Waset

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Waset

General Urbs ₃ Featured June 20 , 2008

The New Kingdom capital of Egypt, more widely-known as Thebes.
The site of modern-day 'El Aksur' - Luxor.

I shall dance when I sail north, when Waset is with me and the domain of Amun is all around me.
...
Bring me into your city, Amun, for I love it.
I love your city more than bread and beer, Amun, more than clothing and ointments.
The soil of your place is dearer to me than the unguents of another land.

Book of the Dead of the New Kingdom (Assmann)

As with other Egyptian cities, Waset was considered by its inhabitants first and foremost a temple founded on the primeval mound of creation. It was the divine dwelling place of the god Amun and because of this, its citizens had a special relationship with their city and the place of their birth. It was their home, the place they aspired to return to and the place in which they wished to be buried.

As a city, Waset seems to have emerged from obscurity during the Old Kingdom which makes its history relatively recent in comparison to older cities like Abu. It gained prominence when the rulers of Dynasty XI adopted Waset as their base and administrative centre. It would be the rulers of the succeeding dynasty who established Waset as the capital of Upper Egypt. The city reached its apogee in the New Kingdom and although no longer Egypt's capital, the city retained political and religious significance thereafter. It was not until the Late Period that the city's importance declined.

Royal burials on Waset's west bank began to occur in Dynasty XI culminating in the royal necropolises of the New Kingdom period. The west bank is home to the gravesites of ruler, offical and workman alike. The Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens saw the burials of rulers such as Ramesses II, Merenptah, Tiye, Ay, Seti I and Horemheb. The private tombs of Yuya and Thuyu, Bay and others are also located on the west bank along with the Deir el-Medina workers' necropolis. Mortuary temples abound; one of the most famous being that of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. Also on the west bank palaces were constructed - the most notable of which was Amenhotep III's residential palace at Malkata (Malqata).

Waset is also home to Karnak or jpt-swt,'the most select of places', a temple complex dedicated to the cult of Amun-Re. Two kilometres distant and dedicated to the divine triad of Amun, Mut and Khons, is the temple complex of Luxor known at the time as the 'Southern Harem,' together with Karnak, provided one of the reasons for the city's importance. Using the vehicle of Amun's visit to his wife Mut who it was believed resided in Luxor, the yearly sacred Festival of Opet begun in Karnak and culminating in Luxor would see the deified king re-emerge from the brink of chaos rebirthed as the son of Amun-Re, a symbolic gesture that ascribed divine status on the king and, because of it, ensured the continued existence and heka of the Egyptian state.

Use the map to access places of interest

Things to do in Waset
Try your luck in the Malkata Palace Scavenger Hunt

Sources
Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, The British Museum Press, 1995 London
Lanny Bell, The New Kingdom Divine Temple: The Example of Luxor, ed. Byron E. Shafer, Cornell University Press, 1997
Rosalie David, The Ancient Egyptians ~ Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, 1998
Jan Assmann, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press, 2001
The Theban Mapping Project http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/

Credits
Nekhenyheru Aha Mortuary Temple of Merenptah Baenre-merynetjeru
Sankhkare Thutmose The Temple of Luxor