Locals say there are two cities in Luxor, the city of the living on the east bank of the Nile, and the city of the dead on the west bank. One side had palaces, the other had tombs. This principle has not shifted at all, in line with the belief of the ancient Egyptians that I learned from the local elders around the pyramids. For them, the world was a lush green ribbon that ran north and south through the desert. People will prefer to live on the east bank, where the sun rises, and bury the dead on the west bank, where the sun sets.