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History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery by H.R. Hall;L. W. (Leonard William) King
page 294 of 357 (82%)
the steamers and dahabiyas rise the stately coloured colonnades of the
Temple of Luxor. Unfortunately, modern excavations have not been
allowed to pursue their course to completion here, as in the first great
colonnaded court, which was added by Ramses II to the original building
of Amenhetep III, Tutankhamen, and Horemheb, there still remains
the Mohammedan Mosque of Abu-'l-Haggâg, which may not be removed.
Abu-'l-Haggâg, "the Father of Pilgrims" (so called on account of the
number of pilgrims to his shrine), was a very holy shêkh, and his memory
is held in the greatest reverence by the Luksuris. It is unlucky that
this mosque was built within the court of the Great Temple, and it
cannot be removed till Moslem religious prejudices become at least
partially ameliorated, and then the work of completely excavating the
Temple of Luxor may be carried out.

Between Luxor and Karnak lay the temple of the goddess Mut, consort of
Amen and protectress of Thebes. It stood in the part of the city known
as Asheru. This building was cleared in 1895 at the expense and under
the supervision of two English ladies, Miss Benson and Miss Gourlay.

[Illustration: 374.jpg THE NILE-BANK AT LUXOR]

With A Dahabîya And A Steamer Of The Anglo-American Nile
Company.

The temple had always been remarkable on account of the prodigious
number of seated figures of the lioness-headed goddess Sekhemet, or
Pakhet, which it contains, dedicated by Amenhetep III and Sheshenk I;
most of those in the British Museum were brought from this temple.
The excavators found many more of them, and also some very interesting
portrait-statues of the late period which had been dedicated there.
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