Luxor was known through different ages by many names, in its beginning it was called the city of “West”, then the Romans called it “Thebes”, and they also called it the city of one hundred gates, as described by the Greek poet Homer in the Iliad, and it was also called “The City of the Sun” “The City of Light,” and “The City of the Scepter.” After the Arab conquest of Egypt, the Arabs called it “Luxor,” which is the plural of the word palace, as the city contained many palaces of the Pharaohs. The establishment of the city of Thebes dates back to the era of the Fourth Dynasty around 2575 BC.

Aswan was known as “Sono” in the ancient Egyptians, meaning the market, as it was a trading center for caravans coming to and from Nubia.Then, in the Ptolemaic period, it was called “Sin”, and the Nubians called it “Yeba Swan”.

It was also known as the country of gold because it was a great treasure or cemetery for the kings of Nubia who lived there for thousands of years. And the borders of Aswan extended before the migration from Asna in the east to the borders of Sudan in the south, and its inhabitants were Nubians, but after the Islamic conquest of Nubia, some Arab tribes lived in it.