Luxor, the lost city of Egypt…. Pyramids that challenged the architecture of the time and still impress today… sphinxes that inspire respect to the figures of the past… mummies of the pharaohs who dominated those lands millions of years ago… The curiosities of Egypt lead us to navigate the paths of a one of the most enigmatic and ancient nations on the planet, full of spaces and objects that are inanimate witnesses of history.
Today in Supercurioso we wanted to go deep into these lands bathed by the Nile River, to introduce you to the lost city of Egypt. Since September 2020, archaeologists have been working on the discovery of what has been called the egypt pompeii Y The Rise of the Aten luxor city. Join us to discover it!
The lost city of Egypt, an amazing find
The city of Luxor has awakened the astonishment, surprise and fascination of researchers, and there are plenty of reasons for it. This finding has been considered the second most important in the field of Egyptology, only preceded by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb..
It was Zahi Hawass, former Minister of Antiquities of the country, who was in charge of directing the mission that would be an overwhelming success. Hawass himself expressed in this regard that with the city of Luxor he found the largest city ever found in Egypt.
According to advanced research, The lost city of Egypt dates back to one of the golden ages of ancient civilization: the reign of Amenhotep III.in the 17th dynasty. This was one of the most powerful Egyptian pharaohs, under whose guidelines material wealth abounded.
He ruled the region between 1391 and 1353 BC His successors, the pharaohs Ay and Tutankhamen, also made use of the city of Luxor. In short, experts say about it that it represents a great opportunity to take a look at the daily life of Egyptian society, just in its most prosperous times.
At the time when the city of Luxor is believed to have been built, King Amenhotep III’s guidelines were clear: war and violence were declined and, instead, diplomacy and peace were encouraged.
In that climate of serenity, the king also dedicated himself to promoting economic activities, as well as ordering the construction of great works in Egypt and Nubia. As proof of this, we tell you that it is Amenhotep III who is credited with building most of the Luxor temple and a pylon in the Karnak temple, both in ancient Thebes. Also, a significant number of structures in Memphis.
What was found in the city of Luxor?
The lost city of Egypt was an unexpected find for Zahi Hawass and his team of archaeologists. Excavations began on the west bank of luxor, in the vicinity of the Valley of the Kings, where the tomb of Tutankhamun was found. We found this location about five hundred kilometers from Cairothe capital of the country. After weeks of work, mud brick formations began to appear. But the curious thing is that they were not going in just one direction, but were heading north, south, east, and west.
digging up more, Archaeologists finally found the ancient city of Luxor, a large city in a very good state of preservation, with almost complete walls and rooms in whose spaces the memory of the life that beat in them was still concentrated. Brick houses, tools, utensils and jewelry were appearing before the astonished eyes of the researchers. Let’s see what were the main areas identified and objects rescued from the lost city of Egypt.
1. Three main districts
The initial motivation for the research and excavation work in Luxor was clear: the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun was sought, between the temple of Ramses III in Medinet Habu and the temple of Amenhotep III in Memnon. But As the earthworks progressed, archaeologists realized that they were facing the lost city of Egypt. They knew how to distinguish it because there were mud brick walls that made up rooms and alleys. They bore the seal of King Amenhotep III, ruler at the time of the city’s construction.
the egyptologist Zahi Hawass spoke of the distinction of three very well differentiated districts in the city of Luxor. One of them is believed to have been assigned to the administration of the commercial activities that took place there.
Another was a sleeping area for workers. The last one was the zone of the industry and the storage of dried meat. In the spaces of the lost city of Egypt you can see houses with walls up to three meters high, and inside you can see ovens, ceramics and utensils that were used by the Egyptians of the time in the activities of their daily life. Seen from a macro perspective, the city stretches west to the famous town of Deir El-Medina.
2. A zigzag wall
Another of the clearly differentiable areas that were discovered in the city of Luxor was a zigzag wall that extended along a good part of the city’s contour. What archaeologists conclude in this regard is that This was the only point of entry to the lost city of Egypt, and that the security of the city was managed from here, Controlling the entry and exit of people.
3. A bakery
One of the most valuable finds in the city of Luxor was an area that researchers believe was once a bakery.. It served to distinguish it that they could appreciate a large kitchen with ovens and ceramics to store food. Other metallic objects, glass or spinning or weaving devices were also unearthed.
What was done in the lost city of Egypt?
The city of Luxor is nothing more than the silent witness of Egyptian daily life in its heyday. Spanish Egyptologists Francisco Martín and Teresa Bedman, from the Institute of Ancient Egyptian Studies in Madrid, paid a visit to the research area.
Their conclusions in this regard yielded a hypothesis: they believe that what was found in Luxor is a neighborhood, a construction made to produce inside everything a city needs for life: food, drinks, objects, jewelry, amulets, devices, machines, everything that could be used to carry out daily activities. According to the investigators, it was ultimately a product manufacturing facility.
Francisco Martín himself exposed the following about the lost city of Egypt: «We can imagine that it is an enclosure where people went to work. It was controlled who entered and left, what materials were introduced and which were manufactured.. No records have been found, but there would surely have been scribes carrying the list of materials and armed guard at the gate. At that time there was a lot of wealth.”
Rings, beetles, tomb decorations, ceramic vessels, clay bricks, wine vessels… a series of spaces and objects that reveal a lot about what life was like in those millennia now so far away.
And you, had you heard about the city of Luxor, the lost city of Egypt? An amazing discovery! TRUE? If you want to continue learning about this incredible civilization, do not miss our article on the best curiosities of Egypt in the Middle Ages.