THEBES, PRELUDE TO ETERNAL LIFE

The wonders of archeology

An episode from the series LIVING STONES 2

Synopsis

Thanks to its fertile floods, the Nile allowed the Pharaonic civilization to flourish along its banks. It was the only means of communication between the High and Low Egypt. But the Nile was also symbolically important as its East bank was thought of as life on earth while the West side represented life in the nether world, the Hereafter.

As shown by recent archeological discoveries at Thebes, this dueling vision (one river bank for the living, the other for the dead) hampered urban growth.