Thebes (now Luxor), the capital of Egypt during the early Middle Kingdom and again in the New Kingdom, continued to be an important administrative and religious site throughout the rest of its history. It is the site of many of the finest ancient temples and tombs. The city of the living was on the east bank of the Nile, where today the temples of Luxor and Karnak are visited by millions of tourists every year. On the west bank beyond the green cultivated land are cliffs and wadis (dry riverbeds), where the people of ancient Thebes buried their dead. At the base of the first line of cliffs on the right is the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The hills and cliffs on both sides of the temple are tunneled with tombs of ancient officials. Behind the cliffs is the famous Valley of the Kings, where pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried.

The cultivated land, the river, desert, and sky appear in horizontal bands. Perhaps such views helped to inspire the Egyptians to portray figures and events in horizontal registers on the walls of temples and tombs.