POTD: Succession of Civilizations

From 2019 11 23 Luxor

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Luxor Temple in Luxor, Egypt. It shows a mural that stands out from the rest of the temple. It looks more like something you'd see in ancient Rome. That's because the portraits in the mural are indeed Roman, not Egyptian. They date from the time of the Emperor Diocletian in the late third century CE.

Bonus photo (and civilization) after the jump.

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In the 600s, the Roman rule of Egypt came to an end with the Muslim conquest of Egypt. This second photo shows a mosque that was built at Luxor Temple sometime after that. Note how the mosque looks like it was built on the roof of another building. That's because it was. The explanation given by our guide is that the temple complex was buried deep in sand for a thousand years. The mosque was built on top of the sand. Only in the modern era was the sand excavated revealing the temple complex we see today.

From 2019 11 22 Valley of the Kings