Al-Kebbash Road in Luxor: “The Path of God” for Ancient Egyptians

CAIRO – 4 January 2020: The Karnak Temples area witnessed the largest national project to save 29 statues of rams inside the Karnak temples, after completing the restoration of the statues and protecting them from destruction.

After moving 4 of the statues located behind the first pylon in the temple to decorate Tahrir Square, it became clear that the rest of the statues suffered great damage and destruction as a result of their poor transport and storage in that area from the seventies.

What is the Al-Kebbash Road in Luxor?

Al-Kebbash Road is the road that connects the Luxor Temple with the Karnak Temples. A wide street started from the beach, with statues of sphinxes, which we find in the temples of Karnak, represented in the form of a sphinx with the head of a ram.

The ram here symbolizes the deity Amun, perhaps to protect the temple and highlight its axis.

The ancient Egyptian called this road "Wat Nathr," meaning the path of God. As for the road of rams in the temples of Karnak, it was known under the name "Ta-Mit-Rahnat". which translated to Al-Kebbash Road also.

Along the 2,700 km road there are 1,200 statues and the width of this road is 76 m.

These statues were carved from a single block of sandstone with a cornice inscribed with the name of the king, his titles and praise for him, placed on a stone base consisting of 4 courses of stone used due to the presence of some inscriptions. It was held in two forms:

The first: Takes the form of the body of a lion and the head of a human (Sphinx).

The Second: It takes the shape of the body of a ram and the head of a ram as a symbol of the deity Amun Ra.

How was the discovery of the rams located in Luxor?

Chronologically, Zakaria Ghoneim was the first to discover rams, in 1949, by unveiling 8 statues of the Sphinx.

Then,  Mohammad Abdel Qader from 1958 to 1960 unveiled 14 statues of the Sphinx.

Mohamed Abdel Razek (1961-1964) unveiled 64 statues of the Sphinx.

Mohamed al-Sagheer, from the mid-seventies to 2002, uncovered the road from the tenth edifice to the Mut Temple and the road bordering the Nile.

Then, in 2006, Mansour Brik re-worked digging to uncover the rest of the road.