Pictures: 12 New Sphinxes Confirm Legendary Egypt Route

Sphinx Tamers

Photograph courtesy SCA

Workers position one of the new sphinxes on its base in a picture released Monday.

The first recorded journey down the Avenue of the Sphinxes canal was made by ancient Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut, who is said to have taken part in a boat procession as part of the Opet festival, celebrating the annual Nile floods, about 3,500 years ago.

At that time, the route was relatively undecorated. Later rulers added the sphinxes—believed to have numbered more than a thousand—that gave the avenue its name.

Already archaeologists have found nearly 900 of these statues along the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) avenue. But they're still puzzling out how the avenue appeared to the ancients. For starters, the Nile once ran right alongside the temples connected by the avenue. Since then, the river has shifted about a half mile (0.8 kilometer) to the west, according to Luxor-based Egyptologist Ray Johnson, of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, who is not affiliated with the discovery.

(Also see pictures: "Ancient Egyptian Tombs Found With False Doors.")

Published November 16, 2010

Avenue Unearthed

Photograph courtesy SCA

The 12 newfound statues, many now headless, lined one end of the newly unearthed Nectanebo section of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. So far only about 66 feet (20 meters) of the 0.4-mile (600-meter) Nectanebo route have been excavated—part of an effort to transform historic Thebes into a modern tourist attraction. (Download Egypt wallpapers.)

The previously excavated section of the Avenue of the Sphinxes connects the two main temples of eastern Thebes—Karnak and Luxor. Archaeologists are hoping that, once fully excavated, the newfound section—which appears headed for the nearby temple of the goddess Mut—will add a third temple to the ancient canal complex.

"If we found a quay, or a harbor, leading to Mut temple, it means, in my opinion, we will be in front of a great discovery that changes the landscape of the east of Luxor," dig leader Mansour Boraik said. It would suggest, for one thing, that the ancient festival boat processions at Thebes covered much more ground, and a more complex route, than previously thought.

(Also see "Rare Middle-Class Tomb Found From Ancient Egypt.")

Published November 16, 2010