Royal Visit

Balloons!

A nifty lucite model of the
Valley and its tombs

If we thought 8:30 a.m. was a difficult start time, that was nothing! This morning, we had to be ready for a 6 a.m. departure. Destination? Valley of the Kings!

The Valley of the Kings is a complex of underground, hidden tombs. The tradition started when one of the brighter pharaohs realized that building a giant pyramid is equivalent to a flashing neon sign saying, “Riches within! Come rob me!” Since obviously the grave goods were an important aspect of their ability to make it in the afterlife, security was essential.

The upper surface of the model.
The flags are known tomb entrances.

Horus, life-sized

Robbers are an enterprising lot, though, and were not hugely deterred. Eventually, all (?) were found except for Tut Ankh Amun’s grave (known in the Western world as Tutenkhamen), which was found essentially by chance by explorer Howard Carter in the early 1900s. While the world was astounded by the opulence of the grave goods, it turns out that Tut was not actually a particularly important king in his own time. According to our tour guide, many of his grave goods were not originally intended for him but rather for some other noble; his untimely death (by malaria) threw all into confusion and pretty much anything they could lay their hands on was chucked in there for luck.

We had already seen the grave goods, and his tomb wasn’t open for visiting (although we saw the entrance to it). However, we had the chance to visit five other tombs. These included an extra-special tomb of Seti I. This tomb has only been open for visitors since last year; prior to that, it had been 11 years since visitors were allowed. The authority rather cleverly limits the tombs that are open, because it gives each one a rest from the humidity influx, but it also means that visitors have something new to see if they come back on repeated visits! 

We weren’t allowed to photograph Seti’s tomb, but these other shots should give an indication. The scale of the plaster images, the freshness of the colors, and the sheer artistry were astounding. Having seen some of these in my art history classes was little preparation for the overall effect. Yet another lesson that there is no substitute for visiting a place! The difference in climatic conditions is striking in the preservation of plaster decorative works: a 13th-century fresco in Europe is liable to be fragmentary at best due to moisture damage; by contrast, these tombs (over 4 millennia older!) were nearly pristine save damage due to vandals. We deduced that the walls had been plastered and then a cartoon drawn on top. The plaster was then carved away to form bas-relief images and impressions that were colored later.

The amount of detail is staggering

Yes, they have a Book of the Holy Cow

Michael liked the rowing eye of Horus

I thought these grasshopper women were really interesting

These figures were life-sized

Ceremonial boat

This was about 3 meters long/tall

It was then time to visit the Valley of the Queens, a short drive away. This valley is smaller, and contained not only queens, but also children of pharaohs. Unsurprisingly, given the high rates of incest, the child and infant mortality rate in the Egyptian royal family was extremely elevated.  One such tomb (located in the Valley of Kings and not open for visiting) held something like 70 of Ramses’s children.

A tomb we visited had been repurposed as a Coptic Christian meeting house, then later burial site. At one point, animals had been kept within its walls. Samar commented ruefully on its poor state of preservation, but even this “poor” preservation was remarkably intact. Interestingly and sadly, there was some graffiti, though.

The showstopper here was Nefertari’s tomb. Discovered by Italian explorers in 1904, it is richly decorated throughout. For preservation purposes, we were only allowed to visit for 10 minutes, but we were agape the entire time.

 Coptic Christian graffiti

I loved the brickwork

A drive-by visit of the Colossei of Agamemnon (which had nothing to do with Agamemnon, but were rather sculptures of Amenhotep, Tut’s father), and time for the hotel! 

Loved the decoration on this building

Many houses are built with preparations for a second story.
As money becomes available, partial walls are built.
Eventually the story may be completed, either for the family
or for an adult (married) child.

You can just see the roofing material: reeds

There were lots of donkey-drawn carts.
The donkeys here are tiny!

Quick lunch, then relaxation for the rest of the afternoon. As I write this, I am sitting looking at the Nile river with cool hibiscus tea.

Love,

Alexandra

Day 2: Karnak and Luxor

An "egret tree" at the resort: all the
white dots are full-sized egrets.

Breakfast visitors

After a 2 a.m. lights out, our 8:30 appointment seemed rather early this morning. However, our guide Samar was cheerful and chatty and just delightful, making up for the pain.

Part of the sphinx-lined
road that leads to
the temple of Luxor

We drove straight to the Temple of Karnak, which is actually a complex of various temples that were constructed over the centuries. All the famous names had a part: Ramses II, Hatshepsut, and more. Pointing up 20 meters on a wall, Samar showed us graffiti dating to Napoleonic times: the temples had been so deeply buried in sand in that era, that this represented ground level plus a meter or so. However, in the 20th century, there was a concerted effort to reveal the site via numerous excavations.

Interestingly, these sphinxes
had ram's heads

Pylons of the Temple of Karnak

When in their prime, these must have been absolutely stunning. Completely colored from top to bottom, carved all over, the ornamentation is exquisite. I am in further in awe of the archaeologists who look at the carvings and can tell you who is involved, what the story is saying, and what the implications are. We’re talking thousands of square meters of intricate carvings.

There’s a huge carved scarab beetle on a pediment; recent “superstition” (or tourists’ tales, probably) say that walking around it 7 times will help you conceive. On the theory that 5 is enough, I walked away rapidly without even circling the scarab. 

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A huge swimming pool (!) was fed by the Nile, and provided the source for the priests’ ablutions prior to sacred rites. The original steps still go down to the water, but the course of the Nile has changed; this means that the water is handled mechanically now, with a system of pumps and external replenishment.

Hatshepsut's image and cartouche were obliterated
by her angry son when he succeeded to the throne

Egyptian numerals went from one to ten (the up and down marks)
then in 10s (the upside-down Us). The swirly mark at the bottom
is 1000. There was no 100 mark in this sample. No one knows
why the numbers are here.

Ablution pool

Entry to Temple of Luxore

Moving on to the Temple of Luxor, we got to see more of the sphinxes that lead from Karnak to Luxor (a distance of 3 km or a little less than 2 miles). Having been buried in sand for centuries, later cultures had constructed houses, churches, and other buildings on top of the poor creatures. Obviously, the uncovering of this historic resource has caused present-day woes due to land reclamation (as a public good, the historic sites can attract tourism and so on, but the private individuals who had family houses there going back 200 years were not overly pleased at having to move, and complained that the compensation wasn’t enough to buy a replacement house).

It was rather odd seeing the sister obelisk to the one I first saw in Paris around 30 years ago. Napoleon carted that one off from one of the sides of the Temple of Luxor’s entryway. We were told that the obelisks were probably originally tipped with gold leaf, which is why that top part is never carved. By contrast, the sides (heavily carved) would also have been painted in bright colors. 

This mosque was built when the temple was buried in sand.
The door to the left was originally the entry door.

Apparently, the obelisks were installed by creating a mound (ramp) around the center of the planned location (think the shape of a volcano). The block would be heaved up the side of the volcano, then tipped carefully into place. At that point, the sides were carved using the mound as a scaffolding; the mound would be removed little by little as the carving progressed. These obelisks were single blocks of granite, and the work to quarry them (let alone carving them) is incredible.

One of the depictions of the festivity where the ceremonial
boat was carried along the Sphinx Road. These are
acrobats.

These guys are making bread, I think.

Another view of the Temple of Luxor

 After having Samar purchase some falafel on our behalf, it was time to head home for a quick bite to eat (yes, the falafel were delicious!) and then a four-hour nap. A bit of relaxation time, then dinner next to the Nile!

Love, 

Alexandra