Raised-relief carving displaying Ramses II in a gesture of offering to the god Amon, Luxor, Egypt

"This relief from the Temple of Luxor was carved during Ramses II's reign. But traces of a relief belonging to the reign of the pharaoh Ay can also be made out, indicating that Ramses recarved the earlier work, surimposing his own. From the surviving welter of faint lines on the wall usurped by Ramses, the Epigraphic Survey has been able to reconstruct the original scene, which shows Ay offering incense and libations to Amen and his wife, Mut." "With the village of Karnak, Luxor (Al Uqsur) is on the site of ancient Thebes (capital of the New Kingdom). When Thebes declined, Luxor remained the more heavily populated part of the ancient city and grew into a modern market town." [The J.P.Getty Fund: Thesaurus of Geographic Names]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Institute of Architects, directing the Egyptian portion of the documentary on Ancient Egypt, March 1965 and September 1965.