is sanctuary dedicated to the Kings and their coronation as well their achievements.
Time goes on and Christianity spread in Egypt replacing that the Theban triad with the Holy Trinity and parts of Luxor temples complex began to disappear under rubble, sand, dust and mud.
Other parts of were open and a new Church with its paintings replaced the ancient Egyptian inscriptions according to mainstream Egyptology.
 |
| The Church was located at the hypostyle hall in the temples complex |
Interestingly I have known that according to news studies and theories that chapel had been dedicated to the Cult of Royal Ka but in its Roman edition.
 |
| One of the paintings, some believe they are early Christian paintings while others believe that they are roman paintings. Otherways they failed to cover ancient Egyptian inscriptions |
One of the proofs that support that theory, the fact that there were no halos around the people depicted on those paintings that survived all those years.
Back to our complex, one would think that time was not a friend to that ancient temples complex but actually, it was his best friend forever.
As time went by, sand and rubble had accumulated to the level it had created an artificial hill covering it for centuries.
During the era of the Ayyubid dynasty in the 13th century, an Iraqi-born Sufi Sheikh called Youssef Bin Abdel Raheem aka Abu Hagag arrived at the city of Luxor after receiving knowledge of religion and Sufism by its masters and Sheikhs above them Sheikh Abdel Rahim of Qena “Oh yes, the Sheikh Abdel Rahim El-Qenawy”.
Legend says that Sheikh went to buy a small piece of land over that hill to build a small mosque and a shelter from a wealthy Coptic Christian woman called Theresa who agreed to sell for him that land.
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| The Mosque of Sidi Abu El-Hagag |
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| The ancient Mosque of Abu Hagag overlooking the Luxor temple inside-hall |
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| The Mosque of Abu Hagag is considered ancient as well |
Fast forward to the 19th century and Gaston Maspero began to excavate Luxor temple complex and to bring back to the World.
This is just a teaser for the rest of the photos from that beautiful temple. Wait for the rest of the photos.
Lovely photos. I've seen them all many times in person,but never tire of them.
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