Nile Cruise — Touring Luxor Temple at Night

The end of Egypt’s Ptolemaic (Greek) Kingdon came in 30 BC with conquest of Egypt by the Roman Empire and the death of Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra’s death brought an end not only the final Ancient Egypt Dynasty, it was the close of the longest dynasty as well, lasting 275 years. If you’re wondering why I’m bringing that up in an article on a temple dating back to just before 1400 BC, it’s because of something I saw there that piqued my interest. Ancient Egyptian temple walls are often covered in bas reliefs such as this:

What I did not expect to find here at Luxor Temple was a small room decorated in Roman fresco.

Rome ruled Egypt for 30 BC until AD 642. During that period Luxor Temple became a Roman fortress, and within that fortress one of the rooms became a Tetrarchy cult chapel. The Tetrarchy was a period under Roman Emperor Diocletian, during which time control of the Roman Empire was divided among two augusti and two lesser-ranked caesares.

And that concludes today’s (hopefully not boring) history lecture. Below is today’s photo galler/slide show. After this week’s Fun Photo Friday, it’s time for us to move on the Colossi of Memnon and Tombs of the Nobles.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)