The annual Opet Festival, during which the bark of Amun—and ultimately those of Mut, Khons, and the king as well—journeyed from Karnak to Luxor, became a central religious celebration of ancient Thebes during the 18th Dynasty. The rituals of the Opet Festival celebrated the sacred marriage of Amun—with whom the king merged—and Mut, resulting in the proper transmission of the royal ka and thus ensuring the maintenance of kingship.

The Wadi el-Hol is an ensemble of rock inscription sites and caravansary deposits near the mid-point of the Farshut Road, roughly equidistant between ancient Thebes and Hiw. The rock inscriptions range in date between the Predynastic and Coptic Periods, with the majority belonging to the Middle Kingdom. Most inscriptions record names and titles, but others are longer and of more unusual content, including literary texts and references to religious celebrations in the deep desert. Archaeological remains include Predynastic burials of the Tasian culture and debris mounds that represent the detritus of caravans and travelers along the Farshut Road. The largest deposit includes a continuous stratigraphic record of ceramic and organic material from the late Middle Kingdom through the Persian Period.