Thebes, the city of the god Amon, was the capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, Thebes is a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height.

Brief synthesis Ancient Thebes was the city of the God Amun, and it was the capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. It lies about 700 km south of Cairo on the banks of the River Nile. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, Thebes is a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height, when the city became the capital of an empire extending from the Euphrates to northern Sudan. The three-part serial property consists of the two temples of Karnak and Luxor on the East bank of the Nile, and a large archaeological area on the West Bank consisting of seven named temples or complexes, covering an area of 7,390 ha with a buffer zone of 444 ha. Ancient Thebes was one of the richest and most important cities in ancient Egypt. Throughout most periods of ancient Egyptian history, Thebes functioned as the religious capital of the country. In certain periods, such as the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650-1550 BCE), following the invasion of the Hyksos (a western Asian people), and their taking over the north of Egypt, establishing their capital in the eastern Delta city known as Avaris, local Egyptian dynasties (Dynasties 16 and 17) ruled from Thebes. The remains of an ancient town from about 1500 to 1000 BCE was one of the most spectacular in Egypt, with a population of perhaps 50,000. Even in the Middle Kingdom, four centuries earlier, Thebes had earned a reputation as one of the ancient world’s greatest cities. Within it, the Egyptians had built the huge temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor. These are two of the largest religious structures ever constructed, and the homes of priesthoods of great wealth and power. On the West Bank lies the Theban Necropolis covering about 10 km² in which archaeologists have found thousands of tombs, scores of temples, and a multitude of houses, villages, shrines, monasteries, and workstations. Thebes includes areas on…