With the rise of the Middle Kingdom under the 11th and 12th dynasty pharaohs, the small farming village of Thebes emerged as the capital of Upper Egypt, taking over all religious, political and administrative control. The Pharaohs knew Thebes as Waset, the Greeks called it Thebai, and the Arabs called it El Uqsor (meaning “the palaces” in Arabic). Thebes reached its Golden Age during the New Kingdom from 1570 BC to 1090 BC. Controlling an area that extended from present-day Sudan to Libya, the city had a population of one million and the massive cultural, as well as architectural, achievements were under way. Although many kings have left their mark on Luxor, the city owes its rise to power to the local god Amun, who was the most important diety during the Middle Ages. Amun, along with Mut and Chons, formed the so-called “Theban Triad”.
After the city Memphis came to power and became the new capital, many of the temples where dismantelled, damaged, and later completely destroyed by the Romans. The city of Luxor went into a deep comma that lasted until the 19th century, when the scholars and archeologists of Napoleon’s army rediscovered it and founded Egyptology.