GENERAL VIEW OF THE RUINS OF LUXOR, FROM THE 
NILE. 
As the traveller ascends the Nile, on approaching Luxor, this striking view is presented 
of “the gorgeous palaces and solemn temples” of Thebes: they formed a part of that 
great city, unrivalled in vastness and splendour, which once filled the plain of the 
Nile from the Libyan mountains on the west to the bases of those of Arabia, the 
hills of the Thebaid, which bound the valley towards the east. 
Every traveller who has ascended the Nile to the site of ancient Thebes has 
strained his eyes to get a first glimpse of its ruins—as the pilgrim to Rome gazes 
with eager devotion to catch the first appearance of the sacred fane of St. Peter’s. 
This feeling is gratified beyond all anticipation when the ruins of Luxor, El- Ulcsor, 
or the Palaces, open upon him—when the range of this glorious Temple is seen 
stretching down a promontory of sand to the Nile, from its propyla, through a forest 
of columns, to its Sanctuary, which terminates the line of ruins near the banks of 
the river—a range of about eight hundred and twenty feet in length, but which at 
its eastern extremity is not accessible from the Nile. The flow of the river through 
Egypt from south to north generally takes a north-easterly course through the Thebaid, 
and the general direction through the Temple of Luxor from the propyla to the Nile 
is S.S.W. 
Large as these ruins appear, they form but an inconsiderable part of the remains 
of ancient Thebes: “they are only a fitting approach to Karnak.” The space which 
they occupy is comparatively so small that it is difficult to see its actual grandeur and 
conceive its diminished importance in relation to the City of One Hundred Gates. 
“As we look down,” says Warburton, “from these mountains (of Biban El Malook), 
we discern on our far right the Palace of Medinet-Abou; before us the Memnonium; 
on our left the Temples of Goumou; then, a wide green plain, beyond which flows the 
Nile; and farther still, on the Arabian side, Luxor rises its gigantic columns from the 
river’s edge, and the propyla of Karnak tower afar off. This view scarcely embraces 
Thebes.” 
On the ruins of Luxor, as on others of the vast structures of Ancient Egypt, 
houses are built and inhabited. Those seen above the columns of the pronaos were 
occupied by the officers of a Fi'ench vessel during their operation of lowering and 
shipping one of the Obelisks, which formerly stood before the great propylon of the 
Temple of Luxor: its solitary companion is still seen in situ; and this view is taken 
from near the spot where lay the vessel by which the Obelisk now in Paris was 
removed. The long wall and house which join the two groups of columns is a granary, 
or shuna, of the Pacha; and the structure which is seen behind the propyla is the 
minaret of a mosque. Under the columns, and in and about the Temple, are the 
