Discover the Valley of the Kings on Luxor, Egypt Tours
Luxor Travel, Tours & Nile Cruises – Ancient Monuments Overload
The Valley of the Kings is a celebrated attraction of ancient Egypt. It is a valley located in Luxor, Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom. The location was the political and religious capital of the New Kingdom, and was first used as a royal necropolis by Thutmosis I, although it was his predecessor, Amenhotep I, who was considered the patron-god of the valley by the actual builders of the tombs.
Two Main Branches
The Kings Valley has two main branches: the East Valley, where most of the royal tombs are situated, and the West Valley, which contains only the tombs of Amenhotep III and Ay, and some pits.
Tombs of the New Kingdom
The tombs of most of the New Kingdom kings have been discovered over the years; some were already open to public during the Greek-Roman era, others have only recently been unearthed.
The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period. All of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the rulers of this time.
Preservation of the Royal Mummies
In an effort to save the royal mummies of these attractions from destruction, and to salvage the left(p) treasures of the royal tombs, the priests of the end of the 20th and the 21st Dynasty opened the tombs, collected the mummies and buried them in two or more “caches”.
The first “cache” was a rock tomb high up in the mountains of Deir el-Bahri that was probably intended as the family tomb of the 21st Dynasty king-priests. The second “cache” was the tomb of 18th Dynasty king Amenhotep II.
An Unidentified Cache?
Not every royal mummy of the New Kingdom has been found, so there is room for the possibility that there may have been a third “cache” which has not yet been identified as such or which has not yet been discovered.
The only royal mummies to have been found in their own tombs were those of Amenhotep II, who was re-buried in his own tomb by the 21st Dynasty priests, and Tutankhamun, whose tomb lay undisturbed from the middle of the 20th Dynasty.
The Valley of the Kings is an crucial ancient attraction and therefore included in all Luxor Tours.
The Classical Cairo Luxor Tour is a short and sweet five day experience that introduces visitors to some of the most famous historic sites in Cairo and Luxor. It is flexible private tour of Cairo and Luxor and can be customized to your exact likings…
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