Description

Thebes (modern Luxor) was a popular tourist destination during the Roman Period, receiving the likes of Strabo, Germanicus, and Hadrian. Yet while its international fame rested on its royal tombs and the Memnon colossus, Thebes was also a vibrant religious center with over a dozen active temples. The purposefully archaizing inscriptions and architecture attracted both Egyptians and Romans in search of ancient traditions and millennial wisdom, influencing intercultural and multilingual texts produced in the region, including Gnostic, Hermetic, and magical writings. This book surveys epigraphic and archaeological evidence for temple construction and renovation throughout the Theban nome during the Roman Period, studying the new inscriptions within their ritual and theological contexts. It also contains the first comprehensive treatment of the greater Theban Pantheon during the Graeco-Roman era, cataloguing over fifty local divinities and establishing their roles in various cosmogonies and mythological traditions.The concluding chapter reconstructs the religious life of the district, tracking annual festival processions which united the multiple temples and their communities.